Chapter 27. Loveless Marriage

It was a complete mess.

Father, who had lost his reason after a drink, clung to Aster and spouted all sorts of nonsense. In the end, with his eyes moist, he emphasized that he was entrusting me to him.

Dad, drunk, had already married me off to him in his mind. Listening to all that while Aster smiled nonchalantly was terrifying.

Aster quickly realized that Father became generous when he drank and kept filling his glass.

Father, caught in such a cunning scheme, didn’t even realize he was being taken and fell for it completely. To top it off, he even extended the ridiculous hospitality of inviting Aster to stay the night.

Finally, by passing out gloriously, Father declared complete defeat to Aster.

This is the result.

I stared blankly at Aster, who had naturally taken a place in the guest room and was checking the state of the bed. He had washed clean and donned a robe, looking as if he had always lived in Francis Castle.

Standing some distance away, arms crossed, I asked,

“Are you really planning to stay the night?”

“Father-in-law told me to stay, so it wouldn’t be polite to just leave.”

The term ‘Father-in-law’ made me chuckle. It seemed that since my drunken father had allowed the use of that term, Aster’s remarks were unrestrained. The natural flow of the title change was quite astonishing.

“It seems like the term ‘Father-in-law’ has stuck to your mouth.”

“I’ll be calling him that from now on, so I need to get used to it.”

“It seems you’ve already adapted.”

“Not quite yet.”

Aster grinned and stood up. He took my shoulder and naturally led me to the table.

On the table was an evening tea set, perfect for drinking before bed. He sat across from me and filled the teacups.

“To be honest, I was quite nervous.”

“You didn’t seem that way at all.”

“That’s a relief.”

He replied calmly and pushed the teacup towards me. The warm tea seemed to soothe my insides.

As Aster savored the tea, he suddenly chuckled as if he had realized something.

“House Francis is really kind. Even providing tea that’s good for a hangover.”

“Father is weak to alcohol, so he’s well-versed in teas like this.”

“Yet, considering he drank with me, it seems he likes me quite a bit.”

“He might change his mind when he sobers up tomorrow.”

“Does that mean I need to drink with him again?”

“You’re quite a drinker, aren’t you? Just don’t complain about your stomach hurting tomorrow.”

Aster burst into laughter at my small scolding. I had meant it as nagging, but it had no impact, making me feel awkward.

He finished his tea and said,

“Thanks to this tea, I don’t think I’ll have a hangover. I quite like this.”

“You like what?”

Puzzled by his sudden expression of preference, I tilted my head, and Aster spoke.

“At Blanche Castle, you have to be suspicious of sudden kindness. For example, it’s easy to spike tea like this.”

Aster lightly tapped the teapot and smiled bashfully. Though he spoke as if it were nothing, the underlying meaning was quite sinister.

There was too much hidden in the things he spoke of nonchalantly.

I opened my mouth as if to reassure him.

“House Francis doesn’t expect anything in return for kindness. Feel at ease.”

“Yes. That’s what I meant by saying I like that gentleness.”

Aster refilled his teacup. He seemed to like the tea. I stared at Aster intently. Whenever he talked about Blanche, a shadow fell over his face.

Though he mentioned it lightly, it must have been a painful memory for him. Repeatedly getting excited by sudden kindness only to be thrown off a cliff. Aster must have been broken and shattered many times.

Blanche was too cruel a family for a naive child to endure with bare hands.

As I sipped my tea, drowsiness overcame me. I leaned my languid body and rested my chin on my hand.

“You’re quite kind too, Aster.”

“Am I?”

“Yes. When we first met, you put up with all my antics.”

“It wasn’t particularly bothersome or annoying.”

“That’s what I mean by kind. Usually, people get annoyed by drunken antics.”

I should have bothered him more that day.

It was me who dragged him into a hotel and devoured him when he offered to take me home.

Not only did I run away the next day, but I also spouted nonsense about it being a one-night mistake.

