Chapter 4

“……Fernande?”

The more powerful and prestigious a noble was, the more titles they tended to possess.

‘Is he saying that giving one of them to me would be nothing at all?’

Under imperial law, titles couldn’t be transferred, so it seemed like he might be trying to exploit a loophole after forming an engagement.

Still……. If he could give her the name ‘Everdeen’ anyway, then there was no real reason for him to marry her in the first place, was there?

‘Surely he did not mean that he wanted me to stay by Cesar’s side and care for the child until he began speaking again…….’

She parted her lips soundlessly.

“A-Are you saying right now that I should become Cesar’s mother and raise him?!”

“There seems to be some misunderstanding. Why would I entrust the child’s upbringing to you? On what grounds?”

“T-Then……?”

The hand holding the teacup trembled.

She stared at Sierd with a blank face, but he paid no mind and gestured to the aide waiting in the back.

“Henry, prepare the contract.”

“Yes, Duke.”

Once the aide left the drawing room, only the two of them remained in the spacious room at last.

‘How did he know what kind of contract it was and go off to prepare it?’

Only then did she jerk in her seat and cry out,

“W-Wait, just a moment!”

“If there is a problem, you may speak to me.”

“You just proposed ‘marriage’ to me, Duke, and you think there would not be a problem?”

“A proposal……. I suppose it could be seen that way.”

Sierd nodded as if it were no great matter. He bent the wrist resting on the armrest slightly and glanced down at his watch, then raised his head again.

Those chillingly red eyes landed on her. Her shoulders gave a small jolt.

“You would do well not to miss this opportunity, Head of the Everdeen Merchant Guild.”

“…Even if it were not you, Duke, I could marry a noble even now if I wished. I simply have not done it. Because I do not want that method.”

Not for a moment had she wanted to become a parasite living off some noble merely for the sake of becoming a noble herself.

She intended to become a noble by having her own ability recognized. To crush the arrogance of those nobles who strutted about as if the bloodline they were born with made them something special. To become a source of hope for the commoners who lived each day more diligently than anyone else.

With a tired expression, Sierd added,

“That is why I offered to give you the name ‘Everdeen.’ Once Cesar learns to speak, and once he comes to understand that you are not his birth mother, we may simply divorce.”

“But that still means I have to live in the ducal household until then. Pretending to be your spouse. Isn’t that right?”

At her question, Sierd raised one eyebrow.

“It seems a non-hereditary title does not satisfy you, but anything beyond that is impossible under Imperial law without marriage.”

“That is not the important part…….”

“It is important. This is an opportunity granted to you because fortune favored you, Elodia. Cast aside the vulgar habits of a petty merchant when you stand before me, and think again. I do not negotiate with anyone.”

“Ha.”

In Sierd’s mind, there had never been any possibility that she would refuse the contract marriage. To him, it was already as good as settled.

‘But…….’

She bit her lip hard.

‘The Duke was right. I can’t refuse.’

There was no contract arrangement in the world more stable than marriage. Even if it was a contract marriage, a noble on the level of Sierd Fernande could not possibly treat marriage like a joke.

‘Between people who shared no trust, there was no better set of terms than this.’

Moreover, as long as Cesar remained attached to her, the contract would be applied in her favor.

“The card you originally brought to negotiate with me was nothing more than useless toys. You must have harbored the shameless thought of using Cesar to lure me in, but did you truly think I would accept such a proposal?”

“It was not entirely impossible. The Young Master did, in fact, like the toys.”

“……That part was unexpected. That my son would like some artifact brought in by a damned mage.”

As if displeased by the thought, the Duke’s brow furrowed mercilessly.

She met his gaze with puzzled eyes.

‘He knows I’m a mage?’

The Duke had not said an artifact ‘made’ by a mage, but an artifact ‘brought in’ by a mage. He had referred to her as a mage.

She tried to calm her racing heart.

As she bit her lower lip, the Duke, after sweeping his gaze over her, asked in a flat tone,

“Ha.”

“…….”

“Did you think I would allow you into the Duchy without even investigating that much? Especially into the place where my son lives.”

Cesar Fernande, the son of the current Duke Fernande. If the rumors circulating were true, the child’s mother had lost her life two years ago in an artifact explosion. Along with Sierd’s younger sister.

After their deaths, the former Duke and Duchess had withdrawn from politics, and the man before her had gone so far as to curse the Mage Tower. So how could his feelings toward her, a mage, possibly be favorable?

‘There had even been a recording artifact installed in the drawing room…….’

It was no wonder he recoiled from magic.

Only then did she understand why the gaze he had fixed on her from the beginning had been far from kind.

Avoiding his eyes, she fidgeted with her fingers.

