“I never made any contract.”
“I didn’t either. I didn’t want to. But you picked up the sword first, didn’t you?”
“That was just to check if the sword was damaged or not…!”
Dietrich, who had barely spoken since we met as if he desperately wanted to throw me away, spewed out excuses.
But it didn’t work on me, who had already firmly decided to lie.
‘If I get abandoned by Dietrich now, I won’t be able to get on track with the original story.’
It would also become impossible to escape from being a sword spirit and return to human form.
I just needed to stay by Dietrich’s side until I found a way to return to being human, then leave immediately.
So for now, I had to stick close to Dietrich even if I had to lie.
Even if he got tired of me and tried to avoid me, I had to cling to him.
I soothed him in a gentle tone as if I understood everything.
“It’s okay. Contracts aren’t forever. If you grant the spirit’s wish, you can end the contract.”
“Why should I grant the wish of a stupid spirit that made a contract on its own?”
He’s quite sharp.
It was a logical rebuttal, but I continued lying without being flustered.
“I don’t know if you ask me that. I’m just following the set manual.”
“I don’t know who made that manual, but it’s nonsense.”
It was me!
I decided to omit that part.
“It’s okay. The important thing is that what I want isn’t that difficult.”
“Stop beating around the bush and tell me.”
“My wish is to become human again.”
“…Were you originally human?”
I didn’t know if the spirit residing in Harpe was originally human.
But it was true that I was originally human.
I slowly nodded. Dietrich’s languid eyes widened slightly.
The fact that a spirit was originally human was surprising news for anyone to hear.
After all, hardly anyone wonders about or tries to find out where spirits come from and how they disappear.
“So help me. When I become human, this contract will end.”
“…”
“If you try to throw me away, your life will end.”
I muttered ominously as if warning him, but he didn’t seem scared at all.
After being silent for a moment as if thinking about something, he slowly asked back.
“And what do I get?”
“Your life, of course.”
“You’re more foolish than I thought.”
Clicking his tongue softly while calling me foolish, he tapped his forehead with his index finger and said:
“Even if what you’re saying is true, I won’t die. As long as I just keep you with me, I won’t die. So I don’t need to grant your wish. I just need to not die, right?”
…He’s very sharp.
I didn’t expect Dietrich to be this smart, so I quickly racked my brain.
If he just keeps me with him forever without granting my wish as he said, it would be a huge problem.
Finding a way to become human would be much easier with Dietrich’s help.
The best option here was for me to grant Dietrich’s wish too.
I asked, stuttering nervously.
“Then, then tell me what you want. I’ll help you.”
“…You said you know everything related to the Delgado ducal family, right?”
That was something I said to seduce Dietrich.
Let’s just say it’s true for now.
I nodded vigorously until my neck hurt.
“Yes. I know everything.”
“You also said you could help me become the family head.”
“Of course! I can do that too.”
“…Then help me become the family head.”
Not ‘Please help me’ or ‘Can you help me?’, but the imperative ‘Help me.’
It was the epitome of arrogance.
Dietrich was being unpleasant till the end, but I was somewhat happy.
‘My lie worked!’
I was worried that my lie would be exposed to the sharp Dietrich.
“If you help, I’ll grant your wish too.”
“Good. Negotiation complete. No backing out! Especially don’t say anything about throwing me away, smashing me, or selling me at the market!”
“…”
“Answer me.”
“We’ll see.”
This, this bastard till the end!
But I could sense it.
Unlike before, Dietrich didn’t seem to have any intention of throwing me away now.
Rather than being swayed by the threat of death, he seemed to have quickly judged the utility value of the sword he had picked up.
‘He must have judged that using me might help with succeeding the duke title.’
Anyway, it was a good thing for me.
Worried that he might change his mind again soon, I hurriedly took a step closer to him.
“Then let’s make a contract first. Not a verbal contract, but a proper written contract.”
This was my last resort in case Dietrich changed his mind again.
Although he made an expression of extreme annoyance, Dietrich unexpectedly obediently handed over a paper.
Below the hastily scrawled , he wrote his name and signature and pushed the paper towards me.
When I wrote ‘Harpe’ below his name and finished signing, a light suddenly flashed around my body.
The room, which had been completely dark as the sun had set, brightened as if a light had been turned on, then darkened again.
And I opened my eyes wide at the warm and properly tangible sensation of my body.
My previously translucent body had become completely opaque and was in human form.
“I became human.”
“…Is the contract over with this?”
