Chapter 1 – The Example of a Perfect Contract Marriage

The small but antique drawing room was overflowing with tension. The owner of the drawing room, Madison Rosebund, asked once again the question she had already asked the person seated opposite her more than twenty times.

“Do you happen to like children?”

“Not particularly.”

Good. Madison smiled to herself in satisfaction.

The man before her had just passed all five of Madison’s exacting questions. If he passed only this final question, he would become qualified to be Madison’s husband.

Swallowing hard, Madison asked the last question.

“What do you think a married couple’s duty is?”

* * *

Haaaaaa.

The sound of a woman’s sigh rang through the drawing room.

“I’m doomed.”

Throwing aside the paper she had been holding, Madison let herself collapse carelessly across the sofa. Her face was full of disappointment.

That man just now had been the last interviewee. Of all the interviewees so far, that man who had just passed all the earlier questions had been the one who best fit Madison’s standards.

A man with no family, no friends, no hidden past, and who did not like children.

But unfortunately, when asked that final question about a married couple’s duty, the man had answered like this.

―A married couple’s duty? A married couple should cherish each other until they grow old and die, love each other, and no matter what happens, overcome hardships together……

―Rejected!

That was not the answer Madison wanted.

What she wanted was someone much more lacking in morals, a complete mess of a……

Just then, together with the sound of a knock on the drawing room door, the maid Betty poked her head in.

“Miss. An interviewee is here.”

“An interviewee? There shouldn’t be anyone else coming today.”

Madison sat up.

Before she could even say that the one just now had been the last, the door opened. Beside Betty stood a man who appeared to be an interviewee.

Madison’s gaze naturally turned toward him.

In the brief moment their eyes met, Madison scanned the man from head to toe.

The man had brown hair and wore glasses.

For now, his appearance fit Madison’s standards. No, it could almost be said to be perfect.

A brown-haired man with glasses. That matched exactly ‘a certain condition’ Madison had been searching for.

In an instant, Madison found herself leaning toward giving him an interview.

‘Might as well let him in and see. There’s no one else coming today anyway.’

Quickly abandoning the thought of sending him away, Madison put on a bright public smile.

“Have you come for the interview? Welcome. I’m Madison Rosebund.”

As she rose from her seat and held out her hand, the man who had entered the drawing room naturally took it and shook it.

“I’m Syd.”

“Your family name?”

“I don’t have one.”

‘A man without a family name. Passed.’

With that simple self-introduction alone, the man passed the first test.

“Then I’ll start asking questions now.”

Taking her seat, Madison gathered the scattered papers and neatly straightened them with a tap. She had to start by confirming the basic details of his personal circumstances.

“This may be a rude question, but what is your family situation?”

“I have no family.”

“Then did you grow up in an orphanage? Or did you cut ties with them……”

For reference, neither of those two was an answer Madison wanted.

Fortunately, the man gave a safe answer.

“My parents both passed away when I was young. After that, I grew up on my own.”

“What about relatives?”

“Well. Both my parents were only children, so there is probably no one still alive now.”

“Then you don’t have any nieces, nephews, or younger cousins either.”

“That’s right.”

Syd had not only no close relatives, but no family at all. That too fit the conditions.

However, most of the earlier interviewees had also passed this question easily. To begin with, if they were not this sort of person, they would never have come after seeing Madison’s notice.

The real interview began now.

Madison was looking for a man who fit ‘a certain condition,’ and if the man before her met that condition, she was willing to hold the wedding immediately.

She opened her mouth. The next question carried a secretive tone.

“Do you happen to have a hidden past?”

“……What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, please don’t misunderstand. I’m only asking just in case. The man who becomes my husband can’t be a criminal, can he?”

“Ah, of course.”

At Madison’s explanation, the man, Syd, smiled faintly.

“I have no hidden past. No criminal record either. Ordinary people usually don’t live such remarkable lives that they would need to hide their pasts in the first place.”

