“Devoted attentions, he says.”

Rose’s face scrunched up as she pointed out the flaw.

“Even so, we’ve been meeting for years and I’ve felt nothing. How does it make sense to suddenly fall in love in a week?”

“Do your family members know we’ve been meeting all this time?”

Jade laughed off her objection with a dismissive snort.

“……No.”

They don’t know. They absolutely won’t.

Rose had kept it a strict secret from her family that she and Jade had met privately, by chance, and fairly often. The only exceptions were Siset and Terra, the two people she trusted more than her own parents when it came to keeping secrets.

“Listen carefully. We’ve never met in private, Rose.”

Assuming that, then:

“We were barely acquainted, the kind of people who only ran into each other at the imperial palace by chance. I fell for you the moment I saw you, suffered for years over a forbidden love for an enemy’s daughter, wandered for five years, and finally came back to Hailion with my mind made up to confess. And now you’re starting to waver.”

“That’s ridiculous. Falling for someone at first sight.”

Rose’s serious expression crumbled and she laughed out loud.

“Who in the world runs away from home over unrequited love? And if you spent five years apart after that, you’d have forgotten everything, including the person’s name. That’s too flimsy. Who would believe something like that?”

That wasn’t love, that was blind obsession and senseless inertia, she laughed, shaking her head at the absurdity.

“……You’re very good at criticism.”

Jade’s expression grew steadily colder. He had been out of the water for a while, so it couldn’t be steam, yet somehow it looked as though a hazy mist was rising from the top of his head.

Ah. He’s angry. Did I poke at his pride about having read some romance?

“Ahem. My apologies.”

Rose quickly wiped the smile from her face, lowered her eyes primly, and straightened up.

“Sorry. I genuinely don’t know much about romance.”

She added a modest word of apology for good measure.

Jade, who had been watching her with an unfriendly look, lowered the hand from his hip and sat down beside her.

“I know. Let’s keep it simple. For now, remember this: the idea that falling in love requires elaborate plausibility is wrong.”

Rose wanted to argue with his smug tone, but she had a feeling she’d come out worse for it, so she kept her mouth shut.

She could practically see Anne beating her own chest and crying out, ‘Neighbors! There’s a very good reason my child has made it to twenty-two without a single romance or marriage prospect!’

“……All right. Up until yesterday I had no feelings for you, but let’s say there was just the tiniest bit of room to waver. I’ll commit to that.”

She carefully memorized the premise Jade had laid out.

The son of an enemy family she had barely known, meeting again after years, suddenly confessing his love. A pitiful man who had wandered for so long because of a forbidden love. He pours his heart into showing his devotion……

Honestly, even if she received such a confession, she doubted she would feel the slightest stir of emotion.

But this was the only path forward.

Rose stared at Jade and turned it over in her mind, and found exactly one piece of plausibility.

His looks. Right, hadn’t comedy audiences said it themselves in interviews? If the male lead had transcendent beauty and a body to match, no other plausibility was necessary.

“All right. Thinking about it again, a week does seem like enough time to fall in love.”

Rose herself was a stubborn realist and had never once lost her heart to a man’s face, but regardless.

Maybe falling in love didn’t require a deep reason or a long time. Every year, even at a three-day festival, couples who had just met and gotten together were everywhere…… she reminded herself, steeling her resolve.

Oh, and speaking of which, the May Arts Festival, the biggest festival in Melos, was coming up soon. This year would be twice as hectic.

“Then let’s set our goals concretely. First, what are the two forms of entertainment that Hailion’s citizens love most?”

Jade turned to face her and asked.

“Dueling. Romance.”

It was an easy question, so she answered immediately. Regrettably, both were things Rose had no interest in.

“From now on, we’re going to use those to win over both our families and the citizens at the same time.”

“Why the citizens?”

“Because the two of us might not be enough to handle both families on our own. We need allies outside. If our families try to stand in our way, the citizens will get even more fired up and put pressure on the lords. And if the citizens are paying attention, the senate will want to quietly get involved too. And after the senate?”

“Wait. Would things really get that big? Even if Hailion’s citizens are obsessed with romance, with so many other scandals out there, I don’t see why they’d pay us any special attention……”

Rose was examining the plan for weaknesses, as she always did when reviewing something important, when she noticed Jade watching her quietly with a smile and stopped.

Right. This man had his name in newspapers constantly.

“After the senate, Rose?”

Jade resumed the question naturally, as though he already knew what she was thinking.

“The imperial family.”

Rose answered in almost a whisper.

“If the imperial family takes notice of our attempt at reconciliation……”

And then she understood what he was getting at.

The four seals required on a marriage permit, the family seals of both parties, the high priest’s seal, and the imperial seal, the temple and imperial approval were really just formalities. That wasn’t what he meant.

“They’ll give back the deputy director’s position at Grafa.”

A clear light returned to her eyes. The dimness that had settled over her at the thought of performing romance she had no talent for vanished in an instant, replaced by brightness.

Becoming deputy director of Grafa Bank.

A position that had been all but stripped from Ordo after being destined for them. A position that, since the days of Escalus II, had carried the implicit promise that when the day came for the imperial family to step back and entrust its work to its vassals, Ordo would be first in line.

“The reason your lord of Melos was pushed out of the running was because of the disaster between our two families. Of course your family’s worthless troublemakers and knights being a disgrace plays a part too, but I can fix that with a little nudge.”

Rose was already deep in her own imagination and couldn’t hear Jade’s voice anymore.

Oh, if she could restore peace to the family and reclaim the deputy director’s seat at Grafa Bank……

“Aah, I’d have no regrets. I could leave this world without a single attachment, light as a feather……”

Rose smiled with a serenity that bordered on dangerous and gazed up at the distant sky.

In her imagination, a happy, smiling version of herself rose above the olive tree in front of her and floated up, up, up into the highest reaches of the sky. And then slowly faded away.

“You can’t just drift off to the next world after accomplishing something this small, come on.”

Jade grabbed her shoulders and shook her with irritation.

“You’re an only child. Are you planning to let those useless troublemakers carry on the family line?”

Ah, that would be a problem.

“And if we have a child together, are you expecting me to raise it alone?”

“A child……?”

Rose snapped back to her senses.

A child. Right, there was still little Shurelli. Shurelli, whom Rose had to protect while helping Anton, who was failing as a guardian.

And on top of that…… what if she herself had a child through this marriage alliance? Even her niece Shurelli, who only slightly resembled her, was unbearably precious. What would it be like if a child of her own were born……

“……What if it only takes after you?”

Rose hurriedly erased the image forming in her mind of a slippery little boy with dark hair.

“This isn’t the time to worry about whether our child will take after its father, Rose.”

Jade tightened his grip on her shoulders and continued, looking at her with eyes that brimmed with an unnameable heat.

“The priority right now is to fully commit to the premise that we’re two people in love and overcome our families’ opposition. Isn’t that right?”

Whose child would take after whom could come after.

“I understand. When I commit to something, I commit. I won’t lose to you.”

Rose fired herself up and let her resolve swell.

“Don’t forget, Rose. You’ve opened your heart to me.”

Jade whispered each word clearly, as though pressing them deep into her ear.

“I know. I’ve opened my heart. Because you fell for me at first sight, wandered for years, came back and confessed, and then……”

The core detail, that he was, frankly, quite handsome, she swallowed down along with a dry gulp.

“It’s for the family.”

Rose solemnly repeated her first and foremost reason.

“Then let’s meet again tomorrow with the oath prepared. If you have specific conditions you want included, write them down. We’ll go over what we’ve each written, agree on the terms, and sign.”