“Usually it’s the father who expresses his opinion, but in the Periway family, it’s just me and my older sister. After our parents passed away, I inherited the title of Baroness Periway.”

“So?”

“I need my sister’s inheritance.”

Stamp her sister’s marriage contract for the inheritance? That was difficult to understand. Didn’t she just say she had inherited the Periway baronetcy? The inheritance of her sister already belonged to the woman before him.

But surprisingly, Nelly Periway had more inheritance to receive besides the Periway family fortune.

“In a year, the academy is scheduled to deliver an inheritance left by an ancient archmage to my sister. But my sister is currently in a vegetative state. A magician who visited the other day said she may never wake up.”

Diana looked straight into Cedar’s eyes and spoke clearly. The undisguised desire was evident in her red irises.

“Then isn’t it right for someone who can use it to have that property?”

Cedar snorted. It sounded plausible, but in the end, it meant she wanted to have everything that belonged to her sister.

“So you want to get married and have your husband exercise property rights instead.”

“Yes.”

It was so greedy that it was beyond disgusting, to the point where he couldn’t even laugh. Cedar folded his arms and made a crooked expression.

“How are you so sure I’ll just hand over that massive fortune?”

“Everyone in this country knows that Lord Cedar is currently under pressure to marry. But there won’t be a bride who requires less effort than my sister. She’s literally lying there like she’s dead.”

“…”

“Just hand over the inheritance. That’s all I want.”

“How brazen.”

“I’m not brazen with just anyone. I know acting coy won’t work with Lord Cedar, so I’m being direct.”

Diana, now thinking she no longer needed to hide her true self, didn’t even pretend to be gentle. The woman standing with her head held high was completely different from the shy and quiet woman who had been called out to the terrace.

“I dislike people like you.”

“Coincidentally, I dislike people like Lord Cedar as well.”

“What kind of person am I?”

“Someone who sees me as just a pretty piece of trash?”

“…You know well.”

Cedar frowned. Separate from how repulsive she was, it was true that a bride who just lay there was very attractive to him. Especially if there was a high chance she would never wake up?

Cedar, who seemed to be thinking for a moment, slowly opened his mouth.

“There’s one condition.”

“What is it?”

No matter how much the academy magician had assured that she would never wake up again, Cedar was always a person who thought of ‘what ifs’. If it weren’t for such a cautious personality, he probably wouldn’t have survived until now.

Cedar spoke in a solemn tone.

“If she wakes up within a year, our contract will be null and void. Her will is important too.”

Cedar thought Diana would surely refuse this condition. But unexpectedly, Diana nodded readily.

“If my sister wakes up before the inheritance is transferred? That’s fine.”

“It’s fine?”

“Yes.”

Diana said with a confident smile.

“My sister likes me very much. If she wakes up, I’m sure I can manipulate her as I please.”

Cedar’s eyes changed color. When he was deep in thought, his eyes darkened. Almost to the point of being black.

What Cedar’s eyes held was the woman sitting on the bed. A woman with small, thin shoulders and a childlike small build.

Nelly Periway.

Her face was also small, but her round eyes were large like marbles, giving a strangely childlike impression. Actually, she wasn’t even that old.

Cedar twisted the corners of his mouth.

‘This woman is that sucker.’

She was the foolish older sister who Diana said would do anything her younger sister asked.

‘I didn’t expect her to actually wake up before the inheritance was unlocked.’

Indeed, there are no ‘absolutes’ in this world. It was good that he had been suspicious beforehand and set such a condition.

‘With this, the contract with Diana is null and void.’

The condition wasn’t only advantageous to Cedar. Diana had also prepared divorce papers with Cedar’s signature, saying it was in case Cedar betrayed her.

‘So there’s no need to feel guilty.’

What was bothering him now wasn’t Diana, who wasn’t present, but Nelly in front of him.

‘I didn’t expect her to wake up so suddenly.’

After his hasty marriage to Nelly, he had stared at her sleeping face every night.

There was no particular reason. Being human, there were times when he wanted to pour out his thoughts to someone. A woman who couldn’t hear or speak was just the right person for confession.

‘Her impression is certainly different with her eyes open.’

Although her features were similar to Diana’s, Nelly’s eyes were a warm green color. It was very strange to see life breathed into the face that had been expressionless and quiet, and expressions appearing.

