After the meal, Riley came out with Givnen.

Givnen offered to escort her to the mansion. As before, they walked hand in hand.

“You must have had a hard time, it must have been difficult to stay in your seat.”

“……Did you come here because you were worried about me?”

“Yes. I was concerned.”

Riley hesitated before speaking in a cautious voice.

“I know what you’re worried about. I won’t do anything to harm you or your family. No longer…… I won’t live under my uncle’s control. You don’t need to worry.”

At Riley’s words, Givnen stopped walking.

Then he frowned in disapproval and lightly tapped Riley’s forehead with his index finger.

“It’s troublesome if you take my words in that way.”

“……Isn’t that what you meant?”

“What I was worried about was that you might go there without my knowledge and suffer hardships.”

“……Oh.”

“I worried about unnecessary things. Could it be that you were worried about me? Worried that you might cause harm to me and my family? Is that what concerned you?”

“I won’t be swayed by my uncle’s will. But I’m not confident I can control my uncle. My uncle is a cunning and selfish person. He’s always obsessed with exploiting others. Even this marriage……”

“Even if the baron struggles his whole life trying to fleece me and my family, he can’t handle it. Only those who know how to properly make money can spend it. A baron whose eyes are blinded by mere marriage dowry? He’s not cut out to fleece me and my family in the first place.”

“……”

“That’s an unnecessary worry.”

“Still, they are my family for now. Even if I don’t want to admit it, legally they are. I don’t know what they might do in your name and mine.”

Givnen sighed and stroked Riley’s head.

“How foolish.”

“……”

“Don’t think of them as family. Legal family? I’ll nullify that as soon as we have the wedding ceremony.”

He grasped Riley’s hand tightly.

“Remember. From now on, I’m your only family.”

Riley couldn’t say anything.

The family he spoke of and the family she thought of were so different.

Even blood relatives couldn’t become real family.

Let alone Givnen, who was a complete stranger. She never expected to be able to become family with him in the first place. Of course, he was kind and treated her excessively well, but in reality this was closer to support as a guardian rather than real family.

Even marriage was not based on affection and trust, but merely a means brought together for mutual convenience and benefit.

‘……We can’t become family.’

For Riley, Givnen and this place were just temporary stops.

Because she thought this relationship couldn’t last forever and she would have to leave this house someday. They were together now because their interests aligned, but eventually this imperfect relationship would break the moment their interests diverged.

A perfect superior and subordinate.

A relationship so clearly tilted. She knew well that such a relationship could never last long.

Riley imagined a future without Givnen. It was a future she would inevitably have to face someday.

‘……What are we?’

We sleep together, kiss, and live together, but we’re not family or lovers. We’re not in love either. It’s a strange relationship. A vague relationship that can’t be precisely defined in words.

Come to think of it, isn’t it closer to a relationship that just enjoys itself? Role-playing? Something like that. Setting roles for each other and living by acting out the behaviors expected of those roles.

Is it right to use the word ‘family’ for such a relationship? What is this relationship in the first place?

Even if we get married, form marital ties, fulfill our duties, and have a child between us, this relationship will always be a question mark. It can never become real for a lifetime. It’s just an act. It can’t last long.

Riley imagined the distant future.

Nothing comes to mind. What she’s doing, who she’s with, where she is. None of it.

The only thing she could be certain of was that in her distant future, the man named Givnen Ryanster did not exist.

‘Am I in your future?’

An unspoken question mark floated around in her mind.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere at the Eadalin baronial house was strange.

As Givnen and Riley left side by side, Baron Ryan and the baronial couple felt relieved yet also wary of the two who seemed much more affectionate than expected.

They were relieved that there would be no breaking of the engagement, but worried about the future.

“Riley is already acting so arrogantly…… Honestly, I’m worried. What if she does something harmful later?”

Ryan agreed with the baroness’s concerns.

‘They’re not meant to be together for life, but we can’t get rid of her right away either……’

“For now, establishing ourselves and our position in the capital is the top priority. As for what comes after…… we’ll have to think about it when the time comes. No matter how much Riley hates us, she can’t do anything right away.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Even if Riley marries into the Ryanster family and enters central nobility, lacking power in the family will be a big obstacle to her future life. Having a baronial background will be better than being an orphan, so she won’t be able to do anything to us right away.”

“……Do you think so?”

“Of course. However…… someday she will sever family ties with us and strike at us. But it will take quite some time. Until then, we can benefit from using Riley while devising ways to strike her down. There’s no need to worry right now, so don’t worry.”

The baroness nodded at Ryan’s words, and Ryan instructed Claire:

“Given the situation, try to keep that temper of yours in check and stay as quiet as possible.”

Claire’s eyes widened at Ryan’s words.

Claire had thought that Ryan had been neglecting her all this time.

She felt noticeably cold-shouldered after Riley got engaged to Givnen Ryanster. In fact, he always sided with Riley. Claire’s pride, which had to be scolded in front of Riley every time, was thoroughly crushed.

But that wasn’t the case.

“……Weren’t you hating me?”

“You are my only daughter.”

“……Father.”

“Who would want to shield Riley? I don’t want to shield that wench either. But you kept creating situations where I had to shield Riley, so what choice did I have?”