Yet he responded calmly. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t easily be cold to Aster.

“A kind person must have had a hard time living among unkind people?”

“You’re probably the only one who would insult Blanche with such a gentle word as unkind, Camilla.”

“I held back on harsher words. After all, it’s your family.”

“It’s an honor.”

Aster grinned and mimicked my posture, resting his chin on his hand. Then he reached out his other hand and played with my hair.

My fully loosened pink hair, ready for bed, was swallowed and released repeatedly by his large hand. His touch, brushing against my cheek, was gentle.

I didn’t feel like there was any s*xual intention at all. It just felt warm.

‘Maybe it’s because he was formally invited by Father.’

He seemed like someone who could easily cross boundaries but had his principles. I was sure he wouldn’t touch me, which is why I could be in the same room with him.

‘It’s almost a month.’

The day of the debutante was exactly one month away. The debutante was next week, so I needed to reassess this relationship before then.

Whether to cut him off completely as I initially thought. Or…

I decided to bring up the issue I had been thinking about all along. It might be a rather trashy remark, but I had an unfounded certainty that Aster would somehow understand.

“Aster.”

“Yes, Camilla.”

“I’m about to say something crazy. If you absolutely can’t listen to it, you can splash tea on me and leave this room.”

“That won’t happen, so speak comfortably.”

Aster smiled lazily and urged me to continue. But his composure vanished completely with my next words.

“Do you really want to marry me?”

At my direct question, Aster’s eyes wavered slightly. He didn’t seem to have expected me to bring up marriage.

The hand that had been caressing my cheek paused.

“My intentions remain unchanged.”

It was a serious answer. It also meant that he still intended to marry me.

But would his intentions remain unchanged after hearing my next words?

The Aster I knew was a sincere person. The fact that he didn’t like parties full of hypocrisy and pretense was proof of that.

Could I propose a loveless marriage to someone like him?

There wasn’t much for him to gain. He might even think I was being unreasonable to push him away.

Even so, I had to say these words, so I spoke with a low self-mockery. Then I straightened my back to inject some vigilance into my languid body.

As if the previous drowsy and comfortable atmosphere had never existed, I asked stiffly, like I was discussing business.

“Even if it’s a loveless marriage?”

“What do you mean?”

Aster’s body stiffened at my change. He seemed momentarily disappointed, as if he had expected something else, but there was no helping it.

It was a method I would never have tried originally, but it was an option that arose with Aster’s appearance. If I were a bit worse, I might have pretended to love him and married him to infiltrate Blanche.

But a marriage that deceived and used him was neither my way nor Francis’s way. Francis only engaged in deals made with thorough agreement and trust.

It wasn’t pleasant to be in a situation where I had to suggest a bad contract to him, but I had no intention of forcing him. Even if he refused, I wouldn’t stop uncovering Blanche’s crimes.

The reason I emphasized a ‘loveless marriage’ was because I couldn’t possibly love someone from Blanche. So I was proposing to become thorough business partners, with trust but without love.

“It’s something I want to clarify before our contract relationship ends.”

“……”

“I’m talking about a marriage of mutual agreement based on each other’s interests. A marriage that can end cleanly with a divorce once the contract is over.”

Aster reacted strongly to the word ‘divorce.’ The armrest of the chair he was holding suddenly made a cracking sound as it bent. He growled in a dark voice as if scratching the wall.

“Divorce is absolutely out of the question.”

“Listen to me first, and you might change your mind. I’m not saying I’ll divorce you unconditionally. I mean that we’ll part ways cleanly if either of us finds someone else.”

“Someone else?”

Aster’s face grew even angrier at those words. He stood up and leaned his upper body towards me. When I didn’t avoid his gaze and met his eyes, he looked down at me and spoke in a low voice.

“There will be no one else for me.”

“……”

“And I won’t let there be anyone else for you either.”

It was almost a declaration that he wouldn’t stand by if such a person appeared.