Episode 5 –
Maddie calmly organized Yulikian’s request and wrote it down on paper.
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Get married as extravagantly as possible.
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Show off in front of others.
(Yul: Do you really have to write “show off”? Can’t you word it differently?)
(Maddie: What else do you call showing off? Besides, Your Grace, it’s not like you’re particularly eloquent… Oh right, you come from a prestigious background.)
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Continuously act immorally and without common sense.
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Immediately after the wedding, Yulikian will pay Maddie a 100 million upfront fee. He will also provide a comfortable monthly allowance, and after three years, pay her a lump sum of 1 billion Dillon.
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No physical contact unless in front of witnesses.
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This contract is valid only if both Yulikian and Maddie survive until the end of the three-year period.
※ Maddie will do her best to protect Yulikian.
Maddie stared blankly at the contract containing what was probably the strangest request she’d ever received, then looked up.
“Why are you doing something like this? And with me, of all people? The terms are seriously weird. ‘Act immorally and without common sense’?”
Yulikian, who was leaning against the wall since the chair had broken, irritably brushed back the bangs that had fallen over his eyes.
His sharp brows and sensitive-looking eyes were revealed.
“The goal is the same as you said. To protect me.”
“…Ah.”
“Got it now? You’re quicker on the uptake than I expected.”
Maddie twirled her pen flamboyantly the way she had spun a knife a few minutes earlier, murmuring to herself.
“The emperor sending an assassin is just preemptively eliminating someone who might become the next emperor. So, you’re disguising yourself as trash so you don’t seem like a viable candidate. And I’m the trashy wrapping paper.”
Yulikian was about to get angry at Maddie calling the emperor’s assassin “preemptive elimination,” but shut his mouth when she called herself “trash wrapping paper.”
‘From her intuition and how she talks, she doesn’t seem like an idiot. And she can fight pretty well. So why’s someone like her living in a slum playing poker?’
A seed of doubt sprouted in Yulikian’s mind.
“Hey. With your skills, you could’ve easily gotten a job as a noble’s personal guard. Why live in a slum cleaning up after others?”
“My, my. What a vulgar way to talk to your fiancée.”
Feigning innocence, Maddie finally answered when Yulikian just stood there silently.
“I don’t know. I lost my memory, but… for some reason, I hate being tied down. I hate belonging to someone.”
“Start by fixing that.”
“What?”
“Stop talking down to me. What do you think people will say? We’re supposed to be engaged now.”
“They’ll think I’m a rude, ill-mannered bitch.”
“Exactly. You’ll ruin my image—”
“Isn’t that the whole point of this contract marriage? To deceive the entire nation? We can’t afford any gaps in the act, darling.”
He had nothing to say.
“Still, drop the ‘darling’ stuff.”
“What? You don’t like ‘darling’? Then how about just ‘honey’? No? Babe? Sweetie? Love? Honeybun?”
“…I get it, you’re trying to ruin my image, but can you tone it down a bit? I still have preferences. People need to believe I actually fell for you.”
“Aye aye, sir. Got it, dear customer.”
Maddie added a seventh clause to the contract.
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Tease in moderation.
“There. Satisfied?”
Just as Maddie was about to sign, Yulikian stepped up to the table and blocked her.
“Add one more.”
“What is it?”
Yulikian snatched the pen and wrote the eighth clause himself.
His handwriting was clean and elegant, in stark contrast to Maddie’s messy scrawl.
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No matter the insult or threat, do not run away.
If the contract period is not fulfilled, a penalty will be imposed — Maddie must pay ten times the amount Yulikian paid her.
Maddie chuckled as she read the final clause.
“You have a scary way of saying ‘Please don’t die and stay by my side.’”
“…I want to survive these three years too.”
“Then let’s add this as well.”
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Both parties must do their best to survive the contract period.
Yulikian wrote out another copy of the contract and signed it.
Maddie’s signature, at least her name, was written beautifully beneath Yulikian’s.
“So, when’s the wedding?”
Yulikian thought for a moment before answering.
“Proposal comes first. Loud and flashy.”
Maddie widened her eyes, then burst out laughing and nodded.
“Are you good at acting? I’m pretty confident.”
“I’ve pretended to be a scumbag for ten years. Don’t worry.”
“You weren’t very good at it though. It was super obvious.”
“…We’ll see how good you are then.”
