🌸 Chapter 3 🌸

Herina smiled at him as if she were teasing him.

“What did you just say…? Cute…?”

Ares turned toward her with a shocked expression, as if he had heard something he was never supposed to hear.

Herina shrugged.

“That’s right. I’m not even a member of the Duke’s family yet. If this marriage is canceled, the person who will suffer the most is the great Duke of Habinent, not me. My family is just an ordinary family anyway. Would breaking off this marriage really be such a big problem for me?”

Only then did Ares understand what Herina meant. He put a hand on his forehead and tried to calm himself.

“What do you want? We can’t let anyone outside know about my current condition. If people find out that something happened to the head of the family, it could cause serious trouble for not only our family, but also our territory and even the whole Empire.”

Herina sat calmly with a little humming sound and smiled.

“That’s why I told you to ask me in a way that makes me want to help you. It’s not like I’m asking you to buy me a house or clothes.”

Ares covered his eyes with his palm, feeling like his head was about to explode.

“Well, I would be disappointed if the marriage was canceled. But the Habinent family would be in serious trouble. And like you said, you can’t ask anyone else for help. It seems that you really need me, don’t you?”

Herina continued reminding him of the situation from beside him, which made Ares bite his trembling lips as if he had finally made an important decision.

“…I will.”

Herina exaggeratedly touched her ear, then flopped down onto the bed and rolled around.

“What did you say? I couldn’t hear you.”

Ares’s face turned completely red as he shouted,

“Would it be better if I bought you a house or something? If there is anything you want, just tell me. I will do my best to give you whatever I can.”

Herina tilted her head.

“If we are going to get married anyway, I will eventually have everything the Habinent family has to offer. So those things aren’t very attractive conditions.”

Ares clenched his fists and asked again.

“Why are you so obsessed with hearing me say that one word? Nothing would really change just because I ask you for help.”

Herina shook her head.

“No. A lot would change.”

She got up from the bed and walked over to Ares. Then she placed her hands on his shoulders.

“You will be the one receiving help from me, and I will be the one helping you.”

Ares was about to argue again, thinking her answer sounded like wordplay, but Herina continued before he could speak.

“It means you will have a debt that you can’t repay. A debt from you to me that you can’t repay with just a house or some jewelry. Do you understand what the word ‘please’ means now?”

Herina was trying to make their new positions and relationship clear.

She wanted to make sure that she would have the upper hand in her relationship with this young and inexperienced Duke.

“Now ask me properly. If you really can’t give up your pride, then I’ll stop here.”

She took one step back as if she were relaxed.

But when Ares remained silent for a long time, Herina also started to feel nervous.

“For the sake of your family, would it really be wise for the head of that family to ruin everything just because of a little pride?”

After hearing Herina’s quiet words, Ares finally seemed to make up his mind.

He opened his mouth.

“I sincerely ask for your help. Even if this decision causes problems for me someday, right now, I think you are my best choice.”

Herina thought that was enough.

She smiled and held out her hand.

“Well, if you ask me that nicely… what can I do? We are husband and wife now. You have heard that married couples share the same fate, haven’t you? Even if you’re still young, you must have heard that before. Of course I should help you. My little groom.”

She patted Ares on the shoulder as if encouraging him.

His lips trembled as he tried to hold back his emotions, which made her want to laugh.

“Go wait in the study. I’ll bring the wedding route and the guest list.”

She left the bedroom, leaving Ares standing there.

She could not stop herself from smiling.

Part of her felt satisfied, and another part was excited at the thought that she might be able to control him from now on.

“My Lady! You haven’t even changed your clothes at this hour?”

Benny, the maid who had been waiting outside the door for her masters to come out, quickly ran over.

“Ah, yes. We are quite passionate right now, you know. Oh, the Duke said that since he has now become another woman’s man, he doesn’t need your service anymore. Just leave some clothes for him outside and come out.”

Herina raised her voice so that the Duke inside could hear her.

Benny looked completely confused, but she nodded anyway.

“Looks like this really is a good opportunity, doesn’t it?”

After returning to her room, Herina soaked herself in a warm bath and thought about the current situation.

“The Duke seems to be having trouble understanding everything that’s happening. Should I use this chance to cut him off from everyone and make him completely alone?”

“If that happens, he’ll have no choice but to depend on me. And the more he depends on me, the stronger my influence in the Duke’s household will become.”

Herina got out of the bath and looked at her beautiful reflection in the mirror. She smiled with satisfaction.

“Maybe this is a new mission given to someone who was possessed into this story.”

“I mean, the main character becoming younger one day before the wedding? There has to be a reason for something this strange to happen.”

Maybe the person this book wanted to be the main character was not Ares.

Ares Habinent was only one of the main characters in a fantasy novel series that continued through several books.

Maybe the main character of this book was actually her.

“A new main character…”

At the same time, Ares was thinking about Herina’s words.

He accepted his situation, straightened his clothes, and walked toward the study.

But when he arrived, there was only a cold room that had been turned into a storage room long ago.

“My Lord, are you looking for something?”

A passing maid bowed and asked him.

“My Lord…”

“Yes. If there is something you need from here, I can send it to your study. What are you looking for?”

The place that Ares remembered as his study had become a storage room.

There could not have been clearer proof.

“Move that one and that one to my study.”

The maid picked up a couple of books.

Ares followed her until they arrived at a room that had once belonged to his father, the previous Duke.

“This place… My father’s office… has become… my study?”

This was the moment when Ares could no longer deny the truth.

Herina slowly finished bathing and getting dressed before finally heading to the study with the documents.

Knock, knock—

She knocked twice out of courtesy, then opened the door before Ares could even give permission.

“Have you been waiting long? I came quickly because I thought you might be waiting impatiently.”

“You only opened the door quickly. It looks like you took your time doing everything else.”

Tsk.

It seemed that whether in her old world or this world, seventeen-year-olds had some kind of habit of saying whatever they wanted.

“Here. The first thing we need to deal with is the wedding route. We have to hold the wedding, and we can’t let the guests discover that you’ve become younger. So I think changing the layout of the wedding hall is the most reasonable solution.”

Herina was thinking about the layout of a hotel wedding hall she had seen in her previous life.

She showed him a design with a carpet in the center for the wedding procession and tables placed far apart on both sides.

Ares looked a little confused by the strange design he had never seen before.

“Then where will the nobles enjoy the banquet? They will need a stage for dancing, and they will also need a large hall where they can talk comfortably.”

“There won’t be one. Our goal is to hide your face. You’re not the Emperor, so are you really going to sit on a platform and look down at everyone?”

Ares still looked like he couldn’t accept the idea and shook his head.

“The nobles will strongly oppose this. Especially the nobles in the capital. They are very conservative. They won’t welcome such a new style of wedding. Let’s think of another plan.”

Herina firmly held up her palm to show that she refused.

“No. There is no other way. You know noble society well, right? Then you know this too. The most important thing to them is a good reason.”

“We just need to give them a reason to break tradition.”