There was a very good reason I'd shot upright in bed screaming.
I'd just had a truly horrifying nightmare.
In it, I'd spent weeks working my ass off to resolve a case, only to be denied every last penny of my Success Fee for some completely ridiculous reason....
“...”
I slowly turned my head.
Grand Duke Richard was staring at me, blinking in bewilderment, his backside halfway out of his chair.
Then I noticed the room around us. Everything looked strangely old and musty.
“Where...?”
Before I could finish, the Grand Duke settled back into his chair, his posture as rigid and impeccable as though nothing had happened.
He offered a dry explanation.
“The Grand Duke's residence. My other assets remain confiscated, but His Highness the Crown Prince has graciously agreed to return the territory and mansion attached to my title.”
“Ha... haha...”
A hollow laugh escaped me as I buried my face in my hands.
The real nightmare was discovering that it hadn't been a nightmare at all.
“Thanks to your efforts, I've been released and am now a free man. As agreed in our Contract, I'll sell the grand ducal lands and this mansion and give you half the proceeds.”
“...”
I couldn't help frowning at his proposal.
At first glance, it sounded perfectly reasonable.
But anyone who knew the circumstances would realize how absurd it was.
Grand Duke Richard had been driven out of the Imperial Palace almost as soon as he was born, confined with his wet nurse to an abandoned castle in a barren territory.
Later, when he distinguished himself in war, the Emperor had reluctantly granted him the title of Grand Duke.
But the petty bastard hadn't even bothered to give him a proper estate. He'd simply elevated the status of the miserable land and castle where Benedict had already been living, calling them a grand duchy and a grand ducal residence.
The enormous fortune I'd had my eye on when I negotiated our Contract was wealth Benedict had earned for himself through investments.
In other words, the territory and mansion that the Crown Prince had so magnanimously returned were practically worthless!
There probably wasn't even enough money to maintain the mansion properly.
That cheap bastard of a Crown Prince! He might as well have thrown the Grand Duke out of the capital with nothing but the clothes on his back!
Of course, according to the original novel, Benedict was a villain who had amassed his fortune through ruthless schemes that obstructed the male lead.
From Lawrence's perspective, it was understandable that he'd want to strip Benedict of every last penny.
But still! This is going too far!
I ground my teeth.
Oblivious to my outrage—or simply indifferent to it—the Grand Duke held out several documents.
“Here. The agreement for the sale of the property, and the divorce papers. Fill out your portion.”
Unlike me, he sounded perfectly calm.
He'd lost the enormous fortune he'd worked so hard to accumulate by taking opportunities away from Lawrence, yet he didn't seem remotely disappointed.
I stared down at the divorce papers in my hands, then looked up at him.
“I'm sorry, but I can't agree to a divorce.”
The Grand Duke shot to his feet the instant the words left my mouth.
“Wh-what are you saying? Surely you don't mean to break our Contract?”
His voice was filled with disbelief.
I shook my head calmly.
“No. I'm saying our Contract hasn't been fulfilled yet.”
“What...?”
“Our agreement was that I'd receive half your fortune once you were found Not Guilty. But you haven't actually received a Not Guilty verdict yet, have you? Which means I can't divorce you until you do.”
I had absolutely no intention of accepting a deal where the Grand Duke got out of prison while I walked away empty-handed.
He let out a very conspicuous sigh.
“Fine. We'll postpone the divorce as stipulated in the Contract. But I can't allow a woman who's my wife in name only to remain in my residence.”
Oh, so that was how he wanted to play it?
I put on my most pitiful expression.
“Oh, my goodness. What are you talking about, darling? This is my home.”
“D-dar... What did you just call me? I knew it! This is what you were after when you entered into that Contract with me!”
The Grand Duke's face turned bright red as he glared at me.
For some reason, his expression reminded me of a former client who'd been dealing with a stalker.
I sighed too.
“Your Grace, we're destined to be together. You need to accept that.”
“What?”
He looked at me as though I'd completely lost my mind.
I continued without missing a beat.
“After all that public talk about how much we love each other, how suspicious would it look if we started living separately the moment you got out of prison?”
The Crown Prince had allowed Benedict's release for lack of evidence, yet he'd refused to return his assets under the bizarre pretext of deferring his Not Guilty verdict.
That alone suggested Lawrence had no intention of letting the Grand Duke live in peace.
Under circumstances like these, what would happen if our Marriage of Convenience was exposed?
Someone might argue that because I wasn't a genuine member of his family, I'd represented him in court without the necessary qualifications.
The entire trial might even be declared invalid.
And then I could kiss my Success Fee goodbye forever.
Worse, I might end up in prison myself.
“That's why we need to keep up appearances as a married couple until the real murderer is caught.”
“...!”
The Grand Duke opened and closed his mouth without managing a word.
I raised one eyebrow and casually offered him an alternative.
“Of course, if you really hate the idea of married life, you could always fabricate some evidence and frame someone else for the murder.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
His face hardened instantly, and he glared at me with undisguised fury.
I shrugged.
“You said you didn't want to pretend to be my husband.”
“Ugh...”
His reaction was exactly what I'd expected.
If there was one thing I'd learned from the short time we'd spent together, it was that Benedict Richard was astonishingly principled.
So principled, in fact, that I sometimes wondered whether he really was the Hidden Villain from the novel.
He also possessed such a strong sense of responsibility toward his subordinates that he'd been willing to swallow his pride and compromise his own convictions for their sake.
