Chapter 1 (Part 4)

Realizing that no excuse or evasion would work, Sienna stopped messing with her hair. Staring blankly at the paper, her eyes suddenly widened. A voice that seemed to scream leaked from her red lips.

“This is a magical contract, isn’t it? Why is there a magical contract at a Slave Mate auction?”

A magical contract is rare and valuable enough to be auctioned by itself. The first reason is that creating one requires an enormous amount of magical power and sophisticated magical skills. The second reason is that once a contract is made with a magical contract, it cannot be undone until the contract’s terms are fulfilled. It was a tool perfect for misuse.

Therefore, the production and distribution of magical contracts were directly and strictly managed by the imperial family. From the start, there were only three magicians in the empire, including Duke Felice, who could create magical contracts, so obtaining one was like picking a star from the sky.

Even Sienna was seeing a real magical contract for the first time today. Normally, her spirit of inquiry would have sparked her interest to examine the contract closely, but not now. The thought of being tied to that terrifying magical contract for two weeks made her vision go dark.

“Please sign here in the signature section. We need to proceed quickly as other winners need to go through the process of receiving their auction items.”

“Wait a moment, let me read this first.”

Her grandfather and father had taught her to carefully check the contents of a contract two or three times before signing. Once you stamp or sign, it’s hard to take back.

Sienna’s eyes quickly scanned the magical contract. Surprisingly, it didn’t seem to contain any clauses that were disadvantageous to her. Of course, the fact that she had won the Duke itself was a very disadvantageous condition for her.

Soon, Sienna’s dark green eyes scanned down to the middle of the contract. They were the clauses she roughly expected from her conversation with the staff, and they matched the purpose of the Slave Mate. The contract period was two weeks, all day long, and even when meeting other people, they would be together.

As she mumbled the contents of the contract quietly to herself, Sienna’s dark green eyes paused momentarily. It was the part where the ultimate content of the contract was written.

“The Slave Mate, i.e., the contractor, is obliged to fulfill all the requirements of the bidder until the bidder is satisfied. However, any requirements that pose a threat to the contractor’s personal safety or are extremely unfavorable to the contractor are excluded, and the requirements must also be within a healthy range based on the social consensus of the empire.”

‘So, within a reasonable range, I should use… serve the Duke.’

Sienna nodded her head up and down. She had no intention of making unreasonable demands or forcing the Duke into unhealthy behavior. She didn’t want to be beheaded by the empire’s top swordmaster as soon as the contract ended. Being an outstanding magician as well, he might even make her heart explode before cutting off her head.

She then began to read down to the end of the contract. And, as she became more engrossed in the contract, Sienna’s eyes, which had been gradually taking on a calm light, stopped at one point and wavered aimlessly.

“The bidder and the Slave Mate will live in the same space during the contract period.”

No matter how many times she reread the part she couldn’t believe, the content remained unchanged. She snapped her head up, pointed at the contract, and spoke to the staff.

“Excuse me, what does it mean by the same space?”

“It means exactly that. Earlier, we confirmed through the crystal ball that you are registered as residing in a single room dormitory, Miss Sienna. Is that correct?”

“It is correct, but…”

These days, she practically lived in the laboratory, but since she returned to the dormitory to sleep, it wasn’t incorrect. As she nodded, the staff’s kind yet cold voice came again.

“Then, the Duke will be assigned to the room next to your dormitory, Miss Sienna. You will spend all your time together except for sleeping hours.”

“What?”

Was it just her imagination that the word she said most today was “What?” Sienna opened her eyes wide in disbelief and stammered.

“But, but the dormitory I’m in is a women’s dormitory!”

“Well, it is confirmed as a dormitory for female graduate students, but it appears that you are the only resident in the building, Miss Sienna, is that correct?”

“It is correct, but…!”

“Since you are the only one residing there, it won’t be a problem even if it’s a women’s dormitory. If you feel uncomfortable, there is also the option of using the Duke’s villa near the academy.”

“…I’ll just stay in the dormitory.”

The thought of staying at Duke Felice’s villa was too burdensome. In the end, having given up on everything, Sienna nodded weakly and picked up the pen.

Right. Well, at least they weren’t sharing the same room. It was obvious that if she refused, the words ‘imperial decree’ would await her, and wasting more time would only be a disadvantage to herself.

Sienna let out a deep sigh and brought the pen to the signature line of the magical contract. As soon as she finished signing and lifted the pen, a golden light burst from the magical contract and began to gently envelop Sienna’s body. Sienna had ultimately won the Duke.

* * *

‘Yes. The contract is completed, and the transfer of 300 million Er from Miss Sienna’s account has been confirmed. The auction item will be delivered directly to Miss Sienna’s room.’

With the staff’s words confirming the magical contract, Sienna trudged out of the main auditorium.

Standing in front of the now quiet auditorium after the auction had ended, she held only a pot containing Mandrago’s Sigh in her hand. The flower, resembling an orange lump, was impressive, and true to its name, it emitted a sigh-like sound through a small hole in the middle of the flower.

Phew-

“Sigh…”

Sienna let out a sigh simultaneously with Mandrago’s Sigh, her face troubled as she slowly moved her feet. Her steps seemed heavy as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

“…What on earth is happening?”

What had happened from the morning until now? She thought not being able to graduate was the biggest crisis, but she never expected a bigger crisis to arise in less than a day.

She felt an impulse to just run away, but with the imperial decree involved and having signed the magical contract, there was no way out. Sienna’s steps had now slowed to a snail’s pace.

Where on earth had Montague disappeared to? 

Even though his only sister was suffering because of him, he hadn’t shown even a glimpse of himself. Sienna gritted her teeth, thinking of her brother.

“I should try to contact him as soon as I get back.”

She wondered if she had charged the academy after using it last time. Lost in thought, Sienna let out a deep sigh and shook her head.

Now is not the time to worry about charging the academy. The bigger problem was Duke Felice, who might be waiting for her when she returned. Sienna’s steps had now slowed to less than a snail’s pace.

At this rate, she would probably arrive by sunset. It was the moment she thought that Duke Felice might already have arrived at the dormitory. Walking slowly, Sienna hastily covered her mouth with the hand not holding the pot.

“This is not the time to be doing this!”

The staff had clearly said they would deliver Duke Felice directly to her room. Remembering that she hadn’t been able to tidy her room for weeks due to being engrossed in experiments, she let out a silent scream and dashed frantically toward the dormitory.

The biggest problem above all else was…

“Crazy, crazy. What should I do!”

Whenever she was very stressed or really hated studying, her libido would particularly surge. Since starting her doctoral program, Sienna had developed a new hobby of satisfying her desires with hard-to-find toys while reading erotic novels.

But of all times, she just remembered that she had brought a few novels, which had always been in the lab, to the dormitory. Even worse, she had read them last night, so they were likely still spread open with the covers visible! Sienna’s face turned pale.

There was no time. She had to arrive before Duke Felice somehow and hide those things first.