STLECM 01

CHAPTER 01

She found out she didn’t have much time left to live.

“At most, I have a year.”

The smile lingering at her lips tasted bitter. For a moment, she thought she might break into tears. But Etisha neither cried nor hesitated.

“I could even die before the year is up.”

She had no time to waste on tears.

Just twenty years old. A short life, but one filled more with hesitation and wasted time than satisfaction.

That ends now.

“I heard the Duke is looking for a bride. That you need a marriage partner?”

Etisha looked at the man across from her. Despite the crowded, noisy ballroom behind him, his surroundings were quiet.

Duke Cayen Wintel.

Beside him, people fell silent and held their breath. Only their gazes lingered, endlessly watching.

A man who overwhelmed others simply by existing. In the past, Etisha wouldn’t have dared speak to him.

“Lady Heinz. What is it you wish to say to me?”

Etisha didn’t answer right away. Instead, she silently signaled with her eyes. This next part would need to be said somewhere more private—like the quiet balcony nearby.

“They say you have a hidden mistress, Your Grace?”

Etisha’s voice was calm as she stood on the balcony.

“That the duchess would just be a figurehead, and all your affection lies with your mistress. Rumor has it there’s even a hidden child…”

“And?”

“You don’t really need a bride, do you? Just a wife in name only. Someone to fill a role, like air.”

“……”

“I…”

Etisha looked up at him with steady eyes.

“I’ll be that wife.”

The same Etisha Heinz who once couldn’t speak without looking at the ground, who trembled in front of others.

The same girl laughed at by high society, ignored even by her own parents and sister.

Now, the woman standing before the Duke looked like someone completely different.

“I don’t mind. I’m going to die soon anyway.”

“……”

“I won’t interfere with you or the mistress you love so dearly. I’ll live quietly, as if I don’t exist. And once I die, no one will pester you to take another wife…”

“So I can comfortably live with my mistress?”

“Yes. And if you want to officially adopt her child into the family, I’ll support that too.”

Cayen listened without flinching. He looked dazzling as he leaned against the balcony.

Jet-black hair, black eyes. A perfectly tailored suit and slicked-back hair. But above all, a face so handsome it bordered on frighteningly immaculate.

“Why should I agree to this? I don’t want to toy with someone’s life.”

At his question, Etisha blinked. Her clear blue eyes were like the sky after rain.

“But isn’t that better than toying with someone’s heart?”

“What…?”

“Every noble lady knows. If they marry you, they’ll gain the title of Duchess, but not a husband.”

Cayen’s brow furrowed slightly.

“You have no intention of loving your wife. Isn’t that the real deception? Playing with someone’s heart…”

“Lady Heinz. That’s how noble marriages usually are.”

“I know. That’s why I’m offering you the same kind of deal.”

Etisha gently fixed her long hair and folded her hands neatly as she bowed to Cayen.

“I’m going to die anyway. There’s no need for you to waste any emotions on me. All I ask is that you marry me.”

From the depth of her bow, her sincerity was clear.

“Even if it’s just for a year before I die, I want to leave the Heinz household.”

“……”

“To get away from my parents and my sister… and spend my remaining time somewhere they can’t reach me.”

Her mouth tasted bitter. But not from the wine she had earlier.

“Please take me to the North. That’s all I want.”

Cayen looked down at the bowed Etisha. His brow furrowed more deeply than before. He looked like an angry beast.

“Lady Heinz.”

“Yes?”

“Is it true that you’re terminally ill? That you’ll die in a year?”

“Yes. Mana is building up in my body. Soon, it’ll explode all at once.”

“Mana poisoning.”

“Yes. Stage three already.”

Mana poisoning—a disease mostly suffered by non-magical people.

It occurs when the body can’t release the mana it absorbs. If that mana bursts all at once, the person dies. There’s no known cure.

Cayen’s expression turned calm. At first, he suspected she might be faking her illness just to propose a deceitful marriage.

But judging by her actions and words, it seemed to be the truth.

‘Mana poisoning is not something that can be faked. A check-up would reveal it immediately.’

And Etisha Heinz’s tragic family situation was well known too—almost as widely as the rumors about Cayen’s hidden mistress.

