Herdin's eyes narrowed as he looked at Blair.
'She's planning to abandon even her only confidant and leave.'
Was she planning to elope with a hidden lover?
About twenty years ago, in the neighboring kingdom of Derant, there was an incident where a princess fell in love with a knight and refused the marriage arranged by the king, fleeing.
The knight was executed for that, and the princess, having lost her lover, stopped eating and drinking, eventually taking her own life.
Scandals arising from relationships between high-status women and low-status men weren't very common, but they weren't extremely rare either.
There was a possibility that Blair could also be the protagonist of such a scandal. Given that last night seemed to be her first time spending the night with a man, maybe not.
'...Either way, it's none of my business.'
As long as the purpose of this contract marriage could be achieved, it didn't matter either way.
Herdin finished signing both copies of the contract and returned one to Blair.
"It seems quite late. If you're done with your business, please go back and rest now."
It was a polite way of asking her to leave.
But Blair seemed to have more business left.
"As you surely know, there's a luncheon at the imperial palace tomorrow."
It was customary to have meals with the groom's family on the first day of marriage, and with the bride's family on the second day. This was a fact Herdin was aware of.
"I remember."
"You don't have to attend other banquets or appointments if you don't want to. But I'd appreciate it if you could attend appointments related to my brother or the imperial family together as much as possible."
It was a request based on memories from her previous life.
In her past life, after he distanced himself from her, he hardly attended banquets or meals with the imperial family.
"There must be no faults from you as a husband, so that my brother will have no choice but to agree to the divorce when this contract ends."
Although Herdin Delmark was a war hero, he was still a subject of the emperor.
Without the emperor's permission, he couldn't dare remove the emperor's only sister from her position as duchess.
So the end of this marriage had to be concluded as entirely Blair's fault. For that, it was best if Herdin didn't show even a small flaw.
He added one more impression about Blair besides pretty, small, innocent, and persistent.
A capable woman.
"That's a reasonable point. I'll keep that in mind as well."
With her business concluded, Blair withdrew as if she had been waiting for this moment. She remembered his earlier request for her to leave.
"Then... good night, Herdin."
Blair carefully rolled up her copy of the contract and quietly left the office.
Herdin chuckled as he looked at the contract his fake wife had left behind.
"Ha."
He had come to the office to shake off the thoughts that had been plaguing his mind all day, only for the source of those thoughts to come to him on her own.
That source was none other than Blair.
All day long, his fake wife had occupied his thoughts.
Her snow-white and soft skin, her tearful face and voice, her ample bosom that didn't match her slender body, and...
The dizzying pleasure her body gave, plunging him into an endless sweet mire.
Unlike himself, she seemed to have completely forgotten about last night, coming to find him at this hour without any fear. And in nightwear that revealed her figure, no less.
Not knowing what improper things were happening in his mind about her.
However, at the same time, a dirty desire to make that clear face cry and defile it again prodded at him.
What was he, a dog in heat?
He thought his thirst for the woman would be quenched after biting, sucking, and taking her to his heart's content all night. But that was his mistake.
What he had drunk wasn't water, but seawater. The more he drank, the more he craved.
It had been the same last night.
At first, it was curiosity. He wondered what kind of expression that doll-like woman would make in bed.
But the moment he embraced her, curiosity disappeared and only desire for pleasure remained.
After taking the woman in a mess all night like that, he finally came to his senses when he saw the dawn breaking. Shocked at himself for still feeling lust even after seeing the woman who had fallen asleep as if unconscious, he had fled the room.
She's a woman he should hate. The daughter of an enemy he should despise. He must never forget that fact.
Yet even as he reminds himself of this fact, the heat in his body that has arbitrarily recalled last night doesn't cool down.
"...Am I going crazy?"
Herdin exhaled painfully as he got up. And headed to the bathroom again.
Search "child" at redcatty [.] com to read ahead up to chap 170.