“Send the bill to the Blemer Grand Ducal family.”

“Yes, it’s an honor to serve Your Grace today. When you send a servant next time, we’ll bring all the products to the Grand Ducal residence, so please call us at your convenience. We look forward to seeing you again.”

The jewelry workshop owner who had turned pale when Kaien appeared and frantically claimed it was a closed day now bid us farewell with flushed cheeks and a deep bow as we left.

The workshop owner was quite pleased, saying they had met their three-year sales target.

Kaien, whom I expected to be bored, not only enjoyed shopping but was enthusiastic about it.

“Now let’s buy hats. You also need bags, gloves, fans, and parasols. I’ve wanted to buy these things for you for a long time.”

After choosing shoes and visiting a jeweler, he said nothing there caught his eye and placed a special order at the workshop instead.

He asked for my opinion, making me choose cuts and decorations for jewels I knew little about, then picked out several designs by finding fault with various aspects.

All afternoon long.

Finally, my patience ran out.

My eyes were so strained from looking at sparkling jewels that tears were about to form.

I bit my lip and glared at Kaien sitting across from me in the carriage.

“Are you moved to tears?”

“I’m tired.”

“Get used to it. This will be your life when you become the Grand Duchess.”

“……Aren’t you worried? I could spend all the Grand Ducal family’s budget on dresses and jewels like this.”

“With just this much?”

Just this much? The money spent today alone could run Marquis Rosiette’s household for a year.

“Well, if I keep spending, the amount will grow larger.”

Kaien simply blocked my desperate excuse.

“Then I’ll have to hunt a few more demonic beasts.”

I’ve never seen a demonic beast, but I’ve heard they’re extremely fierce and dangerous.

Even for someone who spent three years exterminating demonic beasts in Lindal, it’s still a life-risking task.

I don’t particularly want to buy dresses at the cost of someone else’s life.

“I won’t spend that much anymore. Shopping is tiring anyway.”

Something in my words amused Kaien, and he laughed softly.

While dating me, he was a good person, so why did he turn into a villain in the novel?

Was his unrequited love that painful?

Though I couldn’t understand and found it frightening, I was puzzled. As I stared at his handsome face, his hand touched my eye.

He brushed my eyebrow and the corner of my eye. When his fingers traced my earlobe, an electric thrill ran down my spine, and heat rushed to my face.

Dangerous.

I lowered my head to avoid his hand.

This wasn’t like before when I dated him casually because he was handsome and I knew nothing. Now my actions and choices had my life and my family’s lives at stake.

“When you said we should break up, you told me we had no ‘future’ like this.”

That was what I meant then, but now I regret saying those words.

“Did you love me that much.”

“What?”

A self-murmur scattered like a sigh. His voice trembled, and his eyes were red like someone feeling embarrassed.

“If you thought about a future with me, you must take responsibility. Marry me, Ivy.”

“No, I can’t!”

I refused in a panic, but seeing Kaien’s suddenly changed gaze, my survival instinct took over.

“M-marriage is something to decide carefully.”

They say people develop unexpected reflexes when facing death—that’s exactly my case.

“We’ve only been dating for three months and don’t know each other well. Taking time slowly…”

“Some people decide to marry after meeting for just a week. Many marry after three months.”

“E-everyone is different.”

Among nobles, if there are no disqualifying factors in each other’s family circumstances, they typically meet a few times with someone they like before marrying. That’s why many engagement and marriage announcements come about three months after debutante balls.

“M-my father is only a baronet. It’s a non-hereditary title, so when my father passes away, I’ll become a commoner. Marrying the Grand Duke is impossible. So, we should just…”

Before I could finish, Kaien smiled with his eyes and offered a solution.

“Then I should elevate your father’s title.”

Elevate his title? Surely not that kind of elevation?

That can’t be what I’m thinking, right?

“You might be worried about the difference in status.”

He turned his eyes to the window and muttered to himself.

“It’s difficult to expect war heroes in this era. I could send him to participate in demonic beast extermination at the border for a few months to earn merit and return…”

Like a racehorse galloping without pause, Kaien made plans.

“Baronet Rabbit isn’t someone who uses physical strength, so it would be dangerous for him to participate directly in demonic beast extermination. I should find a way to gradually raise his title within the capital.”

“Kaien? You don’t have to do that. Elevating a title isn’t a simple matter. I don’t want to burden you.”

“It is simple. You’re seriously thinking about our future, so I should prepare to ensure you don’t feel insecure.”

Wait, isn’t bestowing titles the Emperor’s authority?

To speak of bestowing titles at will—the word ‘treason’ naturally came to mind, making me swallow dryly and choke.

As I coughed, a good idea occurred to me.

“Cough, sorry, Kaien. I’ve been coughing frequently lately. Perhaps my bronchial tubes are weakening with age.”

I pretended to sniffle.

“My father’s maternal grandmother’s sister’s second son died young from pneumonia. Our family is weak in the lungs. None of us lived long……”

A marriage to a woman with family health issues in the Grand Ducal household? Impossible.

