I swallowed hard.
What on earth is the first night of the wedding? What secret could the husband possibly tell?
My contract husband, Carcel, was a man who perfectly fit my current needs in every way.
'A background that can protect Linea, and the fact that he also needs a wife to present to his mother.'
Our contract marriage proceeded naturally, like flowing water.
However, there wasn't anything like Bluebeard's secret tucked into the contract.
As the bride on her wedding night, I waited for his words with a nervous heart.
"...Perhaps I may have hidden one of my titles."
"You hid it? So you're saying you aren't the Marquis Rivandel?"
That can't be true. It was something I had definitely even personally commissioned the Information Guild to verify.
I asked him, flustered.
"B-but to bring Linea back, one needs a title of Marquis or higher. Then the contract marriage has no meaning...!"
"Don't worry about that."
"How can I not worry?"
The key condition I set for this contract marriage is that it must be higher than a 'Count'.
That was the only way I could legally acquire custody and parental rights over my adopted daughter, Linea.
There are only two people in the Empire who hold the title of Duke.
It is only the Emperor's younger brothers, Grand Duke Dischlie and Duke Lakan.
However, the unmarried Duke Lakan was not even considered from the start.
Then only the Marquis remains.
Only three nobles held the title of Marquis, and among them, Marquis Rivandel was the only unmarried one!
'What should I do?'
I went to all the trouble of bringing Linea along.
My heart ached just thinking about how the child, who had only recently begun to open their heart to others, would eventually break down.
Was it because of my eyebrows drooping with worry? Carcel started to soothe me.
"...Asha, there is absolutely no need to worry. I have never lied to you for even a single moment."
"Then what exactly is your title?"
"I am..."
Carcel pulled the corners of his mouth into a smile.
He leaned in, came closer, and whispered.
“This is Duke Lakan.”
"..."
For a moment, I wondered if something was wrong with my ears, so I just blinked my eyes for a long time.
"If you say Duke Lakan..."
So, 'that' Duke Lakan?
A cruel butcher who leaves behind funeral dirges and blood wherever he goes.
The female protagonist's obsessive and scheming second male lead.
And... The final mastermind in this novel.
'Carcel Lakan', commonly known as Duke Lakan.
"Yes?!"
That can't be possible.
Their names are clearly similar, but their personalities are so different!
The memories of Carcel Rivandel flashing through my mind like a slideshow were nothing but polite and kind!
"That... that can't be true."
"Why wouldn't that be the case?"
Why, you ask? Because you are!
"You're the one who's going to be Linea's scheming, obsessive second male lead! Ugh. We were practically going to become mother-in-law and son-in-law in the future."
No, of course, in the original work, perhaps because of the age difference, there was absolutely no romance other than obsession, but!
The family tree here is way too twisted!
"What on earth is that all about?"
At the mention of 'mother-in-law and son-in-law,' he furrowed his eyebrows and asked in a puzzled manner.
I didn't have the energy to answer that, so I shook my head desperately.
"We can't be doing this! This is total trash!"
"I can't believe this is happening, Asha."
Carcel's lips curved sweetly into an arc.
"I started this intending to be this way from the beginning, so there’s no way it wouldn’t work."
Why?
The nonsense I blabbered to him before keeps lingering in my ears.
- I'm so glad you only share the same name as Duke Lakan! Ugh, if it had been that scary man, I would have already died of a heart attack.
- As long as he isn't a scary man like Duke Lakan, it's fine.
- Because you're not Duke Lakan...
I think I was mindlessly spouting nonsense like "it shouldn't be Duke Rakan."
"Please do not say it cannot be done now, Asha. Didn't you tell me while you were in my arms that you needed me, that it wouldn't be anyone but me?"
"That was back when I didn't know you were Duke Lakan! You swindler! No, I take back the swindler!"
Even after saying he was a swindler, I suddenly felt self-conscious, so I shook my head and took back what I had said.
Regardless, Carcel, having already achieved his goal, grew an even more languid smile.
"We are already husband and wife. Asha also signed before the priest that you would be with me for the rest of your life until death do us part."
"That..."
I was speechless.
Even though I was dumbfounded and couldn't quite grasp the situation, I shook my head and spoke.
