“The wedding has been set for one month from now.”

The damned Emperor’s decisiveness was terrifying.

“What kind of slime-eating nonsense is this…?”

Vincent’s face twisted into a vicious scowl.

The fact that a wedding was already being arranged without even informing the groom was beyond absurd.

“So, you’re finally getting married.”

When he returned to the mansion, Vincent’s great-aunt, Chloe Loardy, greeted him with a relieved expression.

“It does bother me that it has to be the Nelasidad family of all families, but what can you do.”

Chloe looked him over with clear dissatisfaction.

The look in her eyes said that this side also had defective goods.

Vincent was dumbfounded.

No matter how much trouble he had caused, no matter how many marriage arrangements he had ruined, wasn’t this treatment excessive?

He had absolutely no intention of stumbling into marriage like this.

“Just accept it already.”

But Chloe had long since reached the point of not caring.

Having such a scandalous nephew had exhausted both her and the household retainers.

There was no way a noble young lady raised with refinement could endure his character.

She had even begun worrying they might have to seek a fiancée among the bourgeoisie.

Under those circumstances, marriage into a count’s family was hardly a loss.

‘The Nelasidad count family.’

Chloe Loardy’s eyes darkened.

Half a century ago, they had been a pureblood noble family wielding great influence across the empire.

Now they were regarded as heretics among the nobility.

‘I suppose it could not be helped.’

She remembered the scandal that had shaken society years earlier.

A count who had gone blind with love and remarried a commoner. As that issue came to mind, wrinkles formed on Chloe’s fine forehead.

Marriage to a commoner was rare but not unheard of. The problem was not that, it was that he had registered the daughter the new wife brought with her as the eldest daughter. The daughter she brought along was a complete stranger without a single drop of shared blood, and on top of that, she was simpleminded.

‘…That count must have truly lost his mind over a woman.’

Chloe let out a heavy sigh.

Yet part of her considered it fortunate.

The second daughter of House Nelasidad, the one matched with Vincent, was the child of the former wife, a true noble by birth.

The family carried stains, yes.

But those with flaws were often easiest to control.

“…Perhaps it’s for the best.”

She thought it preferable to have a young lady of such a background come in over some headstrong woman who did not know her place. Chloe finished her thought and held an elegant smile.

Vincent was furious to the top of his head. Between the damned Emperor and his uncooperative great-aunt, not a single word had come from the Nelasidad family either.

As the situation of being married before he could even blink loomed over him, Vincent’s anger steadily built. That was why he had stormed into the count’s residence.

“You took your time coming out.”

Vincent said sarcastically to Laila, who appeared in the drawing room after a full hour. He pressed the cigarette he had been smoking into the ashtray to put it out and turned to look at her.

He had come with the thought that, in order for the marriage to fall apart, he would need to join forces with her whether he liked it or not. And yet she had kept him waiting far too long.

“You’ve heard the news, I assume?”

He spoke first.

“I have no intention of marrying you.”

He said bluntly.

“I assume you feel the same. And even if you don’t…”

Vincent stopped mid-sentence.

He looked at Laila Nelasidad, who was not answering and could not take her eyes off him. She had not said a single word from the moment he had barged into the drawing room until now.

“…Ha.”

Only then noticing her state, Vincent gave a dry laugh. Unfocused eyes and flushed red cheeks. Slightly parted lips and a blank expression. She looked exactly like someone missing a screw.

‘Where the h*ll is her mind wandering?’

Vincent’s red eyes turned cold. It seemed she had been listening to everything he had said with only half an ear.

“How amusing.”

Women were all the same. The moment they saw his face, they lost their senses. Vincent knew very well that he was handsome. His popularity in society needed no explanation.

‘There’s no point saying anything more.’

Mocking inwardly, he turned to leave. Any hope of negotiation had clearly vanished.

“I want to get married.”

It was then that Laila spoke for the first time. Vincent was startled only briefly before he furrowed his brow and turned around sharply. Well, well? If that was how she had been listening to everything he said……

“But only 3 years.”

“…….”

“Please marry me for just 3 years. After that I will give you a divorce…….”

At the words that followed, Vincent’s fierce momentum faltered. His lips parted loosely in bewilderment.

“……What do you mean by that?”

For once, he truly did not understand. Vincent raised an eyebrow.

“Exactly as I said. If you marry me for just 3 years, I will give you a divorce.”

“…Ha.”

