Chapter 9

Mason readily agreed with Blair's words.

"I'll make sure to submit the documents by tomorrow."

"You must think I have a lot to learn. Please teach me a lot in the future."

Mason was quietly surprised by Blair's attitude. He had thought that the Golden Oakleaf Princess, raised in luxury, would not touch anything complicated or difficult. Moreover, she did not hesitate to learn willingly, without shame for her own shortcomings.

Some might consider such behavior as beneath her status, but in his eyes, it felt even nobler.

"I will do my best, Your Grace."

The Mason known to Blair was someone who rarely showed his emotions. However, for a brief moment, his expression seemed softer.

After exchanging pleasantries, Mason stepped back, and Blair returned to her bedroom after finishing her bath. It was still early to go to sleep.

Blair decided to organize her plans for the future.

Although she had proposed a one-year contract marriage to Herdin, the time when Aziel was conceived was around early summer. Herdin must not notice Aziel's existence, so everything had to be settled before the early stages of her pregnancy.

"About six months from now."

Before that, she had three things to resolve.

The first was to find the memories of the fire incident.

Herdin would lead this effort, so she didn't need to plan separately.

The second was to prepare for the divorce.

To obtain a divorce in the Empire, the Emperor's consent was required. However, the fact that Ivaan had initiated this marriage with Herdin in mind raised doubts about whether he would agree to their divorce.

At least, he would never agree to the divorce solely due to Herdin's faults.

"I have to make sure it's my fault and that it's inevitable due to public opinion."

She came up with a solution: a "scandal."

By creating a scandal with a man from outside, she could divert public attention. If it were just one man, he would become the target, but what if there were several?

Then people would naturally direct their arrows towards a dissolute princess who played with multiple men, rather than a princess who committed adultery with a single man.

That was the scenario Blair hoped for.

If, by any chance, things went awry and Aziel's existence was revealed, she could still claim that the child belonged to one of her paramours.

"To do that, I'll need to hire several men."

After an unsightly scandal and divorce, she wouldn't be able to stay in the Empire. If she were unlucky, she might even end up imprisoned by Ivaan or Katrina.

So, she needed a new status and a place where no one knew her.

The only place she could secure all of this was the Guild.

"I'll have to visit the Guild soon."

And lastly, the third was to find the mastermind behind her death before her rebirth.

The likelihood of a personal grudge leading to her murder was low. There must be someone behind it.

She had to find the mastermind and the reason why she was killed. In this life, she would absolutely not leave Aziel alone.

"First, let's start with the closest place."

Blair made plans to visit the Order of Knights' headquarters the next morning and lay down on her bed. Then, she suddenly remembered the contract from the previous night.

She got up from the bed and took out the contract that she had placed in the drawer. The signature space on the contract was still empty.

The important documents had already been handled before the wedding, so there was no urgency, but he chose work over rest to forget the guilt that had been haunting him since this morning.

At that time, in the silent library where the sound of papers being turned echoed.

Knock, knock—

Suddenly, the sound of a knock broke the silence.

"Is it Mason?"

Ruth had been suffering from excessive work throughout the wedding preparations, so she had let him off early today, and he wouldn't be wandering back to the study now.

"Come in."

However, the unexpected visitor who entered the study was neither Ruth nor Mason but Blair.

Herdin's pupils froze as he looked at the unexpected visitor.

Blair held a roll of papers in her hand.

She coughed softly in the smoke of the documents scattered in the study before approaching him.

"Yesterday, I was too busy and didn't finish the contract."

Herdin looked at the paper that Blair had placed in front of him with a slightly bewildered expression.

What was this small piece of paper?

She acted as if this piece of paper could guarantee everything.

Innocent and persistent.

Herdin quickly picked up a pen, intending to sign the contract and send this innocent wife back to her room.

At that moment, Blair grabbed his hand, stopping him.

"Wait a moment, Herdin."

The woman's hand that held his was cold. Annoyingly so.

"The contract needs to be carefully reviewed."

"Didn't we do that yesterday?"

"Who knows if I might have changed it to something completely different during that time?"

Was she worried about the same thing as a cat would worry about a mouse?

She seemed to think that she had enough power to inflict considerable harm on him.

