"Right. It doesn't matter when it's just the two of us. Next, second condition: don't cross any lines. And..."
He paused slightly before stating the most important part.
"Help me."
"Me... help Your Grace?"
Rose shook her head as if it were absurd.
"I'm just an unremarkable young lady from an insignificant family. How on earth could I help you?"
"Don't underestimate yourself. Do you think I've forgotten you?"
"Pardon?"
"We took the same class at the Academy."
Rose gasped and covered her mouth.
"You remember that?"
"Of course. It's not common for a first-year who skipped grades to sit in on a third-year class."
"I thought... you'd forgotten me."
The moment Rose fell in love with Dane Schmaikel was in an Academy classroom, when she spotted him from afar.
That same moment had become a lifelong memory for her, yet it left no trace on him.
That had been true until just yesterday. But now, he could recall it too: Rose standing shyly with a large book in her arms.
"And that's not all. You took top honors in Magitech for three years straight."
"How did you...? I asked the professor to keep it quiet."
"I have my ways."
"Eek..."
The tip of Rose's nose turned red. She seemed terribly embarrassed to hear praise right to her face.
"I hold your talents in high regard. I'm certain they'll be of great help to the Schmaikel family."
He couldn't outright ask her to help with his poison detoxification. But implying he'd use her own abilities amounted to the same thing.
And since Rose knew the fate awaiting him in a month's time, she had no choice but to act.
"Also, this contract isn't for life."
"What do you mean?"
In about a month, on his twenty-second birthday, he would become the undisputed head of the Schmaikel family, free from any kingdom law.
Once that happened, he planned to thoroughly clean house—dealing with the collateral relatives who had threatened his position and plotted against him.
Rebuilding and solidifying the family would take at least a year. And that same period would be the term he required of Rose to stay by his side.
"Just one year. Do your best as my wife during that time. In return, I promise to treat you with the respect and courtesy due a husband."
"And after? Once the year is up..."
"You'll decide then. Stay in this territory or leave."
He declared it firmly to Rose, who sat frozen in place.
"That's the condition of this contract."
He leaned back slightly, signaling that he had said all he wanted to.
Now it was time to give her space to think. Create the right tension, tighten and release. One way to steer a conversation in his favor.
"...Haa."
Only then did she exhale a long sigh, as if invisible shackles had been released.
"Just a little."
Rose placed both hands on the table and clasped them tightly.
"Just a little more time to think, please."
"Of course."
While she hunched over in thought, he leaned comfortably back in his chair and observed her.
'She looks deep in thought.'
In her first life and second life alike, Rose's first day had been identical.
A meager entry with no welcome, a lonely meal alone, and a marital bedroom her husband never visited.
'A contract marriage. That might catch his interest.'
She had stayed up all night wrestling with it, ultimately devising this card to protect herself and save her husband.
'She wouldn't have had time to think that far today.'
Thanks to him greeting her in a completely different way and throwing her into confusion. Which allowed him to propose the contract this time.
To her, it would feel like a pretty attractive—irresistible—offer. It would resolve both the questions she'd harbored since regressing and her current situation all at once.
'Exactly one year from now, I'll leave this territory.'
In the original story, that was the contract period Rose had proposed.
A loveless marriage anyway—the duke would be busy after successfully inheriting the family. Live quietly, almost invisibly, for a year, and he'd forget her. Then she could leave.
Simple calculations like that.
But Rose's expectations were wrong.
'Where would she go?'
Dane Schmaikel had started obsessing over her. As lord of a territory producing the finest mana stones, he couldn't let go of a genius magitech scholar.
The more he did, the more she grew to despise him. In the end, Rose left the territory and found her happy ending with the male lead in the capital.
Dane clung to her until the bitter end, only to be dealt with by the male lead.
'A shiver-inducing conclusion.'
This time, it wouldn't happen.
He would treat her cleanly and gentlemanly, respecting her wishes to the end. Maintain the contract marriage for exactly one year, then go their separate ways.