Vincent felt like laughing now. He wondered what kind of scheme this was. It was a marriage arranged by the Emperor, and once a marriage proceeded, there was no way they could separate at will. She could not be unaware of that……

“What do you gain from this?”

He asked, with the intention of hearing her out for now.

“……In exchange for those terms, give me the Mudokhwa.”

An unexpected answer came back. A flicker of something passed through Vincent’s eyes. The Mudokhwa was a purifying water that neutralized all poisons, a family heirloom that appeared perhaps once every ten years.

Her audacity left him speechless. No matter how he weighed it, this deal favored no one but her. The marriage itself was already a loss to him.

“Listen.”

Vincent glared at her with his fierce red eyes. He slammed the table with a bang. He wondered what kind of person she was to demand the Mudokhwa so shamelessly.

“…….”

D*mn, her face was so refined that he swallowed the harsh words back against his will.

“Do you know what kind of thing that is? What are you planning to do with it in the first place…….”

The udokhwa was also called ‘the cure for all illness.’ It was of astronomical value, and he was utterly exasperated by the nerve of trying to get such a medicine for free. How much of a fool did she take him for to make such a demand?

“I may be a drunkard, but my head is not empty.”

Despite Vincent’s fierce tone, she continued calmly.

“I am not asking you to simply give it to me. I will provide appropriate compensation in return.”

“And what would that be?”

His tone was ominous, implying she had better speak properly.

“I have heard that you have been troubled lately because of the mithril shortage.”

Laila said calmly. Her measured tone was strangely mature compared to her delicate voice.

“I will tell you the location where that mine is.”

‘……Is this woman speaking seriously?’

Vincent raised an eyebrow at this unexpected side of her. He wondered what kind of scheme it was, but even so, the value of mithril ore was too great to simply let pass. No, to be precise, it was a metal material he absolutely had to get his hands on.

“What are you trying to use it for……”

Ah, in that moment, something brushed past an old memory he had been forgetting.

‘Right, there was that matter.’

A few months ago, her father, Count Nelasidad, had come to visit him. The count had requested the Mudokhwa to neutralize poison. He had heard that his wife was dying from poison. It was a tragic outcome for a marriage he had pushed through even at the cost of becoming a heretic in noble society.

‘That is unfortunate.’

Vincent looked Laila over with a dry expression. Like father, like daughter, blood truly did not lie. It was quite a remarkable and heartbreaking love.

“What a devoted daughter we have here.”

Vincent sneered. Family, what was it worth, really.

‘Right, let us think of it positively.’

Vincent quickly regained his composure. He would rather die than get married, but he knew that as the head of a noble family, he had a responsibility to produce an heir. In other words, even if not her, he would inevitably have to marry someone.

‘The succession can be passed on to a child in the collateral line.’

He thought it over carefully.

‘The Mudokhwa is not particularly necessary to me. A divorce after 3 years of marriage.’

It was not too bad. The condition of exchanging the Mudokhwa for the mine location also seemed acceptable.

‘Above all, where else would I find a woman who agrees to divorce cleanly without any aftermath.’

He nodded. Thinking about it, it seemed like things had worked out.

“We will draw up the contract right here.”

Vincent immediately called for his lawyer. Being impatient by nature, he had to deal with matters the instant they arose. To be precise, he was too suspicious to tolerate conversations drifting along vaguely.

How would he know whether that damned woman, despite her refined appearance, might go back on her word? He fundamentally could not trust others.

“What kind of trouble is it this time?”

Hedwell grumbled as he appeared at the count’s residence. Being so accustomed to dealing with his accidents, Hedwell was already treating it as a crisis before hearing a word.

“Ahem, so that is how it was.”

Having heard the whole story, Hedwell gave a dry cough. Sweating under Vincent’s sharp glare, he produced a contract imbued with magical effect.

“You just need to sign this contract.”

Vincent received the documents. The contract was written in his favor without even needing to be read. The exemption from liability for the divorce had been placed on Laila.

“Don’t forget, divorce in 3 years.”

Vincent said, scrawling his signature. He did not feel he had gained anything particularly great. Nor had he made a greatly losing deal either.

If he endured 3 years, he could return to being a free man.

‘Well, I will have to fulfill my duties in the process.’

Sharing a bed with a woman was nothing particularly difficult. Vincent decided to compromise at this level.

“…….”

In each of their own thoughts, Laila quietly smiled to herself, where no one could see.