That damned mosquito, Duke Reshaniel, had sucked out a ton of my mana. The stolen mana never recovered, not through mana breathing or anything else. My past self had despaired endlessly over that fact, but now it was different.
I inhaled and exhaled, breathing steadily. Just a few rounds of mana breathing to absorb the surrounding mana, and I’ve recovered about 1/500th of the mana I used to have.
“Wow… If a discarded potion is this good, just how amazing must the other potions be?”
If I could sneak into the House of Duke Kalinos, that famously reclusive mage noble family, drinking potions and learning magic would be a piece of cake.
The problem is that infiltrating the House of Duke Kalinos is extremely difficult. They supposedly only hire external personnel who graduated at the top of their academy class, if at all. With nothing to show for myself like I am now, it means I can’t even get a face-to-face meeting.
If someone like me got hired by Kalinos’s family, both the agitator and the mosquito would faint from shock. How delicious would that be?
Those so-called regretful male leads 1 and 2 constantly picked fights with Duke Kalinos. They had an inferiority complex toward Duke Kalinos. I’m pretty sure they once even stole research from the Kalinos family and sold it off using underhanded means. In the original story, that pathetic behavior was praised as a ‘Machiavellian attitude that doesn’t discriminate between means and methods for personal gain,’ but to me, they’re just criminals.
“I should stop daydreaming and head home.” I smacked my lips and properly shouldered my bag containing the empty potion bottle.
Anyway, since I know what kind of potions the Kalinos family discards, I decided to pick them up here and there. But just as I was about to trudge away, that very moment. A chilling wind whooshed behind me, and someone asked in a very low voice.
“Giselle Florette?”
“…?’
Without any particular suspicion, I turned my head, and my eyes widened in shock. Is this possibly a dream? I rubbed my eyes. It’s not a dream? But why is Duke Kalinos standing over there…?
I stared at him with a dumbfounded expression. Did the heavens grant my wish or something? That can’t be possible. Or is this also good fortune brought on by twisting the original story?
Buried in the darkness, he looked even more fierce as he fixed his gaze on me and spoke. “Is that correct?”
“Huh…? Yes, that’s me…?”
“Ah, let me introduce myself first. My name is Vientin Kalinos. I am Duke Kalinos.” His fierce-looking eyes curved seductively.
What is this situation even?
“I’ve come to make you an offer.”
Suddenly, a fairy tale prince—no, the villain—appeared as my savior. And I, that lifeline…
“Suddenly? An offer? Me?”
…I’m not naive enough to grab it without thinking.
“Yes, suddenly.”
“…But, what exactly is the offer?”
It’s absolutely not because I’m charmed by that handsome face. It’s just that I was already planning to take his hand anyway, so I figured I should at least ask.
“A marriage proposal.”
…What?
“Giselle Florette. I’d like you to become my wife publicly.”
W-What is this?
It took me a while to even process what I’d heard. Finally coming to my senses, I looked at him like he was insane. Is this guy crazy?
“I’m not sure what Your Grace is talking about.”
“Ah, right. I was being thoughtless.”
“Excuse me?”
Duke Kalinos held out a ring case with his usual indifferent expression. “A proposal.” Inside the case that had somehow opened wide was a ring set with a diamond the size of a child’s fist.
Did he move an entire mine here or what? What’s with this ridiculously huge diamond? I couldn’t help but drool, but I quickly snapped back to reality.
Who am I? I’m the female lead of a regret romance fantasy where the whole world torments me. That means there’s absolutely no way anything good could happen to me.
Looking at him without letting go of my suspicion, I spoke. “I don’t know how you found out about me, but I don’t provide unsavory services like being a stand-in wife or girlfriend. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
Right then, he stared straight at me and tilted his head at an angle. “The compensation for being my stand-in wife…”
I was ready to ignore him immediately if he said anything weird. I really was. But without realizing it, my ears perked up.
“Five billion gold per year.”
Five billion gold is an enormous amount of money—enough to buy two townhouses in the capital! As if lightning had struck from a clear sky, silence fell between us for a moment.
