FWRP 07

Chapter  7

A monotonous voice, devoid of any inflection.

It was obvious to anyone that Ian was merely being polite when he offered, and his eyes remained fixed on the boring book before him.

Vanessa shook her head. His boundaries seemed too firmly drawn for them to leisurely reminisce about childhood and chat.

“I don’t mind, but you look too busy to even have time for tea.”

Of course, if he had asked her to stay one more time, she was willing to sit back down and pretend she had no choice but to do so…

But when she glanced at the mountain of documents piled up on his desk, Ian did not press her any further.

In the ambiguous silence, Vanessa fell into thought for a moment.

…Could it really be as small as a pinky finger?

He was large all over, really. The hand gripping the quill, his broad shoulders, even the tip of his polished shoe that slightly protruded from beneath the table.

Carlyle was by no means small or frail either, but standing beside Ian, he would look that way.

But… if everything else is fully grown, and only that part is small…

With a deliberately serious expression, Vanessa let her gaze linger briefly around his hips before shaking her head.

Forget it. What does it matter whether it’s big or small?

Vanessa lifted her gaze from his waist and looked at Ian’s face.

Ian Ruscliff.

He had been her childhood friend for many years, but they had lost contact after becoming adults. Yet after returning to the past, she had somehow become someone who had spent a night with him just a week ago.

She had continued thinking about it, and she was convinced that the reason he had included a condition of “no physical contact” in his marriage terms had something to do with that night.

Could it be that I made the first move?

No matter how much she thought about it, she had no memory of doing anything with Ian that night. Her clothes had been left completely intact, too.

Of all times, why had she had to return to the past under circumstances like this?

For Ian, it had only been a week ago, but for her, it was an incident that had happened fifteen years ago.

And because she had been thoroughly drunk, that particular part of her memory had simply been cut off.

The reason she had been frightened into marrying Carlyle in the first place was because her memories of that time had been incomplete.

Even if, by some chance, Ian had embraced her because he was happy to see her, surely he wouldn’t have thought of that as her throwing herself at him.

Vanessa inwardly sighed when her thoughts reached that point.

But if he considered even the slightest touch to his collar to count as physical contact, then perhaps he could have interpreted a light embrace as her making a move on him.

However, asking him right here, “Did I hug you?” or perhaps, “Did I touch you?” would only make the atmosphere even more awkward.

Just then, Ian raised his head, and their eyes met.

Vanessa gave him an awkward smile.

“Well, I’ll be going now. Sorry for disturbing you.”

Ian’s eyes followed her retreating figure without even waiting for a response.

“Didn’t you like it…?”

Perhaps he was remembering Vanessa carefully asking in her tiny voice, “Do you not like me?” because his brow subtly furrowed.

“I’d rather… that were the case.”

Just then, the butler, who had come to bring freshly brewed tea, noticed Vanessa passing by him and tilted his head.

“Have you already finished your conversation?”

“Yes.”

“If the conversation ended before the tea had even finished brewing… does that mean you refused her?”

At the butler’s question, Ian shook his head.

“It’s the opposite.”

“…Pardon?”

“I said it’s the opposite.”

“You’re getting married?”

“…Yes.”

Leaving the butler standing there frozen with his mouth hanging open, still holding the teacups in both hands, Ian finally rose from his seat and turned his gaze toward the window.

A tiny head moved back and forth as its owner disappeared into the distance.

Vanessa Charose.

He remembered the eyes that had looked at him while she was completely drunk that night, smiling foolishly.

Under normal circumstances, he would simply have had the butler take her back to the ducal residence.

But the reason he hadn’t been able to do that was—

…She seemed strangely vulnerable.

Not at all like a bride who was about to be married.

Every word that came out of her mouth had been slurred and jumbled, but it wasn’t difficult to understand her.

“Marriage.”

“Father’s opposition.”

Those words alone were enough for him to realize that she was considering marrying that bastard.

The Duke of Charose was utterly devoted to his daughter, so in the end, he would probably reluctantly give his permission for the marriage.

But the man in question being Carlyle Leonard—

Ian had almost blurted out, “Why don’t you marry me instead?”

He had held her in his arms while she sobbed uncontrollably.

He had wrapped his arms around her trembling shoulders and almost pressed his lips to hers without even realizing it.

He had pushed her away the moment he came to his senses, though.

Does she not remember?

It made sense. Otherwise, instead of criticizing his behavior, she would never have sent him a letter filled with such an unbelievable proposal.

But he had never imagined that Vanessa would be the one to approach him first and propose marriage.

I thought she cared about him quite a lot.

If she had suddenly broken off the marriage and come to him, perhaps that wasn’t the case after all.

Either way, it was fortunate that she wasn’t marrying that snake of a man.

