Prologue

“Let’s get married.”

When Chloen said those words, the inside of the carriage was silent.

In truth, those words were rather dangerous to say inside a carriage alone with a man she had only met for the third time. But Chloen did not stop and opened her mouth once more.

“Not dating with you, but marriage. I want to marry you.”

A woman speaking boldly while meeting his gaze head-on. As Lyle looked at such a woman, a deep crease formed between his brows without him realizing it.

Absurd. Did this woman even know what she was saying right now?

If she knew what meaning those words carried, it seemed she would not be able to say them so easily.

‘How dare she, without even a trace of fear.’

So Lyle decided to ask. Whether this woman knew that meaning, or did not.

“Let’s make one thing clear.”

Looking into the clear eyes fixed on him, Lyle parted his lips in a low voice.

“If we marry, just how far does that remain fake?”

At the man’s question, the woman’s already large eyes blinked in puzzlement. Her face said she could not understand at all what he was talking about. Seeing that, a faint sneer spread at the corner of Lyle’s mouth.

Haah- as expected. His guess had been right. It seemed this woman did not even grasp the meaning of his question. Which meant…….

‘Naturally, she doesn’t understand the meaning of what she herself just said either.’

Of course, there was no way the woman could know the man’s thoughts either. Was that why? Even then, Chloen still stared straight at the crooked corner of his mouth with innocent, guileless eyes.

At that moment, a strange impulse surged through the man’s heart. It was the impulse to shake those clear eyes that were looking at him. He did not know the reason in particular. He simply wanted to shake them. And that desire slowly made Lyle’s body lean toward Chloen.

“……!”

He could feel the woman’s breath stop, but he paid it no mind. Even at that moment, he merely kept closing the distance. And at last, when he had come close enough that the soft down on the woman’s cheek was clearly visible, the man parted his lips in a low voice.

“Even if it’s only a fake marriage for a mere year, I believe lovers and married couples have completely different meanings. Especially…….”

The man, who paused briefly, fixed his eyes clearly on the woman and finished his words.

“At night.”

Just as expected. No sooner had he finished speaking than the woman’s brown eyes, which had been fixed on his lips, wavered.

Well, of course. She must have been startled. This innocent noble Lady could never have imagined that the words she had just spoken carried that kind of meaning.

But then, it happened.

“I’ll do it.”

The woman even said it.

“If we’re husband and wife, then that thing people do at night…… that. Us sleeping together.”

Lyle’s long eyes narrowed even further. A hollow laugh and a low sigh also lingered in his mouth.

‘As if.’

But it was a very strange thing. Why did he want to let himself be taken in by this woman. This woman probably would not even realize he was choosing to fall for her. And yet the man’s lips had already moved.

“All right. Let’s do it, that marriage.”

He did not know whether this was truly a good choice for him.

He only knew that he wanted to keep her by his side.

This innocent woman, who knew nothing at all. Somehow, at all costs, by his side.