Instead of the Heroine, I Married the Male Lead

 

“Miss, look! This is what Mr. Harnen has developed this time.”

Sophia clung to my side.

At that sight, I snapped back to reality.

Right, it was too busy a time to be thinking about someone whose return was uncertain. Especially since Harnen had called me to show something new he had prepared today, I needed to focus.

Harnen took a few steps back, preparing for any potential risks, and lifted the spirit scroll.

As he tore the scroll, a whirlwind began to swirl above his hand. The wind gradually grew stronger, rattling the windows.

When Harnen clenched his fist, the wind subsided.

“Wow! This is amazing!”

Sophia exclaimed in awe.

The ‘Wind Blast’ that had been released recently couldn’t even produce wind of that size. That was the result of multiple trials and errors to put in the largest amount of power that the scroll could handle.

But the size of this whirlwind was at least three times that of “Wind Blast.”

“Those who are familiar can use it very delicately. They might even feel like they’re controlling the wind.”

Harnen looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“What do you think, boss?”

“…Wow.”

I let out a low gasp of admiration and stood up.

“Boss?”

Then I strode over to Harnen and hugged him tightly.

“Gah!”

“Harnen! You’re really amazing!”

He was so lovable that I patted his shoulder enthusiastically.

“Wow, I knew it would turn out like this!”

“Um, Boss? Your eyes are glowing gold.”

“Exactly! We can become rich now!”

Even the most expensive magic scrolls don’t have this level of quality. I instinctively realized that if the spirit scroll was released, it would be only a matter of time before Menen took the top spot in the scroll market.

“The Duke has completed the work, so once the spirit image is established, we can release it.”

“Phew, great. I’ve never been this happy while working. Is it really us who have been in the red for six months?”

Thinking back on the past year nearly brought me to tears.

As I hugged Harnen, Sophia quietly interjected.

“Um, you two, calm down. It hasn’t even been released yet…”

“Sophia, sometimes you can know things without having to experience them. This is an animalistic intuition.”

It was the same principle as noticing impending danger or a bad vibe.

This feeling of certainty swept over me like a wave.

I took Harnen’s hand and danced joyfully.

He looked so cute that I almost wanted to pat his backside.

“You wanted to study, right? You can do it now.”

Harnen had wanted to study the scrolls.

But we didn’t have enough money to buy enough scrolls, so we always put it off until later.

“That time is now. Research as much as you want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I spoke to the Duke about it.”

Harnen beamed but then hesitated.

“Why?”

“But…”

Harnen glanced at Sophia and lowered his voice.

“Boss, you said you were planning to divorce later anyway. Aren’t you getting too deeply involved with the Duke?”

He caught me off guard.

I momentarily lost my words, shutting my mouth and blinking.

“I’m a bit worried. You and the Duke are a suitable match. You know how obsessed transcendents can be with their match, right?”

I knew…

I was about to nod in agreement, having recalled the original story.

Harnen looked at me as if I were a child left by the water’s edge.

“Have you had proper contact? They say transcendents need to do it periodically.”

“I’ve never done it properly.”

Now that I thought about it, it seemed that time was approaching.

Now that he has a suitable partner, he probably wouldn’t go looking for other transcendents’ suitable partners or take any potions like before.

“Be careful. If the Duke tries to attack… kick him in the groin.”

“…What if the Duke becomes impotent?”

“It’s okay. I’ll help you escape.”

Harnen nodded with a determined expression.

I chuckled softly.

“Don’t worry. The Duke wouldn’t do that.”

“Why are you so confident?”

It was because there was an episode in the original story where a noble lady who tried to force contact with him got hurt. The noble lady, who had feelings for him, made contact when he was in a state of rage, and it was quite effective at that moment.

But Kaien pushed her away, saying it felt like a bug crawling in his ear. Then he frantically searched for Nadia.

At that time, Kaien hadn’t realized his feelings for Nadia yet, but the point was that he was searching like a madman without knowing why.

‘Hmm.’

Habitually recalling the original story, I remembered Kaien’s expression, which seemed to almost loathe Nadia.

‘If he dislikes her that much, it might be very rude to keep thinking about the original story…’

I was starting to feel sorry for Kaien just by thinking about it.

Lost in thought, Harnen continued speaking.

“You never know, boss. It doesn’t seem like the Duke dislikes you. He might even come to like you.”

“Me? Like me?”

I pointed to myself with my index finger, my eyes wide in surprise.

I wasn’t even as pretty as Nadia to begin with.

Besides, it seemed like Kaien only thought of me as a good business partner.

As I hesitated, Harnen narrowed his eyes.

“You know, it might just be my feeling, but when I saw the Duke last time, he seemed to…”

It was then.

Bang—!

The office door burst open.

Sophia let out a small scream and dove into my arms, while Harnen immediately pulled out a defensive scroll, ready to tear it.

“Gio?”

But the intruder was someone very familiar.

Gio was in a disheveled state, panting heavily.

“Miss! You need to hurry! The Duke is… rampaging…!”

 

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

 

‘Where am I?’

My body felt hot, and my vision was blurry.

Kaien squinted his eyes tightly before opening them again, trying to focus through the dizzying haze. As he lost his balance, he felt a dull pain along with a thud.

He seemed to be in a carriage.

He struggled to recall how he ended up inside it.

So, it was on the way back from the villa. When he mounted the horse, he realized that his condition was not good, given his injured body.

His rational mind screamed that he needed to treat his injuries first, but Kaien ultimately followed his instincts and began to ride. There was someone he desperately wanted to see and hold.

His head was throbbing, and a pain he could not figure out where was bothering him.

Kaien managed to return to the mansion with great difficulty.

“Philome… Philome…”

“Duke!”

As soon as he handed the reins to Gio, his body collapsed.

Along with the sound of searching for Philome, an urgent voice informed him that she had left the mansion. His heart sank at the news that Philome was not there.

“I need to find Philome…”

He tried to move his body to search for her, but it wouldn’t cooperate.

Gio quickly placed Kaien into the carriage and set off. Leaning his head against the rattling carriage, he remained still until it eventually stopped.

‘Philome…’

Kaien gasped for breath and reached out.

His blurry vision made it difficult to grasp the doorknob, causing him to fumble several times.

As he neared the doorknob, cold sweat began to form in his palms, and thirst overwhelmed him. Kaien roughly tugged at his shirt.

The fabric tore, and buttons flew off, but he didn’t have time to worry about that. 

His fingertips were just about to touch the doorknob.

The door swung open.

A woman, backlit by the sunlight, gasped softly as she looked down at Kaien. A breeze flowed in from beyond the wide-open door.

Her long hair fluttered in the breeze, carrying a familiar scent that enveloped Kaien.

Suddenly, Kaien felt a pang of embarrassment about his appearance.

He was lying on the floor, unable to gather his wits. Philome must have been very startled.

Instinctively, he tried to retract his hand, which was suspended in the air. But as the door closed and the sunlight vanished, cool hands grasped Kaien’s hand firmly. Darkness enveloped the two.

“It’s okay now, Duke.”

The moment he heard her voice, the same as always, Kaien pulled Philome’s waist toward him and buried his face in her collarbone.