‘A rare case of remarriage in the noble world.’

Baron Heinz remarried shortly after losing his wife. His new wife was Lady Dorothea, a widow herself.

Etisha was the Baron’s daughter. Dorothea had a daughter too—Larienne.

Before Etisha’s grief had even faded, she suddenly had a stepmother and a stepsister.

If only they had been decent people, it might not have been so hard. But sadly, neither Dorothea nor Larienne were noble in character.

Even worse, Etisha’s own father wasn’t much of a gentleman either, lacking even basic fatherly love.

Together, they treated Etisha harshly.

As a child, she had at least been treated like a person. But as she grew older, the abuse and favoritism intensified.

A stepsister who constantly slandered and isolated her.

A stepmother who criticized her, always comparing her to Larienne.

And a father who only punished Etisha under the guise of strict discipline, while shielding her stepsister.

Etisha had lived her whole life enduring it all.

She believed everything was her fault.

That she was too slow, too quiet, too reserved—and that’s why things turned out like this.

‘But that wasn’t it.’

Her family’s cruelty wasn’t because of her personality or mannerisms.

They simply didn’t love her.

“Mana poisoning? Then we’ll have to cancel your birthday party. Who knows when you’ll explode.”

That was the first thing her father and stepmother said when she told them she was sick.

“Eek! That’s terrifying! Don’t you dare leave your room! What if you explode in front of me?”

That was Larienne’s reaction.

It was then Etisha realized—

She had no family.

They may have lived in the same house, but they were not her family.

They never were.

‘Whether I die here or out there, I’ll die alone either way.’

Then she heard the rumors about Duke Cayen. That he was looking for a bride to become Duchess.

It was the founding festival season, and the Duke had traveled from the North to the capital for the celebrations.

This would be Etisha’s first—and last—chance to propose a contract marriage.

‘If I’m going to die anyway, then… I want to leave.’

She dared to go out for the first time in ages. It was the boldest thing she’d ever done, having spent so long locked inside the Heinz estate.

‘Even if I’m just a figurehead Duchess, I don’t care. As long as I can leave this house.’

She wanted to use Cayen’s power to leave the capital. If she went to the North, not even her family could follow.

She never wanted to see them again—not before her death.

And the rest, as you’ve seen…

“Lady Heinz.”

Duke Cayen held out a hand to Etisha. She stared at it blankly before slowly lifting her head.

“…Yes?”

“You’re right. I don’t need a bride. The desire for marriage came from my family, not from me.”

“……”

“So, I find your offer acceptable. A mutually agreed contract marriage—with no need for emotional investment.”

Just for one year. Until Etisha’s final breath.

“Very well. I’ll marry you.”

The too-good-to-be-true answer left Etisha stunned. But the surprise wasn’t over yet.

The Duke was still holding out his hand.

“Miss Etisha, your hand, please.”

As her trembling hand reached out, Cayen removed the ring from his own finger.

It was the symbol of House Wintel—an eagle emblem and a white diamond.

“You are no longer a Heinz. You are a Wintel now.”

“……”

“Etisha Wintel.”

He slid the ring onto her left ring finger.

In an instant, a brilliant light flared. The large ring shrank to fit her finger perfectly.

“You are now the Duchess of Wintel.”

Only then did Etisha’s expression shift. A mixture of overwhelming relief and joy lit up her face.

“Thank you, Your Grace. You won’t regret this.”

They say people change when faced with death—and Etisha truly had.

Once a quiet doll-like lady who never raised her voice, who barely existed like mist or shadow.

Even when struck, she never cried out.

But that was no longer who she was.

“And… I’m sorry, but I’d like the marriage to be announced as soon as possible. Ideally, during the festival…”

“So you want it announced quickly, and to leave for the North as soon as the festival ends.”

“Yes. That’s what I hope for. Is that okay?”

Etisha glanced up at him carefully. Noble marriages usually followed a set procedure.

Especially for someone of Cayen’s rank, it was normal to first announce an engagement, then set a proper date for the wedding.

A sudden marriage announcement would undoubtedly spark scandal.

Why would a young man and woman rush into marriage so quickly?

Obviously, because they “got into trouble.”