Chapter 08
How to break the curse.
The amount of time they had to stay together.
His current condition.
Considering everything, the most suitable solution for Maya and him at the moment was a contract marriage.
The Demon King could reappear at any moment, and the long-postponed social obligations couldn’t be ignored forever.
Even the Emperor, unaware of the Duke’s condition, continued to pressure the Duchy.
It was a suggestion made solely to lift the curse, without a trace of personal desire.
“…Excuse me?”
But seeing Maya look so flustered made him feel as if he had done something terribly wrong.
“What do you mean…?”
Seeing her doubtful expression, Tristan subtly corrected himself.
“To be more precise, I mean physical contact.”
Contact?
“Yes, the more intense the contact, the faster the curse dissipates.”
When Maya asked if he was joking, Tristan’s face remained deadly serious.
“This is the core reason why I proposed a contract marriage.”
Only then did Maya understand.
“They need to touch, hold each other, and kiss…?”
If it were just about breaking the curse, assigning a guard or inviting her over would have sufficed.
But among all the possible methods, Tristan chose ‘contract marriage.’
“It wouldn’t make sense to stay together for that long otherwise.”
Marriage is the most effective way to explain why two people—who were originally strangers—would constantly be together.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason.
Tristan also needed a representative to attend social functions on his behalf.
In the North, where monsters appeared periodically, the region was covered in vast, rugged mountains.
The northern knights alone couldn’t manage it all.
So the land had been divided, with the Imperial family jointly handling monster suppression.
But that fragile balance had collapsed.
The newly enthroned Emperor, feeling threatened by the increasingly prominent House of Beiadin, began to suppress the knight order.
Knowing that Tristan never appeared in public, the Emperor took action.
Tristan responded by sending an elegant letter that conveyed dissatisfaction and clearly outlined the knights’ vital role.
The Emperor’s reply was short.
“If you’re dissatisfied with your current treatment, come speak to me in person.”
It was a mocking remark, fully aware that Tristan would not come outside.
But hiding wouldn’t solve anything.
With monsters growing stronger, internal division could be fatal.
“I will respect your comfort level when it comes to physical contact,” Tristan said.
His blue eyes burned fiercely as he stared at Maya, as if he might devour her whole.
The strange tension between them made Maya gulp. For some reason, it was hard to speak.
Contact.
While serving in the knight order, she had trained and sparred with men, but actual contact? Barely any.
They never saw her as a fellow knight, and she ignored them in return.
Maya’s answer had always been her sword.
With such a limited social circle, physical touch wasn’t part of her life.
‘Unless I was hitting someone…’
And now she was being asked to touch?
“Um…”
Seeing Maya freeze like stone, Tristan’s expression hardened.
He could understand her feelings.
‘Sure, I thought he was handsome, but that doesn’t mean he’s my type.’
He had debated this part a lot.
There was too much risk in putting everything in a letter. It had to be said in person.
But he hadn’t expected her to be this repulsed.
‘I’ll need to reduce physical contact as much as possible.’
It made sense to feel uncomfortable about touching someone you barely knew.
He tried to start with empathy.
“I understand that you don’t want to be touched. However…”
For Tristan, this was truly a desperate opportunity.
He couldn’t live the rest of his life cursed.
To protect the people in his land, he needed to rejoin the world.
‘Your Grace, your face is your greatest weapon.’
Remembering the butler’s words, Tristan took a deep breath and stepped forward.
If his face was a weapon, he would wield it up close.
A refreshing scent wafted from the approaching Duke—like standing in the first snowfall.
It gave her a cool, clear-headed feeling.
Seeing him up close only made Maya’s heart beat faster.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
She worried he might hear it pounding.
“Would it be too much to hold hands?”
His long lashes drooped gracefully.
His strange, elegant face held both the sharp lines of a man and the soft melancholy of a beautiful woman.
Maya felt dazed and shut her eyes tight.
‘How can I not say yes to a face like that?’
Her heart acted faster than her brain.
“Of course. Even more than that.”
Maya shouted and grabbed Tristan’s hand.
‘Wow… I’m weaker to looks than I thought…’
A moment of self-reflection followed.
A faint smile appeared on Tristan’s face.
“That’s a relief. I’ll always ask for your consent first.”
…That part was a bit—
‘That part’s a bit…’
Maya was flustered by her own disappointment.
She had rarely been around men.
She was clearly awakening to desires she hadn’t known existed.
‘I didn’t realize I had a devil inside me…’
Pull yourself together, Maya Pendragon.
This is Tristan Beiadin.
The future Emperor.
Someone like him should be with a lady who is far more graceful, beautiful, and proper than her.
‘With that face, it won’t be hard.’
So she must never cross the line during their contract marriage—she must remain cautious.
Because she didn’t know when her inner devil might wake again.
Tristan opened a drawer under the desk and pulled out a stiff piece of parchment.
A contract filled with elegant script.
“Once the contract marriage ends, we’ll have a clean divorce. So you can live the life you want.”
Maya examined the contract he handed her.
The terms were so perfect, they seemed almost unfavorable to the Duke.
One part, though, caught her attention.
She would act as his social representative while he remained unable to appear publicly.
She spoke gravely.
“You’ve seen how terrible I am at socializing.”
Surprisingly, Tristan didn’t mind.
“That’s fine. I don’t like the fake behavior of nobles either.”
An unexpected commonality.
‘What a relief.’
Being her true self had somehow worked in her favor.
‘I’m glad I didn’t pretend to be someone else.’
Feeling satisfied, she pointed out the next part.
[After the marriage ends, Tristan Beiadin will divorce Maya Pendragon. The fault of the divorce will lie entirely with Tristan Beiadin.]
“You know what kind of rumors this clause will cause, don’t you?”
Once their marriage became public, it would attract attention.
After that, as the Duke’s social stand-in, Maya would be scrutinized.
And then—sudden divorce.
People would talk.
‘Rumors spread fast.’
Especially if it was about a woman trusted and loved enough to represent the Duke—only to end in a breakup blamed solely on him.
People love gossip, especially the scandalous kind.
Tristan didn’t seem to care.
“Don’t worry. There’s a reason such words are spoken behind your back.”
But Maya had another concern.
“People will talk about your… sex life. Are you really okay with that?”
She was being sincere.
In the knight order, the men constantly belittled her just for being a woman.
They’d gossip about her, pretend to praise her, then turn it into mockery.
Because of that, Maya had subconsciously learned that men are all like that.
Even a Duke is still a man. He might think like the rest.
She didn’t want him to suffer humiliation because of this contract.
‘He’s someone who believes in me.’
He was different from the Emperor.
She didn’t want him hurt or ashamed.
Tristan’s expression turned strange at her unexpected words.
After thinking a bit, he asked:
“Do you think the reason I’m not sleeping with you is because I have… problems as a man?”
“What? No! I just… worried, just in case.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
His narrowed eyes hinted at a bruised ego.
“I see…”
Yep. That was a pointless worry.
‘How do I even explain this?’
She was used to using her fists, not her words.
‘Dear gods…’
Maya despaired.
But no matter how much she thought about it, there was only one answer:
“I understand.”
A quick, obedient response.
“And what do they gain from knowing my condition?”
Tristan murmured indifferently.
“My spouse is the only one who needs to know.”
