WFMW 5

Chapter 5 

A Twist on a Contract Marriage

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“Normally it’s the father who expresses his wishes, but in the case of the Periway family, it’s just my sister and me. After our parents passed away, I inherited the title of Baron Periway.”

“So?”

“I need my sister’s inheritance.”

You’re going to sign your sister’s marriage contract just for her inheritance? That was hard to wrap one’s head around. Didn’t she just say she inherited the Periway barony? That meant all of her sister’s inheritance already belonged to the woman before him.

But surprisingly, Nelly Periway had another inheritance besides the Periway estate.

“A year from now, at the Academy, a legacy left by a great mage long ago will be delivered to my sister. But right now she’s in a coma. The mage who came by the other day said she probably won’t ever wake up.”

Diana looked Cedar straight in the eye and spoke clearly. Her red eyes were filled with an unhidden, raw desire.

“Then isn’t it right that the person who can actually use that wealth should have it?”

Cedar snorted. She was making it sound reasonable, but it was obvious—she wanted everything that belonged to her sister.

“You want to marry and have your husband exercise the property rights instead.”

“That’s right.”

Her greed was so brazen it wasn’t even laughable. Cedar folded his arms and looked at her askance.

“How can you be so sure I’d hand over that enormous fortune without a fight?”

“Everyone in the country knows you’re being pressured to marry. But you won’t find a bride as hassle-free as my sister. She’s literally lying there like she’s dead.”

“……”

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

“You’re shameless.”

“I’m not shameless with just anyone. I know playing coy won’t work on you, Sir Cedar.”

Diana apparently no longer felt the need to hide behind her demure act. She held her head high now—a completely different woman from the meek and bashful lady who had summoned him to the terrace.

“I dislike people like you.”

“Coincidentally, I dislike people like you too, Sir Cedar.”

“And what am I like?”

“The sort of person who thinks I’m just a pretty piece of trash?”

“…You know yourself well.”

Cedar frowned. Disgust aside, there was something alluring about a bride who would just lie there. And if there was a high chance she’d never wake up?

After a moment’s thought, Cedar spoke slowly.

“There’s one condition.”

“What is it?”

Even though an Academy mage had assured them she would never wake, Cedar was the sort of man who always thought of the “what if.” If he weren’t cautious, he wouldn’t have survived this long.

With deliberate gravity, Cedar laid it out:

“If she wakes up within the year, our contract is null. Her own will matters too.”

Cedar had fully expected Diana to refuse. But unexpectedly, she nodded without hesitation.

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

“Fine with you?”

“Yes.”

Diana smiled confidently.

“My sister loves me very much. When she wakes up, I’ll easily bend her to my will.”

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Cedar’s eyes darkened. When he was deep in thought, their color grew darker, almost black.

The woman his gaze now rested on was sitting up in bed. Small, thin shoulders, and a frame as slight as a child’s.

Nelly Periway.

Her face was small and round, with big eyes like marbles—giving her an oddly childlike look. She wasn’t even particularly old.

Cedar twisted his lips.

‘So this is the sucker.’

The foolish older sister who, according to Diana, would do anything she asked.

‘Who would have thought she’d actually wake up before the legacy was released.’

Indeed, there’s no such thing as “certain” in this world. It was a good thing he had suspected and added that clause.

‘That voids my contract with Diana.’

The condition hadn’t been one-sided. Diana had prepared too—she had already secured Cedar’s signature on divorce papers in case he betrayed her.

‘So my conscience is clear.’

What grated on him now wasn’t Diana, absent from this room, but Nelly sitting before him.

‘Didn’t think she’d wake up so suddenly.’

After their hasty marriage, every night he’d looked at her sleeping face.

For no particular reason. Even a man like him sometimes wanted to confide in someone. A woman who could neither hear nor speak was the perfect confessional.

‘Sure enough, she looks different with her eyes open.’

Her features were similar to Diana’s, but Nelly’s eyes were a warm green. Seeing life and expression return to a once-still face was a strange feeling.

“Oh, are sleeping women your type?”

He’d better correct himself. As odd as her expressions were, her words were even stranger.

‘What on earth is she thinking?’

Even with an unusual taste, who would admit they preferred sleeping women? It was an almost slanderous question. Yet looking into her innocently blinking round eyes, it felt like getting angry would make him the fool.

He’d even spilled details about his contract with Diana out of sheer spite.

“You have a very good sister.”

Surely, as someone who loved her sister so much, hearing this would be a terrible shock.

Though he’d be annoyed if she actually cried, his silvery-gray eyes nonetheless fixed intently on her face. On every tear that might fall, every crease in her brow, determined not to miss a thing.

Realizing this about himself, Cedar pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose.

‘Damn it.’

He’d clearly spent too many nights staring at her sleeping face. What other reason could there be for this obsession with her expressions?

And as if to mock him, Nelly didn’t cry at all. Instead she blinked her big deer-like eyes and asked brightly:

“How long until the inheritance is transferred?”

“About a month?”

“Does Diana come to this mansion often?”

“No. Not once so far.”

“I see.”

Her small head bobbed, and the lines on Cedar’s brow only deepened.

‘She doesn’t even seem shocked.’

On the contrary, she seemed calm. As though she’d expected it of her sister.

‘But how could that be?’

Diana had been so confident she could control her sister. If Nelly had shown the slightest hint of suspicion, Diana wouldn’t have been so sure.

This odd discrepancy left only one conclusion.

‘She’s been deceiving her sister.’

She’d known all along and pretended not to.

Realizing his counterpart might be more cunning than Diana herself made Cedar instinctively wary. As he narrowed his eyes at Nelly, she spoke in a light, almost bouncy tone:

“What should I call you? Husband?”

Husband.

Suddenly it felt like a stranger had trespassed on an overly intimate space. Cedar spoke curtly, almost like a command.

“Call me Cedar. That’s my name.”

But the little chick-like woman shook her head.

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

Then why ask in the first place?

‘And what’s this about not wanting to be on a first-name basis?’

They’d already exchanged marriage vows. It wasn’t like they were strangers. Nelly might not remember, but for Cedar, who’d spent nearly a year watching her sleep, it was an oddly irritating remark. He rested his chin on his hand and asked sarcastically:

“Isn’t ‘husband’ usually more intimate than a name?”

“Not for me.”

“Then what should I call you? ‘Wife’?”

He’d said it to tease her, but Nelly simply blinked and answered calmly:

“You can call me ‘Mage.’”

Cedar frowned and said her name stiffly.

“…Nelly.”

Even though she’d been his wife for nearly a year, it felt so awkward. She narrowed her eyes and smiled.

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

And yet, seeing her smiling face only unsettled him more. Cedar turned his head sharply and said:

“No. I’ll call you Nelly.”

“Hm.”

Nelly smiled again, as if to say he’d get over it. Then she added in a different tone:

“Your informal speech is really annoying, but since you’re obviously older than me and I’m in the weaker position, I’ll let it slide.”

“You dare expect honorifics from me?”

“You may not know who I am, but if I’m the Empire’s sole great mage, don’t I deserve them?”

“……”

Put that way, he had nothing to say. Cedar pursed his lips and asked back:

“Then why is someone so great in the weaker position? Why not throw your weight around?”

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

He could guess what favor that would be.

“If it’s divorce…”

“No. Could you please keep the marriage going?”

“What?”

Cedar’s eyes widened. She might have been nothing like Diana, but she was just as good at throwing him off balance.

He frowned and asked skeptically:

 

“You seriously want to be my wife?”