However…!
I spoke to Duke Kalinos with dignity, coldness, and composure. “Do you think I’m the kind of materialistic person who would cave to money?”
His brow twitched. I could sense subtle bewilderment.
Since I’m the poor, universally hated ‘Giselle Florette,’ he probably thought I’d do anything if he offered five billion.
I lowered my head with a slightly darkened expression… “You’re right, I’m materialistic. You’ve come to exactly the right person.” I lifted my face with the brightest smile then.
He’s offering five billion—let me at least hear him out first.
Right. I’m a monster born of capitalism.
2. Marriage Contract
“Master, I mean, Lord? Could you specify exactly what kind of behavior you need from me?”
As befitting as a villain, Duke Kalinos didn’t show any notable panic at my rapid change of attitude.
“It’s simple. After marrying me, I’d like you to act like a completely awful person. Ah, enough to make my entire family sick of marriage.”
I gaped internally. Wow, this guy really found the right expert!
I’m a part-timer specializing in dealing with difficult customers. Being able to handle difficult customers perfectly also meant I knew difficult customers inside and out. That means I’m also an expert at acting like a total pain in the ass.
The compensation was five billion gold, and what the client wanted was a nightmare’s rampage. It was a situation perfectly tailored to me. But even if I was blinded by money, I still had to be careful before crossing any bridge.
Why is he offering me such good treatment and trying to take me with him? Since my suspicions about him weren’t resolved, I needed time to learn more about him and reconsider.
“…It’s not that I’m saying no. Please give me some time to think it over.”
Compared to that bald Viscount Milpianne, marriage with him was definitely the lesser evil. Besides, in typical romance novel contract marriages, even if the other party’s proposal seems a bit suspicious, immediately accepting is usually the standard move…
The bigger the gap in our standings, especially when the other party’s offer is too good, the more I shouldn’t jump at it. Since there was a significant gap in our standings, this was a strategy to increase my value through push and pull tactics. Most importantly, a favorable event that could raise my value is about to happen. In the past, I’d gotten through that event miserably, but now things would be different.
“About three days. Would that be okay?”
I was also confident that if it was an offer that would be withdrawn within three days, it couldn’t possibly be a good offer for me.
Duke Kalinos nodded as he looked at my sparkling eyes.
It was a temporary pause for favorable negotiations.
* * *
It was in a small laboratory within the duke’s mansion in the capital, created for Duke Kalinos’s personal research. It was 100 square meters in size, divided precisely into two 50-square-meter sealed chambers—an experimental lab and a research records room…
Bang! Crash! With a tremendous noise, a monster’s head shattered inside the sealed chamber.
“At last, I’ve extracted the monster’s essence. What an achievement after 399 days and 12 hours and 30 minutes.”
Duke Kalinos, covered in the monster’s blue blood over his pristine lab coat, handed over a beaker as he spoke. His expression seemed indifferent, but satisfaction was evident.
Though they’d developed nerves of steel from working with the duke, the researchers in this place still had courage closer to that of ordinary people. They looked at each other with trembling lips, then squeezed their eyes shut and spoke in unison like a chorus.
“Yes, Lord!”
“C-congratulations!”
But Duke Kalinos, still covered in monster blood, muttered to himself. “Oh, now that I think about it, there’s something I need to say.”
“W-What is it?”
It was right when the researcher, who had been watching the duke smile eerily while covered in blood, nearly half-fainted from shock. Regardless, Duke Kalinos, who hadn’t forgotten about disinfection and recording his research, whispered in a casual tone.
“Peter. Is five billion gold a small amount?”
“My name is Peterson. And that amount would cover about three years’ worth of budget for most noble families. It’s a large sum.”
“…Then what’s the reason?”
Just as Giselle had predicted, doubts were flooding Duke Kalinos’s mind. Even while extracting the monster’s essence, Giselle’s strange expression had lingered in his thoughts for about a second, like an afterimage, so his suspicions could be considered quite deep.
I thought she would naturally accept it.
