Chapter 2 (2/2)

“But recently, the people around me have been whining about how I should marry, how I should make an heir.”

“I see.”

“But they still won’t allow me to marry her. And I have no intention to break up with her. And so, I will obtain a wife in nothing but name, and live with her as husband and wife on the surface.”

“… What?”

As it was such a crazy story, all I could bring myself to do was continuously give simple answers. I did change the intonations slightly however.

To summarize, the person I’m to marry (the Duke) already has a lover, and so I will be his mistress despite being his lawful wife. No wait, aren’t I less than a mistress? He’s already decided he won’t love me. Um, huh? Wait a second, I’ve started to get confused. You call a lover a mistress, right, normally. Then what would his lawful wife like me be? Ugh, I’ve started to get confused. Enough. Well, how should I say it… as expected, there’s no such thing as a free meal. It would be weird if there wasn’t a catch. I was strangely okay with the fact that there was.

Frighteningly, the Duke maintains his smile. As I stare at him, my thoughts in a disarray inside me, he continues.

“Oh, I do not care if you do as you please. It will be problematic for me if you’re too overt, but I do not mind if you have a lover. I promise that you will experience no inconveniences in regards to clothing, food, and accommodations.”

The Duke smiles brightly.

I almost tripped at those brutal words delivered with a smile! Hey, hey! There’s a demon here!

My mouth agape, I stare at him in astonishment.

… Let’s act a bit more noble, me. Let’s start by closing that stupidly open mouth.

A normal young noble lady would’ve probably been livid at him by now, but my situation is a bit complicated. After all, this engagement is related to my family’s debt problems.

If something isn’t done about our debt, Father, Mother, and my young sister and brother will struggle. If I got angry at these terms and tried to dissolve the engagement, my family will go straight back into poverty. Though well, we’re already as poor as we can be. To make things worse, high society will be sure to shun us. “Nobles in ruin who sullied a prestigious noble!”, they’d say… though that sounds a little cool ☆.

No, no, no, no, all I have to do here is endure it myself.

I mentioned this earlier as well, but I’ve luckily been rather unfamiliar with romance. For all eighteen years of my life, there’s been no one I’ve been interested in, and I’ve cared so little about my future that I even thought, “We’re poor so I might not mind being single for life helping out my family ☆.” Honestly, being able to live with zero troubles is rather great for me. I don’t have to worry about my life when I get old!

After thinking all this in my head in an instant, I speak.

“I understand. If you keep your promise about the debt, I do not care about anything.”

My response was pretty calm.

But well, I still don’t think I’ll take a lover or anything.

The Duke looks a little surprised, perhaps because I replied so indifferently without getting angry. But he immediately returns to his smile from before.

“I’m glad that you’re a perceptive person. I’m counting on you from now on.”

He holds out his right hand to me. Is this a handshake indicating the end of business negotiations? I take his hand in mine with no hesitation.

Here, the political marriage become marriage through contract between the House of Physalis and the House of Euphorbia was officially decided.

Author’s Note:

Thank you again today （*＾－＾*）

I am very happy that so many people read this!

With your encouragement, I’ll do my best!

T/N:

As most of the author’s notes are along the lines of this one, I won’t be translating any more unless they have new info.