“Ah, do you have a preference for sleeping women?”

I should correct myself. As diverse as her expressions were, her words were also strange.

‘What on earth is she thinking?’

No matter how unusual one’s tastes might be, to ask if he preferred sleeping women? It felt like a question that defamed his honor, but facing those round eyes blinking innocently, it felt like the one getting angry would be the fool.

The reason he had let slip about his contract with Diana was because he felt spiteful towards her.

“You have a very good younger sister.”

Being an older sister who loves her younger sister so much, hearing such words would surely shock her greatly.

Even though he would be annoyed if she actually got hurt and cried, his gray eyes persistently followed her face. As if not wanting to miss a single tear forming or furrowing of her brow.

Realizing this about himself, Cedar pressed his fingers between his brows.

‘Damn it.’

He must have watched her sleeping face for too long. Otherwise, there was no reason to be so fixated on her expressions.

And as if to tease him, Nelly, far from crying, blinked her large eyes like a deer and asked in a voice that even sounded cheerful:

“How long until the inheritance is transferred?”

“About a month?”

“Does Diana come to this mansion often?”

“No. She hasn’t come even once until now.”

“I see.”

The small head nodded up and down. Thanks to that, the wrinkles between Cedar’s brows only deepened.

‘She doesn’t seem particularly shocked?’

Rather, she appeared calm. As if she had known her sister would do this.

‘But that can’t be?’

Diana had been triumphant that she could manipulate her sister. She wasn’t the type of woman who would have been so reassured if her sister had shown even a slight suspicion.

In the end, there was only one conclusion to be drawn from this strange discrepancy.

‘This woman has been deceiving her younger sister.’

She must have known all of her sister’s schemes and pretended not to know.

Learning that the other person was more cunning than Diana naturally made him wary. It was when Cedar was narrowing his eyes and staring at Nelly.

In a voice so light it was almost frustrating, she asked in a tone that seemed to bounce:

“What should I call you? Husband?”

Husband, of all things.

For a moment, an unpleasant feeling washed over him, as if a stranger was carelessly stepping into an overly intimate area. Cedar ordered in a gruff voice:

“Call me Cedar. It’s my name.”

Then this tiny chick-like woman shook her head.

“I’ll just call you husband. I don’t want to be on a first-name basis.”

If you’re going to do as you please, why did you ask?

‘And what? You don’t want to be on a first-name basis?’

We’ve already made marriage vows, it’s not like we’re being overly formal. From Cedar’s perspective, who had watched Nelly’s sleeping face for nearly a year, though Nelly obviously couldn’t remember, it strangely rubbed him the wrong way. Cedar rested his chin on his hand and asked sarcastically:

“Isn’t ‘husband’ usually something you can call someone when you feel closer than using their name?”

“Not for me.”

“Then what should I call you? Wife?”

He tried to be sarcastic about what she would answer, but Nelly blinked her eyes and calmly replied:

“You can just call me magician.”

Cedar furrowed his brow and called her name in a stiff tone.

“…Nelly.”

Even though she had been his wife for nearly a year, it couldn’t have felt more awkward. Facing the stiff Cedar, Nelly narrowed her eyes and smiled.

“Creepy, isn’t it? Just call me magician.”

But seeing her smiling face again twisted his mood. Cedar turned his head abruptly and said:

“I don’t want to. I’ll just call you Nelly.”

“Hmm.”

Nelly smiled again with an expression that seemed to say he would give up soon. Then she changed her tone and added:

“Your informal speech bothers me greatly, but you’re clearly older than me and I’m in the subordinate position, so I’ll let it slide.”

“You dare to expect me to speak formally to you?”

“I don’t know who you are, but as the empire’s only archmage, don’t you deserve to be spoken to formally?”

“…”

Put that way, he had nothing to say. Cedar pouted his lips and retorted:

“If you’re such an amazing person, why are you in the subordinate position? Why not throw your weight around?”

“Because I have a favor to ask of you.”

The favor she was likely to make was obvious.

“If it’s about divorce…”

“No. Could you please continue to maintain our marriage?”

“What?”

Cedar’s eyes widened. She and Diana had nothing in common, but they were the same in how they bewildered him.

Cedar frowned and asked in a dubious tone:

“Are you seriously saying you want to be my wife?”