“……”

“So you should also act as submissively as possible to Riley. Don’t create any unnecessary trouble.”

Claire bowed her head deeply at Ryan’s words.

“……It’s not something that happens just because you want it to.”

“Who do you think is catering to that wench’s whims because they like it? For now, we have to bow down. You should learn to bow down too from now on.”

“……I’ll try.”

Claire went up to her room as if escaping.

‘If it were something that happened just because you wanted it to, I wouldn’t be racking my brains like this!’

Claire knew it too.

That her and Riley’s positions had completely reversed now. That she had to somehow prostrate herself before Riley.

But while she knew this in her head, her actions kept following her emotions. Claire became particularly emotional in front of Riley.

‘……I’m the one who lived desperately trying.’

Claire felt enraged every time she thought of Riley. The anger that welled up from the bottom was so deep that it was impossible to control with reason.

It got worse after moving to Blestige.

Because she realized she was a frog in a well.

She came to realize how foolish her thoughts of somewhat ‘living well’ had been. And while this became an opportunity for Ryan to fuel his ambitions to climb even higher, it brought tremendous skepticism to Claire.

In the meantime, Riley, who had been living prostrate at the bottom, suddenly reversed her life and was living an abundant and wealthy life, so Claire couldn’t help but feel sick with anger.

The life Riley was enjoying now was the life Claire had dreamed of all her life. Marrying the most handsome and high-ranking man, living without hardship, not being looked down upon, and living in luxury. This was the only way to suppress the inferiority complex of being born into an insignificant family.

Marrying into a better family and living as the mistress of that family. Claire could proudly say she had lived her best for this.

“Young lady, don’t cry.”

“……It’s unfair, I’m so frustrated and it’s unfair. Why Riley of all people? Why her!”

Liz, Claire’s personal maid, tried to comfort Claire while fidgeting anxiously.

“We’re bewildered too, really, unless the Archmage has gone insane, what about the elder young lady is so appealing to him…… How is this even a feasible marriage in the first place? With such a huge difference in family status, I don’t understand how the wedding preparations are progressing so smoothly without any problems. How is everything so easy and going so quickly?”

“She didn’t do anything! That idiot who just sat around eating our food…… Now she’s playing the role of mistress of the Ryanster family. The clothes she wore today, the accessories. Do those expensive things even suit her?”

“Honestly, it was like pearls on a pig. It didn’t suit her at all. It looked unnatural, like she was forcibly wearing clothes that didn’t fit her.”

Even after spewing curses, Claire still seemed unsatisfied and eventually burst into tears.

Tears that she had never shed in her life poured out like a flood, to the point where she wondered if she had ever cried like this in her life.

She felt wronged and frustrated.

She had lived her whole life trying. To not be looked down upon by others, to live a better life! She did her best to cultivate herself while studying fiercely and working on human relationships to climb higher.

But Riley, who had done nothing, took everything. The life she had dreamed of and wished for became Riley Eadalin’s, not Claire Eadalin’s.

If it had been just an acquaintance she knew indirectly, she might have felt sick but not this frustrated. But it had to be Riley! Because that damn Riley was the recipient of that luck! Claire found it hard to endure the anger and frustration that boiled up from within.

So whenever she stood in front of Riley, her words kept going astray.

“They’re both unlucky. That bastard pretends to be a kind gentleman on the outside, but he’s actually trash…… Riley’s submissive behavior all this time was just an act too! Seeing her arrogant attitude makes me want to kill her.”

“Young lady, don’t be too upset, it’s not like the marriage has been decided yet.”

“It’s as good as decided! The meeting is tomorrow!”

“You never know. The marriage between the elder young lady and Count Ermeints fell through in just one day, didn’t it? They say you don’t know about marriage until you stamp the marriage certificate.”

“……”

“And honestly, about tomorrow’s meeting. Will the Ryanster ducal family like the elder young lady? That meeting could even become an occasion for breaking off the engagement.”

Indeed, many conversations will take place at the meeting.

This is why the parents decided to call Riley here in advance to match their stories.

No matter how much the two are dying for each other, how many families would want to take in an uneducated, short-tempered woman as a daughter-in-law?

The Ryanster family is no ordinary family. The chances were low that an elite family that has produced many historically renowned great people would like her, an adopted daughter from an obscure baronial family who is also ignorant.

“Yes, you’re right. Only Givnen Ryanster is crazy. His family members will be perfectly normal people. Someone like Riley won’t be satisfactory to them. Right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then why do I feel so anxious!”

“It’s because you’re sensitive, when your mind is not at ease, you keep having negative thoughts.”

“……Is that really it?”

“Yes, of course. It’s a marriage that doesn’t make sense logically. Everyone is just going along with the Archmage’s insane behavior for now. Won’t the Archmage come to his senses once they get to the meeting?”

“……”

“No one knows until the ceremony is held. So don’t worry too much!”

Claire wiped her tears and gritted her teeth.

She looked half out of her mind.

‘Right, you don’t know until the very end. It probably won’t happen, but what if by some chance the meeting ends successfully? No! It absolutely can’t! I have to stop the marriage between Riley and the Horizon Archmage by any means necessary…… I absolutely can’t accept it.’