Contract Marriage Rewritten
Chapter 5
“The 1st Prince?”
Laniakea looked at the man who had addressed her, feeling somewhat bewildered.
Before coming to the Empire, she had heard plenty of stories about the 1st Prince.
Her older sisters had chattered endlessly about how little standing he had in the Empire, how poorly he was treated, and what a powerless prince he was.
And on the way here, the maid supposedly sent by the Empress talked without rest about how blunt, cold, and utterly unfeeling he was.
Of course, the maid hadn’t put it so bluntly.
“The 1st Prince… well, he has such an intense aura about him. The other members of the imperial family find him rather difficult to approach.”
As she spoke, an unmistakable look of pity for Laniakea lingered on the maid’s face.
Seeing the maid’s attitude, Laniakea had mentally prepared herself for the man who was to be her husband.
‘So he’s powerless, terrifying, and has a terrible personality.’
Normally, succession rights would pass to the eldest son, yet the Empress had stripped him of everything.
It was only natural that he would harbor no goodwill toward a wife handpicked and forced upon him by the Empress.
Or so she had thought, but the moment their eyes met, Laniakea could tell.
‘He doesn’t seem to despise me as much as I expected.’
She had braced herself for wariness or even loathing, but the eyes of the 1st Prince, Hyperion, were simply calm.
That only made Laniakea all the more flustered.
People meeting her for the first time—men in particular—would look surprised at first, then quickly break into a smile.
Laniakea hated their smiles. Beneath them, she could always sense contempt and base desire directed at her.
Yet Hyperion showed neither surprise nor a smile. He merely looked at her with steady, tranquil eyes.
Perhaps considering it impolite to stare, Hyperion soon withdrew his gaze and sat down in his seat.
“…….”
Then, without another word, he began reading the contract placed before him.
As if his brief greeting earlier had been more than enough.
Pressing a hand to her still-thumping chest, Laniakea watched him turn the pages of the contract.
Honestly, she had assumed the maid’s description was heavily exaggerated.
But sitting across from him now, she realized it hadn’t been an exaggeration at all.
‘He’s huge.’
He was a prince who had lived in a Monastery since childhood.
She had heard that life in a Monastery was near-ascetic, with food strictly rationed, leaving everyone there gaunt and thin.
Yet the 1st Prince before her possessed a physique akin to someone who had lived his entire life as a knight.
Not only was he tall, but his frame was massive. Even so, he didn’t appear sluggish in the slightest—likely due to his taut, disciplined movements that carried no wasted motion.
Just having him sit across from her left Laniakea frozen in place.
It felt as though a statue of a god of war from myth had come to life.
She felt utterly overwhelmed just looking at him.
Clasping her trembling hands together to still them, Laniakea quietly observed him once more.
Once her shock subsided a little, his face finally came into focus.
And that brought yet another wave of astonishment.
‘He’s handsome?’
Enduring the suffocating pressure and finally looking at his face, she found him absurdly handsome.
In truth, because of her family, Laniakea rarely felt moved by ordinary good looks.
Even when seeing noble scions hailed as the handsomest in Priatra, she had thought nothing more than, So what.
‘His features are bold… and solid, I suppose.’
He was completely different from any noble young lord she had ever seen, which made Hyperion’s appearance strike her with all the more intensity.
Almost as if steel had been chiseled into human form.
But her awe ended there.
Watching him swiftly flip through the contract with an unreadable expression, her earlier surprise quietly ebbed away.
Husband or not, he was someone she likely wouldn’t see often in the future.
‘Not that he’d want to see me, either.’
At most, perhaps two or three times a year.
Thinking such thoughts as she looked at Hyperion, Laniakea noticed a splatter stain on one side of his clothes.
Just as she leaned in mentally to look closer, wondering what it could be—
“Is there a problem?”
Catching her gaze, he raised his head to look at her.
“Ah, well… I just saw a stain and was wondering what it was…”
“Ah.”
