“I’ll give you 10 robes.”
“…”
10 robes.
“Ramiel, do you really mean what you just said about robes?”
There were three currency units in Riedon: pave, label, and robe. Among them, pave was the most popular and commonly used. Because labels and robes had large units, they were mainly used to indicate large-scale business, real estate, or property rather than for everyday use. 1 label was equivalent to 100 million paves, and 10 labels were equivalent to 1 robe.
The 10 robes that Ramiel was talking about right now meant 10 billion paves. It was equivalent to the cost spent to cleanly renovate Leanello MAnor in Kidswell not long ago.
‘The words are renovation and repair, but it was almost like a new building.’
It was an amount of money that most people would never be able to see in their lifetime. She knew that the Ruivan family was not usually wealthy, but seeing that they could give that amount of money for a contract marriage, it seemed that the wealth of his family was beyond her imagination.
Ramiel, who saw her reaction, gave her a slight nod and said.
“Then, Lady Ray Alexis, shall we write a contract?”
* * *
The story to hide the contract marriage was roughly as follows. It was a very plain and simple story about how they met at a banquet last summer, fell in love secretly, and as their love grew so much that they could no longer hide it, they decided to get married. However, ‘love’ was a very important point in this story. This was because, if the contract period ended and they went their separate ways, no one could recommend them to remarry. It was common for the nobles of Lytham to enter into a ‘contract’ of marriage between families, without love, as long as the conditions were met.
However, the two planned a scenario to take a different route than other nobles. It creates the atmosphere that Ramiel loved his wife so much that he couldn’t have anyone but her by his side. Ray Alexis disappears from the capital, leaving behind her husband who wanted her love, becoming a villainess, and Ramiel couldn’t forget his wife and shows his longing for her. It was a childish and simple method, but there was no better method than this.
The nobles disparaged free love marriage as something only commoners did without money, but in reality, the theme of most high-class plays and works of art they saw was ‘desperate love.’ In the end, their criticism of their love marriage was a kind of jealousy, criticizing what they did not have. At that time, the play that was popular in the capital these days was the sad love story of a sorrowful nobleman, so it was the perfect time to sway public opinion.
The two people signed a provisional contract by simply writing a series of terms and conditions. The formal contract was to be made at Ruivan’s, and he told Ramiel he would contact her once the contract was completed.
“Take care.”
Ray greeted him as she watched Ramiel heading to his carriage. Perhaps because it was an important contract to maintain the security, Ramiel accompanied only an extremely small number of people. An ordinary black carriage without a knight, two horses, or the symbols of the Ruivan family. Horses and carriages couldn’t be considered people, so in fact, it was just the two of them and the coachman.
‘No matter how excellent the man is in martial arts, he came all the way here alone with his coachman.’
Ramiel was someone who was made to receive praise from everyone, from his hair to his toes. Even his height was so tall that even if he wasn’t wrapped tightly around his figure, just a quick glance would tell him that he was Duke Ruivan. In other words, it was a very noticeable target. It was a story that if someone had a bad mind, they could attack him at any time.
“Ramiel, you probably know better, but please be careful and avoid opening the carriage windows as much as possible. I hope you arrive home safely.”
Someone let out a laugh at the words full of concern. Ray turned her head in the direction of the sound. His red-haired coachman was looking this way and grinning.
‘He must have been a worker belonging to Ruivan, but he must have openly ridiculed the greeting of a customer dealing with the current owner?’
What kind of wild hair was this? However, Ramiel did not seem to care at all. Since the owner was quiet, there was nothing he could say about it, so Ray had to be content with just glaring at the red-haired, green-eyed coachman who looked like a watermelon.
“Is the contract fulfilled already? You learn it quickly.”
“Yes?”
Ramiel, who had been speaking expressionlessly, smiled as he was aware of the gaze of people staring intently at him from afar. It seemed like a light suddenly turned on somewhere. He could feel the sunset turning into morning sunlight. It was a handsome man. However, although his appearance was ‘Hurray’, his tone of voice was ‘Well’.
Translator note: ‘hurray’ and ‘well’ there. It means that his appearance was supperv and active, his tone was dull or without interest.
“But. Since the contract is now in effect, you will need to show a friendly atmosphere to those around you.”
“There, there. Ramiel?”
Ramiel slightly nodded his head as if to speak at Ray’s call.
“It seems like your speech has suddenly become a bit shorter…”
“From now on, we have to continue to be together and pretend to be a good couple. Should I speak up?”
He smiled like an angel and his tone was like ice. Ray’s eyes trembled as she was surprised by Ramiel revealing his true colors. The strange sense of authority and cold, hard tone of voice that she felt while talking about the contract were foreign to the angel of the capital called ‘Ramiel.’ She thought it was because she was nervous about the contract, but it seemed like that was the essence. The true nature of the angel was seen, something that no one in Ravidon clearly knew about.
“My God. So you’re saying you don’t respect your own people? Okay.”
A cool breeze fell upon Ray’s words, and Ramiel furrowed his brows.
“What now…”
“They will say you’re not being respectful, is not it?”