A man like that would never sacrifice an innocent person just to save himself.
“While we're at it, I'd appreciate your cooperation in finding the real murderer.”
“You intend to find the culprit yourself?”
He stared at me incredulously.
I nodded.
“Of course! That's the only way you'll finally be found Not Guilty. And that's what matters most to me.”
The Police Bureau had nearly gotten the Grand Duke sentenced to death using evidence that was flimsy at best.
If I left the search for the real murderer to those people, Benedict's fortune would probably remain confiscated forever.
And I'd never see my Success Fee.
Clearly, the quickest solution was to investigate the case myself and catch the culprit.
The Grand Duke stared at me, seemingly stunned all over again.
Then he pressed his lips together for a moment before speaking in a subdued but emphatic voice.
“Let's make one thing perfectly clear. We'll only pretend to be husband and wife in front of other people. There will be no love between us. Ours is strictly a contractual relationship. Understood?”
“Hm? Oh, yes. Of course.”
I'd noticed this before, but the Grand Duke had a bad habit of delivering the most obvious statements as though they were solemn declarations of life and death.
It really wasn't a good habit.
I nodded absently.
“And...”
He hesitated before continuing.
“Perhaps you should try developing feelings for someone else during the term of our Contract.”
“Hmm... I think that would be rather difficult.”
What if rumors started circulating?
That would be a disaster.
Besides, what mattered to me wasn't some trivial romantic entanglement.
It was money.
“...”
The Grand Duke sighed at my answer.
For some reason, he looked strangely troubled.
******
Our first opportunity to practice acting like a married couple came at dinner.
The head maid, who had apparently worked at the Grand Duke's residence for many years, greeted us in the aging dining room.
“...My name is Margaret Verona, and I'm the head maid of this residence. You may call me Mrs. Verona. I've served His Grace for a very long time.”
She seemed unusually stiff and uncomfortable.
I studied her through narrowed eyes before turning to the Grand Duke with a gentle smile.
“It sounds as though you and Mrs. Verona have a special connection, Your Grace.”
“Yes.”
A curt, blunt answer came back immediately.
“Yes? Is that all, daaaarling?”
I deliberately drew out the words and gave a tinkling laugh.
At the same time, I reached beneath the table and discreetly poked the Grand Duke in the thigh, where Mrs. Verona couldn't see.
He flinched at my silent reprimand, apparently remembering what had happened in the bedroom.
A few hours earlier.
“Now then. From this point forward, we need to convince everyone that we're a deeply loving couple.”
“And how exactly do you propose we do that?”
The Grand Duke stared at me, looking utterly clueless.
I frowned.
“I told you. Just treat me the way you'd treat someone you're genuinely in love with.”
“Th-that's precisely what I'm asking! How am I supposed to do that?”
“Don't tell me... You've never been in a relationship before?”
“...”
He lowered his eyes at an angle and pressed his lips firmly together.
A faint flush spread across the sharply sculpted features of his handsome face.
I stared at him in astonishment.
Good heavens... What on earth has he been doing with that gorgeous face all these years?
No wonder he'd reacted so dramatically whenever I called him darling.
At this rate, I'd have to teach him the absolute basics.
I began explaining things step by step, as though instructing a small child.
“All right. First, whenever you look at me, you should gaze at me with intense longing.”
“Would something like this suffice?”
The Grand Duke's crimson eyes immediately blazed with such fierce intensity that he looked ready to leap into battle.
I sighed.
“Isn't that the look you give an enemy commander right before you cut off his head?”
“Didn't you just tell me to look at you with longing?”
“That's not a longing for love. That's a longing for someone's death!”
Perhaps it was because he was the Hidden Villain, but even his attempts at a romantic gaze looked downright murderous.
I decided to abandon the loving-eye-contact exercise and move on to the next lesson.
“All right. Let's try something a little easier. Surely you can manage to call me by name affectionately. Try saying 'Elena' in a gentle voice.”
“ELENA—HA!”
“...”
His voice boomed through the room like a military command.
It sounded as though he were about to bark out a soldier's name and rank.
Private EL! E! NA! Reporting for duty, sir!
I could only stare at him, my eyebrows drooping in defeat.
“Let me demonstrate. Just repeat after me.”
I drew a deep breath, summoned every ounce of strength from my diaphragm, and produced the sweetest, most coquettish voice I could manage.
“Benedict—♡”
“S-stop that!”
Apparently unable to endure another second of it, the Grand Duke turned scarlet.
And so, after bringing our dreadful little session of marital training to an end, we returned to the present.
“Ahem.”
The Grand Duke snapped to attention at my wordless rebuke and cleared his throat.
Then, with visible effort, he managed to squeeze out something resembling an affectionate tone.
“Mrs. Verona was also my wet nurse. Before that, she worked at the Imperial Palace.”
At his words, Mrs. Verona bowed her head deeply.
“Even after His Grace no longer needed a wet nurse, he graciously allowed me to remain here as head maid.”
The Grand Duke took a spoonful of the soup that had been served, then gave Mrs. Verona a quiet nod.
“It's been a long time since I've had Margaret's cooking, but it hasn't changed. She's always been an excellent cook.”
Excellent cooking?
Now that was welcome news!
I hadn't eaten anything all day, and I was absolutely starving.
Without another moment's hesitation, I eagerly spooned some soup into my mouth.
“Urk!”
At that very instant, everyone turned to look at me.