But did Vanessa realize it?

That her current situation was essentially like escaping a fox only to walk straight into a tiger’s den.

“I stormed out in a fit of anger, but then I realized I had nowhere to go.”

The pout on her face hadn’t changed much from when she was a child.

And that was precisely the problem.

Because he…

wasn’t someone who could be with her.

Ian picked up the cigar resting on the table with one hand and let out a quiet sigh.

“…What are you planning to do?”

“I laid out the conditions. They’re there, so read them.”

His gaze, which had been following Vanessa until she disappeared into the distance, shifted to the butler.

“Conditions? What kind of…”

The butler slowly read through the words written on the paper, then gasped.

“The young lady accepted these?”

“…Yes.”

“Conditions that would only work on a woman who had sworn to become a servant of God in the Holy Kingdom?”

“…”

“Or perhaps… does she have a mistress?”

“…I doubt it.”

The butler looked at the words on the paper once, then at his master, clearly unable to understand.

“…It sounds as though you’re proposing that the two of you live together as unmarried people until death.”

Dominuk Freya’s Restaurant

While eating, Vanessa couldn’t help letting out little giggles, causing her father, the duke, to look at her somewhat strangely.

“I suppose it is fortunate that you had no intention of marrying that man…”

At Vanessa’s declaration that she would not marry Carlyle, the duke’s expression had brightened.

“It feels as though you’ve suddenly grown up overnight.”

His voice carried a mixture of pride and bitterness.

There was even a hint of sentimentality, as though he couldn’t believe his daughter had already grown this much.

Of course, that sentiment was shattered almost immediately.

“Instead, I’m going to marry Ian. What do you think, Father?”

At her words, the duke gave her a look that clearly said, Of course.

Vanessa knew that deciding on marriage this way was another form of disobedience toward her father, but she couldn’t back down.

“Do you really have to get married?”

“I already told Carlyle that I’m marrying Ian.”

Strictly speaking, she’d only said that there was someone else.

But whether you called it a nose ring or an earring, it was all about how you interpreted it.

“Why would you… No. If that’s what you want, then do it. As a father, I can’t oppose you twice.”

Perhaps he’d lost his appetite at his daughter’s declaration, because the duke put down the utensils he had been holding and let out a small sigh.

“But will you truly be all right? A marriage undertaken simply to keep a promise you’ve made… A marriage can only be happy when both people’s hearts are in it.”

His face was filled with concern as he looked at his daughter.

Vanessa smiled reassuringly.

“He’s a good person. And besides… you know that Ian and I are childhood friends. The order is a little different, but it’s basically marriage first, romance later.”

Of course, it was less marriage first, romance later and more marriage first, revenge later.

If marrying Carlyle Leonard can be avoided, I can enter a loveless marriage as many times as necessary.

Vanessa swallowed the words she couldn’t bring herself to say and put the last piece of steak on her plate into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully.

“The food is delicious. I’ll come visit you often even after I get married, so let’s have meals together from time to time.”

“…Yes. Let’s do that.”

My daughter is acting strange.

It felt like only yesterday that she had been a mischievous tomboy.

That side of her hadn’t disappeared completely even now, but for some reason, the duke couldn’t shake the feeling that his daughter had suddenly grown far beyond the person she had been before.

Today was three days after the day Vanessa had proposed the contract marriage.

The moment Vanessa saw what was inside the gift Ian had sent her, she was left with a rather bewildered feeling.

A contract neatly placed inside a luxurious case that looked expensive at first glance.

“…Isn’t the packaging a little excessive?”

Vanessa stared intently at the contract, which bore both of their signatures and seals as though proudly displaying them, and let out a small scoffing sound.

“A nun’s life instead of a crippled life…”

She had effectively signed her name to a life in the Empire as a woman who had sworn to live as a servant of God in the Holy Kingdom.

But—

Perhaps this is for the best.

Her honeymoon, which should have been the happiest time of her life, had been filled with endless shouting because of her mother-in-law, who barged in whenever she pleased.

The romance, the dreams, the marriage she’d imagined in her head—all of it had ended up rolling around in the dirt of reality.

Because of her mother-in-law’s interference, Carlyle hadn’t even touched her, and all those things had piled up one after another until, eventually—

It even resulted in my late mother becoming the subject of gossip among the nobles.

The reason they had never had children wasn’t her fault at all.

It had been entirely her mother-in-law’s doing.

Looking back now, she probably hadn’t wanted to create any complications that might interfere with Carlyle’s remarriage later.

Either way, Vanessa was more than willing to accept this life simply because none of those things would ever happen.

It’s sad that I won’t be able to have a child who looks like me, but there’s nothing I can do about it.