In Lytham, it was common for husbands to speak informally and for wives to be respectful. Of course it was like that, and it was something she had never thought was strange. However, Ramiel felt a little strange when he heard an unexpected informal conversation in an unexpected place. Ray continued speaking after seeing his stern expression.
“Ramiel, you said you’re twenty-two this year, right? You have been given the commission on a temporary basis, so it is not an official job yet. So then we both have no titles?”
Ray smiled brightly.
“You know that age determines your rank, right? I’m two years older than you, so I’m older than you. Are you going to talk to me like that in the future?”
When Ray was living in Korea due to a dimensional shift, this was what another old man sitting in the back of the bus said to a rude student who forced him to ‘give up his seat to an adult’.
“No matter how old you are, you are a government official.”
“I don’t have any regrets if I don’t sign a contract. If you’re not going to get equal footing and equal treatment, there’s no need for a contract. Destroy it.”
The sound of the coachman laughing loudly rang in the ears of the two people.
* * *
Kreha giggled again, recalling what happened two days ago.
“The more I think about her, the funnier she gets.”
Ramiel was expressionless even when level 1 monsters, who he thought had killed them all, attacked him. That embarrassed face he had never seen before.
A small woman who seemed to be on his shoulder brought down the world’s Ramiel Ruivan. The fact that he was the only one to see this precious sight made Kreha shrug his shoulders. He was a man who had both military and intelligence power in the Ruivan family, which was said to destroy even birds, and would soon obtain an official commission. Kreha had no interest in or knew anything about the various outside events surrounding him, but he did understand that Ramiel was a big man. But who was ‘feeding’ Ramiel? He thought that someone who could do that would have to be at least a prince, but this unexpected person popped out.
Kreha was already amused to see what expressions Taylor, the administrator, and Wilpoff, the butler, would make when they met that woman named Ray Alexis. People who hated his own words and actions would meet someone even worse than him, a woman who would become their boss.
“Why have you been smiling over here since a while ago? I feel bad.”
Taylor put down the pen he was holding in his hand and asked Kreha. The way he was giggling with bruises on his face made him look a little crazy.
“Never mind. Giggle.”
Kreha, who had been acting sheepishly since a while ago. He seems to have been doing something with the master while he was on vacation, and it bothers him.
‘What on earth did this bastard do?’
Kreha was a man his master picked up during a subjugation war and appointed him as the leader of Ruivan’s knights. After the subjugation war, Ramiel seemed determined to kill everyone in his family. As he had been planning for a long time, he without hesitation erased all traces of the former Marquis Ruivan and filled the mansion with people of his own choosing. The bastard, who had been treated with all kinds of disdain by the marquis and his family, ate up Ruivan as if he were showing off.
One of the very few people who survived such a large-scale purge, or rather, a period of reorganization, was Taylor.
“The crown prince is keeping powerful nobles in check. So there’s no need to catch his eye.”
For Ramiel, who wanted to cut off all ties from his ancestors and start anew, growing bigger and creating discord with the imperial family would be the most important obstacle. There was no need for the family to become bigger, but even if it were to be raised, it could be done slowly later. Taylor uploaded the documents she had brought to Ramiel. It was a list culled from documents compiled by Wilpoff under the name of the owner. Even after looking at Wilpoff’s list, the master did not give any instructions or words, so he shortened the candidate options and reported back. The candidates were girls from reasonably decent families, neither too big nor too small. This was the last thing his wife did before she gave birth, and this was a week ago.
Ramiel told him to use up the entire month of vacation he had been given, but he had come running like a bullet after hearing that Louis Van’s reliable butler had vacated the mansion after hearing that her mother had passed away. Lack of administration and management in Ruivan. Of course, the problem was that there were only two talented people in this large mansion, and that Kreha was among the humans left behind.
‘That person doesn’t know what he’s going to do!’
A mercenary group that has almost disappeared these days. The remaining mercenaries were nothing more than mercenaries, but they were gangsters who plundered in groups. Kreha was such a mercenary, the leader of a mercenary group, and he decided to be cruel.
He was the lowest of the low with a bad reputation. Ramiel took Kreha’s mercenary group and went into a subjugation battle. At the time, he thought it was an inevitable choice because anyone in Ruivan would harm Ramiel if he harmed him, and there was no way he could protect him. But looking back now, he thought it might have been one of Ramiel’s plans. Who would have thought that a guy who used to work as a mercenary would reach the level of a master?
He thought he would use the mercenaries before the subjugation and abandon them, but he never thought he would bring the surviving Kreha with him. When Ramiel first picked it up, Taylor’s eyes were completely blank. Fortunately or unfortunately, if he wanted to live as a human being in this mansion, he learned proper etiquette and formality, and thanks to Ramiel, who ordered him and Wilpoff to ‘keep down’, he was able to control Kreha to some extent. However, even though he was acting as a person under the control of three people, he was still out of focus in crucial places. And Taylor’s intuition was whispering that this was exactly the time.
So, he ran to the mansion, leaving behind his precious newborn daughter, whom it wouldn’t hurt to look at, and his beloved wife, who had just given birth, whom he could have risked his life for. It was a choice that brought tears to his eyes, but he did not regret it.
Until just now.
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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