「Miss Lorella Mayred.
Congratulations on being nominated as the main character.
Please sell more and more shares, beat the other candidates and become the real hero.
An absolute character who will enjoy eternal happiness in a world that will never go wrong.
That seat is yours!」
A dark hallway with no one in it. A sound that seemed to resemble a scream suddenly resounded from a place no soul could pass.
“…What the hell is this!”
Of course, that scream was mine.
Did the shock make me hallucinate for a moment? Or did the pieces of paper that bastard ripped up earlier get into my eyes?
I rubbed my eyes with the long lace curtains that hung from the window, but nothing changed.
「Total shares sold: 300 shares.」
Unknown characters that were sparkling brightly were fixed at the top of the status window. No matter where I looked, the window continued to follow my gaze.
I went into a state of complete panic and said in a voice of astonishment.
“What the hell do you mean by shares? Why isn’t this window disappearing…!”
It was at that moment.
Suddenly, there was a shuffling sound, then the window disappeared.
“Huh?”
I just stood there and blinked both my eyes. Even then, I rubbed my eyes with both hands as hard as I could in disbelief.
It’s weird if the window remains in front of me, but it’s even weirder if it suddenly disappears. I didn’t know what the hell was going on.
It was only after I had calmed down to some extent that the view of the hallway finally entered my field of vision. Decorative cabinets and luxurious paintings filled the hallway. It was a hallway that wasn’t too far from Periot’s study.
Seeing as I couldn’t even remember walking out of there with my own two feet, it seems as if I was forced out of there by him whilst I was in my panicked state.
However, even when I finally came to my senses, I still had no choice but to stand as if I was nailed to the spot and stare blankly out the window. It was due to the constant dinging that filled my head.
Just what the hell going on earlier?
It was a phenomenon that I had never experienced before, from possessing this body and ending up in this place until now. I’ve never seen a system window appear in a romance fantasy with the Northern Grand Duke!
Since that’s the case, then the last thing I can think of is…
“No way, did that crazy bastard perhaps cast black magic on me?!”
Yes, this could be the correct answer.
Since all of this happened the moment I met him.
“I have no intention of getting a divorce. Of course, you’ll never be able to escape from here either.”
A grim voice echoed in my ears.
I got chills down to my spine.
“H-How did he do it?”
I scanned my surroundings first, then turned around in a hurry. Then, I began to scramble down the hallway.
An urgent breath escaped from my gaping mouth.
‘I have to run away quickly…!’
Jesus, this bastard must be a complete psycho!
[ / / / ]
“Hurry, hurry..!”
I urgently searched the closet and took out my bag. It was a relatively generous size as I had bought it when I was contemplating over when I should run away after get married.
But why is the lock so stiff today?
After struggling for a long time, I finally loosened the ring of the bag that was tightly intertwined, and shoved a few clothes into it.
Now the only thing left is…
“Money!”
I hurriedly took out the large storage box I had hidden and placed it on the desk.
Then, the moment I opened it.
“…Just what were you doing just now?”
A cold voice rang in my ears. Both of my hands stopped, as if I was frozen.
“…”
I swallowed my saliva dryly and slowly lifted my head.
Duke Periot was standing in front of the door.
With a stiff face.
“Hic…!”
I was so startled that the breath I was about to let out was suddenly sucked back inside. His expression was so hideous that even his handsome face was buried in his mood.
He looked down at me with no change in his expression and spoke coldly.
“How dare you put something like this in front of me again.”
It was none other than divorce papers that had left Periot’s hand and fluttered to the floor.
“I clearly warned you not to even dream of this.”
What the hell is this? The papers I gave you were already torn to shreds and scattered on the floor. Where did that come from, and why did you come to find me all of a sudden?
My questions didn’t last very long. As soon as his growl was finished, someone outside the room came in behind him.
It was my mother-in-law, Emma, who was currently hanging off his arms and wiping away her tears.
“I, I did everything I could to draw it out, but Lorella is earnestly asking for it…”
…I beg your pardon?
I was confused for a while, but I soon came to understand the situation.
Anyhow, Emma must have gone to find him with the divorce papers after I left Periot’s study.
But since her son is so angry, she must be thinking of throwing all the blame to me for now.
I stared at Emma in bewilderment, but she was desperately avoiding my gaze and pretended not to notice. I secretly stomped my feet.
At that moment, Periot, who had a blue tendon protruding from his temple, suddenly made a declaration out of the blue.
“As of today, this room will be closed.”
“W-What did you say?”
“Since we don’t have any sense of living a married life, it seems like we’re not on the same wavelength. Let’s move into the couple bedroom then.”
