Episode 5

“I came to see you in person because Your Majesty said he could not accept the offer of someone he had never even met.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

His voice was a clear, low note, and his speech was neither rough nor nervous.

Still, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed.

Every time Ezekiel observed everything about me, my heart froze with fear.

If I saw those eyes in the darkness on our first night, I might faint. I can only offer my condolences to his future wife.

Oh, right. So I was the one who took on the role of the wife?

“I’m sorry to come to you so suddenly, but I sent this letter after much deliberation, so I really wanted to talk to you again.”

He chuckled. It was a cold mockery.

“Yes, Miss Viola. How am I supposed to accept this absurd story of a contract marriage?”

“Well, I think you were probably taken aback when you first heard about it. But you can think of a contract marriage as a kind of short-term negotiation with the other party.”

“You’re proposing to negotiate with me using marriage as bait?”

As soon as the topic of negotiation came up, the murderous intent coming from him intensified.

“Yes. I, I’m glad to be free from the uncomfortable Starache family, and you’re glad to be free from the annexation of the dukedom… right?”

“Miss Viola, is your family in trouble?”

“I’m being ignored. Even the servants treat me with contempt.”

Even though I answered as lightly as possible, Ezekiel’s face darkened even more.

“That’s unfortunate. But that doesn’t mean I should accept your offer.”

He leaned back in his chair with a languid gesture.

“There are many others who would propose marriage to me, besides you. There are plenty of people who would aspire to become a duchess, the second-in-command of a duchy with its own autonomous powers.”

“But I’m the only one who actually suggested it, right?”

“……?”

“It was said that the brave man wins the handsome man.”

I winked awkwardly. The duke, who had been dazed for a moment, stared at me with a serious expression.

It’s doomed. But I can’t give up here.

“You won’t really lose anything. I’ll take good lessons as a successor and won’t be greedy about the inheritance.”

“……·.”

“You are the only person in my life who has ever been greedy.”

“Coo-hoo!”

Wow. It’s really hard to tease your future husband.

I tried hard to wrap myself up, but he just smiled inexplicably.

Maybe he’s wondering what to do with me.

“Miss Viola Starace.”

He answered slowly, looking as relaxed as his posture.

“I am in the contract marriage you mentioned…….”

***

Inside the carriage on the way home.

My impressions of meeting the Duke can be summed up in one line.

[scary.]

‘I thought I was going to die when I looked at you.’

The original description, which was described only as a cool atmosphere, was extremely poor.

‘It’s not cool, it’s freezing cold, right?’

Because the duke’s expression became more and more rotten the more he spoke, I had to look around intently the whole time I was in the reception room.

‘Isn’t there a longsword somewhere here? Or is that poker the Duke’s weapon?’

Then, I revised Ezekiel’s characteristics in my head.

[#GrumpyGuy #ScaryGrumpyGuy #SuperGrumpyGuy]

Every time I saw him continue to smile with his already dark face, I felt like my life force was being drained.

When I think about it, I even thought that there are plenty of people who would do a contract marriage, even if they weren’t the male lead.

‘Should I look for another candidate?’

But I was the one who came here. Since I’d already started, I had to see it through, so I persuaded them hard.

-It was said that a brave person gets a handsome man.

At the end, I even threw in a joke, which was unusual for me. I copied the flirting my cousin Zenobio used to do when he was flirting with girls at balls.

But the duke’s expression only grew stranger. Was it for nothing?

As I was thinking about that, the Duke gave me an unexpected answer.

-I’ll try the contract marriage you mentioned.

He readily accepted my offer.

-Huh? Really? You can think about it again.

-Why are you surprised when I suggested it to you? Have you changed your mind?

-Oh, no. I didn’t think you’d accept it so readily. I’d tried it myself.

“You’re being honest. Since you came here in person and showed your face, your honesty is practically proven. Now that I think about it, it doesn’t seem like such a bad suggestion.

