“If you will do so, I would like to become the exclusive composer of Paradise, Your Highness.”
Dante looked at me for a moment without saying anything.
I secretly took a deep breath.
He was a man who knew how to make people tense with just his gaze. Just by his sharp eyes slowly scanning my face, I felt like all my stories and secrets were being exposed.
After a while, he slowly twisted his lips.
“It’s fun, but Lady.”
Dante’s eyes glowed coldly.
“My wife’s place is more expensive than 500 million.”
“...”
“If you thought you could buy it with just a few songs, you were mistaken.”
“Of course. You are right.”
When I admitted it obediently, the man raised his eyebrows.
“The music I will give you is just the extra income Your Highness will gain by joining hands with me.”
I said, hiding my tension behind my clear expression.
“I dare to promise. I am the best choice to solve Your Highness the Duke’s headache.”
“My headache?”
Dante narrowed his brows. His head tilted toward me.
“I assure you, Lady.”
“...”
“No one who pretends to know me well has ever seen anything good.”
It was a clear warning.
If you’re going to cross the line, stop there.
The air pressing against my skin made me suffocate, but if I was going to be this scared, I wouldn’t have come this far.
I took a shallow breath and got straight to the point.
“You’re looking for an excuse to reject the Princess’s advances, aren’t you?”
Dante’s eyes shone brightly. It was public gossip that the Princess was blindly in love with Dante. That one act of affection would send the empire’s situation over the edge. The Duke, a war hero whose influence had grown with his successive victories, was already inflated. If such a Dante marries the Princess, he will threaten the Crown Prince’s throne.
I don’t know Dante’s true intentions, but I know for sure that he doesn’t want the throne.
‘If this man wanted that, the future system would be bloody.’
Very cruel and mercilessly bloody.
“Use me as a dummy wife.”
“...”
“I can give you a simple and perfect excuse to reject Her Highness the Princess.”
Dante didn’t say anything. He just stared at me with eyes that couldn’t read his mind.
I wondered if I was too bold.
While I was thinking about it, Dante suddenly reached out to me.
“!”
He grabbed my chin without realizing it.
“Lady.”
With my head still fixed, I looked at Dante with wide eyes. The more I looked up close, the more captivatingly beautiful red eyes were in my sight.
“Your name?”
“..."
I opened my lips slightly at the feeling of incongruity.
Before he died, Dante was the only person who called me by my maiden name.
“Ariana Lopez. Do you enjoy being exploited and manipulated?”
“If that’s your style, I can accommodate you.”
I said, my voice breaking from the voice that was flashing through my mind.
“...Ariana, Lopez.”
“Okay. Ariana Lopez.”
The hand holding my chin became a little firmer. He whispered, his eyes scanning me as if he was evaluating me.
“A trick wife. That’s funny.”
“...”
“But why does it have to be you? If I need a woman, I can just hire a street prostitute.”
He must have been deliberately using vulgar words to provoke me. I didn’t fall for his bait and spoke calmly.
“A woman who is too lowly would damage Your Highness’s dignity. On the other hand, a woman who is too noble would want to produce an heir.”
I looked straight at Dante as I recited the lines I had prepared.
“But I won’t ask anything of you, Your Highness. You don’t have to fulfill your marital duties with me.”
So I’m just saying that I’ll take my place and get lost while you dodge the Princess’s attacks. For a man who hates all restraints to the point where he doesn’t even care about the Emperor’s position, my offer must have been appealing.
Dante, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke. In a slow voice, as if giving advice to a child.
“Don’t be stingy when dealing with me.”
“...Yes?”
“What do you gain from this deal? You haven’t broken all the cards yet.”
He slowly bent his upper body toward me.
As his huge body suddenly approached, I felt like I was being devoured by a beast.
“To be a legal fence to protect your music from your brother. Is that all?”
“...And, if you’re going to do it, me.”
After biting my lips once, I slowly but firmly conveyed my intentions.
“Pretend to really love me.”
The more perfect the play is, the better.
The man’s expression hardened strangely at my words.
After a moment, Dante’s lips slowly parted.
“...Haha.”
The next moment, a low laugh burst out of his mouth.
“Hahaha!”
A real laugh, not a mocking or sarcastic one.
I stared at him blankly for a moment. His nicely curved eyes were as beautiful as a painting.
“Good. I like your guts, Ariana Lopez.”
The man who had just laughed looked at me with joyful eyes.
“But the last condition is not so good.”
“Huh?”
If it’s the last condition...
I paused for a moment as I thought back on my words. Could it be, the duty of a couple?
‘But this person...’
As I absentmindedly thought about it, a deep smile hung on Dante’s lips.
“I don’t ‘pretend’.”
A low voice that seemed an octave lower than mine tickled my ears.
“A poor fake is worse than nothing.”
“...”
“So even if it’s a temporary rental, since you’re my wife, you have to act like the real deal for the time being.”