Jesus, this guy must be crazy!
“I don’t want to!”
I instinctively stepped back and shouted loudly. I was terrified that he would come into the room at any moment and drag me away.
Unsurprisingly, he trudged inside, disregarding my desperation. His steps were rough, as if he was angry.
Periot pushed the chair in front of me, hard. He had used so much strength that the shaking of the chair’s handle even reached the desk, and it was at that moment.
The storage box that was on the desk suddenly fell to the floor.
Thud!
The lid flew off with a heavy sound. At the same time, something poured out of the sack inside.
It was none other than a shiny gold coin.
“What’s this?”
The light in Periot’s eyes changed in an instant.
“…Did I ever give you this sort of thing?”
His sharp gaze shifted from the gold coin to me, like a veil. His pupils which were as black as obsidian gleamed fiercely. I panicked and stepped back.
It was practically impossible for an ordinary person to own this amount of gold coins. This also included me, who was only a duchess in name.
It was a situation where people who weren’t aware of the context could easily misunderstand it as someone stealing the Duke’s property whilst he was away.
I opened my mouth as quickly as possible before the misunderstanding escalated.
“I’ll explain, I can explain everything! The truth is, the source of this money is…”
That was the moment my gaze met Emma’s.
“It must’ve been the money that was given by the man she met with secretly!”
Suddenly, she uttered an absurd remark.
“What?!”
Although I let out a surprised shout, Emma didn’t care and continued with her blatant lie.
“Periot! I’ll be honest, it happened like this. While you were away, Lorella enjoyed many secret encounters with another man. She even met some man last night in the dark and remote garden.”
Wait, what sort of bullshit is this old fart spouting?!
Whether or not my jaw dropped, she continued to grab her son’s arm and continued speaking in a trembling voice, attempting to be pitiful.
“I can’t tolerate such a dirty woman like that being your wife any longer. H-Hurry up and get divorced before you defile the Chambers name any further!”
Even in the midst of her babbling, she stutters for a moment when our eyes meet. Seeing as she kept looking at me, she seemed to be afraid for it to be known that she was the one that had given me money in order to quietly get divorced.
However, I couldn’t stand listening to such nonsensical slander any longer either.
“Just what are you talking about? When did I?!”
It sounded so absurd that I almost ran away. I shouted in a loud voice, pointing to the gold coins lying on the floor.
“You personally handed me this sack yesterday, have you gone senile?! You’re talking nonsense!”
“S-Senile?!”
It was at that moment.
Thud!
I turned my head, startled by the sudden loud noise, and saw him with a chair split in half and a shiny long sword in his hand.
The one on the receiving end of the long sword was the suitcase.
The clothes inside it fell to the floor.
“…so you really did try to run away?”
His gaze which was already brutal, was now bright enough to stab someone to death.
While I was nervous and swallowed my saliva dryly, Emma stepped forward and let out a pretentious exclamation.
“Oh my god, Lorella…”
Then, pretending to shed tears, she added one more remark.
“Don’t tell me, you meant to run away with him?”
Although she was pretending to be pitiful, the corners of her lips were slightly raised.
How disadvantageous was this situation? A cold sweat ran down my back unconsciously.
I quickly stepped forward to respond.
“Mother was clearly the one who called me to the study and gave me the money in order for me to leave quietly! T-That’s right! The servant who took me to the study that time can be my witness… Kya!”
However, I wasn’t able to finish my sentence.
It was because he had wrapped an arm around my waist and started dragging me off to somewhere recklessly.
“W-What the hell! Let go of me!”
“…another man?”
Although I struggled to get free, he didn’t budge. He just continued to move forward with a stiff face, as if he couldn’t even hear me.
“While I’m away struggling on the battlefield, you’re with another man?”
A voice as cold as ice fell into my ear. It was to the extent that the anger that was clearly conveyed through it gave me goosebumps.
No, wait. No way, don’t tell me you’re seriously believing this right now, Northern Duke?”
It was unbelievable that he would he easily be swayed into believing in that nonsense, but I decided to push that to the back of my mind first.
Since revealing that I’m innocent right now is more urgent than that.
“It’s all a blatant lie!”
“Stay still. Before you get hurt.”
Far from explaining, I was interrupted as soon as I spoke up.
Grrrrk, the sound of grinding teeth was heard. I could feel the heat from his hand as he hugged me to the point of pain.
“Heok!”
“D-Duke…!”
We ran into several people along the way. Not only were there the employees of the mansion, but also some nobles who were about to go home after the banquet had ended.
