「Contractual marriage agreement.

1. Contractual marriages shall be kept secret, even from family members.

2. If either party wants it, divorce will happen after two years of marriage.」

‘If you want to…’

「3. There shall be no interference in each other’s personal matters.」

Even as he wrote them down, it was a contract clause that didn’t sit well with him.

Leopold stared blankly at the paper.

Then he wrote a few more words below and smirked.

“I’ll do as you wish. The contract conditions I want are simple.”

He pushed the paper onto the table in front of Ariel.

She accepted the paper and read it carefully.

Contractual marriage to be kept secret from the family, just as I wanted. And I can say we’ll be divorcing after two years. Not interfering in personal matters means he won’t care who I meet or where I go.

Ariel nodded and raised an eyebrow.

But suddenly, her eyes widened in astonishment.

“What?!”

She brought the paper closer to her eyes, wondering if she had seen it wrong.

But she had read it correctly.

Her lips opened wide.

She was speechless for a moment.

Without calming her surprised heart, she managed to ask him with difficulty.

“W-what does this mean?”

Ariel glanced back and forth between Leopold and the paper.

「4. The married couple shall fulfill their marital relationship faithfully.」

She reread the part where her gaze lingered.

‘Relationship… marital relationship?!’

When you say marital relationship, it means rolling around in bed the night before and those kinds of things, right?

Her eyes widened so much that the whites showed.

‘I didn’t mean to startle her like this. But she’s this cute and lovely. It’s clear that I’m so crazy for her.’

Leopold’s expression softened when he saw Ariel’s reaction.

It was because she had finally come to his side, the existence he had longed for, wanted, and hoped for.

Although there was a two-year deadline, he believed he could move her heart enough during that time.

Sometimes, the transience of life reflected on her face appeared like the expression of a 90-year-old elderly person who had experienced everything in life, which was enough to make him worry.

But this raw and refreshing reaction to her constantly changing expressions was fascinating to watch.

To prevent the sound of a series of giggles from leaking out, Leopold clenched his teeth.

“Your Majesty!”

She shot him a glance as she slammed the paper on the table.

She was about to shout and protest, asking why such an unreasonable clause was included.

But Leopold interrupted her.

“Why? Are you about to say it’s nonsense?”

He narrowed his eyes, laughter lingering in them.

He knew too.

That it was an unreasonable clause.

That even people who might divorce two years later had to be faithful in their marital relationship.

Ariel’s reaction was understandable enough.

But it was just written that way.

His intention behind the words was that he would touch her whenever he wanted, without hesitation, and hold onto his possession when he wanted to.

But she couldn’t properly grasp his intention.

Ariel turned her head abruptly and crossed her arms with a stubborn expression.

The mere touch of his body ignited a tickling sensation in her heart, spreading throughout her body. To think that she had to maintain a marital relationship. If she sincerely committed to the marital relationship as he desired, she might even fall in love with him. And if the original heroine appeared… It would be her destined fate to be cruelly abandoned.

‘Ah. If I end up falling in love with him, I would have to suppress my feelings. And how painful would that be.’

She had to hide the fact that her heart trembled at his gaze even now.

To think that such an embarrassing situation would become her daily life.

Her dilated pupils, staring blankly at the table, trembled violently.

She bit her lower lip, expecting that her contractual marriage life would not be smooth.

If she became the villainess just like in the original storyline because she loved him, then only death would await her.

Yet, there was nowhere for her to retreat. He was a person who would do anything to achieve what he wanted.

This realization made Ariel determined.

‘Before that happens, I must connect them two and make my swift exit… I can do it. Ariel, you can do it.’

Ariel repeated this to herself, then turned her head towards Leopold with a smile playing on her lips.

Her eyes, gazing at him, sparkled with clarity once again.

Her emerald-green eyes were clear without any hesitation or fear.

She pushed the contract towards Leopold on the table.

“Please sign.”

Thinking that she might change her mind, he quickly brought the document in front of him.

In no time, he carefully wrote his name on the contract and took out the emperor’s seal from his pocket.