He whispered softly and lowered his head toward me.
Maybe we could touch. The moment when the thought became close enough to burrow into me like an instinct.
“Can you handle it?”
A soft breath tickled my lips.
Thump, thump, thump.
I could hear my heartbeat in my ears.
“If you don’t like it, run away. Now.”
This is the final hurdle. I instinctively felt it and held on tightly to my body I was about to flinch and retreat.
“...I don’t hate it. I can handle it.”
Dante snickered and got a little closer.
At the same time, a strange scent rushed in.
A cool, refreshing, yet heavy scent like a tree soaked in rain.
Was it because of the scent I was smelling for the first time? Suddenly, my heart started beating faster than I could control.
“...”
I couldn’t bear to face him, so I lowered my gaze without realizing it.
My eyelashes fluttered a couple of times.
“You need to relax, Lopez.”
My fingertips twitched as the whisper tickled my lips.
“There’s no harm in acting like prey to be eaten.”
I froze at those words.
The voice that treated people like prey without hesitation was leisurely and creepy.
It was as if it would swallow me whole without blinking.
However, I swallowed all my agitation and raised my head.
'This guy is just trying to scare me.'
I opened my eyes wide and faced him without wavering.
"...I wasn't nervous."
Our gazes intertwined at a close distance.
The moment I thought I could sense the gleam of his red eyes.
"Hmm."
The man let out a short sniff and lightly pressed his thumb against my lips.
The tension that had been tightening around my neck until just now also lightly dissipated with that gesture.
Dante, who had simply left, looked down at me with a crooked smile.
"Good. Guts pass."
Pass, what do you mean?
I blankly looked up at him. What does that mean? ...Is it that I succeeded?
"Come back tomorrow. We'll talk more then."
The moment my eyes widened, Dante added.
"And the 'side income' that I boasted about."
***
"Oh my. I've never seen such a bold lady!"
Rio let out a voice of admiration as he blankly stared in the direction where Ariana had disappeared.
She was a very quiet and elegant lady, but unlike her first impression, from the moment she appeared to the moment she left the stage, everything was like a small storm.
Rio blinked in admiration and glanced at Dante.
“Um, Master. Why did you pretend not to know her name?”
“What are you talking about?”
Dante leaned back in his chair and frowned.
His already cold features became even more fierce, but Rio flinched slightly and continued.
“When I told you that the Lady of the Lopez family had come to visit, you were definitely...”
“Ariana Lopez?”
He had said the name first, his brows furrowed.
Rio cautiously spoke to Dante again, who didn’t respond.
“You’re not uninterested in opera, are you? You’ve even seen it from the front row..”
“Shut up.”
Dante clicked his tongue briefly.
“I just watched it because the time was right.”
A two-hour performance?
A large question mark appeared on Rio’s head.
However, Dante’s expression as he smoked a cigarette looked more uncomfortable than usual, so Rio decided to give up his courage at that point.
Dante was lost in thought as he chewed on the end of a cigarette.
“Nice to meet you, Duke.”
There was not a moment of hesitation in her eyes that had casually said the word “first time .”
Either he wanted to pretend not to know, or he had truly forgotten.
“...This is it.”
The corners of his beautiful lips twisted upward.
He couldn’t tell the difference.
Which of the two was more annoying?
***
I pulled my hood down low and climbed into the saddle carriage.
Only when the carriage door closed did I feel a little better.
“...Hoo.”
I exhaled deeply as I looked out the window at the dizzying scenery passing by.
My heart still hadn’t returned to its normal pace.
I gently touched my lips.
The moment the firm yet hot fingers brushed my lower lip, it felt as if they were still there.
I leaned back deep into the backrest and let out a light sigh.
He was the kind of person who could melt all the energy in my body with just one meeting.
One year from now. I had to rent the position of wife to that kind of person.
'It's like climbing a big mountain.'
If I simply needed a husband, I would have gone to the Information Guild and made a contract with a man who met my conditions.
However, I went to find a man whom I didn't even know well and whom everyone was whispering was dangerous.
The reason was simple. That man was the person Lucas most envied and at the same time the person Elena most desired.
'He certainly had a great presence.'
Especially at the end, it was really... I was nervous.
If I hadn't known 'that fact', I would have been even more scared. I thought of the face of the man who had suddenly approached me.
His beauty was so perfect that I couldn't speak even when looking up from an oblique angle. His body boasted a solid presence that couldn't be hidden even by clothes.
I let out a light, rising breath and shook my head.
'God is really fair. With that face and that body...'
In fact, a body that can't hold a woman at all.
I rubbed my forehead, thinking about the rumors that would become public knowledge in five years.
As I entered the mansion, the butler Wilhelm approached me.
"You're back, my lady. Margrave Pedegrin just happened to be visiting."
"Really? Since when?"
"About two hours ago."
What had he been doing for two hours in a house without his fiancée?
I let out a small laugh and first went up the stairs to my room on the second floor.
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