The Maid's Contract Marriage - Chapter 29
“…….”
The Crown Prince quietly put his hands in his pockets and let out a deep sigh.
The next moment, the Crown Prince leaned back in his chair, tilting it backwards, and tilted his head towards the fountain.
“Rembrandt!”
And he shouted to call them.
Rembrandt and Arthur’s wife turned to look at him from the other side.
The Crown Prince shouted.
“Come here now! Unless you want to be misunderstood as having ulterior motives towards Arthur’s lady.”
[This is the timeline separator]“Excuse me, Lord Arthur.”
Rembrandt, who had escorted Reina to Arthur, politely bowed.
“Not at all.”
Arthur extended his arm to Reina, who had been escorted by him.
“…….”
Reina gave a brief nod of thanks to Rembrandt and moved to Arthur’s side.
“…….”
“…….”
This is driving me crazy.
The Crown Prince quietly frowned at the awkward atmosphere.
He already owed Arthur a lot.
Whatever happened, if it was his mistake to call Rembrandt here without permission, he had to take responsibility.
Just as the Crown Prince was about to open his mouth to smooth over the atmosphere.
Reina, who had turned her head to look up at Arthur, said softly.
“……Arthur. Let’s talk for a moment.”
And she pointed towards the fountain where she had been talking with Rembrandt earlier.
“Over there.”
At that moment, the Crown Prince and Rembrandt looked at Reina simultaneously.
“…….”
Arthur also looked at Reina with a slightly surprised, stiff face.
Reina, with her hand on Arthur’s arm, asked the Crown Prince.
“……Your Highness. I know it’s impolite, but may I excuse myself for a moment?”
The Crown Prince looked at Reina, a bit flustered by the unexpected situation.
She added apologetically, hesitating slightly.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t properly host you when you visited our humble home.”
“……It’s nothing.”
When the Crown Prince answered, Reina smiled slightly in response and pulled on Arthur’s arm.
“Arthur.”
“…….”
Reina gazed at Arthur with clear eyes.
“…….”
Arthur, who had been hesitating, briefly bowed his head to the Crown Prince, then began to escort Reina towards the fountain where she had been talking with Rembrandt.
The same path Reina had taken earlier when escorted by Rembrandt.
“…….”
The Crown Prince glanced at Rembrandt.
He also had a somewhat surprised look on his face.
It didn’t seem like Rembrandt had advised this.
“……Was Lord Arthur very upset?”
Rembrandt asked.
“……To be honest, he was a bit, but I think it will be fine.”
The Crown Prince answered, looking at Arthur and Reina’s retreating figures.
[This is the timeline separator]Alone with Arthur, Reina immediately looked up at him and opened her mouth.
“Actually…… I had met Lord Rembrandt before.”
“…….”
Reina began speaking without preamble.
“But until now, I didn’t even know that I had met Lord Rembrandt before. When I met him that one time…… I thought he was his attendant. But at that time I…….”
Reina hesitated briefly before saying.
“I was a bit rude, not knowing he was Lord Rembrandt.”
Reina lowered her head, pressing her hand to her nape.
“I…… showed him a bit of my unadorned self…….”
As her hand went up, her dress sleeve opened slightly, revealing a clumsily tied lace handkerchief inside.
“…….”
Then she lowered her hand and clasped it with the other.
The lace handkerchief was hidden again in her sleeve.
“So when I just heard that he was Lord Rembrandt…… I was a bit surprised.”
“…….”
Reina raised her gaze again and looked at Arthur.
“…….”
Arthur was silently looking at Reina.
“…….”
To speak so honestly to him about herself, skipping over ‘Christina’…….
It felt reckless, but.
Reina continued speaking.
“……I looked a bit funny at that time. Lord Rembrandt thought it was amusing, so he thought he could just talk about it lightly like a brief enjoyable story…….”
And Reina pressed her nape again, looking a bit embarrassed.
“But when I was so flustered, he said he was sorry, that he didn’t know I would be so surprised and flustered……. He said he would keep it a secret that he saw my unadorned self.”
“…….”
Reina lowered her fidgeting hands and interlaced her fingers in front of her skirt, palms down.
And she looked up at Arthur with honest eyes.
“……That’s all.”
“…….”
……Would he understand?
That she was surprised because she had met Lord Rembrandt not as a young lady…… but as a maid.
Reina quietly faced Arthur.
“……I’m sorry for going to talk to someone else in front of you, my lord. Did it harm your honor?”
Reina asked carefully, looking up at him.
“……You probably…… didn’t like it…… either?”
“…….”
Arthur didn’t smile slightly as usual.
He just looked at Reina for a moment.
Then lowered his gaze with an inscrutable expression.
“…….”
After a while, Arthur sighed, running his fingers through his hair.
“……I’m sorry for grabbing your arm so tightly earlier.”
Arthur said, meeting her gaze.
“Did it hurt?”
“It’s fine.”
Reina quickly answered.
Almost urgently.
Arthur finally chuckled, then muttered while rubbing his eyes and forehead with the hand that had swept through his hair.
“……I’m more jealous than I thought.”
Reina hesitated, doubting her ears.
Arthur soon faced Reina with a fresh expression.
“I was also rude to Lord Rembrandt. I’m petty when it comes to my wife.”
“…….”
Reina somehow felt foolishly shy and her heart fluttered.
It felt too overwhelming to say that he just understood and that her explanation was successful.
“…….”
Arthur smiled slightly and extended his hand again to Reina, offering to escort her.
Reina looked at Arthur without continuing her words, then firmly grasped his offered hand.
The lace handkerchief tied in her sleeve brushed against his arm.
Reina, smiling weakly, looked down at the ground and muttered softly.
“Let’s stay here for a while. Let’s stay longer than we did with Lord Rembrandt before going back.”
