As Elise tried to grasp this fact, Karan brought pen and paper.
He first stipulated in the contract that Elise would be his only wife.
“Your Highness, you don’t have to go to such lengths…”
Elise tried to stop him belatedly.
“No. It’s a promise I must keep.”
Was monogamy a flaw in Titris? Elise was confused.
“Is there anything else?”
“No, not really…”
Karan had conceded too much.
“You have no demands of me, it seems.”
His escape to his country had already been a big inconvenience.
Though Elise was confident she could bring him benefits far exceeding any temporary scandal, the marriage seemed disadvantageous for Karan now.
So, asking for more would be shameless.
“I do have another condition. We’ll maintain our marriage life until I say we divorce.”
“What? Not three years?”
“Yes. The duration will be decided by me.”
Disappointment crossed Elise’s face.
Three years was a long time, but too short to repay Karan and lay the groundwork for revenge.
“If it’s too short…”
Karan chuckled at Elise’s muttering.
She was misunderstanding quite firmly.
This marriage would last a lifetime, as long as Karan lived.
He had no intention of letting Elise go.
But there was no need to teach her that.
Karan licked his lower lip and tapped the table with his fountain pen.
“Will it be difficult?”
“…No. I’ll accept it.”
“There’s one more condition.”
“I thought you had none in mind, but you seem to have given it much thought.”
“I’ve devoted the longest time of my life to it.”
He wasn’t just talking about the contract terms. This was about a new beginning with Elise.
Elise smiled.
She liked that he took their contract seriously.
“Please, tell me.”
“Be faithful in our marital life. What we do will be no different from a real marriage. Marriage itself is a contract, isn’t it? The only difference is whether we make the contract before a priest or not.”
“What exactly do you mean by ‘marital life’?”
“Everything you can imagine. Everything that’s expected.”
As he finished speaking, he smiled. His suggestive smile made Elise’s lips go dry.
While Karan cherished Elise, he wasn’t going to just hold her like a treasure.
Instead, he planned to completely imprint her sweet breath, body scent, and warmth onto his body.
“How about it? Will you accept my contract terms?”
Elise nodded.
Karan wrote the contract including the terms he just mentioned, making two copies.
“Now we need to sign. Do you have anything prepared for that?”
Usually, contracts are sealed with a family crest.
But Elise, being just the second daughter of a minor noble house, didn’t have a family crest.
Elise picked up both copies of the contract.
She aligned them side by side and pressed her lips to it.
“Will this do?”
Elise handed one copy to Karan.
Looking down at Elise’s half-lip imprint, Karan leaned forward abruptly.
As Elise moved back, he placed his hand on the back of her head and pulled her toward him.
“A contract’s signature should be done together. But I’m unprepared, so let’s borrow yours.”
He quickly pressed his lips against hers, then pulled away cleanly.
He picked up the contract and, looking at Elise, brought his lips over her lip mark.
The moment his lips covered hers on the paper, Elise felt her own lips with her fingers.
‘Ah, I’ll be late again today.’
Elise had a feeling.
That this night, too, wouldn’t pass easily.
“You’ve been sleeping more, Miss.”
Regina, unable to wait for Elise to wake up, pulled back the curtains and opened the window wide.
Struggling to open her eyes in the deep sunlight, Elise felt her body as heavy as if she had done strenuous labor.
Last night went just as Elise had expected.
“We are married now.”
Karan had caught Elise’s hand trying to push him away and whispered in her ear, leaving her defenseless and crumbling.
Karan was overwhelming in every way. When he pressed down on her, Elise felt as if trapped in a cave.
No wonder her body was exhausted after spending a night with such a man.
‘I should have limited marital relations to once a week in the contract.’
It was too late for regrets now.
“Regina, please fill the bathtub.”
“A half bath? Good thinking. I’ll prepare it with herbs.”
Regina hurried off. The bathtub was quickly ready. Elise stopped Regina at the bathroom door.
“I’ll do it alone.”
“Let me help you.”
“No, I need to think.”
Perhaps because of the contract, Karan had been determined last night.
Elise knew her body would be bruised, so she pushed Regina away.
“I want to help… Is there anything else you need? Shall I prepare some cool tea?”
Elise shook her head, then paused. There was something she needed to check, something very important she had even made a note of, but she had completely forgotten because of Karan.
“Regina, did we receive today’s Alleycat Times?”
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
