Chapter 6
Ever since that mosquito of a man, Duke Reshaniel, had drained away a huge amount of my mana…
No matter what I tried, neither mana breathing nor anything else could restore what had been stolen.
In the past, I had fallen into endless despair over that fact.
But now, things were different.
I slowly inhaled and exhaled, using mana breathing.
After only a few cycles of absorbing the mana around me, it felt like I had recovered about one five-hundredth of the mana I originally possessed.
“Wow… If a discarded potion is this effective, just how amazing are their other potions?”
If I could somehow sneak into the Kalinos Ducal House, the famous family of magic that was known for being extremely secretive, then drinking potions and learning magic would be as easy as eating soup.
The problem is that getting into the Kalinos family is practically impossible.
People said they only considered hiring outsiders who had graduated at the top of the Academy.
Which meant that someone like me, with nothing impressive to show, wouldn’t even get a chance to see them.
If someone like me actually got hired by the Kalinos family, that propagandist and that mosquito would both faint from shock.
Those two regretful male leads were always picking fights with Duke Kalinos.
They had an inferiority complex toward him.
If I remembered correctly, they had even stolen the Kalinos family’s research and secretly sold it for profit.
The original novel praised that shameless behavior as “a Machiavellian attitude that would stop at nothing for personal gain.”
From my point of view?
They were just criminals.
“I should stop daydreaming and head home.”
I clicked my tongue and slung the bag containing the empty potion bottles back over my shoulder.
Anyway, now that I knew what kinds of potions the Kalinos family threw away, I’d just have to keep scavenging for them.
Just as I was about to drag myself home—
A cold breeze suddenly swept past behind me.
Then someone spoke in a low voice.
“Giselle Florette?”
“…?”
Without thinking much, I turned around—
And my eyes went wide.
Am I dreaming?
I rubbed my eyes.
…Nope. Not a dream.
…Then why was Duke Kalinos standing right there?
I stared at him blankly.
Did heaven grant my wish or something?
No way.
Or… is this another piece of good luck caused by changing the original story?
Standing in the darkness, making him look even more intimidating, he fixed his gaze on me and asked,
“Is that your name?”
“Y-Yes… It is…”
“Then let me introduce myself first. My name is Vientin Kalinos, Duke Kalinos.”
His sharp-looking eyes curved ever so slightly into a strangely charming smile.
Wait.
What was this situation?
“I’ve come to ask you for a favor.”
The prince from a fairy tale—
No.
The hidden mastermind himself—
Had suddenly appeared before me like a savior.
And I wasn’t naive enough to grab the rope he was offering.
“…Out of nowhere? A favor? Me?”
“Yes. Out of nowhere.”
“…Then what exactly is this favor?”
It wasn’t because I’d fallen for his ridiculously handsome face.
I had already planned to approach him eventually anyway, so I figured I should at least hear him out.
“Marriage.”
…Excuse me?
“Giselle Florette. I would like you to become my wife publicly.”
…What?
It took several seconds for my brain to process what I’d just heard.
Finally coming back to my senses, I stared at him as though he were insane.
Is this guy crazy?
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Ah, right. That was inconsiderate of me.”
“…What?”
Still wearing the same calm expression, Duke Kalinos held out a ring box.
“A proposal.”
The box opened.
Inside was a diamond ring with a gemstone nearly the size of a child’s fist.
Did he bring an entire mine with him? Why is that diamond so ridiculously huge?
My mouth almost watered.
But I quickly pulled myself together.
Who was I?
The heroine of a regret story—the one whom the entire world existed to torment.
Which meant there was absolutely no way something good would happen to me for free.
Still full of suspicion, I looked straight at him.
“I don’t know how you found me, but I don’t provide services like pretending to be someone’s wife or girlfriend. Goodbye.”
Just then, he looked directly at me and tilted his head slightly.
“The compensation for acting as my wife…”
I was fully prepared to ignore him if he said anything ridiculous.
Really.
But my ears perked up on their own.
“…is five billion gold per year.”
Five billion gold?
That was enough money to buy two townhouses in the capital.
