1 - Not Your Son, But Your Father
Chapter 1
The old paper fluttered in my hand. It felt like it would tear with just a little force.
How wonderful would it be if it could be resolved that easily?
This paper had been thrown into the sea and buried in the mountains.
It had been thrown into the fire so many times that I couldn't even count.
But after all those trials and tribulations, not a single letter had faded.
In the end, the two family heads surrendered to their predecessors' obsession.
The content of the contract was simple.
If your descendants and my descendants are born in the future, let's marry them. But it would be awkward if there was too much of an age difference or if they were both the same gender, so let's set a generous time frame.
It was a contract that sounded like a joke, spontaneously blurted out by elders while drunk.
But the problem was that it wasn't ordinary paper that was used.
This contract had to be fulfilled. The side effects were by no means insignificant.
In the novel, Maybia Morgana suffered terribly because of this damn contract.
Her husband was utterly hopeless.
I put down the contract and smiled at that hopeless guy sitting across from me.
"Okay. I'll marry you."
"That's a wise decision. Then let's have a simple wedding. After that, I'd like you to go down to my territory and act like the lady of the house until I call for you. Of course, you won't have the leisure to indulge in extravagance."
Gilbert Calakis warned with an arrogant attitude.
He clearly looked down on me.
Oh, really. It was unbelievable.
I was already furious while reading the novel, but experiencing it in reality made it even more absurd.
I still maintained a gentle smile.
"Who said I was marrying you?"
"...Excuse me?"
"Not you, I'll marry your father."
Yeah, I'm deliberately not calling him 'Grand Duke'.
I feel like calling him 'Hey'.
But Gilbert didn't seem to have the leisure to care about titles.
"What are you saying...? I think I misheard. Could you repeat that?"
I subtly suppressed the sneer spreading across my lips.
Why don't you clean your ears? The notary seemed to understand properly.
"Your father is also an unmarried man. He's been holding onto a foolish stone, thinking it's a gold bar, for eight years, but he's clearly included in the contractable subject."
"Surely that rude word isn't referring to me."
"Oh my, did it sound like that?"
I played dumb, but didn't deny it.
Gilbert's face turned red.
"I don't know what mistake I made to you, Lady, to make you so difficult. I don't ask for much. Just fulfill the contract and be faithful as a wife."
"Of course, I will. As your father's wife, not yours."
"...I don't have time to joke with you, Lady."
Gilbert sighed.
"Just tell me what you want. Jewels? Dresses? How greedy do you have to be to not be satisfied with the position of Grand Duchess?"
Hey, seriously, don't be ridiculous. Are you the only one with money? Are you the only one who's a noble?
Moreover, Gilbert wasn't even the Grand Duke's biological son.
He was adopted. Just like his younger brother.
"If you wanted to marry me so badly, you should have written your name on the contract. Was your pride too hurt to tamper with an old piece of paper? Or were you just not capable enough?"
"Lady."
Gilbert spat out the word.
I smiled brightly.
"Yes. I am the only Lady of the Morgana Marquess family. But what about the Calakis Grand Duke family? You've adopted two sons, but there's still His Highness the Grand Duke, who is unmarried, and your younger brother. Unlike you, I have three options."
After I explained it specifically, he seemed to finally grasp the situation.
Gilbert retorted with a face that said, 'What kind of crazy nonsense is this?'
"But my father has trouble even leaving his room. My brother is too young..."
"Oh my, are you still here? I thought our conversation was over."
I cut off his nonsense sharply and turned to the notary. The notary silently gathered the contracts.
I nodded to Gilbert, signaling him to get lost.
"Please give my regards to His Highness the Grand Duke."
No need to see me off, right?
I won't go far.
* * *
Gilbert eventually left with the notary.
A teacup was left alone in the empty space.
Ugh, I hope I don't get bad luck if I reuse that.
I was about to tell the maid to throw away the teacup when Monica Elaine burst in.
"How did it go?"
She asked about the result first. I said I'd wait until the conversation was over, but I didn't think she really wouldn't leave.
"It was a beneficial time."
