As I spoke while looking at Dante with a straight gaze, he chuckled.

“Ah, yes. That boring plan.”

……Boring?

I stared at him blankly for a moment, losing my senses.

On the day we met for the second time, when I formally made a contract with him.

I had roughly explained my plan.

Of course, that included the plan to spectacularly jilt Lucas on the wedding day.

‘He thinks that’s boring?’

“If it were me.”

Dante’s eyes slowly scanned my face, which was steeped in bewilderment.

“I’d stage it more provocatively, Lopez.”

“……More than that?”

A bride rejecting the groom in front of everyone on the wedding day.

What could be more provocative than that?

“Don’t you know?”

Dante raised the corner of his mouth while staring at me as I slightly furrowed my brow.

“I’m a bit disappointed. In terms of imagination.”

“……”

My upward gaze might have been tinged with a hint of defiance.

Dante hung a sneer and slightly bowed his head towards me.

“I told you to use me as much as you can, didn’t I?”

“……”

No way.

I looked at him with widened eyes.

“How about bursting into the wedding and shouting that this marriage is invalid? Ask me, who knows? I might act it out enthusiastically.”

My body stiffened with a jolt.

It was because his large, hot palm wrapped around my wrist.

I looked up at him, forgetting to breathe. At the face too close, exquisitely handsome to the point of feeling unreal.

“It would be fun to walk up the wedding aisle, grab this wrist, and kiss you.”

Dante brought my wrist close to his lips. The ticklish sensation on the thin skin of my wrist from the precarious distance, almost touching but not quite.

“It was Marquis Fedegrin, wasn’t it? I wonder how he’d react if I ravished you in front of him.”

The low voice whispered obscene words.

Starting from my ear where the voice seeped in, a chill spread down my spine.

Dante said, slowly pulling up the corners of his mouth.

“It would surely be an unforgettable wedding for that fellow. Seeing his bride touched by another man on the wedding day, he’d never dream of marriage again. Isn’t that a good revenge?”

Eyes like burning flames were right in front of me. And the pitch-black pupils at their center, like an abyss.

It was inevitable that I suddenly became aware of the man’s scent.

The unfamiliar scent tickling my lungs and the hot warmth enveloping my wrist.

My heart started beating rapidly, at a speed I didn’t know.

I felt surrounded by a world I didn’t know. And the unknown always gives a strange fear.

If I could, I wanted to twist my wrist free and run away from this place.

However, at that moment, another voice of Dante crossed my mind.

“Acting like prey about to be eaten isn’t attractive, you know.”

If I showed signs of fear here, if I got labeled as a ‘dull woman’, this man might lose interest in me.

I slightly moistened my dry mouth and slowly opened my lips.

“……That’s right, Your Grace.”

As a calm voice flowed out of my lips, Dante raised one eyebrow.

“The reason I didn’t ask you to come to the wedding was because I thought it would be too presumptuous, no matter what. But now that you’re willingly offering to help, I can only be grateful.”

Dante’s eyes widened slightly.

I continued speaking, meeting his gaze without wavering.

“Then I’ll send it today. My wedding invitation.”

“……Ha.”

After a moment of silence, he let out a sharp, mocking laugh.

“As expected.”

Dante gazed at me intently after stopping his laughter. The black pupils within his red irises gleamed darkly.

“You know how to act in an intriguing way. You do.”

The hired carriage rattled into the Lopez Count’s residence.

As the carriage stopped, a familiar face popped out from beyond the window.

“Miss, I’m back!”

It was Sophie.

She seemed to have spent her week-long vacation well, her eyes brimming with newfound vitality.

I stepped out of the carriage with a welcoming smile.

“Ah, Sophie.”

“Oh my, I should have come earlier! If I had known you’d be out alone like this…… Eeek! Miss!”

As I slightly stumbled while setting my foot on the ground, Sophie screamed and caught me.

I quickly straightened my legs that had momentarily weakened.

“Goodness! Are you alright, Miss? Are you sick?! Oh, come to think of it, your face looks even more slender!”

Sophie fussed, examining me.

She seemed to believe I must have caught at least a mild cold.

The weight loss was just due to lack of sleep from poring over music sheets every night.

“I just misstepped for a moment. I’m fine.”