No obsession meant no execution by the male lead. A perfect plan in every way.
How much time passed? The candle on the table grew shorter, its flame flickering weakly toward extinction.
Rose sat motionless the whole time. He waited silently, giving her space to deliberate.
Fwoosh—
The moment the candle lost its light,
"I'll do it."
Rose straightened up. Even in the faint moonlight, her eyes shone with clear resolve.
"You mean everything you said earlier, right? I can trust it all?"
"Mutual trust is the foundation of any contract."
He nodded gravely before adding,
"Even so, we can't have a contract that's just words. I'll prepare the document tomorrow."
"Tomorrow when?"
"After inspecting the mine. Didn't we agree to dine together?"
"Ah... You were serious."
"If you have any demands, we can add them to the contract. Think it over carefully."
"Yes, Your Grace. I'll have an answer by tomorrow."
Her face no longer wavered; her resolve seemed complete. Even her nod was firm.
"Then."
With a sense of relief, he rose from his chair.
"Time for our marital duties."
"...Pardon?"
Color drained from Rose's face as she stammered. But he turned toward the bed without noticing.
Thud.
He flipped back the covers and sat on the bed. Glancing back, he saw Rose rigid as a statue.
"What are you waiting for? Come here."
"Your Grace?"
"Is it too dark to see?"
The moonlight seemed plenty bright.
Tilting his head, he pulled another candle from the table.
Click.
The room brightened at once when he lit it. Still, Rose didn't budge.
"Planning to sleep there?"
"Ah, no, not that, but..."
"Want me to carry you like before?"
"No?!"
She yelped shrilly and shot to her feet. She hesitated, then,
Swish.
As he pretended to stand, she hurried over.
'Why is she so terrified?'
Or maybe just nervous.
A bit puzzled, but the task ahead mattered more, so he let it slide.
"One last question, my wife."
"Yes."
"Are you truly resolved?"
"Uh..."
Rose, standing before him, gazed at him with trembling lips.
"I'm asking if you've fully considered the consequences of this secret contract between us—and what happens after that one year."
Grip.
She clenched her jaw tight,
"I understand everything you've said. I've thought it through... deeply and thoroughly."
And answered with determined resolve.
"Good resolve."
He nodded and drew a dagger hidden in his robes.
"?!"
The moment Rose's eyes widened,
Slash.
He sliced his forearm with the dagger. The honed blade bit sharply into flesh.
Drip, drip.
Blood poured from the gash, soaking the sheets. It spread in a crimson circle.
"Your Grace!"
Startled, Rose grabbed his dagger hand.
"What are you doing?!"
"We can't spend the night without leaving a trace."
He replied calmly and removed her hand.
"The servants will tidy this room tomorrow morning. Including your maid."
"Ah..."
"Think that maid won't report back to the Vicander family?"
No, as far as he knew, she faithfully served as their spy. That was why he had to resort to this conspicuous method.
"I promised to protect you from your family. It starts by showing how much your husband cherishes you."
When the sheets were sufficiently stained, he wrapped his arm with the prepared bandage. It wasn't deep, so he managed alone.
"This should erase any doubts about us."
Rose stood there, mouth agape. Her complexion shifted from flushed to pale in extremes.
'Oh dear. She's quite shocked.'
All previous Schmaikel wives had left with their virtue intact, free to remarry elsewhere.
But Rose was different. To outsiders unaware of the contract, they'd appear as a proper couple.
So if she left the territory, her future would be uncertain. A married woman's value plummeted sharply.
That's why he asked once more. Did she understand and accept this, even knowing it?
"..."
The mind grasps it, but the heart feels the weight differently when it hits home.
This seemed to be that shocking moment for her. She'd need time to process.
'No need to worry that much.'
Whether she'd married once or twice, had children or not—some man would beg to have her anyway.
Rose would discard him, the trash-tier duke, and marry another. That was her fated future.