‘It seems like I don’t need to worry about her missing her younger sibling. Then should I just get rid of it?’

Cedar, who had been sharpening his eyes, suddenly found himself overthinking someone else’s business again.

‘Ah, this is driving me crazy. Why am I really doing this?’

He wanted to punch himself in the face. Get a grip!

But when faced with Nelly, as tiny as a baby squirrel, his carefully composed mind became hazy.

‘How can I not worry about that woman? She’s so small, naive about the world, and can’t even sleep alone at night.’

She even has a short lifespan, they say.

Spending her life only doing research at the academy without tasting the world’s delicious food, and now dying early too.

Suddenly, the woman before his eyes seemed incredibly pitiful.

Cedar, uncharacteristically following the flow of his consciousness, blurted out.

[Can’t you make something like a longevity medicine?]

Then seeing Nelly’s eyes widen, he realized his mistake.

If lifespan could be extended with medicine, this world would be full of long-living humans.

Above all.

‘What am I trying to do by making her live longer?’

Though based on various reasons and coincidences rather than affection, they were now husband and wife.

And Cedar was a Swordmaster who could defy even death and time.

‘This sounds like I’m asking if you can live long too since I live long.’

He must be truly insane.

What’s even more frustrating is that while he’s agonizing over this, she’s just blinking her eyes as if she doesn’t understand at all.

It seemed like he was the only one conscious of the fact that they were married.

‘What am I really doing?’

This is all because of unnecessary overthinking.

Suddenly annoyed by everything, Cedar let out a long sigh. Then he replied in a deflated voice.

[…You’re right. I’m not interested in things like gardens.]

But aren’t we bound by contract anyway? I don’t like your traces remaining in a house we’re only staying in temporarily. So don’t touch anything.

[Do as you please.]

His lips betrayed his heart once again and spoke on their own.

‘No, am I crazy? I should tell her not to if it bothers me, why am I telling her to do as she pleases?’

Since Nelly Periway woke up, his life had been in chaos.

Eating three meals a day at home and taking care of someone else’s meals were all new routines for him.

And his heart betraying him, saying things contrary to his thoughts, was also happening for the first time.

‘I don’t like things like flowers. Rather, I dislike them.’

Flowers reminded him of that woman.

[Cedar! You’re all I have. The most precious thing among everything I own.]

When he was young, he fell for her sweet words of affection. When she was happy, he was happy too.

[Look at this beautiful face. It was God’s mistake that I was born of lowly status, but I reclaimed my position with my own power.] [It’s fortunate that you take after your father. I’m glad I gave birth to you.]

When did he realize that her sweet words were just a means to make him move as she wanted?

When he grew a bit older and realized that her affection was somehow twisted, she hurled terrible words at him when he defied her.

[Don’t use you? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You must give me everything. Wealth, honor, high status! That’s why you were born.] [Do you think I would have given birth to you if it weren’t for those things?]

A woman hiding sharp thorns beneath her dazzling beauty.

His mother, Lady Briar.

Thinking of his mother made his heart sink deeply. She loved beautiful things.

Flowers, jewels, dresses, and so on.

Following her instructions, the Granite ducal house changed colorful curtains every season, and when flowers in the garden withered, they were immediately uprooted and new ones planted.

Sick of it all, Cedar left the Granite ducal house.

‘But now a garden again…’

Cedar turned around abruptly. Behind his back, a cheerful voice rang out.

[Wow, thank you!]

Only be that happy when eating.

It seemed strange that she was so delighted just because he said she could do as she pleased with the garden, when she would just chew quietly like a calf eating hay no matter what dish was served when made to sit down for meals.

‘Still, it might be fine if that woman goes around holding flowers with tiny steps.’

Imagining Nelly with flowers, it seemed quite plausible.

Nelly had clearly said she would grow poisonous or medicinal herbs needed for making magic potions here, but Cedar had already completely forgotten that fact.

[This is the timeline separator]

After enjoying her time at the banquet, what greeted Diana upon returning home were numerous debt notices.

“Sigh, why waste so much paper? I’ll pay it back eventually if they just leave it alone.”

Diana shamelessly muttered as she opened the envelopes placed on the desk.