“Start by changing how you address me. I told you—it’s Maddie. How long are you going to keep calling me ‘hey, you,’ or ‘that one’?”
“…Fine. Maddie.”
The reply came more obediently than expected.
Maddie decided her fiancé was surprisingly innocent for someone so sensitive.
“You don’t need to walk me home, right?”
“…But at least let me show you the way out of here. This place is too hidden.”
With a loud laugh, Maddie cheerfully escorted Yulikian to the entrance of the slum.
Yulikian didn’t realize until he got home that his platinum watch had gone missing.
He was briefly startled, but thinking of it as a wedding gift made him feel better.
As long as this trick made the emperor take his eyes off him, Yulikian was willing to go through with the marriage.
Yulikian had always left the mansion in any old clothes, with uncombed hair.
But today was different.
The servants were running around in chaos, asking each other,
“What’s gotten into His Grace?”
“No idea!”
“Is that a jacket? Bring it with these shoes!”
“He said he didn’t like the brown one earlier!”
“That was because of the punching detail. This one’s simple, might be okay!”
“Geez, why’s he suddenly being so picky?”
“Maybe he’s meeting someone important?”
Their guess was spot on.
Yulikian slicked back his silver hair and put on a deep navy suit.
His shoes were so polished they practically reflected sunlight.
His carriage drove far out of the city.
Along the way, he stopped at a market to buy a huge bouquet. The scent inside the carriage was so overwhelming it gave him a headache.
“We’ve arrived.”
Hearing the coachman, Yulikian let out a tense sigh.
The coachman, opening the door, briefly looked baffled — why was someone dressed so finely in a place like this?
Yulikian ignored the gaze and stepped out, smiling as brightly as he could.
“Wait here. I’ll be returning with someone.”
“Uh… y-yes?”
Leaving the stunned coachman behind, Yulikian strode forward confidently.
Beggars, recognizing his fancy attire and the smell of money, began approaching.
He was supposed to meet Maddie at the entrance to this alley, but she was nowhere in sight.
Don’t tell me she ditched me? The thought crossed his mind.
Her “office” was so well hidden he couldn’t imagine finding it again.
He stood there, irritated, on the damp ground, when he spotted a woman with brown hair decorated with wildflowers running toward him.
Apparently knowing in advance he would propose, Maddie wore the cleanest clothes he’d seen on her.
It was still an old dress, showing signs of wear, but not badly used — a deep navy blue.
Sunlight shone brightly on her face.
Her emerald eyes, her red lips forming a soft curve, everything looked radiant.
“Darling!”
“…Da—what?”
Yulikian froze, missing his cue to hand over the bouquet.
He had planned to say, “Maddie, from the moment I first saw you, I dreamed of a future with you.”
But darling?
He must’ve forgotten the clause: Tease in moderation.
Or maybe Maddie’s idea of “moderate” was just very different.
Still, she looked like a country girl in love, running toward him with a shining face.
Totally different from the woman in the bar or her office.
“Huff… huff. Yulikian. You came all the way here again? I was going to come today… but thank you, really.”
She panted, face flushed, and looked at him expectantly.
But Yulikian said nothing, standing frozen.
Her radiant face, the blush on her cheeks, the yellow wildflowers in her hair, the sweat on her forehead—
It all looked too real. He almost forgot it was an act.
“Did you buy those for me?”
“…Yeah.”
He even forgot his rule: speak formally to her in public.
Maddie took the bouquet with a beaming smile.
Her cheeks puffed up into soft mounds.
“…Thank you. I’ve never received such big, fresh flowers before.”
As she gently sniffed the bouquet, her neck and ears turned bright red.
“Thanks to Your Grace, I’m doing so many firsts… Thank you.”
She glanced up at him briefly, then quickly looked down again. Her eyes glistened, as if she might cry.
Yulikian felt strangely flustered.
He quickly leaned down and whispered,
“Hey. You didn’t forget this is all acting, right? Get a grip.”
Maddie widened her eyes, then covered her ear with her hand, face turning even redder.
She lightly smacked his arm and smiled sweetly.
“…There are people around. What are you saying, really? You’re impossible.”
When she began fanning her flushed face, it finally hit him.
She had been acting ever since she stepped into the alley.
The one who needed to get a grip wasn’t Maddie—it was Yulikian.
