Luscious hair scattered across the floor, spreading out like a night sky. The black locks tinged with blue still gleamed with vitality, unlike their owner whose breath was fading away.

Looking barely able to exhale a single breath, the Duchess of Daihan, Rayenne Shellon, smiled at the man who stood gazing down at her fallen form.

“……Jin.”

At the softly uttered call, Duke Jin Daihan’s dark eyebrows trembled faintly.

“Jin…… I wanted to call you…… that.”

Barely suppressing her ragged breathing, each word she forced out seemed deeply satisfying.

Rayenne called Jin’s name with a bright smile never seen before in her life, and called it again.

The unfamiliar name was called again and again, and when it passed five times, Jin knelt beside Rayenne.

Watching him, Rayenne’s white fingers slowly overlapped his hand resting on his knee.

“Finally…… I’ve reached you.”

Jin squeezed his eyes shut at how faint the warmth spreading over the back of his hand felt.

“Jin. Jin……”

The hand that had been stroking the back of his hand slipped and fell to the floor with a thud.

Beneath her slowly closing eyelids, Rayenne’s violet eyes disappeared from view.

Jin’s body covered Rayenne, who had closed her eyes like someone falling asleep.

***

Rayenne looked down with a subtle expression at the ring fitted on her finger, set with a dark blue gemstone.

“It fits perfectly.”

“Because I prepared it for you.”

Rayenne’s head snapped up.

Affectionate words the original him had never once spoken. And the moment she saw Jin’s eyes meeting hers, Rayenne was certain.

‘The situation is different from the original story.’

The broad framework of the story—getting engaged to Jin—was the same, but the reality she was experiencing directly was clearly different.

In truth, she was ‘Sung Ji-an,’ a modern person who had awakened as Rayenne Shellon, who entered a political marriage with Duke Jin Daihan, loved without reciprocation, and died lonely.

Before she could even adapt to her situation, she had been led here by Gwenn, her so-called uncle.

Rather than thinking of it as her new life, she had followed along with the lighthearted feeling of being able to see with her own eyes a novel she had once read. However, facing a situation different from the original story, Sung Ji-an—now Rayenne—felt conflicted emotions.

“How about holding the wedding in one week?”

“One week?”

This was also different from the original. In the original story, the two held their wedding a month after the engagement ceremony.

She remembered clearly because there was a scene where the original Rayenne, exactly one month after the engagement ceremony night with a full moon, finished the wedding and saw the full moon again.

“Excellent, Your Grace the Duke!”

The answer came from an unexpected place, not from Rayenne whom Jin was staring intently at.

Without asking Rayenne a single word, Gwenn interjected and gave his consent, and Jin’s gaze, which had moved to him, suddenly turned extremely cold.

Gwenn flinched and clamped his mouth shut, and watching this, Rayenne examined Jin carefully.

His expression right now was the textbook definition of that cold expression beyond indifference mentioned in the original story.

‘He definitely looked at Rayenne with that kind of expression.’

Unaware of Rayenne’s thoughts, as Jin slowly shifted his gaze from Gwenn to her, the quality completely changed.

Vividly facing this inexplicable change, Rayenne opened her reluctant lips.

“…I’m fine with it too.”

Jin’s lingering gaze briefly lowered and rested on the engagement ring fitted on Rayenne’s hand.

“Our ducal house will handle all the wedding preparations.”

Jin’s bright blue eyes rose again and met Rayenne’s violet eyes calmly in the air.

Rayenne concealed her bitter feelings while recalling the original story.

The original Rayenne had felt excited hearing these words. Thinking Jin didn’t dislike this marriage. But the reality was different.

‘Given his personality, it was just to prepare quietly and perfectly.’

It had taken quite a long time for Rayenne to realize that truth.

“Thank you, Your Grace.”

Though Jin’s actual reaction was slightly different from the original, this was the timing to cut off the conversation according to the resolution she had made after hearing Gwenn’s words about holding an engagement ceremony.

“I also have one favor to ask.”

The questioning bright blue eyes were far from a cold, indifferent gaze.

They simply shone blue like a calm, quiet sea, or like a clear sky without a single cloud.

“Can you have a cup of tea with me right now?”

The emotion reflected in those bright blue eyes upon hearing her proposal was unmistakably goodwill.

***

The two dismissed everyone else and remained in the annex where they had held the engagement ceremony.

Sitting across from each other with the table where they had exchanged engagement vows between them, the two silently sipped their tea for a while.

“I.”

It was Rayenne who first broke the silence.