Arthur let out a small laugh.
He didn’t answer, but he didn’t show any dislike either.
“Just a moment.”
He just adjusted his grip on Reina’s hand, then reached his fingers deeper into her sleeve.
And he untied the lace handkerchief tied around Reina’s wrist, then retied it neatly and tidied it up.
Reina felt somehow embarrassed, looked at Arthur, and just smiled slightly, lowering her gaze as if grateful.
[This is the timeline separator]“Do you know the lady?”
The Crown Prince asked Rembrandt.
Rembrandt answered awkwardly, interlacing his fingers on his knee.
“No. Well……. If I had to say, I was the only one who knew the lady. We crossed paths once, but the lady didn’t know who I was. She seemed surprised when I said I was Rembrandt. I don’t want to embarrass the lady, so please don’t ask any more than that. I swear there was nothing dishonorable.”
The Crown Prince laughed briefly.
“Alright. Don’t do anything that might cause misunderstanding. It’s scary if a guy like Arthur goes crazy.”
Rembrandt laughed as if it was absurd.
“Don’t worry. I’m not bold enough to dream of a romance with a war hero’s lady.”
Rembrandt said that while looking at their retreating figures in the distance.
“…….”
Just before returning to Arthur, Reina said softly with her face flushed and head lowered.
“My lord……. Thank you for your concern. But I’m actually not very good at lying.”
And she muttered in an almost inaudible voice while pressing her nape.
“……It would be obvious anyway if I tried to lie.”
“So I’ll just…… tell you honestly.”
“I can’t say that I’m not a young lady…… but…….”
“…….”
“……Can you keep just one secret?”
“…….”
“Just that you sold me the imperial newsletter…….”
Why would she want to hide that?
What’s wrong with buying the imperial newsletter…….
There wasn’t anything significant in it anyway.
“…….”
But since it was the lady’s secret, he had no right to speak of it.
Rembrandt awkwardly touched the back of his head, looking at Reina standing with Arthur over there with a somewhat strange feeling.
[This is the timeline separator]“I’ve been very rude in many ways today. I’ll take my leave now. I’m glad to have met you, my lady. Oh, and belated congratulations on your marriage.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Believing that she should at least end this moment well, whatever might happen, Reina smiled and bowed politely.
Thinking about it, she realized that it might pass without incident if she handled it well.
After all, once they part now, they won’t meet again, right?
His Highness the Crown Prince to the Imperial Palace, Young Lady Christina to Julius territory.
Thankfully, if Lord Rembrandt keeps the secret.
All’s well that ends well.
Reina smiled.
“Take care. It was an honor to see the light of the Empire.”
Towards Reina, who was smiling as she bid farewell, the Crown Prince said with a smile as if reluctant to part:
“I suppose we’ll see each other again at the debutante ball after the victory celebration?”
Cracks appeared in Reina’s smiling face.
“……Pardon?”
The Crown Prince said with a smile.
“Let me know when you come to the capital. I’ll invite you two separately.”
Arthur asked.
“……A debutante ball?”
“Oh, haven’t you heard yet?”
The Crown Prince answered, looking at Reina.
“There will be a debutante ball. My lady, you haven’t had your debut, right?”
What is he talking about?
The Crown Prince’s words continued.
“When you were seventeen, social gatherings were banned due to the war, so all the ladies who should have had their debuts at seventeen or eighteen are now twenty-two or twenty-three. And for five years below that, no young ladies have been able to have their debuts.”
Reina blankly looked at the Crown Prince as he continued speaking.
His voice flowed smoothly.
“So this spring, all the ladies from seventeen to twenty-three who couldn’t debut during that time will have their debutante ball. It will be the largest debutante ball in history.”
Then the Crown Prince winked cheerfully towards her…….
“At that time, you’ll clearly be the queen.”
The original targets for debutante balls were between seventeen and eighteen.
But it’s been five years since social gatherings and noble marriages were banned.
During that time, debutante balls weren’t held, so all the high-ranking noble daughters between seventeen and twenty-three who couldn’t make their debuts and had to postpone had to participate in the debutante ball where they would greet the Emperor and Empress at the Imperial Palace.
Twenty-two-year-old Christina was a target for the debutante ball.
“B-but I’m already married……. Can I still be a target for the debutante ball?!”
Screaming internally, Reina asked stutteringly.
The Crown Prince answered with a bright smile.
“Haha. Even women who have already had their debut can receive an invitation to greet Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress again as ‘the wife of so-and-so’ after marriage, as a principle. In your case, you have both the debut as ‘Lady Julius’ and the qualification to greet as ‘Arthur’s wife’, so you’ll get two invitation cards.”
Reina stopped breathing.
Arthur tilted his head.
“Won’t the first one be omitted?”
The Crown Prince rubbed his chin.
“Is that so? But a debutante ball is once in a lifetime, it would be a shame if only the lady missed it.”
“!”
The Crown Prince looked at Reina and smiled brightly.
“We can’t let you feel left out. If by any chance they say they won’t send a separate invitation, I’ll go and talk to them.”
There’s no need for that!
Reina’s face turned deathly pale.
The Crown Prince shrugged confidently.
“But I don’t think I’ll need to say anything, they won’t forget. The wife of ‘Arthur’, who is the son of the Emperor, my brother, and the protagonist of the victory celebration. When the whole empire knows that you’re a lady who married without having her debut at seventeen because of the war, do you think they’d omit that just because you’re already a married woman?”
*
Save yourself from story hunger — the novel below will blow your mind!
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
I’ve read the novel below twice already. Girls, I’m highly recommending it to you!
The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.
Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.
The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.
I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.
There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.
For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.
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Here’s the story synopsis:
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Intro 1:
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.
Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.
In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.
Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…
Intro 2:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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