The End Of The Special Contract Marriage (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 3
Just before the marriage proposal turned into a duel challenge.
“Miss, please calm down!”
Audrey, who had been anxiously watching from behind, hastily intervened to stop Aracila.
“Let go, Audrey. I’ll teach that arrogant knight a lesson—he doesn’t even recognize his own life-saver!”
“No! Please hold back!”
She was desperate for the sake of her mistress’s reputation and future. Damian raised an eyebrow at the maid clinging to Aracila’s slender waist.
Without permission, she had laid hands on her mistress, and her subtly familiar tone suggested a closeness beyond that of an ordinary maid and noblewoman.
“Know your place and stop meddling in your mistress’s affairs.”
“You’re the one overstepping. Audrey is allowed—it’s fine.”
Aracila snapped sharply at Damian, barely suppressing her temper as she sat back down and glared at him.
“You’ll regret treating me like this.”
“It’s you, my lady, who should avoid regretting—stay out of other houses’ affairs. I don’t need your help.”
Damian coldly retorted, stood up, and opened the door—a clear signal for her to leave.
Aracila let out an exasperated laugh, then walked toward him with firm, upright steps. She looked straight into his eyes and declared,
“You will absolutely need me, my lord.”
Damian frowned at the certainty shining in her clear blue eyes. But his eyes widened at what she said next.
“I’ve thoroughly investigated this political marriage, my lord. Your grandfather reached an agreement with His Majesty that the grandson who marries Hugo’s granddaughter would inherit the dukedom and estate.”
“What? That’s absurd…”
“I’ve said all I have to. The choice is yours.”
Aracila turned sharply and left. Audrey glanced nervously and hurried after her mistress.
Damian, unable to fully believe or dismiss her words, watched her retreating figure with a furrowed brow.
[This is the timeline separator]When Aracila returned home, she was greeted by her older sister and younger brother.
“Why are you two waiting for me?”
“Adrian says he has something to show you.”
Iris gently crinkled the corners of her eyes and gestured toward her younger brother. Aracila looked at her brother, who seemed unusually excited.
“Sister! Look at this!”
Adrian approached his second eldest sister, clutching a bundle of papers.
“I wrote down all the reasons why you shouldn’t get married!”
“Oh dear, Adrian. You’ve been playing all day instead of studying, haven’t you?”
Aracila hit the nail on the head as she took the papers he offered. Adrian flinched and looked down at the floor.
“Let’s see what my little brother has written, abandoning his heir training.”
She calmly read through the writing—clearly crafted to appear mature.
‘1. The guy is ugly.’
Hmm, Adrian. Honestly, he’s quite handsome.
‘2. The guy is short.’
Oh no—he’s actually tall enough that I’d have to look up at him.
‘3. He’s weaker than you, so he can’t protect you.’
That’s true. Though she’d never dueled Damian directly, Aracila was firmly convinced she’d win.
He was an arrogant knight; she was a confident sorceress.
‘4. Your ideal man is affectionate, but he might not be affectionate toward you.’
That was actually a white lie Aracila told to coax affection from Adrian himself.
The reasons Adrian listed afterward were completely nonsensical. But the final one tugged gently at Aracila’s heart.
‘If you leave, I’ll miss you so much I might even cry.’
Adrian was the youngest, eleven years younger than Iris and ten years younger than Aracila.
Knowing how lonely he’d been at home while his sisters went out together made her feel tenderly toward him.
“Adrian.”
Aracila softly called her brother’s name.
“Yeah, sister! You won’t get married, right?!”
“No, I will.”
Adrian’s face, briefly bright with hope, instantly turned ashen with disappointment. His small shoulders slumped.
Aracila gently stroked the head of her younger brother, whose hair was the same soft violet as hers.
“Getting married doesn’t mean I’m leaving you. I’ll always be your second sister, Ad.”
“Yes, we’ll always be the three Hugo siblings—even if we marry and change our surnames, our roots remain the same.”
Iris chimed in, comforting her brother. Adrian looked back and forth between his sisters and fidgeted with his fingers.
“But Mom said when you marry, you’ll leave home.”
“Of course. Once you marry, you live with your husband. When you grow up and marry, you’ll do the same.”
Hearing that marriage meant leaving family behind, Adrian shook his head vigorously.
“No! Then I’ll never marry!”
“Alright. I don’t know if that’s possible, but you can try.”
Their parents readily accepted Aracila’s declaration of celibacy largely because she was neither the heir nor the eldest daughter.
Adrian was the heir of House Marquis Hugo, and Iris was the firstborn.
As the second daughter, Aracila held a position where she could be fully supported in pursuing her own path.
“Sister, can’t you refuse to marry Lord Vandermir too? I don’t like him.”
“When have you even seen him? And if not him, you’ll have to marry someone even worse.”
Aracila pinched her brother’s soft cheek—just enough to be playful, not painful.