Things worked out easier than I expected. I should have been happy, but perhaps because things went so well, I felt strangely uneasy.

“Wait a minute. Has the world turned on my side?”

Thinking that way makes me feel relieved.

This is probably one of the protagonist’s strokes of luck. It’s a development that advances the romance.

As I work hard in my life, it seems the world is gradually recognizing me as a protagonist.

Instead of thinking badly about the situation, I smiled happily and quickly took out my notebook and wrote it down.

[Today’s Diary: I Got a Future Husband!]

Plus, additional achievements.

“I hear there’s a ball coming up at your house soon. I’ll stop by to say hello then. Even if I’ve only been your wife for a year, I still need to see my family.”

The fact that there was a ball was information that even I, a member of the family, did not know.

Is it that the Duke has good information or that I have bad information?

Maybe the latter.

“Where have you been?”

As I entered the front door, lost in my thoughts, I ran into my aunt. Seeing me out alone, she slowly started the car.

“He’s out there wandering around dangerously, on his own. Tell me, at least.”

Don’t be fooled by those seemingly kind words.

“I have someone to meet.”

“You had friends? I didn’t know.”

My grandmother’s specialty is swearing with a smile.

“Oh. Are you talking about the nice girls who took care of you at the last ball? They were so kind.”

Then he added in a flowing manner.

“It was so impressive how they embraced you when you were so discouraged by not even getting a dance request. They’re good friends.”

“I’m going to go in now.”

“Why? Not those guys? That’s strange. You had other friends?”

My grandmother was a hellish person who, the more she talked to me, the more she would drag me into a swamp.

It means that it is best not to even pretend to listen.

“Is this the kind of thing that adults ignore?”

But wait. I decided to become the main character, right?

‘This won’t do. It has to change.’

The protagonist needs his own way of dealing with things.

“If you keep acting so evasively, you’ll never be able to dance for any man—”

“Oh my goodness. Grandmother. How much must you have been waiting for men to request dances for you to even scan my path so intently?”

So I just did it. Contrary to my resolve, I was so nervous that my voice trembled like a goat’s.

“What, what?”

“I was so busy avoiding the men who clung to me that I didn’t even have time to look after my grandmother because I was so close with my friends.”

However, my grandmother seemed surprised by my rebuttal, as I was usually unable to even respond, and quickly changed my words in embarrassment.

“You! How easy must you look to have men clinging to you?”

“That’s right. I have a lot of friends and a lot of male admirers. It’s such a blessing.”

I felt dizzy from having to muster up all my courage to fight back.

I saw my grandmother, who seemed momentarily speechless from shock, raise her hand. It seemed as if she was about to slap me.

I looked straight at my opponent.

“Please bear with me. How can a collateral nobleman hit the legitimate daughter of his family? It’s against etiquette.”

“what?”

“You wouldn’t want the hierarchy to collapse, would you? You’ve always been so fond of hierarchy and etiquette.”

“This, this is really it!”

The trembling grandmother froze, unable to raise or lower her hands, and rolled her eyes.

“Little Madam! Miss Viola! A letter has arrived!”

Anna’s voice, which I heard just then, broke my spirit.

My grandmother glared at me and then ran away as if to take the letter.

It was just as I planned.

‘I made it safely.’

Anna used to collect letters every hour and deliver them to her aunt. She was glad she did.

My confidence has slightly increased with this satisfying first achievement. I should write this down in my diary today.

Because this is the first day I’ve met my grandmother in this mansion and I haven’t felt offended.

***

That evening at dinner, my biological father announced with a broad smile:

“We’re planning to hold a ball at our mansion soon. It’s social season, and it’s an unwritten rule that noble families take turns providing the venue…”

The Count, who had been taking a deep breath, opened the letter he had received earlier.

“I hear a noble person has accepted an invitation to this ball. It’s none other than Duke Ezekiel Betra!”

Ezekiel comes.

At those words, his cousin Camilla put down her fork.