“I don’t think this marriage is a good choice for me or for you, Your Grace.”

Jin’s lowered eyes revealed themselves, and the teacup covering his mouth lowered next.

His tightly closed lips maintained silence for now.

“So I’d like you to look at this.”

Rayenne pulled out from her bosom the documents she had secretly packed in her handbag without Gwenn’s knowledge and placed them before Jin.

Rather than examining the documents, Jin simply stared at Rayenne.

“Your Grace?”

Only after Rayenne called again did his gaze reluctantly turn toward the documents.

His inscrutable gaze moved along the words written on the documents, and gradually he showed puzzlement on his face.

“Divorce after one year.”

Though her body belonged to this world, her soul was that of a modern person, and fortunately she could automatically write what she wanted to express.

Thanks to that, even with Gwenn’s sudden notification a few days ago that she would go to hold an engagement ceremony with Jin, she had been able to hastily prepare the documents.

Documents stating that the two would divorce after one year, just like Jin had said.

Jin couldn’t take his eyes off the documents for a long while.

Though anxiously waiting, Rayenne pretended to be composed to avoid showing it.

“…Can you tell me the reason?”

This was a question she had anticipated.

“Because I would be a burden to you, Your Grace.”

The tip of Jin’s eyebrow, which had remained undisturbed throughout, twitched.

“Honestly, my family is already on the verge of collapse, whereas the Ducal House of Daihan is such an outstanding family. Moreover, Your Grace is young and capable….”

“Even so, I don’t think Lady Shellon needs to refuse the position of duchess while even acquiring the stain of divorce.”

Jin rebutted faster, more firmly, and more rationally than expected.

“But there’s no particular need for me to be in the position of duchess either.”

Jin must have had many thoughts before accepting this marriage.

So she didn’t think he would easily accept the proposal to divorce after one year, rather than not marrying at all.

Someone with the status of duke would naturally dislike becoming the subject of gossip about divorce.

Thanks to preparing in advance, at Rayenne’s words rebutting without hesitation, the tip of Jin’s eyebrow rose slightly.

Pretending not to notice, Rayenne drove the point home.

“I don’t want a married life without love.”

If Rayenne had a strong desire for honor or material things, she wouldn’t have been dissatisfied with this political marriage.

But she knew all too well what outcome this marriage would bring.

“After about a year, if we say we’re separating due to personality differences, everyone will understand.”

Having prepared words that left no room for rebuttal, Jin couldn’t possibly have anything else to say.

Above all, he who wasn’t particularly keen on this marriage had no reason to oppose it while engaging in a war of words with her.

Just like there was no particular need for Rayenne to be in the position of duchess.

Rayenne picked up the quill pen she had used earlier to sign the engagement vow to sign the divorce contract.

“…Perhaps.”

Rayenne, who had been reaching for the contract in front of Jin, paused her movement briefly.

When she straightened her posture again and looked at him, Jin hesitated, opening and closing his lips several times.

“Your Grace?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

She waited a bit longer, but he had already firmly closed his lips.

“I’ll sign first.”

When Rayenne finished signing the divorce contract and pushed it back toward Jin, he again simply stared down at the documents for a while.

“Ha….”

With a sigh of indiscernible meaning, Jin finally finished signing the divorce contract.

Rayenne handed Jin one of the two identically prepared contracts, tucked her copy into her bag, and stood up from her seat.

“I won’t be a burden to you for this one year, Your Grace.”

Jin’s expression as he watched Rayenne say this was complex and subtle.

With an expression impossible to pinpoint and explain, Jin also stood up.

“Lady Rayenne.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Rayenne hesitated, somehow feeling that Jin’s face seemed bitter.

‘Did he sense something strange?’

But that couldn’t be.

If Jin had sensed something strange, he wouldn’t have signed the divorce contract.

“…I’ll see you in one week.”

Letting go of the question she deliberately didn’t ask, Rayenne bowed her head.

“Yes. See you in one week.”

***

The one week until the promised wedding ceremony with Jin passed in an instant.

Having been told the ducal house would handle all preparations, Rayenne truly made no preparations and spent the week reading books.

There was nothing else in Rayenne’s room besides books anyway, and the mere fact that they were books from another world was enough to stimulate her interest.

Waking up at dawn due to the cold morning air seeping through the window crack, Rayenne carefully packed the books she most wanted to read among those she hadn’t yet finished into her bag.

Just then, the door burst open and Gwenn entered.

Gwenn, who had barged inside familiarly, widened his eyes slightly seeing Rayenne already awake, but it was only for a moment.