The square I visited after a long time was still the same.
It was still lively.
As I sat in the square watching the people, I heard a voice next to me.
“Have you heard the rumor? The Duke of Wintbell is getting married!”
“They say his bride is a certain young lady from a Count’s family. Isn’t she incredibly lucky?”
That young lady is me.
Although my name hasn’t been revealed yet, I instinctively pulled my hat down deeper.
I was about to move to another spot as I felt uncomfortable with the topic being discussed, but the conversation shifted to the subject I had been waiting for.
“So, have you heard about that?”
“What?”
“The new magic scroll that came out this time.”
“Oh, you mean the one from Menen?”
“Yeah, this time it’s called ‘palm blast’.”
“What kind of name is that?”
“I don’t know. It’s supposed to have a strong wind.”
“That shop really has unique naming conventions.”
I got up and left the square.
Turning into an alley, I entered a store selling fruit juice and made eye contact with the man behind the counter.
“It’s been a while since you’ve been here, miss.”
“That’s right. I’ve been a bit busy. How have you been?”
I took the orange juice and went through the back door, climbing the stairs leading to the top.
Opening the door, I saw a cluttered office.
“Ugh, is this a pigsty or what?”
I gasped and opened the window.
Although it wasn’t underground, the stuffy air seemed to clear a bit.
I cleared away the papers piled on the couch.
Then I saw someone sleeping, using the papers as a blanket.
“Harren.”
I called out his name, but he didn’t move.
I sighed and took a deep breath.
“Harren!!”
“Gah!”
Harren jerked up, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth.
His long green hair covered his face.
Harren fumbled around.
“An, where are my glasses…….”
“It’s on your neck.”
In my words, Harren fumbled around his chest and found his glasses.
“Ah, boss… when did you arrive?”
“Just now.”
“It’s been a while since you last came.”
“I had some business to take care of.”
Harren got up, brushed off the dusty cups on his clothes, and made tea.
‘I definitely shouldn’t drink that.’
It looked like he just roughly wiped them.
If I drank that, my lungs would probably get clogged with dust.
As Harren tied his hair, his pointed ears hidden in his long hair became visible.
Harren placed the cups on the messy table.
“You should have some too, boss.”
“I’ll stick with this.”
I showed him the orange juice I had brought.
“Did you test the reaction? How was it?”
“It was very successful.”
“As expected! I knew the palm blast would be a success!”
“Really? Who told you to make something like that?”
Ignoring my comment, Harren drank the tea.
It was strange to see him drink tea that was full of dust.
Is it okay for a half-elf to eat a lot of dust?
I suddenly looked around the office.
‘This business has grown a lot.’
It was exactly one year ago that I started the magic scroll business, or rather, opened “Menen”.
At that time, my family was determined to sell me off at a high price.
I wasn’t always opposed to marriage. At one point, I wanted to marry a good person and live well according to my parents’ wishes.
But the problem was Aiden. No matter how good the person was that my family set me up with, Aiden always managed to ruin it.
‘Do you think I’ll just sit back and watch you live well?’
Realizing that just staying still wouldn’t lead to a good life, I spent endless hours sitting in the square.
Then, I found Harren collapsed in an alley.
Born between a human and an elf, Harren, a half-elf, had unique eye and hair colors. Because of his beautiful appearance, he was captured by slave traders before barely managing to escape.
Despite his disdain for humans due to his experiences, he was in a situation where he had to ask me for help.
Since the magic binding collar around his neck also had a location tracking function, I had to remove it as soon as possible.
But I had no magical talent. Unsure of what to do, Harren told me to smash the restraints with a rock.
At the time, I didn’t know that forcibly removing the collar would kill the wearer, so I did as he said.
If he had been an ordinary human, he might have died, but Harren, with a sturdier body than humans, survived the ordeal.
While the magical binding collar problem was solved, Harren, who had suffered major injuries while escaping, still needed help.
Since I couldn’t take him to the Count of Bonita’s estate, I asked the man who ran the fruit juice shop I often visited to take care of Harren. After that, I made excuses to visit Harren every day.