Various loans borrowed from banks, relying solely on the Periway inheritance, had come due.

The amounts written on them all differed, but the content was the same.

“They’ve tried hard to politely phrase the demand for prompt repayment.”

Those dunning letters didn’t affect Diana in the least.

To begin with, if she had been the owner of a heart that would shrink at such things, she wouldn’t have borrowed such large sums from banks so readily.

Diana indifferently swept all those letters into the trash can at once.

Then she took off the heavy necklace that made her neck ache and placed it on the desk.

Her gaze distorted, as if mesmerized by the sparkling light of the jewels.

“Oh, how beautiful. I made the right choice in buying this darling.”

It was impossible to resist buying it the moment she saw it. This necklace was clearly born to be worn around the neck of a beautiful woman like her.

‘Though my debt increased a bit because of this… It can’t be helped. My parents didn’t leave me the wealth needed to maintain my dignity. If only I had been born as a rich man’s daughter.’

I should have been born a princess or a duke’s daughter, wasn’t it God’s mistake?

Diana thought that quite often.

Her parents did everything they could for their adorable second daughter, but it wasn’t enough for Diana.

Diana wanted more precious and better things.

‘But soon now. Once the inheritance comes in, I’ll be able to live like a princess of a country.’

Though she didn’t know what the inheritance left by the founding ancestor from long ago was, Diana firmly believed it would be precious gold and jewels.

Isn’t that what most inheritances are?

‘Considering it’s to be handed over when one becomes a great magician, it could be a magic artifact. That’s just as expensive anyway.’

Whatever precious thing it might be, Diana had no intention of keeping it.

Her only goal was to sell it quickly and enjoy an even more luxurious life.

As she was humming while imagining a beautiful future, the door opened cautiously.

“Young lady.”

It was the maid who had come to help Diana change her dress.

The maid, who had lived with her like a sister for a long time, removed Diana’s makeup with deft hands and changed her into soft pajamas.

Letting her body be handled like a doll, Diana opened her mouth.

“Was there anything unusual today?”

It wasn’t because she was really curious about the maid’s daily life, but because the silence bothered her. However, an unexpected answer came back.

“Strange sounds keep coming from the elder young lady’s room. Everyone was frightened. Surely the elder young lady hasn’t passed away already?”

The pale face seemed genuinely terrified. Diana laughed in disbelief.

“There’s no way she’s dead already. I’d rather she was. Then I wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of receiving the inheritance from Lord Cedar.”

Though she had made a contract with Cedar Granite for mutual benefit, Diana fundamentally didn’t trust people.

‘Will Cedar Granite really hand over such an astronomical inheritance without resistance?’

Separate from the Granite ducal family’s wealth, humans tend to become greedy when something is right before their eyes.

‘But if my sister dies without spending even a day living as a proper married couple, that’s a different story. I can file a suit to nullify the marriage and claim the inheritance rights for myself.’

They hadn’t completed any of the necessary procedures for marriage, had they?

Even the signature on the oath was forged by Diana. She was confident she would win the case.

‘Before that, it wouldn’t hurt to become closer with Cedar Granite.’

He was a desirable man.

Handsome appearance, one of the world’s top-class Swordmasters, and the eldest son with the highest possibility of becoming the future Duke Granite.

‘His only weakness is the bloodline issue, but couldn’t that be complemented by marriage to me? After all, I’m from the family of the great magician Periway.’

Imagining a future not at all discussed with Cedar, Diana chuckled.

Then, seeing the trash can full of debt notices, she frowned deeply and pushed it away with her foot.

“So stop sending these letters already. I’m sick to death of just seeing these letters!”

While arranging her hair, the maid consoled her in a kind voice.

“There’s not much time left until the three-year deadline. Please endure just a little longer.”

“Ugh, why did our ancestor have to set such a troublesome condition?”

Why not just give the inheritance when her sister became a great magician, instead of adding the clause about three years later?

‘They say all magicians are social misfits. My sister must not be in her right mind either, not objecting at all to such an absurd clause.’

Wasn’t it strange to begin with that the Periway family’s inheritance was being secretly kept at the academy? What if it was farmland or buildings? What about the harvests from that land during this time? What about the rent?