However, no one was able to stop Periot, who was in a hurry. When they noticed the long sword he was holding firmly, they all just trembled and closed their eyes tightly.
I wonder how long I’ve been dragged like this for. His footsteps finally stopped. Then, I was pushed roughly like I was a burden into the dark space.
“Ah…!”
The sound of the iron door closing with a thud slammed into my ears.
Surprised, I looked around and saw a small room with a single palm-sized window on the wall. Equipped with a bed and a soft sofa.
According to the location, this is clearly the tower behind the mansion, but was there always a room like this here? Why are there… leather straps all over the place? W-What’s with those handcuffs!?
A pair of cold eyes could be seen through the small window in the tightly closed thick iron door.
“Is that why you begged for a divorce like that? Did you want to take the Dukedom’s money and elope with another man?”
The sound of a short laugh, as if he was lost for words could be heard.
“I told you, it’s not! That money was given to me by your mother to ask me to divorce you, and I’ve never met any other man!”
Although I didn’t get goosebumps, I felt a chill and shuddered. I pounded on the iron door and shouted, disregarding the pain my fists were going through.
“Get me out of here! Then we’ll find out who lied!”
“That bastard, where is he hiding right now?”
He’s driving me crazy!
“Hiding, who the hell is hiding?!”
Bam bam!
No matter how many times I hit the iron door, it didn’t budge. I was so frustrated that I even tried kicking it with my feet, but I didn’t stand a chance.
“It won’t be a problem, even if you don’t tell me. Since I will definitely be able to find him.”
“No, can you just…!”
“I’ll cut off that bastard’s head and throw him in here.”
Although his face which had stiffened, had a rare smile on it, he didn’t look happy. Rather, it looked colder than when he was expressionless.
“That will be the only time this door opens.”
It ended with that sentence that was thrown in a gloomy voice. Periot quickly walked away.
“Periot…! I’m telling you to just listen to me for a second!”
I yelled until my throat threatened to burst, but there was no answer. The sound of footsteps gradually faded away, and in the end, only silence came to find me.
“Ugh.”
A groan erupted from my mouth.
Trapped.
I’m really trapped!
“Open the door, I said hurry up and open this door!”
I screamed and slammed the iron gate again with my fist and then with my foot.
Of course, the sturdy door didn’t budge, and all that remained for me was a sharp pain that brought tears to my eyes.
It was so noisy that it would’ve been enough for anyone to come, but not even a single rat could be seen through the small window.
“Hey, you crazy fucker!”
It was at that moment, when a thud resounded once again and I spat out another string of curse words.
Ding-dong!
A clear and bright sound came to my ears.
「Mr ‘…right?’ has bought your shares again.
100.
200.
300…」
The characters began to rise so quickly I didn’t even have time to read them.
“W-What?”
I blinked both eyes quickly and shouted.
“It’s too fast!”
Then, the numbers that were rising crazily stopped for a moment, then again, ding-dong! A message appeared with the sound.
「Mr ‘That bastard isn’t the male lead, right?’ is furious and is throwing you all the coins.」
「The sale of 700 shares has been completed. Accumulated a total of 1000 weeks.」
「New record!」
Again. This window popped up again!
I read every single letter with my eyes wide open, lest the screen disappear before I finished reading.
「As a reward, two bonus cookies have been baked. Would you like to receive your first cookie?
1. Yes.
2. No.」
A cookie you say? What sort of cookie did you suddenly bake?
“What the hell is that!”
I shouted into the air, but instead of an answer, only the same message continued to flash.
「Would you like to receive your first cookie?
1. Yes.
2. No.」
Although I don’t know what it is, first of all, it’s a bonus, right? I nodded my head vigorously.
“I want to get it! I’ll take it!”
Then, a shining stick appeared along with the words ‘cookie payment completed’.
“Huh…?”
Despite not knowing what it was, there seemed to be a time limit. The golden gauge that filled the inside was decreasing rapidly.
“H-How am I supposed to use this?”
Momentarily flustered, I turned around and scanned my surroundings. Then, I accidentally stumbled and instinctively grabbed onto the iron door with both hands.
It was at that moment.
With a pop! my body suddenly swung forward.
“Ack!”
Thud!
With a loud groan, the iron door fell to the floor like a piece of paper.
An iron door that didn’t even budge, no matter how many times I hit it.
「The first cookie has been used.」
Whilst I staggered and fell to the floor, a different message was added before my eyes.
「Escape from the Northern Duke’s confinement.」
Unlike the others, the frame for this one was shining as bright as a Christmas tree.