Chapter 38
Hic.
Lucy almost hiccupped from the pressure, but managed to stop herself.
Clasping both hands together, she looked up at Edward with the most pitiful expression she could make.
“Please? Just this one thing.”
“…”
***
The day Edward and Lucy shocked everyone by announcing their marriage to the priest…
The entire Duke’s mansion was thrown into chaos.
“Marriage?! The Duke is finally marrying Lady Sepina…?”
“No! He’s not marrying Lady Sepina!”
“What? Then who?!”
“The girl he brought back the other day…!”
“And that’s not even the biggest news! They say she’s already carrying the young master’s child!”
“What?!”
Before Lucy even had a chance to correct them, the rumor that she was pregnant spread throughout the mansion thanks to Tepe.
“You shouldn’t be walking around so much in your condition, Lady.”
“I’m not pregnant! We only did something that could lead to pregnancy… Tepe? Why are you suddenly speaking so politely?”
“Allow me to help you.”
“Wait, Gorgo. I can walk on my own. Why are you crouching down like you’re going to carry me…”
For quite a while, Lucy had to endure everyone’s stares.
Tepe constantly fussed over her, calling her “the mother of the young master,” while Gorgo quietly showed his concern through his actions.
“Another man’s back? If you’re going to be carried, shouldn’t it be by your husband, honey?”
“…”
“What is everyone standing around for? You’re tiring my honey.”
Fortunately, Edward soon appeared, chased everyone away, and simply picked Lucy up himself.
Lucy could only sigh.
“My lord… everyone thinks I’m already pregnant. What do I do?”
“Enjoy it.”
…
Because Edward answered like that, explaining everything became Lucy’s responsibility.
For the next several days, she had to awkwardly explain to everyone that she wasn’t pregnant.
They had only done something that could possibly lead to pregnancy.
“Actually… all we did was kiss.”
She was the only one who felt embarrassed.
Anyway, after somehow cleaning up the misunderstanding, there was still one thing she refused to compromise on.
The new clause in the marriage contract.
“Why do we need this?”
“You may not realize it, but it’s extremely important!”
For several days, because of this single clause, Edward and Lucy still hadn’t signed their marriage registration, even after publicly announcing their engagement to the Temple.
“Why is it so important?”
Edward asked irritably.
The reason was obvious.
“I need a safety net!”
Lucy had started preparing for the future.
“…Honestly, I don’t trust myself anymore.”
She wasn’t confident she could resist Edward if he tempted her.
She had once sworn she would never end up in bed with the male lead.
Now…
Looking into Edward’s dangerously attractive eyes…
She admitted defeat.
Besides, with the Temple watching them closely, they had to behave like a real married couple.
That meant sharing the same room.
“My chances of giving in have doubled!”
On the first night of marriage…
There would be the wedding night.
In romance novels, the bed was always covered in rose petals.
The maids would prepare revealing nightclothes for the bride.
In that kind of atmosphere…
If Edward mentioned purification…
Lucy knew she would probably give in.
“…And what if he kissed me again?”
She still vividly remembered their two kisses.
More accurately…
One peck.
And one real kiss.
“…It did feel good.”
She had wanted to avoid getting deeply involved with the male lead.
Instead…
They had already shared a passionate kiss with their tongues intertwined.
And she had enjoyed it far more than she expected.
Edward truly lived up to his reputation as someone who had shared such intimate purification sessions with Sepina.
Combined with the strange rule that purification worked through intimate physical contact…
Every time his tongue explored her mouth…
She had felt her reason slipping away.
Her legs had trembled.
Warmth had spread through her body.
She had even wanted it to continue.
She had wished Edward’s large hands would touch not only her thighs…
But also her sensitive chest…
And the damp warmth between her legs.
When his tongue pushed deeper into her mouth…
It had almost felt like they were doing something even more intimate than kissing.
And that had been her very first kiss in both of her lives.
“…I don’t think I was the only one who enjoyed it.”
Edward hadn’t looked unhappy either.
If anything…
His dazed red eyes had looked like he enjoyed it too.
Thinking about that made her heart flutter again.
Which only convinced her even more that this clause was necessary.
If both of them enjoyed it…
“I’m sure we’ll eventually cross the line during purification.”
Even if, as Edward claimed, it was only purification…
Once they lost control…
There was no telling what might happen.
If someone as attractive as Edward asked for another kiss…
How could an ordinary person like her possibly refuse?
It wasn’t that she was looking forward to it…
“…Was she?”
The real problem would come later.
When the heroine finally appeared.
“…She probably will appear eventually.”
In the original novel, Edward and the heroine barely met.
Finding her wasn’t easy.
“But because I’ve changed the story…”
Lucy planned to search for the heroine herself.
Not because she wanted to restore the original plot.
That was impossible now.
Rather…
“It feels like one victim worrying about another.”
Now that the Temple had lost its only experimental subject…
They would desperately search for another.
There was a real chance the heroine would become their next target.
Lucy couldn’t bear the thought of another innocent person taking her place in the Temple’s underground prison.
She knew exactly how terrible that life was.
Both in the shelter…
And beneath the Temple…
She had lived in darkness.
Locked inside a damp prison cell.
Used until she slowly died.
Starved.
Unable to sleep.
Beaten.
Insulted.
Never allowed to leave.
“…No one deserves that.”
Not even the heroine.
“I have to save her.”
She planned to ask Rosendal or one of Edward’s information guilds to monitor whether the Temple found another experimental subject.
Surely they had spies everywhere.
If she chose not to ignore it…
There was always a chance Edward would eventually meet the heroine.
What if, at that point, Edward developed the obsessive tendencies common to tragic male leads?
What if he decided to get rid of every woman he had been with before meeting the heroine?
If that happened…
Lucy wanted to be able to divorce him peacefully.
She wanted to leave without causing trouble.
A strange pain pricked her chest.
She pushed the feeling away.
She tried not to think about Edward’s hands wrapped around her shoulders and waist.
Or his beautiful lips that kept stealing her thoughts.
“Anyway…”
“If I make this legally binding now, at least I’ll survive.”
If the Temple came after her again…
She would have time to escape.
Edward had generously given her quite a large share of property in the marriage contract.
It would even be enough for her to divorce him and flee to another continent.
He had accepted nearly every other condition she requested.
But now…
For some reason…
He absolutely refused to accept this last clause.
“Think about it. It’s not bad for you either…”
“Lucy.”
It was then.
“Yes?”
“My honey…”
Edward slowly ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek.
He looked strangely displeased.
“It seems like you’re already planning for our divorce…”
“Well…”
Isn’t that only natural?
Lucy swallowed those words.
She could tell this wasn’t the right atmosphere to say them.
“Besides…”
“He’s the one who suddenly proposed marriage.”
Hadn’t Edward made this decision on impulse?
Thinking about it…
It was still surprising he had gone this far.
Honestly, pretending to be lovers would have been enough to protect her.
“Was purification really that urgent?”
But somehow…
That explanation didn’t feel quite right.
As Lucy hesitated…
Edward smiled deeply.
“I like people who are greedy.”
Following her instincts, Lucy immediately agreed.
“…Oh, I’m incredibly greedy!”
“Greedy?”
“Yes! I’m so greedy that…”
“Then shouldn’t you say you’ll cling to me forever…”
“…Huh?”
“…And spend the rest of your life living off me?”
Edward’s smile grew even deeper.
“Go ahead, Lucy.”
“Say it.”
“Tell me you’ll stay by my side, live off me, and drain me for the rest of your life.”
Lucy was left completely speechless.
