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“A Red Envelope, I’ll Take It Once (Chapter : 1)”
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A dazzling chandelier sparkled like diamonds. Furniture decorated with engraved patterns and melted pure gold gleamed throughout the room.
Even the framed paintings on the walls and the flower vases by the window shimmered brilliantly.
‘No matter how many times I come to this reception room, I can’t get used to it…’
I straightened my shoulders that had instinctively shrunk and looked at the woman sitting across from me.
A necklace made of hundreds of pearls, along with large pearl earrings, blended with the noble dignity of the Grand Lady, creating an extremely elegant atmosphere.
Even though I had stayed in this mansion for months and met her dozens of times, I still couldn’t help but admire her refined presence every time I saw her.
‘But this will probably be the last time I’m called here.’
As if reading my thoughts, the Grand Lady spoke.
“You already have some idea why I called you, don’t you?”
I almost shouted “Of course!” energetically, but quickly corrected myself and replied cautiously.
“Yes, Grand Lady. I have a rough idea.”
“That makes things easier.”
With a graceful nod from the Grand Lady, a maid standing behind her approached and handed me an envelope.
‘An envelope! Finally!’
“You look like your mouth is about to reach your ears.”
Ah—oops.
I quickly fixed my expression and glanced at the Grand Lady’s face.
‘What if she thinks I’m acting strange for being too happy about receiving an envelope?’
…Still, it should be fine. I wouldn’t be seeing her again after this anyway.
I looked down at the envelope in my hand. My chest swelled with the feeling that I had finally succeeded.
‘It was long. Really long…!’
How hard had I worked to receive this envelope?
I sincerely hoped that the reward inside would match all that time and effort. Suppressing my rising excitement, I opened it.
‘But it’s bigger than I expected. A cheque would fit even in a normal envelope…’
What I pulled out wasn’t a cheque, but documents.
‘Wait. Why isn’t it a cheque?’
…Ah, I see!
This must be land papers or house documents.
It meant I was being given a house far away from the duchy and told to live there.
‘Selling land or property would be difficult… but maybe the Duke would help sell it for me?’
Engagement Certificate
…Huh?
Did my eyes misread that?
Engagement Certificate
I rubbed my eyes repeatedly, but nothing changed.
The document the Grand Lady of the ducal family had given to me—the woman who had been staying here as the Duke’s so-called fiancée—was clearly written as:
“……Engagement Certificate?”
Something was wrong. Very wrong!
“Grand Lady, I think the document has been switched.”
As if expecting my reaction, the Grand Lady frowned.
“So you were planning to hold a wedding without even an engagement?”
“Pardon?”
“You haven’t forgotten your status, have you? If you don’t follow proper procedures, people who love to gossip will surely call you vulgar behind your back. You can’t change your birth status, so everything else must be perfect.”
“……Pardon?”
“If you still don’t understand, let me explain more clearly. If you marry without an engagement, people will say there must have been some urgent reason between you and Elkiers to rush the wedding.”
I didn’t understand at all…
“You’re already living in this house anyway, so what’s the rush? Instead, I’ll move your residence to the Duchess’s quarters. However, I’ll only give you the key to the connecting door after the wedding ceremony. You understand what I’m saying, right?”
“No… I, I don’t really—”
“No matter how much you feel like you’re going to die of happiness, marital matters only happen after marriage.”
The Grand Lady shook her head at me with the expression of someone dealing with a hopeless fool.
“I can’t believe I have to teach you even this. There will be a lot to educate you on.”
“……”
“The engagement period will be about one year. So for the next year… Hey, Iri! Where are you going!”
I didn’t stop running.
‘What the hell is this!’
The shocked gazes of people passing by brushed my face, but I ignored them all and ran as fast as I could instead of greeting anyone.
And so I arrived at the Duke’s office.
BANG!
The door flew open without even a knock, startling the Duke and his aide.
But I didn’t have the time to apologize. I immediately slammed the document onto the Duke’s desk.
“Duke! This is serious!”
“What’s serious?”
“I was just called by the Grand Lady, and look at what I received!”
“Hmm?”
As if it were nothing serious, the Duke casually sent his aide out of the room with a relaxed gesture.
Then he leaned back in his chair and slowly checked the crumpled document.
“Let’s see…”
His eyelashes, shimmering like golden sand under the sunlight, fluttered elegantly like butterfly wings.
Even now, the Duke’s dazzling beauty made me briefly forget the situation.
“An engagement certificate?”
The sweet voice snapped me back to reality.
Right. Now was not the time to be distracted.
“I thought I was going to get a money envelope! But instead—this!”
I couldn’t understand the Grand Lady at all.
She had always disliked me, so why approve an engagement?
‘A commoner like me becoming a duchess—does that even make sense?’
As if reading my thoughts, the Duke clicked his tongue.
“Isn’t this the natural outcome? You’ve solved more problems than you realize.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“You’re really going to say you don’t know?”
The Duke began counting on his fingers.
“Your older sister, your younger brother, your mother, even the retainers… And Plume refuses to eat unless it’s cookies you baked. If things go wrong, even the spirit beast might starve. Do you really think Mother would just throw you out?”
He had a point there.
‘But that’s only because I tried so hard not to get kicked out before receiving the money envelope…’
I felt wronged. Truly wronged.
But no matter how much I complained now, the engagement certificate in front of me wouldn’t turn into a cheque or land deed.
I had to fix this situation.
This absurd situation where I, a fake fiancée, might end up becoming a real one.
“So what do we do now?”
“Well, it can’t be helped. Let’s just sign it for now.”
I thought I misheard.
“Sign it? Here? You know this is an engagement certificate, right?”
“Are you going to tear it up? And what will you say to Mother?”
“……”
I had no answer.
I couldn’t possibly say:
I pretended to be your fiancée for money.
All those hand-holding, sweet moments were acting.
“Luckily, it’s not a marriage certificate, just an engagement one. This can still be fixed easily.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
The Duke smiled softly, tilting his head toward me.
“Engagements are much easier to break than marriages.”
That was technically true, but…
“My love, you trust me, right?”
“Now, please sign.”
His low whisper made him push the neatly straightened document toward me.
Before I knew it, a fountain pen was already placed in my hand.
‘Is this really right? Am I supposed to sign this?’
No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t feel right—but there was no other option.
In the end, I signed it while swallowing my unease.
“I’m done signing too. Shall we go thank Mother for approving the engagement?”
Watching the Duke smile while holding out his hand gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.
‘When you said I was the one pushing this forward, you also smiled just like that…’
Where did everything start going wrong in this supposedly perfect plan?
Maybe it all began the moment I first met the Duke.
I looked down at the hand he extended to me, and I thought back to that day six months ago.
