I grumbled inwardly but continued to shout “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” to Darius.

‘Ah, damn. I should have come a day earlier to appease him in advance.’

“Hey, that thing earlier wasn’t like that. He, he… Anyway, we’re not even remotely that kind of relationship. Or is it because I kept refusing when you asked to go out? I’m not busy anymore, so shall we go out now? Hm? Hm?”

Somehow, the dialogue sounds just like that of a cheating middle-aged man. The memory of adulterous middle-aged couples in hiking clothes encountered on the subway overwhelms me. Come on, I’m not old enough to eat ginseng chicken soup in the valley yet.

While shuddering, my hand becomes even more affectionate as I try to soothe Darius.

“How could I cheat? We made vows and signed a contract and everything.”

“Then who is that man?”

“Lord Donau’s half-brother.”

This time, I answered immediately.

“Why haven’t we painted a couple’s portrait?”

“Well, if you really want to, we should. Which painter should we call? Since we’re at it, shall we paint several instead of just one? How about with the four seasons of Inkhart Castle as the background? It’ll be a masterpiece!”

“Do you remember the mirror?”

Darius asked with a sad expression. But a mirror? I don’t remember that.

Finally, Darius rose sluggishly. I felt a cold wind from his eyes as he looked at me.

“What if it wasn’t a contract?”

“Pardon?”

Can you please speak more clearly?

“Anette, I’m talking about our marriage contract. The contract that Anette and I signed directly.”

“Of course I remember. Very well. Is there a problem with that?”

“Anette hasn’t fulfilled her obligations.”

“Me? I swear I’ve never done anything shameful to Your Grace.”

“Anette, you don’t like me.”

“…Oh my, what do you mean by that?”

“Answer.”

“…I married you because I like you, didn’t I?”

Darius stared at me with a persistent gaze. His resolute black eyes were seeing through my lie and looking at me.

“That’s a lie. We got married for our mutual benefit. In that situation, your best option was to marry me.”

Yes, I lied. What nonsense about marrying for love. Our marriage was a political marriage and a contract marriage.

Even knowing that I would die if I married Darius, this marriage was something I couldn’t refuse. From the moment I was possessed, my marriage was already decided.

I didn’t marry him because I liked him.

I proposed the contract to him in order to survive.

But so what? I’m not the only one who had a political and contract marriage, am I?

“I thought you had fallen in love with me. You came all the way to this cold and desolate place. And you took care of this castle for me. You came to this castle with only gloomy memories of my parents’ deaths… You became my family.”

Darius continued, as if complaining.

“So you should love me.”

“Why?”

Really, why? Even if the first line of our marriage contract was ‘Darius Inkhart and Anette Porche hereby swear to love each other from now on’, why?

“Because we became husband and wife. And spouses love each other, don’t they?”

“…Do couples in political marriages really have to love each other?”

“It doesn’t matter how it started. Spouses always fall in love.”

Oh my, Madam Maude would scoff at such a story.

Ah, since when did you become such a romantic?

But I couldn’t refute like that. After all, he was born as the male lead of a romance novel.

A moral, exemplary, and excellent male protagonist.

Yes, I chose the wrong husband.

“Because I’m your wife?”

“Because I’m the husband and you’re the wife.”

Then if the wife of the Inkhart Grand Duke, joined by political marriage, was someone other than me.

Darius himself would have loved that woman then.

“Anette, my only wife.”

Darius whispered as if engraving it.

“It’s not a matter of man or woman. As long as you’ve become my wife, I don’t need the fair attention given as if shared.”

If Evangeline were here in this place.

“I’m looking forward to it. You’re already treating me well enough, but how much better will you treat me when you fall in love with me?”

Would Darius have confessed his love with these same shining eyes then?

It felt like holding a bomb.

His eyes, pretending to be innocent while smiling, were slightly off.

It felt like the walking death flag had finally struck me.

Darius smiled. Good for you that you can smile. Right now, the future I’ve been avoiding with my whole body has hit me straight on.

“Liar. Saying ‘I married you because I like you?’ You’re always lying whenever you open your mouth.”

Let’s go out below the castle tomorrow. Darius added casually.

It was an attitude that showed no particular shock, despite confirming that I didn’t love him and throwing something like a confession yearning for my love. On the surface, at least.