When I heard that he had nowhere to go, rejected by both elves and humans, I decided to start a business with him.
Because Harren had a very high affinity for spirits, he could summon all kinds of spirits.
He capitalized on this by selling the power of the spirits in magical scrolls.
Since there were no humans who could handle spirits, and elves didn’t come down to the human world, there was no risk of exposure.
Due to the ambiguity between the power of spirits and magic, it was a feasible business.
Thus, the business I started with all my savings was in the red for the first six months.
Although it hadn’t been long since the money started coming in, the business that started in a moldy basement had risen to the top of that building.
‘I thought I’d get out of that house later with the money I saved here.’
Lost in thought, Harren asked,
“By the way, boss, why were you so busy?”
“My engagement.”
“What?! So you’re marrying that moldy brat after all?”
Harren set down the tea and started pacing around.
“I told you to wait! I said I’d get you out of that damned household! I asked you to marry me!”
“You think you looked serious when you were throwing a fit like that?”
Was he being sincere?
I couldn’t hide my astonishment.
Who would take someone seriously if they always throw a tantrum and then propose marriage?
“I wasn’t going to accept any money until I got you out of that house!”
“Ugh, calm down. I didn’t get engaged to that moldy brat.”
“What? Then was it that squid-like guy you were set up with before?”
“No.”
“Then who was it?”
“The Duke of Wintbell.”
“…….”
Harren, who had been puzzled, suddenly widened his eyes as he remembered who Duke Wintbell was.
Before Harren could bombard me with questions, I quickly explained the situation.
“The moldy brat ran away with Nadia. On the day of the engagement ceremony, that’s when Duke Wintbell proposed a contract marriage to me, and honestly, there was no reason or situation for me to refuse.”
“…That’s fortunate. If your family had known that the moldy brat ran away, they would have torn you apart.”
“Right.”
There’s probably no one who knows my family as well as Harren does.
Harren rubbed his smooth chin.
“Since the Duke is a transcendent being… did he propose marriage for stability?”
“That’s right.”
“Have you done a matching test? If you’re not a suitable match, just divorce and come to me. With the money we’ve earned, we can live well abroad.”
“……I did.”
“…… But what’s up with the look on your face? Is it really not a match?”
“It’s because…….”
I remembered yesterday’s events and closed my eyes tightly.
“I got about…”
“How much?”
“……70%!”
The matching rate between Kaien and me was 70%.
Harren blinked his green eyes.
“Isn’t that high? You’re a perfect match, aren’t you?!”
“Uh, it is high.”
I let out a deep sigh.
“I didn’t plan to divorce right away, maybe in 10 or 20 years. Getting a hefty alimony after divorce and enjoying a leisurely life is envy-inducing, isn’t it? Anyway, prior to that, my plan was to find a partner who had a higher matching rate than I did and then proceed with a divorce.”
“…With a 70% match, it won’t be easy to find someone with a higher matching rate than you.”
“Yeah, that’s the problem.”
I tried again several times yesterday, but the result was the same.
I only realized yesterday how scary the lucky number 7 could be.
I made excuses about being anemic from too much blood drawn and stayed in my room, lying down all day.
By this morning, my head was still a mess, but I felt a bit better once I went outside.
Harren inquired cautiously.
“So, boss… What’s going to happen now? You won’t be locked up, right?”
“…there doesn’t seem to be any sign of that happening.”
Of course, he was extremely surprised and seemed pleased.
I let out a deep sigh while splashing my face with water.
“Sigh, I don’t know.”
“Boss.”
Harren continued with a serious expression.
“Let’s just run away.”
“If it had been just a count’s family, we could have easily escaped. But it’s already too late. If the Duke’s family finds out, it’ll be a big problem, Harren.”
Additionally, Kaien is the male lead! The obsessive male lead!
Of course, he won’t chase me out of love, but he’ll definitely chase me down menacingly. He’s not the type to let someone with a 70% matching rate escape.
“I thought it would come out at an average of about 40%… Even if it turned out well, I thought it would be around that…”
Ah, my vision blurred.