“…I did not hide it on purpose.”

“I know there must be another reason, since you are not a mage registered with the Mage Tower. But a mage’s circumstances are of no importance to me.”

“…….”

“What matters to me is the fact that a mage stepped into the ducal residence, and that I had no intention of letting that mage leave so easily.”

There was no one who did not know how fiercely the Fernande duchy rejected magic, or how deeply they despised mages.

“So the reason you agreed to meet me was never because of cooperation with the Everdeen Merchant Guild, or because of Cesar’s toys?”

“…….”

It was disheartening. She had been desperate, but he had not.

‘He had been testing me.’

He had wanted to see whether she would visit the ducal residence while hiding the fact that she was a mage. And to find out why.

A bitter smile touched her lips.

“Today…….”

She looked straight at the Duke with clear eyes.

“I’m glad I found the recording artifact. If I hadn’t found it, I would have been the one under suspicion.”

Sierd’s expression turned subtle.

At that moment, she changed her stiff expression and gave him a bright, sweet smile.

“Please take good care of me, Honey.”

If he was the rope that could pull her out, then what choice did she have but to grab hold of it?

Too much was riding on the title she stood to receive. Not merely a rise in status.

And so, if he was the only breakthrough capable of protecting the Everdeen Merchant Guild, then she would do her utmost to…….

“You do like the form of address, don’t you?”

There was no choice but to bow low.

“It is highly unpleasant, so call me Sierd.”

* * *

“Jack.”

“…….”

“Jack.”

“…….”

“Hey, Jack!”

“Ack!”

She grabbed the shoulders of Jack, who had been pacing through the office.

“Wh-What is the matter with you?!”

“You didn’t answer when I called you. What are you thinking about? Say something. And stop glaring at people like that.”

Jack looked at her with a sullen face. His eyes narrowed.

“…The other day, did you go to the Fernande ducal house to propose marriage?”

“What nonsense are you talking about now? I already explained everything.”

“So that’s why you chose the ducal house instead of the Mage Tower? Because the Tower Master is old enough to be your father?!”

Thwack!

She swung the cushion in her hand hard against Jack’s broad back.

Jack lowered his huge frame and furrowed his brows.

“But you said you hated having your looks praised, Guild Leader! Yet you used a beauty trap to persuade the Duke of Fernande into marrying you, so we feel so guilty we cannot sleep at night! Right?”

“W-What do you mean, using what? Get over here. Brats like you are the worst, honestly.”

With a cushion in each hand, she ran around in a cloud of dust.

“If it wasn’t a beauty trap, then what was it?! What else is there to look at besides your face?!”

“Are you trying to start something today?!”

“You said you would live with us without getting married!”

“I never said I would live with you all!”

“I’m disappointed!”

“Why are you the one who’s disappointed?!”

It was then. Jack, after circling around the sofa once, slipped straight out through the open door.

The gaze that had been chasing after him naturally shifted to the person standing by the doorway.

“Olive?”

“Guild Leader, an urgent letter.”

“An urgent letter? Looks like there’s a new classification system now.”

She roughly fixed her disheveled hair and took the envelope Olive handed her. A rather unpleasant seal was stamped on it.

“I labeled it that way myself. From now on, any letter from the Fernande duchy is urgent.”

“Urgent… ha, right, urgent.”

Olive closed the office door and came inside.

She sat herself carelessly on the armrest of the sofa and pulled out the letter to read it.

“Why does he keep summoning people back and forth…….”

“Pardon?”

Olive asked, pushing up their glasses.

The relationship between her and Sierd was difficult to reveal even to those close to her. Besides, the contract had not even been signed and sealed yet.

She pulled at the corners of her mouth and smoothed over her slip of the tongue.

“Ah, Sierd says he wants to see me. I think I’ll need to drop by the Fernande ducal house for a moment. Is my schedule okay today?”

The letter that had been crumpled in her grasp was neatly slipped back into the envelope as if nothing had happened.

“You have no outside meetings before the dinner banquet. Shall I accompany you?”

“No. They said they’d send a carriage from there. Just do something about my hair, Olive.”

Olive clicked their tongue at the sight of the hair left in a mess after her fierce struggle with Jack.

While her hair was being put in order, she stamped approval on five documents and finished confirming the report from the toy development department.

“Give this to Jack, and ask Garnet to handle this one.”

“Yes. Have a safe trip, Guild Leader.”

Olive and an employee from the merchant guild loaded her belongings into the carriage.

After bidding Olive farewell with the happiest smile imaginable, she climbed into the carriage. Then, with a face more exhausted than anyone’s, she drew the curtain shut.

“We depart for the Fernande residence!”