“You won’t refuse this time, right? We’ve already exposed Anette’s true feelings anyway.”

I felt like immediately returning it, saying it was too honorable for a commoner like me to accept the love of the male protagonist.

If Darius hadn’t interlocked his ten fingers with mine, I certainly would have done so. Because I have no intention of receiving a duel challenge from the female lead who is furious that I flirted with the male lead while she was away.

“You’ll have time for a while, right? You should.”

“It sounds like you’re saying you’ll make time if I don’t have it.”

“If that’s how it sounds… That might be my true intention.”

Wow, now you’re not even denying it! I at least pretended not to see it!

Ha ha, hahaha.

I could only laugh in despair as the situation I had desperately tried to avoid unfolded before my eyes.

‘No. Let’s think positively about this timing.’

Not wanting to do anything stupid to provoke the male lead who was dangerously crossing the line, I quietly left my hand to Darius and started thinking about other things.

‘Is the story being replaced by me emotionally betraying Darius, as Lady Egritte’s betrayal that should have been in the original work disappears? Like, the wife I thought was treating me well was actually just putting on a show?’

From ‘There are no relatives to trust in this world’ to ‘There is no Anette to trust in this world.’

‘Even though the content is a little different, the main plot of him feeling betrayed is the same.’

Yes, it’s not deviating from the original work.

So it should be okay if Darius likes me, right? Since the ‘original wife’ who wasn’t in the original work is firmly in place, it’s a situation where he could develop feelings.

He might hastily conclude that this feeling is love since I’m the first woman he’s been close to.

And above all, the true female protagonist of this stage hasn’t appeared yet.

Evangeline, when she appears, everything will naturally fall into place.

Just as Rose went to the ash forest, and Barbarossa took the path of a mercenary.

A soul-stirring love will begin.

When Darius meets Evangeline.

Only then.

“You’ve prepared a lot of date courses, right?”

So I can smile. All of this is just a temporary phenomenon.

When I composed myself and smiled again, Darius smiled too. As if he knew all about my rapidly churning thoughts but would let it slide for now.

“Sleep alone today, Anette.”

Darius got up with a thud.

“That’s welcome news.”

“Don’t cry because I’m not there.”

“Would I cry?”

I chuckled, but I was curious about the psychology of the male protagonist who confesses his love and then leaves.

“Now that I know Anette doesn’t like me.”

He glanced at me with a voice still filled with disappointment.

“I’m giving you space because I know you’ll dislike it if I’m here.”

“Since when did you become so considerate?”

This distance is very welcome!

He suddenly poked my cheek.

“Ouch.”

“Don’t be too happy, you never know when I’ll come back to sleep. It was Anette who told me to come sleep often to make us look like a ‘plausible’ couple, wasn’t it?”

“Come to think of it, I feel a bit more at ease these days, maybe because I’ve been taking up a lot of space.”

“Anette. Do you want to know another reason why I’m avoiding your bed?”

He gently caressed my face. He noticed that I was trying to escape this conversation, but he didn’t press me.

“I’m staying away from Anette so I don’t get used to it.”

“Get used to it?”

“I’m afraid of the moment when Anette stops thinking of me as a man and stops being cautious.”

“When did I ever…”

From the first night of our wedding, I had always worried about what might happen between us when we shared a bed.

“Did you actually think about it? That’s even better. It seems unfair if I was the only one feeling tense while sharing a bed.”

“If you’re going to leave, leave quickly.”

“So I should at least see Anette’s blushing face to make it even.”

Even as he was pushed out by me, he didn’t stop talking. That mouth. Traditionally, silence is the default for the Northern Grand Duke.

“See? Anette doesn’t even blush.”

After driving him to the door, I returned to the bed and covered myself with the blanket.

“Anette, by the way.”

I didn’t answer his call, still covered by the blanket.

“Actually, I’m not sleeping next to Anette partly because I feel hurt.”

‘What’s he saying.’

“I was hurt today, so remember that. Today was a really sad day.”

With those strange words, he closed the door and left.

I quietly listened to the sound of him leaving. Until the footsteps faded and I was sure that Darius had really gone to his room, I kept listening.

My chest felt a bit tight. Well, that’s because I had the blanket pulled up to the top of my head.

Other than that, there’s no reason for my chest to feel tight, right?