Though he said that, Dietrich also looked quite surprised.
His eyes with their mysterious color scrutinized me up and down as if curious about my identity.
Then he called my name softly.
“Harpe.”
Just as I felt a shiver run down my spine at his voice that sounded both gentle and cold, tickling my ears, I was trapped inside the sword again.
Huh, I definitely became human…
Although I took on human form because I made a contract with the sword’s owner, it seemed I still couldn’t escape from being a sword spirit.
“Harpe.”
As he called my name again, I came out into his room once more.
“Looks like you’re still a sword spirit. Then the contract isn’t void.”
It was disappointing, but I was very satisfied just to have returned to human form.
Now I don’t have to wander around looking like a half-ghost spirit.
“Don’t you have a mirror?”
I wanted to quickly check my human appearance.
Since I had entered a romance fantasy novel, I was somewhat curious about what I looked like.
Seeing me suddenly ask for a mirror, he frowned as if dumbfounded and responded coldly.
“I don’t have anything like a mirror. Why would I need such a thing?”
“You live without looking in mirrors?”
He has that appearance and doesn’t look in mirrors?
Now I was the one who was dumbfounded.
If I were as beautiful as Dietrich, I would have lived looking in mirrors every day.
Anyway, when I showed great disappointment at hearing there was no mirror, he grumpily added one more thing.
“If you really want to see, there should be one in the dressing room. Of course, it’s a place the duchess often uses.”
“Dressing room?”
At the mention that the duchess often used it, I lost the desire to go.
It would be very dangerous if someone discovered my current appearance.
A mysterious woman suddenly appearing in the Delgado ducal residence.
It’s perfect for being mistaken as an intruder, isn’t it?
Only then did I start to worry about how I should live in the Delgado ducal residence from now on.
What should I say to naturally blend into the Delgado ducal residence?
Then, as if he had entered and exited my mind, Dietrich said gruffly:
“I’ll introduce you as someone from a distant relative’s family of my mother. Let’s say we met by chance on the way to find the sword.”
“…Huh?”
“Do you have any better ideas? If so, tell me.”
It seemed a bit forced, but there probably wasn’t a better setting than that.
If I was related to Dietrich’s mother, the former duchess, people wouldn’t be able to say much.
Although the former duchess had been driven out, Dietrich was still the number one candidate to succeed the Delgado ducal family.
Not many people would object to someone like him taking care of his mother’s relative.
“No, no! That’s fine. I don’t care as long as I can stay here.”
As soon as I finished saying it was okay, he separated from the sofa he had been leaning on.
Then he approached me sitting on the bed and pushed my shoulder.
“Huh? Why?”
“Why, you ask. I don’t have a hobby of letting strange women sleep in my bed.”
This crazy…
He says crazy things with an expressionless face so well.
I immediately jumped off the bed and hugged myself with both arms.
“I, I don’t either! I’m not going to do anything with you!”
Seeing me in shock, Dietrich tilted his head slightly and raised an eyebrow.
Then, as if he had realized something, he slightly raised the corners of his mouth and smirked.
“Ah. I didn’t have any such thoughts at all, but were you perhaps expecting something?”
As he brought his handsome face close and smiled, it felt like my heart would jump out.
To hide my increasingly reddening ears, I hurriedly stepped back and shouted:
“I didn’t expect anything!”
Dietrich, who had crossed his arms, nodded casually as if nothing had happened.
“Then that’s fine.”
What’s fine!
I felt dizzy from Dietrich’s unpredictable behavior that I couldn’t make heads or tails of.
As if he didn’t care whether I was like that or not, he nodded his head towards the sofa in an emotionless tone.
“Don’t covet my bed and sleep on that sofa or not, do as you please.”
The sofa he had been leaning on until now was a single-seater that looked impossible to lie down on.
‘…Heartless bastard!’
Although I didn’t intend to sleep on the bed, I felt even more upset at being treated so coldly.
But that was only for a moment. As I sat on the sofa, my eyelids started to feel heavy as if stones had been placed on them, and my mind began to fog up.
‘It was an unusually long day.’
Just the fact that I had possessed someone was shocking enough, but to end up sleeping in the original male lead’s room. I still can’t believe it.
It would be nice if I could get a little more used to this absurd situation tomorrow.
I need to find a way to become human soon too.
I also want to eat some really delicious food.
With that thought, I dozed off.
And the next day at lunch.
I had to face the painful situation of not being able to swallow a single bite with extremely delicious food in front of me.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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