Silence settled between us like a bolt of lightning had struck.
But…
I looked Duke Kalinos in the eye and answered firmly, coldly, and confidently,
“Do you think I’m the kind of shallow person who can be bought with money?”
His brow twitched.
For the first time, he actually looked slightly caught off guard.
He probably assumed that because I was poor and everyone hated “Giselle Florette,” I’d agree to anything for five billion gold.
I lowered my head with a slightly gloomy expression…
Then raised it again with the brightest smile imaginable.
“That’s right. I am exactly that kind of shallow person. You came to the right person.”
He’s offering five billion gold.
The least I can do is hear him out.
That’s right.
I was a monster created by capitalism.
Chapter 2. The Marriage Contract
“So… Master—no, Client? What exactly is it that you want me to do?”
As expected of the hidden mastermind, Duke Kalinos didn’t look particularly flustered by how quickly I changed my attitude.
“It’s simple. Marry me, then act like an absolutely unbearable person. Make every member of my family so sick of marriage that they never want to bring it up again.”
I nearly dropped my jaw.
Wow… This guy really found the perfect expert.
I used to work part-time jobs that specialized in dealing with impossible customers.
If I was an expert at handling difficult people, that also meant I knew exactly how they thought.
Imitating an awful troublemaker is one of my specialties.
The payment was five billion gold.
The client wanted someone to wreak havoc like the world’s worst nuisance.
This job was practically made for me.
Still, no matter how blinded I was by money, you always had to test the bridge before crossing it.
Why is he going this far just to recruit me?
I still couldn’t shake my suspicion.
I needed time to learn more about him and think it over.
“…I’m not saying no. But I’d like a little time to think.”
Compared to that bald old Viscount Milpianne, marrying him was definitely the lesser evil.
Besides, in romance fantasy novels, when someone offers a contract marriage, the heroine usually accepts immediately—even if the proposal seems suspicious.
But the bigger the gap in status between you and the other person, the less you should accept right away.
When your opponent held all the cards, it was better to play hard to get and increase your own value.
More importantly, a very favorable opportunity to raise my worth is about to appear.
Back then, I had suffered through that incident miserably.
But this time would be different.
“Three days. Would that be alright?”
Besides, if he withdrew the offer within three days, then it probably wasn’t a genuinely good offer to begin with.
Looking into my determined eyes, he gave a small nod.
It was a temporary pause—for a better negotiation.
* * *
Inside the Kalinos mansion in the capital was a small laboratory built solely for Duke Kalinos’s personal research.
It covered about one hundred square meters, divided evenly into two fifty-square-meter rooms: a sealed experimental chamber and an archive for research records.
Boom! Crash!
A deafening noise echoed through the laboratory as a monster’s head exploded.
“At last. I’ve successfully extracted the monster’s essence. A breakthrough achieved after 399 days and 12 hours and 30 minutes.”
Covered in blue monster blood from head to toe, the duke handed over a beaker.
His face remained as expressionless as ever, but there was unmistakable satisfaction in his eyes.
The researchers working under him had developed nerves of steel over the years.
Even so, they were still ordinary people at heart.
Their lips trembled as they glanced at one another before squeezing their eyes shut and speaking almost in chorus.
“Yes, sir!”
“C-Congratulations!”
Still drenched in monster blood, the duke muttered,
“Oh, that reminds me. There’s something I wanted to ask.”
“W-What is it…?”
One researcher was already halfway to fainting as he watched the duke smile eerily with blood splattered all over him.
Ignoring that completely, Duke Kalinos calmly disinfected his equipment and updated his research notes before speaking as though it were an afterthought.
“Peter. Is five billion gold considered a small amount?”
“My name is Patterson. And… that would be about three years’ worth of the budget for an average noble house. It’s an enormous amount.”
“…Then what was the reason?”
Just as Giselle had predicted, doubt had begun to creep into Duke Kalinos’s mind.
Even while extracting the monster’s essence, the strange expression Giselle had worn had lingered in his thoughts for about a second.
That alone showed just how deeply her reaction had puzzled him.
I thought she would accept immediately.
