Chapter 1
Late at night, at the clock tower.
I anxiously waited, nibbling on my nails, for a man.
“At this rate, I’ll end up marrying the Crown Prince.”
Not long ago, the Emperor proposed marriage to me with the original male lead, the Crown Prince.
I was the female lead from the original work, ‘Vivian,’ and he was the original male lead, ‘Alan,’ so our marriage was a natural progression in this world…
“But that jerk will regret it!”
And he’ll regret it only after I’m dead!
Yes.
This novel had a sad ending where the female lead dies…
So, since I found out about the original work ten years ago, I’ve been twisting the plot diligently.
“Why are you getting involved with him again?!”
I deliberately kept my distance, but now it seems inevitable that I’ll end up marrying him.
“I don’t want to marry a man I don’t love.”
Besides, I have a lifelong promise with my best friend.
Well, we haven’t been able to meet for almost 10 years…
“But our friendship remains unchanged.”
Anyway, after agonizing over it, I came up with a plan.
A contract marriage!
It’s a recurring theme in the countless romance novels I’ve read in my past life.
“Of course, unlike other romance novels, we’ll really get married for just one year and then break up.”
But the problem is…
Where do I find a trustworthy man who will marry me for exactly one year and then break up?
While pondering this, I contacted my best friend, Rachel, with a magical diary―a magical tool that allows us to exchange notes no matter where we are.
And then, as if she had been waiting, Rachel’s reply came.
“So, what about that guy?”
“Who?”
“Lahedis, I mean. They seem to get along quite well. It’s nice to choose someone you really like.”
“Lahedis was the name of the escort sent by Rachel, who is currently in another country, worried about my safety.’’
‘Lahedis wants me to marry a contract marriage with him…?’
The moment I thought of him, my heart began to flutter and my heartbeat started pounding.
As it always did whenever I thought of him recently.
Anyway, now.
I am waiting to meet him to discuss this issue.
Finally, as the clock tower struck the hour.
And as the chime ceased.
The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs became clearer and clearer, until the person I was waiting for appeared.
A man with jet-black hair, and eyes as cold and blue as a winter lake beyond a snowy white mask.
“Vivian.”
With a pleasant baritone, the figure, who was a head taller than me, approached me.
“Lahedis, what’s the matter? At this hour.”
“That… Did you hear about what happened at the Royal Banquet?”
“I heard. They say the Crown Prince proposed to you.”
Hearing the story again from a third party, the bleakness of my situation hit me anew… Sob.
After hesitating for a moment, I cautiously took a chance.
“So, about that… Can you find me a trustworthy man?”
“A man?”
“Preferably from a noble foreign family. They might have connections in the Kingdom of Kyunng hun…”
As I posed the question, I suddenly felt a chill in the air.
“Hmm, is it just my imagination?”
Rubbing the goosebumps on my arm, I elaborated on my explanation.
“Because of what happened at the banquet, I have to get married or engaged right away. Otherwise, I might end up marrying that brat, the Crown Prince.”
“…”
“So, I need someone to agree to a contract marriage for just one year… Someone trustworthy. Do you know anyone?”
“Hah.”
Then, the one who had been silently listening to my words coolly chuckled before speaking up.
“So, you’re willing to enter into a contract marriage with someone else?”
Taken aback by the sudden coldness in his voice, I looked up to see his painfully twisted azure eyes.
“He said he’d live with me for the rest of his life.”
“I’ll live with you for the rest of my life.”
“Yes?”
“I want to marry you.”
“…Me?”
When did this happen?!
But as I looked into his wounded eyes, I couldn’t help but feel like I had become some sort of terrible person, though I didn’t quite understand why.
“I’ve never said such a thing to Kyung-han―”
As I was about to refute the injustice, suddenly, I recalled the eyes of someone who looked just as wounded.
“I’ll come to meet you again at that time.”
The only person I had promised to spend my life with.
My precious friend, who was cold yet warm to me, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time but had always missed.
Why does Rachel come to mind from those eyes?
“Rachel…?”
I blurted out the name that popped into my head without even realizing it, and I was startled, clamping my mouth shut.
“This… This doesn’t make any sense. Rachel is the villain in the original story!”
I shook my head to dispel the absurd possibility and looked at him, hoping he would deny it.
But instead of denying it, he urged me for an answer.
“Answer me, Vivian.”
As if the absurd possibility that briefly crossed my mind had become reality.
The chilly voice, familiar yet strange, overlaid on a face that seemed both foreign and known.
“Even if it’s a contractual marriage, we’re holding hands like this after getting married.”
Lahedis… No, Rachel slipped her fingers into mine.
The hands that used to be so similar when we were young now seemed big enough to completely engulf mine.
As I stood there, speechless with confusion, Rachel closed the distance between us.
So close I could feel her breath.
“We should probably kiss too.”
His face, so close to mine, faintly reminiscent of Rachel from childhood, now fully embodied that of a man.
“Could you do this with someone else?”
At lahedis’s question, I felt like crying.
“You can’t do it with me either, can you?”
My lifelong sworn friend turned out to be a man!
Isn’t this a scam?
