“If you allow me to do so, I would like to become the exclusive composer of paradise, Your Grace.”

Dante silently stared at me for a moment without saying a word.

I secretly caught my breath.

He was a man who knew how to make people tense with just his gaze.

Just his piercing eyes slowly scanning my face made me feel like all my stories and secrets were being completely exposed.

After a moment, he slowly twisted his lips.

“It’s interesting, but Lady.”

Dante’s eyes emitted a cool light.

“My wife’s position is worth more than 500 million.”

“…”

“If you thought you could buy it with just a few songs, you’re mistaken.”

“Of course. That’s absolutely right.”

When I readily agreed, the man raised his eyebrows.

“The music I will offer is merely additional income that Your Grace will gain by joining hands with me.”

I spoke while hiding my tension behind a clear expression.

“I dare promise you. I am indeed the most suitable choice to solve Your Grace’s troubles.”

“My troubles?”

Dante narrowed his brow slightly. His head tilted askew towards me.

“I guarantee you, Lady.”

“…”

“No one who pretends to know me inside and out has ever fared well.”

It was a clear warning.

Telling me to stop there if I was going to cross the line.

The air tightening around my skin made it hard to breathe, but if I was going to be scared by this much, I wouldn’t have come this far.

After taking a shallow breath, I immediately blurted out the main point.

“You’re looking for an excuse to reject Her Highness the Princess’s courtship, aren’t you?”

Dante’s eyes emitted a distinct light.

It was common gossip that the Princess was lavishing blind affection on Dante.

With that affection offensive alone, the empire’s political situation was placed on a steep cliff.

The war hero Duke, whose influence had already grown disproportionately due to successive victories.

If someone like Dante were to marry the Princess on top of that, it would threaten the Crown Prince’s claim to the throne.

I didn’t know Dante’s innermost thoughts in detail, but I was certain that he didn’t want the throne.

‘If this person had wanted it, there would have been a bloodbath in the future empire.’

A very cruel and merciless bloodbath.

“Use me as a decoy wife.”

“…”

“I can be a simple and perfect excuse for you to reject Her Highness the Princess.”

Dante didn’t say anything.

He just stared at me silently with eyes whose depths I couldn’t read.

…Perhaps I had been too bold. As I was pondering this, Dante suddenly reached out to me.

“!”

As I flinched without realizing it, he grabbed my chin firmly.

“Lady.”

With my head fixed in place, I looked at Dante with wide eyes.

Up close, his beautiful red eyes that seemed even more mesmerizing captured me.

“Your name?”

“…”

I slightly parted my lips at the unfamiliarity.

Before his death, Dante was the only person who called me by my name before marriage.

“Ariana Lopez. Do you usually enjoy being exploited and treated roughly?”

“If that’s what you’re into, I can accommodate that too.”

Brushing aside the voice flitting through my mind, I said,

“…It’s Ariana, Lopez.”

“Good. Ariana Lopez.”

The hand gripping my chin became a little firmer.

Scanning me with appraising eyes, he whispered.

“A decoy wife. Interesting words.”

“…”

“But why should it be you? If I need a woman, I could just bring in a street prostitute and seat her.”

He was deliberately reciting vulgar words to provoke me. I spoke calmly without getting caught in his bait.

“A woman of too low status would damage Your Grace’s dignity. On the other hand, an overly noble woman would want to bear an heir.”

Reciting the lines I had prepared, I looked directly at Dante.

“But I won’t ask anything of you. You don’t need to fulfill marital duties with me.”

So I’m just saying that I’ll occupy the seat next to you only while you avoid the Princess’s offensive and then disappear.

For a man who dislikes all constraints to the point of not even being interested in the emperor’s seat, my proposal would surely seem attractive.

After a moment of silence, Dante finally opened his mouth. In a slow voice, as if advising a child.

“When dealing with me, don’t hold back your cards.”

“…Pardon?”

“What you gain from this deal. You haven’t revealed all those cards yet.”

He slowly leaned his upper body towards me.

As the huge body suddenly came closer, it felt like being swallowed by a beast just from that alone.

“Becoming a legal fence to protect your music from your brother. Is that all you want?”

“…And, if possible, please.”

After biting my lip once, I conveyed my intentions slowly but firmly.

“Please, pretend to truly love me.”

After all, the more perfect the act we’re putting on, the better.

The man’s expression strangely hardened at the words I uttered.

A moment later, Dante’s lips slowly parted.

“…Haha.”

The next moment, a low laugh burst from those lips.

“Hahaha!”

A real laugh, neither mockery nor cynicism.

I stared at him blankly for a moment. The beautifully curved corners of his eyes were like a painting.

“Good. I like your guts, Ariana Lopez.”

The man who had laughed heartily looked at me directly with amused eyes.

“But the last condition is unnecessary.”

“What?”

The last condition…

As I mulled over my words, I paused for a moment. Surely not the marital duties?

‘But this person is…’

As I was thinking blankly, a deep smile hung on Dante’s lips.

“I don’t do ‘pretending’.”

A baritone that seemed an octave lower than mine tickled my ear.

“Clumsy fakes are worse than nothing.”

“…”

“So even if it’s a term-limited rental, as long as you’re occupying my wife’s position, you’ll have to play the real role during that time.”