If Damian rejected the proposal, the only remaining option would be Oscar Vandermir, whose future was stained with blood.
Marrying a man who might already be plotting treason—could she even survive?
‘Of course, if he marries me, I’ll beat it out of him if I have to—no way will I let him rebel.’
A gentle hand rested on Aracila’s shoulder as she silently steeled herself.
“Aracila, if you hate it that much, you don’t have to marry. I’m here for you.”
Iris offered a mature, thoughtful smile. She had always been like this—stepping forward in hard times, yielding the good to her siblings.
When Aracila declared she’d become an Archmage instead of marrying, Iris supported her without a word. When Adrian ran away exhausted from heir training, she gladly hid him in her room.
‘I’ll always be right here. Whenever you’re struggling, Ari or Ad, just come to me.’
How could they not love and follow such a sister?
“It’s the eldest’s duty to uphold the family’s obligations. If there’s to be a political marriage, I should be the one.”
Her composed voice carried the weight of responsibility befitting House Marquis Hugo’s first daughter.
In her premonition dream, her sister must have married with this same resolve—only to be unjustly sacrificed in her husband’s rebellion.
The gaunt, lifeless Iris from her dream overlapped with the vibrant Iris before her eyes. Aracila felt a lump rise in her throat.
She absolutely couldn’t let her sister die. No matter what, she had to be the one to marry Vandermir.
“So don’t feel bound by this political marriage…”
“It’s not because of the political marriage that I want to marry Lord Vandermir.”
Aracila impulsively denied it—trying to lift that burden of duty from her sister’s shoulders.
“Then why?”
“He just… appealed to me.”
“Liar. You’d never like someone without reason.”
Iris, who knew her sister better than anyone, narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
If Aracila were that easygoing, their family wouldn’t have struggled so much with her.
“It really is because of the political marriage, isn’t it?”
“…No? It’s not! Actually, I just liked his face.”
Afraid Iris might volunteer to take the marriage upon herself, Aracila shook her head desperately.
Though the sisters rarely kept secrets from each other, she couldn’t confess the truth about her premonition—so this well-meaning lie was necessary.
“But that still doesn’t make sense. Ari, you’d really decide to marry just based on looks?”
Her little sister, whose own exceptional beauty had made her indifferent to others’ appearances her whole life?
Iris couldn’t easily dismiss her doubts.
“His body was nice too.”
“…”
“And his voice wasn’t bad either.”
Aracila shamelessly added more reasons, covering Adrian’s ears. Iris’s eyes wavered slightly.
“Are those… really all the reasons?”
“Of course. Sister, people are naturally vulnerable to visual appeal.”
To drive her point home, Aracila continued confidently,
“Anyway, I already have money, honor, and status—so why not pick a man based purely on looks?”
“No, even so, I just can’t understand…”
Iris pressed her forehead, confused. She knew well of the famously handsome Damian Vandermir.
She just never imagined her sister would fall for him.
“Wait, Aracila… does this mean you’re marrying Lord Vandermir for love?”
Aracila hesitated briefly. A love match would make it easier to overcome opposition, wouldn’t it? She quickly decided and nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“But you said earlier it wasn’t like that.”
“I changed my mind. I actually met him.”
Meeting once still counted as meeting. Aracila reversed her stance without hesitation.
‘Well, it’d be a bit awkward if I couldn’t marry him after all…’
But she was certain he’d come to need her. Especially after recalling how his expression had seemed to waver at the end.
Soon, Damian Vandermir would realize they were each other’s only viable choice.
‘I’ll just wait until then.’
With that thought, Aracila tightly held her siblings’ hands and stepped into the house.
[This is the timeline separator]Damian investigated the political marriage between House Vandermir and House Marquis Hugo through his aide, Colin.
The results were shocking.
‘Was the sorceress telling the truth after all…?’
Just as Aracila had said, the late duke had left a will stipulating that the grandson who fulfilled the political marriage—sworn before the Emperor—would inherit the estate and title.
Of course, the current duke, Damian’s father, held primary succession rights—but matters changed if the Emperor himself had certified the late duke’s will.
No duke, however powerful, could defy the Emperor—especially one explicitly granted authority over the succession by the late duke.
‘What on earth was Grandfather thinking…?’
During his lifetime, the late duke had been Damian’s sole ally within the ducal household. He likely hadn’t left such a will with ill intent toward his grandson.
What mattered was that the current ducal family had thoroughly concealed this fact from him.
Their intention was clear.
‘If I marry and obtain Grandfather’s will, the heirship will be mine.’
Then, his long-cherished revenge would finally succeed.
In the darkness, Damian’s eyes gleamed like a predator’s. He pulled out paper and a pen from his drawer.
He was writing a belated reply—to Aracila Hugo.
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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Thank you for translating/sharing this. Such an adorable story!