"That's just formality paperwork..."
"You're a liar. The real swindler was right here."
"Yes?!"
Carcel smiled at me leisurely and continued speaking eloquently.
"You never asked if I were Duke Lakan. I simply didn't answer. But Asha is saying with your own mouth that my words were a lie?"
"Concealing a fact with willful negligence is also fraud!"
That's why I should have read the terms and conditions before agreeing!
"Asha. We are now a married couple recognized even by God, so you can never escape from me."
He reached out his hand to me and politely took my hand and lifted it.
And as if to show off, he lightly kissed the back of the hand.
Carcel stared slowly at me with eyes red like pomegranate seeds. I stared blankly at him, my gaze tightening fiercely.
But I realized one thing for sure.
'It's ruined!'
All of this started just a short while ago.
***
"Please lend me some money."
"...Yes?"
The Master's eyes widened at the point I got straight to the point.
That's right. An ordinary Countess wouldn't come to the Information Guild and confidently ask to borrow some money.
'But I'm not Countess Delmore, I'm a possessed person!'
This possession, which is now too painful to even explain in words.
If you just say you read some romance fantasy on the subway because you had nothing to do during your commute, you’ll win one of the ‘Reincarnation.’ Who would have thought I’d get selected?
If that's the case, you should have just made me win the lottery!
But anyway, I was transmigrated into a romance fantasy novel, and of all things, I became the villain from the original story.
Asha Delmore, the former Countess from <I Became a Secret Friend Obsessed with by the Crown Prince>.
It is because my husband died of a heart attack during sex at his mistress's house just one month after we got married.
And my original role was that of “Linea Delmore”—the stepmother who tormented my husband’s daughter.
Linea was abused by her stepmother and family. She was the heroine of a typical Cinderella story, receiving attention from the Crown Prince and the Duke and eventually marrying the Crown Prince.
The only problem here is that I, the stepmother who relentlessly abused Linea, am going to be brutally murdered by the Duke, the secondary male lead and an obsessive schemer.
The good thing is that I haven't bothered Linea yet.
'In other words, it means that Linea and I are close enough to start a new relationship.'
Considering the abuse Linea will have to endure for the next fifteen years or so, wouldn't it be better to get close to her quickly and leave the Count's estate together?
Actually, I could have left alone.
Even so, the reason I’m determined to take Linea along is probably that it reminds me of my past self.
A love-starved child with no one to protect them.
It wasn't that I was clumsily trying to take responsibility for a child who wasn't loved by anyone.
But the problem is...
Of all people, I have to be a beggar!
I needed a huge amount of money to take Linea, who was my deceased husband's child and not my own.
Fortunately, Linea has not lost her good nature, but if left as she is, she will grow up to be a pitiful female protagonist harboring a past of abuse.
So I intended to take Linea and escape this house as soon as possible.
To do that, the top priority is, of course, money.
However, the bank would never lend money to the former Countess who has nothing.
The Master of the Information Guild was no different. He soon asked me in return.
"You know this isn't a bank, right?"
"Of course. I know this is a place where information is bought and sold. Wasn't this deal quite lucrative for both of us?"
"That may be true, but..."
I smiled and said.
"The Feral Merchant Guild must have made quite a bit of money from the information I gave them, too. An amount that can't even be compared to the value of the information."
I shamelessly continued to thrust my proposal at the Master.
I asked the Master, who was looking at me with interest through a thoughtful gaze behind his mask.
"Honestly, Master, you have plenty of money. Just lend me 2,000 gold. You know I only bring high-quality information anyway..."
I know. I look like a crazy person.
'Because, in Korean terms, it's like asking to borrow 200 million won out of the blue.'
I don't even have 200 gold right now, but I was confident I could pay it back in 50-year interest-free installments—no, double the amount within a year!
Besides, knowing the future and doing nothing made me sick to my stomach!
"I'll pay you double the amount exactly one year from now."
"What if you lose 2,000 gold?"
"Go ahead and kill me.”
The Master looked at me as if I were crazy for speaking so confidently.
But sometimes, you have to be a bit thick-skinned for the sake of your goal.
'Linea, Mom will earn lots of money!'
I suddenly remembered the day I first saw Linea.
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