“That’s true.”

Pleased with the suitable answer, Madison nodded in agreement.

Even after that, the man continued giving appropriate answers to her questions.

He said he had no job, nowhere to go, and nothing he wanted to do. That was exactly what Madison wanted.

She asked the final question.

“What do you think a married couple’s duty is?”

“A married couple’s duty? Well.”

The man looked as though he gave it a little thought, then smiled and answered.

“As long as one does not produce any children outside the marriage, isn’t that enough?”

“That’s……!”

Madison’s mouth fell open in shock. The next moment, she sprang to her feet without realizing it herself.

“Passed!”

The person standing before her was the fated partner she had dreamed of.

“You’ve passed my husband interview!”

Overcome with emotion, Madison grabbed Syd’s hand tightly.

“Let’s get married right away!”

“Ah, is that how this works?”

And so Madison Rosebund filed a marriage registration with a man she had met only ten minutes earlier.

Madison was 19 years old, and it happened one year before she would become an adult.

* * *

To understand this, it was necessary to go back one month earlier.

One month earlier, Madison lost her mother. She did not cry. She had already prepared herself in her heart.

After losing her mother, following her father who had passed away several years earlier, Madison became the only direct heir of the Rosebund family line.

If Madison had been a man, or at the very least if she had already reached adulthood, then although the procedure might have been somewhat troublesome, she would naturally have become Baron Rosebund, but regrettably Madison was neither.

Unfortunately, because Madison was a minor and a woman, she could not inherit the family title and property.

If Madison gave up the succession, the title would naturally pass to a collateral branch she had never even seen, despite there being only one year left until she reached the age at which she could inherit the title.

Though it was only a barony, a title was still a title, and above all, the greatest problem was that the wealth of the Rosebund family, which Madison had personally built up, was considerable. For her, there was nothing she could give up. To begin with, she was the rightful heir.

That did not mean there was no way.

The only way for Madison, a minor and a woman, to immediately inherit the family title and property was to get herself a husband. If she married and a man entered the household, Madison could safely inherit the title.

Legally, and perfectly.

So the method she came up with was……

“A husband recruitment notice.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

At Syd’s words, Madison nodded.

A little earlier, Syd had just passed Madison’s ‘husband interview.’

―You’ve passed my husband interview!

―Ah, I passed? What an honor.

―Let’s go register the marriage right now!

Without saying this or that, Syd obediently followed along as Madison grabbed his hand and pulled him.

And so, in the carriage on the way to City Hall to file the marriage registration, Madison briefly explained the background of this ‘husband recruitment notice.’ It was admittedly rather late, considering they were already on their way to register the marriage.

“You only need to be my husband on paper for one year. After that, we divorce. I’ll be an adult in a year anyway.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. And you’ll receive 10 gold per week as an allowance for maintaining appearances, and the contract fee is 500,000 gold. If one year passes without issue, I’ll give you another 500,000 gold on top of that. Under the name of divorce alimony.”

Madison held on to Syd and seriously explained the contract terms.

Separate bedrooms would be provided, and he could have a lover if he wished, but he was not allowed to bring that person into the Rosebund estate, and if he caused a disturbance outside or committed a crime or anything else that could be used against him, the contract would be terminated immediately.

In return, Madison would fully provide Syd with food, clothing, and shelter for one year, and would do her best to make sure he suffered no inconvenience in daily life.

With an awkward smile, Madison added,

“It would be nice if you thought of it as just living together for a year as home mates. Each person doing their own thing, and if they run into each other, maybe exchanging greetings.”

“Sounds good.”

“And if a husband’s role or a wife’s role is needed, each side can ask the other, and after mutual agreement, the request is to be accommodated.”

“I will cooperate as much as possible.”

That answer too was to her liking.

“What else was there…… Ah, do you have any luggage to bring with you?”

“No.”

No luggage to bring? What had he been doing before if he did not even have luggage?