Whispering lowly, he lowered his head towards me.

Maybe they would touch. At the moment he came so close that such a thought instinctively crept in.

“Can you handle it?”

A faint breath tickled my lips.

Thump, thump, thump.

The pounding of my heart began to sound in my ears.

“If you don’t like it, run away. Now.”

This is the final hurdle. Instinctively sensing this, I strongly restrained my body that was trying to flinch and retreat.

“…I don’t dislike it. I can handle it.”

Dante chuckled and came a little closer.

At the same time, an unfamiliar body scent wafted over.

A cool scent like rain-soaked wood, refreshing yet heavy at the same time.

Was it because of that scent I was smelling for the first time? Suddenly my heart began to beat rapidly, out of control.

“…”

Unable to face him, I unknowingly lowered my gaze.

Just as my eyelashes fluttered a couple of times.

“Relax, Lopez.”

At the whisper tickling my lips, my fingertips curled.

“Acting like prey about to be devoured isn’t attractive.”

At those words, I stiffened with a start.

The leisurely yet chilling voice that treated people so casually as prey. As if it would swallow someone like me whole without blinking an eye.

But I swallowed all my agitation without showing it and raised my head.

‘This man is just trying to intimidate me.’

I opened my eyes wide and faced him without wavering.

“…I’m not, nervous.”

As our gazes intertwined at close range.

Just as I thought I saw a strange light flickering in those red eyes.

“Hmm.”

The man who let out a short hum lightly crushed my lips with his thumb.

The tension that had been gripping my nape until just now also dissipated lightly at that gesture.

Dante, who had simply stepped away, looked down at me with a crooked smile.

“Good. You pass the guts test.”

Pass, he says.

I looked up at him blankly. What does he mean? …Is he saying I succeeded?

“Come again tomorrow. We’ll discuss the details then.”

Just as my eyes widened, Dante added.

“Bring the ‘additional income’ you boasted about too.”

[This is the timeline separator]

“My goodness. I’ve never seen such a bold lady before!”

Rio exclaimed in admiration as he stared blankly in the direction Ariana had disappeared.

Though her appearance was that of an impossibly quiet and elegant lady, contrary to first impressions, from her entrance to her exit was entirely like a small storm.

Blinking in admiration, Rio surreptitiously glanced at Dante.

“Um, Master. Why did you pretend not to know her name?”

“What are you talking about.”

Dante frowned as he leaned back in his chair.

Though his features already gave a chilly impression, they became even more fierce, but Rio flinched slightly yet continued speaking.

“When I told you that the young lady from the Lopez family had come, you clearly…”

“Ariana Lopez?”

He had said that name first, furrowing his brow.

Rio carefully spoke once more to the silent Dante.

“You’re not uninterested in opera either. You’ve even watched from the front row…”

“Shut up.”

Dante clicked his tongue briefly.

“I just happened to attend when the timing was right.”

For a two-hour performance?

A big question mark floated in Rio’s mind.

However, Dante’s expression as he chewed on his cigar seemed more displeased than usual, so Rio decided to give up his courage at that point.

Chewing on the end of his cigar, Dante sank into reminiscence.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you for the first time, Your Grace.”

There was not even a moment’s hesitation in the eyes that said “first time” so nonchalantly.

Either she wanted to pretend not to know, or she had truly forgotten.

‘…Well now.’

The corners of his handsome mouth twisted upwards.

He couldn’t tell which.

Which of the two was more vexing.

[This is the timeline separator]

Pulling my hood down low, I boarded the hired carriage.

As the carriage door closed, it felt like I could finally breathe a little easier.

“…Phew.”

I let out a deep sigh as I watched the scenery flowing chaotically outside the window.

My heart still hadn’t returned to its normal pace.

I gently touched my lips.

The moment I brushed my lower lip, it felt like the firm yet hot touch of his finger was still lingering there.

I let out a light sigh as I leaned deep into the backrest.

He was someone who could melt all the energy from my body with just one meeting.

For the next year. I would be renting the position of wife to such a person.

‘I’ve climbed one big mountain, I suppose.’

If I had simply needed someone to be a husband, I would have gone to an information guild and made a contract with a man who met the conditions.

But I deliberately sought out a man I didn’t know well, whom everyone whispered was dangerous.

The reason was simple. Because that man was the person Lucas despised the most while also being the person Elena desired the most.

‘He certainly had an impressive presence.’

Especially at the end, I was really… nervous.

If I hadn’t known ‘that fact’, I would have been even more scared.

I recalled the face of the man who had suddenly come up close to me.

A beauty so perfect it left me speechless even when looking up from an angle. A body that boasted such a solid presence it couldn’t be hidden even by fabric.

Letting out a lightly rising breath, I shook my head.

‘God is truly fair. With a face like that and a body like that…’

To think he actually couldn’t embrace a woman at all.

Recalling the rumors that would become public knowledge five years from now, I rubbed my forehead.

As I entered the mansion, the butler Wilhelm approached me.

“Welcome back, young miss. Marquis Fedegrin has just visited.”

“Oh? Since when?”

“About two hours ago.”

What could he have been doing for two hours in a house without his fiancée?

I let out a soft chuckle and first climbed the stairs to the second floor where my room was located.