But Kaien’s eyes flashed ominously as he said,

“I’ll bring a doctor from the Imperial City. There’s said to be an elixir from the East across the sea that prevents death when consumed. I’ll obtain it. You cannot die without my permission.”

“I-it’s not that serious.”

People eventually grow old and die—what does he mean by not dying?

Family health history is important when considering marriage, but for him, money and power made it a non-issue.

I grew anxious when nothing worked on him. My legs trembled under my dress as I searched for another excuse.

“I didn’t want to say this, but……”

Though I feared it might come true, I played my trump card.

“O-our family has debt, so I can’t marry for a while!”

A family with unpredictable future expenses, like a leaking hole, is a significant disqualification for marriage.

“Debt?”

“M-my mother……”

I’m sorry, Mother! But I’m selling you out to save myself, so please understand.

Besides, she’s had a few money incidents before, so it’s not a complete lie.

“My mother went traveling and apparently met bandits at her destination and had to borrow a lot of money. She contacted us saying she can’t return home unless it’s repaid.”

“Money?”

“Yes, it’s an amount that can’t be handled with father’s salary or savings, so until we raise that money, marriage is……”

“How much?”

Heh, I swallowed a laugh inside.

“3,000 gold.”

According to my friend Isilla, a marquis residence in the capital spends about 1,000 gold annually on operating costs, so even for the Grand Ducal family, anything higher might be burdensome.

“I need to repay all that debt. So, Kaien, we should take our marriage very, very slow.”

“3,000? That’s the cost of hay for one warhorse in the stable for a year. For such a small amount, I’ll lend it to you. Just write an IOU.”

Please raise me instead of a horse.

‘No! Get a grip, Ivy!’

Even my trump card didn’t work.

When told that the person he was dating had a mountain of debt, he looked pleased.

“Any other debts? I can repay any amount. Then we should marry even sooner.”

“W-we can’t. Even if I borrow from you, I can’t repay it. I should go abroad by ship and earn money.”

“Oh Ivy, you know so little about the world. Foreign countries don’t pay foreigners high wages.”

“But!”

“No interest is needed, just repay steadily. If work is difficult, you can work in my bedroom at the Grand Ducal residence. I’ll prepare the money by tomorrow.”

“That’s……”

“Isn’t it urgent? Or is it a lie?”

“No! It’s urgent!”

This isn’t right.

I feel like someone committing marriage fraud to extort money.

I was momentarily tempted to take the money and run, but then remembered the tracking device around my neck.

“Ivy, do you not want to marry me?”

Looking at his savage face with all expression wiped away, there was only one possible answer.

My life is precious and I only have one.

“No! I’m just worried about burdening you.”

In the novel, the villain showed no mercy and was a cruel person without emotions when someone went against his will.

“The issues you mention are trivial, so don’t worry. As long as you’re by my side, nothing will be a problem.”

By the side of a cruel villain who might eliminate me at any time.

Cold sweat ran down my spine.

“You said it yourself. That it didn’t matter who I was.”

Yes, why did I say such a thing?

“You don’t know how happy those words made me.”

His face, showing happiness without a trace of darkness, seemed so sincere that I couldn’t believe he would fall for another woman soon.

“Marry me, Ivy.”

He whispered words that would have made me extremely happy a month ago, if I hadn’t known his true identity.

***

The next day, a chest of gold coins arrived at our house.

“Sent by His Grace the Grand Duke of Blemer.”

As I stared blankly at the gleaming gold coins without a single scratch, as if freshly minted, Love, our house’s only maid, rushed into my room.

“Miss! The master has returned!”

“It’s not even time yet?”

“Exactly! Do you think he was fired?”

“What?”

My father, who works at a job with frequent overtime, was standing at the entrance in the middle of the day.

With a vacant expression, my father blinked at me.

“Father, what’s wrong? Why did you come home so early?”

His face was deathly pale, as if he had received a great shock, making my heart sink.

What did Kaien do?

“Father, what happened?”

“M-marriage…… is sudden, so give me time to think.”

Was he displeased with my response to his proposal? The villain has already begun to act.

I tightly held my father’s trembling hand, and he opened his mouth.

“I’ve become a baron.”

“……A baron?”

“Yes, a baron! No longer a baronet! A baron! To think that I’m a baron!”

“……What merit did you achieve, Father?”

“They say my handwriting is elegant.”

“What?”

“The Foreign Minister of Magris is currently in the Imperial City, and he praised the list of items needed for diplomatic courtesy that I wrote, saying the handwriting had dignity. His Majesty was greatly pleased and bestowed the title of baron upon me.”

For just that?

It was good news, but I couldn’t feel relieved or happy.

“Ah, was our country engaged in important diplomacy with Magris? It seems you gained the Foreign Minister’s favor and helped things go well.”

“No, as far as I know, he just visited to see his daughter who came to study. There haven’t been any major conflicts with our country recently.”

“……They bestow a baron title for something that’s not even a great achievement?”

“That’s what I thought too. Everyone was puzzled. A baron, how could this happen to me…… This isn’t a dream, is it?”

Overcome with emotion, my father shed tears while clasping his hands and offering prayers of gratitude to our deceased ancestors and to God.

Kaien really did elevate my father’s title!