Not a single fragment of a fairy-tale fantasy crossed Julia’s mind, the kind where two opposite personalities meet and form a beautiful harmony.

Instead, she saw straight through to the Rodev Marquisate’s true intentions.

Both the marquis and marchioness wanted it openly.

A lifelong caretaker. No, a personal servant.

Julia, known for her excellence in every area and her upright conduct, would marry their dissolute son Henry, and while he spent his life playing and idling, she would firmly uphold the Rodev family as a diligent, exemplary marchioness.

What was being negotiated was absolutely not a beautiful marriage proposal.

It was a cleverly wrapped, vile transaction in human flesh, with her brother Vincent’s life as collateral.

‘…I am the commodity being traded.’

The moment she saw through it all, Julia’s heart plummeted to the floor.

‘Ah, so that’s why….’

Her parents deliberately brought her all the way out here to the Rodev domain.

The realization struck with terrifying clarity, and her feet went cold.

Before stepping out of the carriage, they had her tidy and groom herself to look her best. That was to present a pleasing product.

It seemed her name was on the list of prices to be paid, along with everything else. Their only daughter.

Julia couldn’t hide the shock and betrayal draining her face white. She turned and stared at her mother and father.

Her eyes carried a silent plea: please tell me it isn’t so. But neither of them could meet her gaze, and both looked down.

The awkward silence hanging in the air confirmed everything.

Julia’s expression clouded.

She carried a modest, quiet wish she nursed in secret for years.

Just a few years from now, she would receive an invitation to the royal debutante ball, dance like a dream, make her social debut adorned like a flower, and through various encounters, find a gentle and warm man who would see only her, and build a precious, peaceful bond.

Like a reward for all the lonely, hollow days behind her: sweet dates for just the two of them, a ring exchanged with care, a tender kiss, a happy marriage.

A life spent long and peacefully with a warm, deep-hearted person who cherished only her.

“…I humbly speak.”

Julia opened her mouth with a trembling voice.

“Lord Rodev is so popular that I believe there must be someone better suited to him, someone more fitting for a family of his standing. So….”

“Lady Julia.”

Marquis Rodev cut her off with a firm voice.

A cool authority rode in it, one that would tolerate no further resistance.

“If we were simply looking for someone to keep him company, we would not be this careful in our selection. He is young and can meet people freely, broaden his social circle. But the matter of a lifelong partner who will sustain the family is different.”

“That’s right, my dear. We have never seen anyone who suits Henry as well as Lady Julia.”

The marchioness’s voice was sweet as honey, her eyes tilted in a soft narrowing, but the thick sweetness only pressed in around Julia’s throat like a sticky mousetrap.

Perhaps because of that, she felt like she was suffocating. Without thinking, she squeezed her eyes shut. In that instant, her sweet, fragile brother Vincent’s face rose clearly in the pitch-black dark.

The image of him, suffering through a high fever that burned all night, too afraid of troubling those around him to let out a proper sound, enduring it all with quiet, stifled groans.

“I’m sorry, Sister. I’m always sick and can’t go anywhere with you. I’m really sorry….”

The pitiful voice that gripped Julia’s hand with his small fingers and whispered stayed vivid in her ears.

“Sister, Sister…, stay beside me. I’m so scared alone…. When it gets dark, I’m afraid I won’t see the morning again.”

Julia drew one long, slow breath and opened her eyes.

‘Vincent. My one and only brother….’

She placed Vincent’s life on the scale in her heart, and the turmoil inside her settled, like a lie, into calm.

The weight of a life could not be measured by anything.

‘Accept it.’

Julia told herself firmly.

‘Noble marriages are political arrangements, after all.’

In a world where loveless unions were the norm, this was simply one of countless political matches.

On top of that, the Rodev Marquisate was wealthy and its influence formidable.

Henry’s character stuck in her throat like a sharp fish bone, but he was simply someone whose nature and temperament did not match hers. Objectively, he was not a bad match.

His frivolous conduct, impulsive nature, and countless unflattering rumors meant families of similar standing would not consider him as a son-in-law, but for a viscountcy or a house of lower rank, he was a coveted prize they would welcome with open arms.

His looks were decent, and his swordsmanship was strong enough to give him a bright future as a knight.

With the powerful backing of a marquisate tied to the late queen’s family, and his considerable skill with a blade, entering the royal guard was not out of reach.

From there, he would secure a key position at the palace and carry on a firm line of power.

The Rodev Marquisate’s future was secure.

And the one who would stand beside it as marchioness was herself.

A position anyone would envy.

Marchioness of Rodev, matriarch of the Rodev family.

A title one could never attain without being chosen and accepted by the Rodev Marquisate.

‘This is a good thing. There is nothing but good in this….’

Julia repeated it stubbornly in her heart.

Yes. This was not a sacrifice.

It was a common transaction.

He was simply someone incompatible with her, not someone unworthy of Vincent’s life as a price.

If anything, for a minor noble house like the Wilroy County, he was someone to be grateful for and look up to.

“Lady Julia, what do you think?”

The marchioness asked in a soft but firm voice, as though confirming her answer.

“We would like you to become Henry’s partner and remain with us for a long time.”

In that instant, every gaze in the drawing room converged on Julia alone.

“I, well…. I am honored.”

Julia tried to layer a faint smile over her stiff expression.

Barely suppressing the trembling in her lip muscles, she answered as politely as she could.

“I am too nervous to find the right words, but if someone as lacking as I am will do…, I am glad.”

The moment those words fell, undisguised satisfaction rose on the faces of Marquis and Marchioness Rodev.

The smile of hunters who succeeded in a long-pursued quarry.

Count and Countess Wilroy let out a breath of relief as well, but their sunken eyes were thick with guilt, heavy with sorrow and apology toward their daughter.

“What a joyous day this is!”

The marquis called out cheerfully and smiled brightly.

Then he immediately ordered the butler to summon a clerk.

“Let us celebrate this auspicious union with a grand dinner tonight, and tomorrow morning we will put both families’ agreement in writing.”

The time that followed passed in a haze, like a dream.

A grand dinner was held, though Julia could not say what state of mind she attended it in. While lively laughter and the clinking of glasses filled the room, she sat alone and stared down at her plate.

Surrounded by people celebrating and in high spirits, she kept a forced smile on her face.

In truth, she felt like a complete outsider.

The following morning, Julia walked with reluctant steps to Marquis Rodev’s study.

Then she wrote her name on the engagement document, its thick parchment covered densely with clauses.

Julia Wilroy.

The black ink spreading from the tip of the pen looked like an ominous stain foretelling an ill-fated future, and her back stiffened involuntarily.

And so Julia became engaged to Henry Rodev.

Henry himself, the very subject of the engagement, was absent from the proceedings, on the grounds that he was in the capital.

An engagement to someone she barely saw face to face.

Everything was proven only by the words left on paper.

The transaction between the families was complete, and the Moonfrost herb came into the Wilroy family’s hands.

Regardless of Julia’s own wishes, the wheel of fate began to creak and turn.

All that remained was to go to the capital and meet her ‘fiancé’ in person, and after getting through that unpleasantly enough, she attended the engagement reception as well.

***

Following the grand engagement reception came a period of rough future planning.

Henry was currently enrolled at the Royal Schola, a secondary education institution for noble children, and after graduation, he planned to enter the knight’s track at the Royal Academy.

If Julia grew up in the capital, she likely would have followed the same educational path and become a junior at the Schola.

But the enrollment age for the Schola already passed.

So she decided to wait a few years and enter the regular curriculum at the Academy.