Looking down at his clothes at her words, the 1st Prince clicked his tongue softly and spoke.
“I hurried over after only washing my face, so I failed to notice the dirt on my clothes. My apologies.”
Suddenly finding herself in the position of pointing out a prince’s improper attire, Laniakea hurriedly shook her head.
“Oh, no, not at all! It happens! You didn’t have to rush…”
“I had many orders to carry out and was pressed for time, hence my haste. Excuse my rudeness. I must return as soon as we finish here.”
He gave a slight nod as if thanking her for her understanding, then turned his gaze back to the contract.
As silence fell between them once more, Laniakea reflected on his words.
‘He’s returning right away?’
So this was what they meant when they said he barely stayed in the Imperial Palace.
‘They said he mostly stays at the Border.’
When she first heard that, she wondered if the Empress was intentionally sending him to such a place to die.
But seeing him now, it seemed they sent him simply because he was needed there.
‘Then again, the Empress has no real need to kill him.’
The 1st Prince had long since been pushed out of the war for succession. There was no need to go out of the way to eliminate someone who posed no threat.
If anything, his death could actually work against the Empress.
‘That’s why she took it upon herself to arrange this marriage, making a show of caring for him.’
In the eyes of others, the marriage between Laniakea and the 1st Prince was beyond reproach.
She was not some low-ranking noblewoman, but a princess from another kingdom, making it look respectable on the surface.
It was a marriage that allowed the Empress to tell the world she was attentively looking after a stepson who wasn’t even her own child.
‘Either way, it’s a relief.’
If he didn’t come around, Laniakea would be all the freer.
Before coming to the Empire, she had imagined what this married life would be like.
Seeing her husband only a few times a year meant there would be no need for an active social life. The Empress wouldn’t want that anyway. That meant she could spend her days holed up in her quarters.
Others might pity her, but Laniakea actually desired such a life.
A life where no one paid attention to her, and she didn’t have to pay attention to anyone else.
Seeing both the Empress’s and the 1st Prince’s attitudes, that life was now practically guaranteed.
Just then, Hyperion, who had been studying the contract, looked up.
“I have finished reviewing the first section. I have no particular revisions to request. Is there anything the Princess wishes to amend?”
As if. Doing so would immediately draw the Empress’s narrowed glare.
“No, I have none.”
“Understood. Then once we discuss the final page, the drafting will be complete.”
Saying so, he turned to the final page of the contract. Laniakea hurriedly flipped to that section in her own copy.
From here on, agreements were needed regarding private matters between Hyperion and Laniakea.
The very first clause concerned their meals together.
[The two parties shall dine together _ times every _ days. The standard meal shall be __.]
“May we set the meals to once a year? Given my heavy duties at the Border, I fear it would often be difficult to uphold otherwise.”
A married couple dining together once a year. Weren’t they more distant than strangers?
Even as she thought that, Laniakea smiled brightly.
“Of course.”
She then mentioned what she had heard from the minister on her way here.
“I heard that we don’t have to fill in everything right now. They said amendments can be made later through mutual agreement. I will gladly accommodate Your Highness’s wishes as much as possible.”
Even if they wouldn’t see each other often, there was no need to antagonize the prince.
Showing him that, while she came on the Empress’s orders, she had no intention of becoming a nuisance would serve her well in the future.
Whether her intention reached him or not, he gave an understanding nod.
“Then would it be acceptable to discuss even the final clause at a later date?”
Though she hadn’t looked at the final clause yet, it was obvious the 1st Prince found this entire situation quite bothersome.
Otherwise, why would he skim through the contract so carelessly?
‘Still, wouldn’t it be better to settle a bit more now?’
Harboring that thought, Laniakea looked down at the next clause.
[The two parties shall share a bed to produce an heir _ times every _.]
Laniakea blinked for a moment, then replied.
“Yes, let us conclude the contract discussions here.”
