“You want something from me?”

“Yes.”

“Is it something I can grant?”

Ariel nodded. Now she needed to get to the main point, but since it went against her values, she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

“…You must know about the rumors concerning me.”

“There are various stories going around.”

“I’d like you to spread word that they’re not true.”

In Ariel’s mind, this was the best method. It would be far more effective than anything Maximus Roysel might say. After all, every noble knew that Marquis Harkshien understood women far better than someone like Maximus Roysel.

Moreover, wasn’t Marquis Harkshien someone who generated rumors himself? So he could cover up the rumors more definitively than Maximus Roysel being forced to make corrections. 

People would say, “Marquis Harkshien would know much better than Maximus Roysel.” The difference in experience between the two men would be tremendous, after all.

“You’ve spent nights with various women. Spreading rumors about me shouldn’t be difficult.”

“Why do you need to cover up the rumors so desperately?”

“I am Ariel Naiad. I was educated from childhood to maintain a more noble bearing than anyone else. If someone like me carries the label of ‘a lifeless stone worth abandoning the Naiad wealth and honor for,’ everything I’ve lived for gets negated.”

But if she could prove the rumors were false, she could restore her honor. Revenge against Maximus Roysel could come later. He needed to pay for daring to tarnish the Naiad honor.

“…”

When Ariel honestly stated the exact label attached to her, Marquis Harkshien’s eyes wavered rapidly. Even though he was known as a playboy, he had considerately avoided directly mentioning the rumors about her. But hearing such mercilessly self-deprecating words from her own mouth left him flustered.

The marquis had attracted many followers, so he couldn’t be unaware of the rumors about Ariel. He felt somewhat sorry for Ariel, whose personal affairs had become public knowledge.

“So what do I get out of this?”

At the marquis’s question, Ariel fell into deep contemplation. Where there was giving, there was receiving. That was the foundation of all dealings. But even though her family, the Naiads, had considerable wealth, Harkshien’s fortune far exceeded the Naiads’. 

He ran several businesses, and people speculated that what was publicly known was merely the tip of the iceberg—that he operated on a much larger scale in reality.

Meanwhile, the Naiad fortune belonged to the Naiads, not to Ariel personally. And it wasn’t like Ariel could see the future just because she was the prophesied child. So in truth, there seemed to be nothing of value Ariel could offer Marquis Harkshien.

“What… do you want?”

“Simply saying you’re not a lifeless stone wouldn’t be difficult for me.”

Ariel’s eyes sparkled at his words. The burden of having tarnished the Naiad honor weighed heavily on her. But now that he was offering help, a glimmer of hope seemed to appear. However, his next words made Ariel’s eyes shake violently.

“So I’ll need to spend a night with you.”

“What? With someone lifeless like me… do you really need to?”

Ariel understood that Marquis Harkshien wasn’t simply talking about spending the night together. He meant becoming intimate. He was suggesting they do what she hadn’t even done with her former fiancé, Maximus Roysel. But Ariel didn’t particularly want to recommend herself.

‘Why would he want to… with a lifeless stone that even her promised fiancé couldn’t marry…’

The marquis added an explanation, seeming to know exactly what Ariel was thinking.

“Since you spoke honestly, I’ll be honest too. That was the first time I’d heard someone openly dismiss me like that. And it was also the last time.”

“I’m truly sorry about that.”

“No, you don’t need to be sorry. From my perspective, what matters is that the woman who said those things is now asking to spend a night with me.”

“I’m not asking to spend the night together—just asking you to say we had a good time.”

“You asked what I wanted. To hold you just once. I don’t particularly want anything else.”

Marquis Harkshien had actually been quite wounded in his pride that day. Though he had pretended to be nonchalant, he had been rejected by a woman. It was inevitably a blow to his self-esteem. Someone she didn’t even want to get close to—he had never heard such words before. There had even been a hint of disgust in Ariel’s voice that day.

Though he didn’t show it, every time he glimpsed Ariel afterward, he felt like he could hear her voice again. He wanted to restore his wounded pride, but there was no way to approach a woman who had said she didn’t want to get close to him, leaving him frustrated day after day.

But now Ariel had approached him first. Marquis Harkshien absolutely couldn’t let this opportunity slip away. It was an excellent chance to restore his honor. It might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So Marquis Harkshien recalled what the women who had passed through his life had unanimously said.

‘Marquis, it was truly the most ecstatic night of my entire life.’

Indeed, quite a few had become obsessed after spending just one night with him out of curiosity. So the marquis figured once would be enough. If they did it even once, she too would become attached to him. 

The thought of the woman who had dismissed him now clinging to him made him feel good just imagining it. He was quite pleased with the price Ariel would pay for trampling on his pride.