It was made of gold, poured into a case engraved with the dragon from the founding myth of Atlan, the jade seal reflected the light and sparkled.

It was a seal made when he ascended to the throne, a seal he used twice, once on the document proclaiming him emperor and once on the document confirming his conquest of the Kingdom of Macglier.

Those who assisted the emperor could glimpse his sincerity just by using this seal.

Leopold opened the lid of the seal and stamped it forcefully on the contract.

In the place where the jade seal touched, ink made of crushed gold sparkled.

“There.”

Leopold’s heart, handing over the paper, felt like it was about to burst. If Ariel simply signed it with her own handwriting, this contract would be finalized.

Then the moment that he had longed for would come true.

He thought it was almost impossible to make her his own.

Although there might be a chance for them to meet again in life, he couldn’t rule out the possibility that she was already married or that she had grown up in a different way from what he knew.

Ariel blankly took the pen and finished signing.

After that, she made up her mind to not attach any meaning to this loveless contractual marriage.

‘Let’s obediently fulfill the terms of the contract.’

She vowed to quietly exit the stage in this novel after connecting Liese and Leopold.

Without predicting what changes today’s choice would bring.

“I’ll send you a marriage proposal soon.”

Leopold said as he put the contract and the seal into his pocket.

His reddened face seemed to reveal his true feelings.

Leopold’s red pupils were hazy, as if he were intoxicated.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Ariel nodded slightly, and Leopold stood up.

When she tried to stand up, he gently pressed her shoulder and blocked her.

“Hmm, you don’t have to get up.”

“How dare I.”

He cut her off.

“Thank you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just, everything.”

Ariel’s eyes widened in surprise, not understanding why he was thanking her, unaware of what he meant.

Leopold found her surprised expression too cute.

‘I’ll have to think about how I’m going to roast her in the future to get her to curl up next to me.’

Leopold smirked and walked past her, leaving the dining room.

Richard, standing in front of the door, followed him.

The maid who had witnessed this scene hastily informed Marquis Louis of the news.

Upon hearing the news, he rushed out of his study with a restless heart.

“Your Majesty.”

Louis stood where Leopold had turned his head.

The blushing and shy man in front of Ariel was long gone.

Leopold looked at Louis with an indifferent yet lazy, and possibly even bored, expression.

“I will send a proposal, so prepare yourself.”

He had many eyes to see and ears to hear, so he lowered his voice so that only Louis could hear.

“What? Uh, yes, Your Majesty.”

Louis doubted if he had heard correctly.

‘A sudden proposal? The Emperor to Ariel?’

He felt as if he had been struck in the back of his head.

Just then, Chamberlain Richard opened the main door, and the cold autumn air rushed into the mansion.

Leopold climbed into the carriage, his frock coat, a mix of gray and green, flying in the wind.

Louis came forward with a bow and kept his head down until the carriage departed.

The look in Louis’s eyes, gazing at the ground, trembling uneasily.

Thud.

The snow-white horses began to trot under the coachman’s whip.

Soon, the horses picked up speed, and the golden carriage disappeared into the distance.

Marquis Louis was about to raise his head and enter the mansion.

“Are you sure the lady hasn’t done something wrong?”

“Shh!”

One of the maids, who hadn’t heard the proposal, murmured.

Beside her, someone patted her shoulder to shut her mouth.

But her voice had already pierced Marquis Louis’s ears, who had grown uncomfortable with Leopold’s stern face.

He turned his body sharply towards the source of the sound and glared fiercely.

“Who is it? The person who lightly mocks others.”

The faces of the two maids turned pale.

His daughter, Ariel, didn’t mind any scandal, as long as the fact that she was Ariel wouldn’t be revealed to the world.

So, until she left for Kolnman, Marquis Louis had separately written confidentiality agreements for the servants he hired.

He thought about immediately severing the tongues of the two maids who spoke so lightly, but he decided to conclude it with a warning to all the servants.

Louis shouted loudly at the servants.

“If you dare to recklessly talk about what happened today… you should be prepared to give up your lives.”