******
***
Devan beckoned to the old butler who had been waiting on the side.
Ever prepared, the butler naturally took out a bundle of paper.
… a bunch of paper?
“What’s this?”
“Marriage documents”.
I blinked.
“Who is getting married to who?”
“So you don’t want to?”
“I need some time to think.”
“Then why did you follow me all the way here?”
“Did I come here because I wanted to? There’s no way to get off a moving carriage, right?” I looked at him fiercely — he needed me after all. Given how he had treated me in the carriage, it didn’t look like he would kill me on the spot.
At least for now, it seemed like following him gave me the best chances for survival as compared to being in the forest alone. What I wanted to avoid after all was not the Duke, but Diego and the temple.
And… I was also curious about his eyes.
If I continued to investigate the situation, I might be able to learn what that meant by “unfinished child”.
That being said, I was not thinking of marriage at all. It was more akin to a contract deal, so I was going to try to get as much as I could for my end of the bargain.
Devan looked at me with astonishment.
“Don’t you know I’m the reason you’re still alive? You don’t have a choice. There are more monsters outside than those on the estate.”
His eyes glimmered. I remembered the gate again, and felt a bit intimidated.
“…If Your Highness gains something from this marriage, I’d like to benefit as well.”
“I’ve noticed this for a while but you really like transactions. I said how you’d benefit before right? I’ll save you.”
He was implying that my gain would be my life.
“Even if I refused to marry you, you wouldn’t be able to kill me. No one else is able to cure you.”
“Ha.”
“I’m the only one who can cure you, as Your Highness just said. That threat doesn’t work.”
His mouth twisted. It was an uneasy smile.
“It was like that before.”
“…What?”
“I told you that I think I have a connection with that divine being — one older than even yours.”
Devan started thumbing through the documents one by one. Suddenly he bit his thumb and without missing a beat let some of his blood fall on the paper. The blood permeated through and disappeared — it was a magical blood contract.
He beckoned to the butler to line up the documents in front of me along with a dagger.
“I know the reason you’re trying to flee the empire is due to the temple and Count Diego.”
I flinched when he mentioned their names. He really knew everything now.
“It’s been more than a year since you disappeared from the Count’s house, but your brother hasn’t given up looking for you.”
“Do you mean Kylian Diego?”
“Speaking of which, he’s in the Royal Guard now.”
“What?”
I stood up as I shouted. My knees hit the table and the teacup rattled.
“All the utensils in the castle must have broken right now.”, he mentioned.
“…Why?” My voice cracked as I asked the question. Devan raised his chin and looked at me calmly. It was clear who had the upper hand now.
“Isn’t it because of that necklace? He came here to check it himself.”
“He came to check that necklace?”
“I didn’t mean to show it.”
Devan shrugged. His easy-going attitude made me want to punch him.
“That’s why I’m making a proposal. If you marry me, neither the count nor Kylian could bother you.”
I continued to stare at him.
“I promise you your safety until you cure my eyes fully. Then, you can use the money and status to leave the empire per our original agreement. Just like how you originally were…” Devan trailed off as he looked at my clothes and picked his words carefully.
“…not wearing clothes like that, so you can live properly.”
“Do you mean to say we’ll get a divorce once your eyes are healed?”
“Of course.”
“So why marriage? I could just stay at the castle.”
“Why are you married?” You can just let me stay in the castle.”
“Having something concrete is also of value. Think of it as a title that you can use.”
A title. If I married the Duke and became the Grand Duchess, I would have the means to deny Kylian or the Count an audience. In this world, married children were partially strangers to their family, so the Count wouldn’t be able to exercise parental rights over me.
But…
“Isn’t this deal too one-sided?”
Devan interlocked his hands and raised his chin.
“Marriage is a contract that isn’t easy to break within the Empire.”
In other words he was worried that I would run off like last time.
“… do you really think I would be able to cure it? Why not find the main person mentioned in the prophecy?”
It was funny to mention that now. Devan also seemed a bit taken aback by me bringing it up.
“Even if I were to find that person, how could I be sure?”
“The scent of daisy…”
“You also smelled of daisies. How would I know this next person was for sure the main subject of the prophecy? They might be more creative than you were.”
“So… you’re trusting me because you can’t trust anyone else? Because now you know the whole truth?”
Devan uncharacteristically seemed to ponder this question a bit.
“… Yeah, if you were to think about it logically.”
“And your actual reasoning then?”
I persisted in asking. I wasn’t sure why I kept on pressing on, but I felt like I had to hear this answer.
“Well, just…”
Stroking his chin, Devan started to smile a bit.
“I guess I just want to trust you.”
*****
After returning to the room, I lay on my bed and looked at the lion carved on the ceiling. At one point, I looked at this almost everyday to the point of getting sick and tired of it, but it had been a year since.
“You’re still the same.”
The arrows were still there, and it still looked like it was in pain.
“Sigh…”
Despite running, I was back here again. I picked up the papers that were scattered on my bed. It was the marriage contract that I had yet to sign with my blood.
“Marriage.”
The more I thought about it, the better the proposal for me. Neither the money crazed Count nor Kylian would be able to stand up against the Grand Duke. Because of how the laws worked in the Empire, as Evelyn Diego I would forever be in danger of being controlled by the Count again. Every little thing I did would be under his authority.
But if I were to marry into the Lanthimos family, they would no longer have any authority over my life.
…that would mean the person controlling me would change from the Count to Devan.
There was also a clue to find out who “it” was.
When I fled to Ellywoon, I was still curious as to what triggered the power explosion on the day I escaped from the Grand Duke. On top of that, I was still curious as to why I had memories of my past life, and how this world fit the contents of the novel I read previously.
“…I can pay you back.”
Devan said he wanted to trust me. Instead of wandering in search of Cordelia, the true person who would cure him, he would trust me instead.
My life was meant to be a substitute for someone else. I was meant to die for someone else. Had I not remembered my previous life, I probably would have already died.
“So because of that…”
I wanted to pay back that trust that Devan had in me. He chose me instead of searching for Cordelia. Until now… no one had ever said anything like that to me.
“Am I too complacent?”
Was it truly fine to act based on my emotions alone?
After all, it was through thinking and acting rationally that I had survived thus far. Not due to luck or favor.
“Yeah let’s think about this rationally.”
I considered the possibilities one by one. First, if I were to refuse the marriage, he might tell Kylian where I was, or file a complaint with the temple. Even if he didn’t kill me, he would have no reason to protect me. That would set me back to step one. I would have to run away again, which was a bit nerve wracking.
On the other hand, if I agreed to this proposal, he would guarantee my safety, and I would become the Grand Duchess. Even without him, that title had power and authority.
There were just two big problems remaining. Would I be able to cure him? And as the Grand Duchess, everyone would know my name. But frankly, these were not that big of an issue.
There was nothing to be gained from breaking my promise to him. He wouldn’t propose a marriage to me had he considered physical force an option, and it wasn’t like I had any plans of marriage with anyone else in the first place so it wouldn’t matter if rumors spread or not.
And when I considered Devan as a marriage partner…
His looks, his estate, his wealth…
“Dammit.”
I had to admit. He was a pretty good catch, just save for his personality.
On top of that, there was something else I had to consider. Just before Devan came to save me, when the demons tried to kill me, I saw something between its disgusting scales as everything slowed down and I watched it leap towards me.
It was something familiar, and if I wasn’t mistaken…
I ground my teeth.
If I wasn’t mistaken, those monsters were sent after me by the temple. To catch me. To catch and kill me.