Even with my explanation, Sophie didn’t stop worrying.

It was because of that man. Meeting him always left me completely drained.

“Did you have a good vacation, Sophie?”

“Ah…!”

At the mention of her vacation, Sophie’s face was suffused with complex emotions.

The girl suddenly bowed her head deeply.

“Thank you, Miss.”

“Hm?”

“Thanks to the vacation you gave me, I was able to go home and see my mother. ……Although I almost couldn’t get into the house because there was no one to open the door.”

I quietly looked at Sophie, anticipating what would follow.

“My mother had caught the flu and was in a state where she couldn’t even get up. I hurriedly took her to a doctor, who said if we had been a little later, it could have worsened into pneumonia.”

Sophie’s eyes reddened.

“I was able to cover the medical expenses thanks to the vacation pay you gave me. The medicine costs, the money for mom’s nutritious food, I covered it all with that. Thank you so much, Miss.”

Sophie bowed her head deeply once again.

“If it weren’t for you, Miss, I might have left without even knowing my mother was sick. She had been ill for quite a while, but she never mentioned it in her letters to me. How foolish……”

Sophie wiped her eyes and suddenly raised her head to look up at me.

“Miss. I will never, ever forget this kindness.”

Brown eyes stained with determination looked straight at me.

“I owe you my mother’s life. So I’ll dedicate my life to you if I have to.”

Facing her solemn expression, I shook my head.

“Your life is your own, Sophie. Such a thing is too much for me.”

“But I mean it!”

I gazed silently at Sophie, who was protesting with clenched fists.

“You shouldn’t entrust something so precious to others carelessly.”

But.

I gently grasped Sophie’s shoulders as she was about to object.

“If there’s anything you can do to help me, will you do it?”

Sophie’s eyes widened.

There was no one in the mansion.

Edward would still be passed out, and Elena, who had run out during the rehearsal earlier, would probably be playing in some salon or tea room by now.

“Welcome back, Miss.”

“Ah, butler.”

I spoke to Wilhelm, who came out to greet me politely.

“Have all the wedding invitations been sent out?”

“We completed sending them to all the nobles on the list last week. Is there a reason you’re asking?”

“I wonder if there are any left over? There’s somewhere I’d like to send one.”

“Ah, of course. If you just give me the address, I’ll send it out, Miss.”

“Thank you. Then please send one to the Heigenberg Duke’s residence.”

“Yes. To the Heigenberg Duke…… Pardon?”

Wilhelm, who had been diligently repeating my words, blinked his eyes blankly. It was a rare sight from the always composed Wilhelm.

Sophie also looked at me with startled eyes.

I heard that to children, the name of the war hero duke is treated like a monster that comes to catch you if you cry. Their faces looked as scared as children just from hearing the name.

“Ah, Miss. Did you perhaps have some, some, some issue with His Grace the Duke……”

Their expressions clearly showed worry that I might have gotten entangled in something bad with the Duke.

I slowly looked around at the two surprised people.

“I have something I want to tell you two.”

“Please speak, Miss.”

I silently looked at Wilhelm.

From the time I was born, no, from long before that, Wilhelm had been working in this mansion.

He was a butler and at the same time a close friend of my maternal grandfather.

I heard that when the two were boys, my grandfather had once saved Wilhelm’s life.

The most important thing to Wilhelm was the name of the ‘Lopez’ family.

It was the dying wish of his old friend, my grandfather, to protect the family.

“I’m not going to marry Lucas Fedegrin.”

“What?”

“……Miss.”

The two looked at me with surprised eyes.

If they’re going to be surprised anyway, it’s better to get it all out at once. With a faint smile, I continued.

“And, I intend to become the Duchess of Heigenberg. Temporarily, that is.”

“Whaaaat?”

“……”

Sophie was so surprised she almost fell backwards, while Wilhelm slightly opened his mouth and asked.

“Miss, when you say temporarily……”

“It’s exactly as I said. I’ve made a contract with the Duke. The marriage will last two years at most. Within that time, I plan to reclaim Lopez.”

This time, neither Sophie nor Wilhelm said anything.

I looked at the two who seemed excessively shocked and said.

“The real ‘Lopez’ that was renowned as a musical family, admired for its good deeds and refinement.”