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“Money Envelope, I’ll Take It Once” Chapter : 05
A pair of eyes, sharp with a warning light as if telling me to think carefully before answering, stared intensely at me.
But there was only one thought in my mind.
‘No way.’
It would be more likely for fish to fly in the sky.
I am a commoner. Worse, an orphan who doesn’t even know who my parents are.
No matter how urgently they needed to continue the family line, there was no way they would make a girl of unknown origin like me bear the heir of a ducal house.
‘If that were the case, they would have already acknowledged the maid who was the younger brother’s lover.’
Instead, they would definitely try to drive me away with a money envelope.
From the Duchess’s perspective, she had already done it once—how hard could it be to do it again?
“Your Grace. I’ve come up with a very good idea.”
“What is it?”
I began talking like a scammer selling questionable goods, like those fraudsters I sometimes saw in the fountain square.
“So, Your Grace doesn’t want to get married right now, but you’re being nagged to hurry up and get married and have children, right?”
“That’s right. That’s exactly why I’m out here at this late hour instead of being at home.”
“I have a very good way to stop that nagging.”
“What is it? Pretending to be my lover?”
“Not just pretending to be your lover. You should bring me along and say, ‘I will not marry anyone except this woman!’”
Perhaps it was an unexpected suggestion, because the Duke raised one eyebrow.
“Hm. And then?”
“As a commoner, do you think I’d be acceptable to the Duchess? At first, she’ll tell me to know my place and break up with you. Then I’ll act like I’m so in love with you that I can’t leave you and cling stubbornly.”
“And wait until the Duchess gives you a money envelope?”
“Yes. If I take it and disappear cleanly, then Your Grace can use it as a shield, saying, ‘Didn’t I tell you I would not marry anyone else?’”
“…Ah. And then you’d say, if they want me married so badly, they should bring back the fiancée you drove away?”
“Yes, yes! Exactly!”
I was proudly praising my own brilliant plan when the Duke laughed out loud.
“What if you really get dragged back?”
“I doubt that would happen. I’m just a commoner.”
“Well… if the problem is just your background, they could always pay some remote noble house to adopt you and clean up your status.”
“Hmm… if things go that far, couldn’t you secretly handle things behind the scenes?”
“Me?”
“Yes. If you actually end up marrying me, you’d be the one in the most trouble, right?”
“Me?”
……Huh?
“Alright. I was already going crazy from all the nagging, so if this stops it, I’ll be grateful.”
The Duke smiled at me deeply. It was a dense smile, like freshly harvested honey.
“But let me make one thing clear—it was I who brought it up first, but it is Iris who is actively pushing this forward.”
“Huh—so you’re really going along with this insane plan?”
I quickly nodded before he could change his mind.
“Yes! I will take full responsibility for anything that happens! Your Grace, please just trust me!”
My energetic response seemed to please him, and he gave me a soft, smiling glance.
“To think my future fiancée is this reliable. I really am lucky.”
“Huh? Fiancée?”
“Shouldn’t we be more than just pretend lovers? We should at least be engaged if we want my mother to give you a money envelope, don’t you think?”
……Now that he said it, it did make sense.
As I nodded, the Duke stood up and looked down at his feet before speaking.
“Shai.”
At that, a dark shadow suddenly rose from beneath his feet.
“Eek! W-what is that?”
“My subordinate. Don’t be surprised—you’ll be seeing her often. Also, Shai can’t speak, so keep that in mind.”
“Oh, I see. Hello. Nice to meet you. I’m Iris, the girl who has become Your Grace’s fake lover… or rather, fiancée starting today.”
After I bowed politely, the slightly shorter, slender, and agile woman also bowed back.
Once the greeting was done, the Duke held out his hand to Shai.
As if she already understood what he wanted, Shai immediately pulled out paper and a pen from her bag at her waist.
“Shall we write a contract first?”
“P-pardon? A contract?”
“Just in case.”
On the makeshift writing board Shai provided, the Duke quickly wrote something.
“Take a look.”
“Yes.”
Of course, I intended to sign no matter what was written.
“…Huh?”
But what was written on the paper was so unexpected that I widened my eyes.
‘This… isn’t a contract. It’s a referral letter.’
That’s right. What the Duke had written in an instant was a letter of introduction.
A referral letter addressed to the head of a magical healing center in the capital.
“When I was in the capital, I once did a favor for that director. With this, you can be admitted to the VIP ward and receive top-level treatment until recovery. It’s free too.”
“The VIP ward? A-and it’s free too?”
“Well, strictly speaking, it’s not exactly free.”
The Duke gently took the paper from my hands.
Then, like a cat teasing with a blade of grass, he waved the letter in front of me with a smile.
“Prepayment. This is for your grandmother’s treatment. You wouldn’t want to just take it and disappear without finishing the job, right?”
“…Ah.”
“And pay back the treatment fee with the money envelope later. Don’t just run off on your own.”
His kindness made my chest feel full. Without even thinking, I shouted loudly.
“Yes! I will repay this kindness even with my body if I must!”
“You’re really going to get yourself into trouble saying things like that.”
“I will work hard so I never have to hear marriage nagging again! Hurry up and write the contract, Your Grace!”
At my words, the Duke laughed again.
“Alright… but since it was your idea, no taking it back later, okay?”
“Of course! I swear it!”
And so, on another sheet Shai brought, the Duke and I wrote our contract.
The contents were simple.
First, the Duke would provide a referral letter so my grandmother could receive treatment at the capital’s magical healing center.
Second, I would act as his fiancée until I received the money envelope, after which I would hand it over to him.
Third, if I ultimately failed to obtain the money envelope……
“Then you’ll repay it with your body, whether as my secretary or something else.”
“Yes! I will repay it no matter what!”
As if quite pleased with this arrangement as well, the Duke smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. First, send your grandmother to the capital. Then meet me again this Sunday at noon at the fountain square.”
“Yes! I’ll be waiting in front of the fountain!”
Afraid I might lose the letter on the way home, I clutched it tightly and ran all the way back home.
“She’s going to trip again if she runs like that…”
At Elkius’s brief call, Shai immediately vanished back into the darkness.
Blessed by the spirit of shadows, she could not only melt into darkness but also move from shadow to shadow.
From the shadow of a bench to a tree, from a tree to a stone wall—and in an instant, she slipped into Iris’s shadow.
After sending off his subordinate, a deep, swamp-like silence settled around Elkius.
The air itself felt heavier. Perhaps it was because his ever-smiling face had gone expressionless.
“…So she still doesn’t remember?”
He muttered with feigned disappointment, but at the end of it, a tiny smile bloomed like a cherry.
“Seeing her up close makes her even prettier. She grew up just like she did back then.”
As if already regretting something, Elkius recalled Iris’s bright smile and lightly flicked the contract paper in his hand, narrowing his eyes.
“I was planning not to get greedy, thinking it’d be unfair to drag her into that disgusting family… but this changes things.”
He reviewed their conversation while gazing at Iris’s neatly written signature.
“Even if she gets the money envelope or doesn’t, if Iris runs away and gets caught, she agrees not to resist being imprisoned in the duke’s estate prison.”
‘Is this clause okay?’
‘Of course it’s fine! If I ever repay kindness with betrayal, please catch me and punish me properly, Your Grace!’
“She doesn’t even realize she’s getting tied down by me… how can she be so carefree?”
Though the night sky was covered in clouds and no moon could be seen, his gently curved eyes resembled the tail of a crescent moon.
Even the corners of his lips hidden behind the paper curved the same way.
Thinking of a distant past, Elkius sat for a long time on the bench, where the warmth of someone’s presence had already faded away.