“If you don’t like it, you can refuse. I have nothing to lose either way.”

When Marquis Harkshien moved to leave, Ariel hastily grabbed his wrist.

“M-Marquis!”

Though Ariel was the one who grabbed him, she startled herself and let go. She thought she had acted improperly. Marquis Harkshien, however, seemed to have expected her to grab him and didn’t mind at all.

“I’m sorry for suddenly grabbing you.”

“Think nothing of it. So?”

After a moment’s consideration, Ariel nodded. Spending her first night with him would lower her value in the marriage market. Honestly, she didn’t like that fact. But it seemed better than having the malicious rumors Maximus had spread continue to cling to her, so she decided to accept.

“…All right.”

At her consent, a deep smile crossed Marquis Harkshien’s lips. Now he felt he could shake off the past that had become like trauma to him.

“Good. If you’re fine with it, I’ll make sure stories about you circulate endlessly in society.”

Ariel thought it had been fortunate to seek out Marquis Harkshien. Words from him, the playboy of society, would be incomparably more convincing than anything Maximus might say.

“Not too much circulation—just a little. Just enough to cover my rumors.”

“Rumors are usually covered by bigger rumors.”

Was that so? 

Hearing his explanation, it did seem that way. It would be nice if the rumors could be corrected by Marquis Harkshien’s words, but since Maximus might continue spreading them, covering them with bigger rumors did seem like the surer method.

“Then let’s go.”

“Right now?”

She had thought becoming intimate with someone was still far in the future. Since she had just broken off her engagement, she would gradually look for a fiancé, get engaged, hold a wedding ceremony, and then… so about one or two years from now. But thinking about spending tonight with someone made her nervous already, and her heart seemed to beat faster suddenly.

“What good would delaying do?”

“T-that’s true.”

The rumors needed to be corrected before they spread further. There was nothing wrong with his reasoning. Indeed, regarding society matters, Marquis Harkshien seemed to know much more than she did.

When Ariel agreed, Marquis Harkshien extended his hand to her. Thinking he was offering to escort her, she placed her hand on his, but he interlaced their fingers.

“For tonight, we should feel like lovers.”

“…You really are Marquis Harkshien.”

When she murmured her admiration in a sincere voice, he laughed cheerfully. The marquis’s nickname as “everyone’s lover” wasn’t wrong. To think that the marquis, who had such scandalous rumors about his nights, could laugh so joyfully like a child.

Ariel walked holding Marquis Harkshien’s hand. When silence settled between them, Ariel felt even more nervous and thought she should say something. Otherwise, the pressure of soon becoming intimate with this man holding her hand might make her heart burst.

“This is my first time holding hands. Even something like this feels romantic.”

“First time holding hands? Didn’t you ever hold hands with your fiancé—I mean, your former fiancé?”

“No.”

Holding hands—they had barely even been close. Even that had only been when he dutifully escorted her to attend banquets.

“What a trash. Though I already knew that.”

Even though they had broken up, from the moment he spoke badly about his former fiancée, he had expected Maximus Roysel to be trash to some degree. If he was going around calling her a “lifeless stone,” it would mean they had spent the night together, but to think they had never even held hands before that was surprising. 

Looking at Ariel’s current reaction, she would never have thought to initiate holding hands herself.

“Trash—how can you say that about a person…”

“Calling someone trash isn’t a big deal. That kind of behavior is what makes someone trash.”

Was that so? Ariel found herself unconsciously agreeing. Since Marquis Harkshien had been right several times, it did seem that way somehow. Her honor had fallen to the ground because of Maximus, after all.

“Is that so? Trash—calling a person trash… Maximus is trash.”

Finding it fascinating to use the word “trash” for a person, Ariel repeated it several times before finally giggling. Somehow, Maximus and the word “trash” seemed to go well together, and it felt oddly satisfying. She had never once thought to describe Maximus as trash until now, but when she put the two words together, they couldn’t have been a better match.

What was even more amusing was that things she had never imagined were happening one after another these past few days. 

She had broken off her engagement with Maximus, whom she had naturally expected to marry; rumors had spread that she was a lifeless stone; she had asked for help from a man she hadn’t thought highly of to quell those rumors; and now she was about to spend a night with that very person.

‘I can’t believe I’m going to sleep with Marquis Harkshien.’

If someone had told her just a week ago that this would happen, she would have kicked them out of the mansion for talking nonsense. She looked at their joined hands once, then at his face, finding it hard to believe. The face of the marquis holding her hand as they left the terrace to spend the night together.

When their eyes met, Marquis Harkshien smiled naturally. That smile seemed to ease her tension, so she smiled bashfully too—without having the slightest idea what he would do to her shortly after.