A woman with a wrist so fragile it seemed like it would snap at any moment.

"I thought you were an innocent princess. But you won't be tricked and will live your life without getting fooled, I see."

Herdin thought that way as he reviewed the contract once more.

"There are additional clauses."

Blair pointed to a clause in the contract with her slender finger.

"When this contract ends, please write a letter of recommendation for Lena so that she can find a good job."

"Are you talking about the girl you brought from the palace?"

"Yes. She's sociable and good at her job, so she'll do well anywhere."

Herdin's gaze at Blair sharpened.

"She plans to leave even the only personal servant behind?"

Was she trying to have an affair with her hidden lover, Javan?

Twenty years ago, there was a case where a princess fell in love with a knight, refused the marriage arranged by the king, and fled. The knight was executed, and the princess, who lost her lover, died by fasting.

Scandals involving marriages between high-ranking women and low-ranking men weren't common, but they weren't extremely rare either.

Blair could be a protagonist of such a scandal. However, considering that last night was her first night with a man, it might not be the case.

"…Either way, it doesn't matter to me."

As long as he could achieve the purpose of this contract marriage, he didn't really care.

Herdin signed the two copies of the contract and handed one back to Blair.

"It seems quite late now. If you're done with your business, please rest."

It was a polite farewell.

But it seemed that Blair still had some business left.

"You must already know, but there's a lunch at the palace tomorrow."

On the first day of the wedding, there was a meal with the groom's family, and on the second day, there was a meal with the bride's family. It was a custom, and Herdin knew the fact.

"I remember."

"You don't have to attend other banquets or appointments if you don't want to. But I would appreciate it if you could join me for any appointments related to my grandfather or the royal family."

It was a request based on her memories from her past life.

In her previous life, after distancing herself from him, she rarely attended banquets or meals with the royal family.

Herdin agreed to her request.

"None of your husband's mistakes should exist, as by the end of this contract, even His Majesty will have no choice but to agree to a divorce."

Herdin Delmarc was once a war hero, but in the end, he became an imperial subject.

Without the emperor's permission, he dared not remove the emperor's one and only younger sister from the position of a duchess.

So the final outcome of this marriage had to be tied to Blair's complete fault. For that, Herdin had to show no signs of any small flaws.

He added one more impression to Blair besides the ones she was pretty, small, innocent, stubborn.

A tenacious woman.

"It's a reasonable story. Please keep that in mind too."

After finishing her business, Blair hesitated, as if she had been waiting. She remembered his polite farewell from earlier.

"Well… Good night, Herdin."

Blair held her contract dear and quietly left the study.

Herdin chuckled as he looked at the contract left behind by his fake wife.

"Ha."

After coming to the study to clear his mind of guilt that had been tormenting him all day, the perpetrator of that guilt had come to him.

The perpetrator was none other than Blair.

Throughout the day, his mind had been occupied by his fake wife.

Her pure white, delicate skin, her tearful face and voice, her slender body that didn't match her plump chest, and…

The sweet ecstasy she provided as if drowning him.

Seeing the woman who had come at this hour without any hesitation, as if she had forgotten what happened last night, he was dumbfounded. She was dressed in nightclothes that revealed her body.

But at the same time, a dirty desire to defile her face and sully her again welled up in him.

What a… horny bastard he was.

He thought that by savoring, sucking, and embracing the woman to his heart's content throughout the night, his thirst for her would be quenched. But it was a mistake.

What he had swallowed was not water but seawater. The more he drank, the more he thirsted for it.

It had been the same last night.

At first, it was curiosity. He was curious about what kind of expression that doll-like woman would make on the bed.

But the moment he embraced the woman, curiosity disappeared, and only desire for pleasure remained.

So he had recklessly tormented the woman all night and only regained his senses when he saw the dawn breaking. He had left the room as if running away, stunned by his own appearance, still lusting after the woman who was asleep as if unconscious.

She was a woman he should hate. She was the daughter of an enemy he should despise. He must never forget that. However, even at this moment when he was reminding himself of that fact, the heat in his body that remembered last night on its own wouldn't cool down.

"…Am I going crazy?"

Herdin exhaled a painful breath and got up. Then, he headed to the bathroom once again.

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This novel has been translated up to chapter 96.

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