"You didn't fall for the young Grand Duke, did you? Please, keep your heart strong. The Elaine family has always been with Morgana, and we will never stand idly by this time either."
It felt strange to hear these words from Monica.
In the novel, she had an affair with Gilbert.
"...That young Grand Duke, it's ridiculous how he acts like he's been a noble since birth just because he was adopted into a good family."
Yeah, she said that in the novel too.
Monica Elaine constantly belittled Gilbert Calakis in front of Maybia.
'Impure birth' was a common topic. When she ran out of things to criticize, she would say she didn't like him because his eyebrows looked uneven.
And Monica always added the same postscript.
—You think so too, don't you, Maybia?
If a flustered Maybia inadvertently nodded slightly, Monica would tell Gilbert as if she had been waiting for it.
Maybia keeps talking bad about you, and I don't know what to do.
Monica fabricated all the explicit insults she had made as if Maybia had said them.
At the same time, she whispered that she wanted Maybia to be happy, but she couldn't bear to see Gilbert so pitiful.
An enraged Gilbert would ask Maybia if it was true.
Overwhelmed by the pressure, Maybia couldn't make any excuses, and Gilbert began to openly despise her.
Stroking her bright red hair, Monica wore a sorrowful expression.
"After all, I still think Maybia is too good for him. To have to spend her whole life in the barren North where there's nothing to enjoy..."
I gave her a bright smile.
"Don't worry. I don't fight battles I can't win."
"Ah! So you're planning to get married first and then divorced? The Morgana family can somehow handle that much of a flaw. But once you've tied the knot, won't your resolve waver?"
Monica kept talking without even listening to my answer.
"Anyway, Grand Duke Gilbert is handsome. It's hard to find someone that good-looking even in the capital."
"That might be true in the narrow capital."
"Huh? The capital is... narrow?"
Monica widened her eyes as if she had heard something unbelievable.
Now, you should go too. You're annoying.
Pulling the bell cord to call the maid, I said one last thing.
"Monica, I'm going to live very happily. In the cozy North with a husband who only looks at me."
But there's no way Gilbert will give up like this.
* * *
As expected, Gilbert requested a meeting within a few days.
I refused, claiming to have a cold. Then Gilbert sent a bouquet of flowers and a letter.
Sera, the maid who took care of me most closely, gasped.
"Lady, I don't think this is right either. Isn't it basic etiquette to know what the flowers mean when you give a bouquet?"
It was only natural that Sera was dumbfounded.
Eventually, Sera flew into a rage.
"Seriously, how can he send chrysanthemums?! Does he want something terrible to happen to you?"
Sera grabbed the back of her neck as if her blood pressure was rising.
Oh dear, Gilbert's atrocities are only just beginning.
My maid is precious, so I should get her a health checkup. And raise her salary too.
"It's probably not on purpose. He probably just picked them because white looks demure. He's the kind of person who thinks all flowers are the same anyway."
Even when I explained it for him, Sera didn't understand.
"Doesn't the Grand Duke's family teach common sense or etiquette?"
"The head of the family doesn't really enforce it. He's not going to make him his successor anyway."
Strictly speaking, Gilbert Calakis is a failure.
Also, the male protagonist of the novel wasn't Gilbert, but his younger brother, Rigen Calakis.
Gilbert was destined to be forever second in command, a fallen hero.
Even with my calm reaction, Sera didn't calm down easily. Rather, she seemed more hurt and teared up.
"Ugh... I can't put these in a vase."
Yeah, yeah, I understand how you feel. I almost broke my screen when I read the novel.
I remember flipping through the pages like crazy to see the scene where Gilbert was punished.
"Throw them away."
"R-Really? Is that okay?"
"It would be nice to throw that away too."
I glanced at the letter. I hadn't even opened it, but I knew what it would say.
Gilbert is a man with a strong sense of pride. He probably hasn't even told the Grand Duke about my decision yet.
He's probably planning to coax and appease me somehow to make the marriage happen.
Sera didn't ask twice. She shuddered and took the bouquet and letter out.
