There Is No Mercy

 CH 11

“Read it.”

I stretched out my arm at his insistence.

I hid my nervousness and scanned the paper from top to bottom.

As my eyes landed on the dot in the last sentence, I heard Aden’s voice.

“What does it say?”

In short, it seemed like they couldn’t fulfill the contract so they wanted to postpone or cancel it.

At the end was the seal of the Duke of Bozbourne.

When I put the paper on the table, Aden leisurely put his leg on the other side and said softly. 

“Duke Bozbourne’s love for his daughter sure is extraordinary.”

“That’s….”

The Duke of Bozbourne’s extraordinary love for his one and only daughter, Belietta, was no secret.

He always kept Belietta’s portrait in his pocket watch, and if she was sick, he would come to her even from the capital.

That’s why he asked me to help his timid daughter and befriend her.

In the end, it was no different from dumping the shit on me.

“He loves her so much that he overrides the will of my father, the former Duke of Bozbourne.”

He gritted his teeth and cupped his chin in his palm.

“Thanks to him, Ripleton had been struggling a lot for the past five years. Until five years ago,   he was so eager to eat the corpses of demons, but now he’s acting like this. Does this mean he’s no longer needed?”

I didn’t know the details. But if Belietta strongly opposed both the engagement and marriage, the Duke of Bozbourne probably wouldn’t be pleased either. Because he was on Belietta’s side.

As I thought about that woman, I let out a chuckle.

‘If it’s for his daughter, he wouldn’t even notice if millions of people are suffering and starving.’

When I looked up from the documents on the table, I found golden eyes staring right at me.

Aden slowly opened his mouth.

“You seem to dislike these two quite a bit.”

“To be exact, his daughter.”

As he smirked, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

But it was just for a moment.

The smile disappeared, and his voice flowed out with a stern face.

“Let’s come back to our discussion.”

He tapped the table with his fingers and spoke

“Do you know what it means for me to be a man of honor?”

“I know.”

“Moreover, if there’s no need to hide it, I can use you whenever I want.”

“Of course, and vice versa, I’ll use you too.”

He raised the corners of his mouth in amusement.

“So we’re going to use each other, which isn’t bad, but the contract isn’t officially broken, and the Duke of Bozbourne might be upset if he finds out.”

“Do you think we need to worry about that?”

I asked, looking at the paper on the table.

“The House of Bozborne has sent you a document that officially breaks the contract or postpones its fulfillment. Besides, I’ve heard the answer myself.”

“An answer?”

“Yes. Belietta told me.”

I hadn’t expected the words to be used in this way, but I’d take what I could get.

“She said she doesn’t have a fiancé.”

‘Well, the engagement itself is a secret, so there’s nothing wrong with hiding it.’

“So, you don’t need to worry about it. Since it’s a secret, shouldn’t you just pretend and say you didn’t know about it?”

Aden had been delaying the contract for five years anyway, so he can just say that he has canceled it within this official document. “Then wouldn’t it all be over?”

Aden narrowed the corner of his eyes and looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded with a small smile.

I smiled back, then spoke again.

“So, Aden, there’s only one thing you need to worry about.”

“What is that?”

“Simple.”

I opened my mouth briefly, then followed it with the words.

“Whoever looks at you can tell that you’re interested in me, so please be the man I want.”

“That’s unusual.”

“One more thing.”

He pushed the corners of his mouth up again, jerking his chin as if to go ahead.

I paused, biting my lip slightly at his behavior.

The most important thing was this.

No matter how hard I tried to make him my man, in the end, all my efforts would be for nothing if Belietta took him back.

I opened my mouth slowly, watching him carefully as he looked at me with his golden eyes as if waiting for me to speak.

“Don’t fall for Belietta.”

“What does that mean?”

“I mean that literally. You’ll see later, if it becomes known that you and I have developed some sort of relationship, Belietta’s behavior will change, one way or another.”

He leaned back in his chair as if he didn’t understand.

He pressed his fingers tightly against his forehead as if he had a terrible headache.

Aden rolled his eyes down at his twitching toes, then lifted his gaze straight up.

“Don’t worry, it’s not going to happen, and if that selfish woman ever looks at me again, it’ll only be for show.”

“Being selfish is one thing, and being greedy is another.”

Bellietta has many shortcomings. I was the only one who knew the bad side that was invisible to other people.

She was a social butterfly lauded as an angel by people, but she did not deserve that title.

“I’ve been feeling it for a while now, but it seems like you have a lot of negative feelings towards Belietta. Inferiority complex?”

“Excuse me.”

Out of all the words, why does ‘inferiority complex’ come up?

“Do I seem inferior to Belietta in your eyes? Are you saying I’m jealous?”

“I don’t know. At first glance, you both seem equally bold, but one acts rough as if sticking manners in a pigsty, and the other is still tolerable to some extent.”

“The latter is obviously me, right?”

“Hmm?”

With a soft smile, he narrowed his eyes slightly.

He was so different from the first time I saw him, I was confused.

“Enough of this conversation, the supplies should have been moved by now, and it’s getting late, so why don’t we rest?”

I looked out the window and saw darkness falling.

It must have taken a long time.

I nodded and replied in a tired voice.

“I suppose so, but before we do that, let’s make a deal.”

“Oh man, you’re so tough.”

“Of course. Even if it is a simple piece of paper, a single word contained within it can change a nation.”

“Are you talking about Bilkin Marx?”

It was a quote that people in business held close to their hearts like a belief.

It was a little surprising that Aden, a knight, knew it.

“If you don’t have a contract, they might betray you later. If you have a contract, they might betray you, but you can sue them for damages. It’s good for me and it’s good for you.”

He thought for a moment, then nodded.

As soon as he agreed, I reached into my bag pulled out two contracts, and handed them to him.

Everything I’d already mentioned was in them.

It wasn’t difficult, except for the big stuff, and we could work out the details later.

Aden took the contract from me, flipped through it, stopped at one point, and frowned.

“That’s a strange amount of compensation.”

“No, it’s not odd. You’d have to bet at least that much to betray me.”

“Even so, ten million gold coins is too much, don’t you think? Ripleton would be bankrupt with this kind of compensation.”

“Why are you already worried about bankruptcy? The penalty is just a penalty. You’d have to do something bad to deserve it, right? Why, are you already thinking of ways to betray me?”

I frowned and stared at the contract as he muttered his displeasure.

I knew it was a lot of money.

That was exactly what I intended it to be.

How can I trust a man I’ve only met twice while the one I called my husband had betrayed me in my previous life? So, the only thing that could be trusted was the contract.

I knew Ripleton was in financial trouble.

It was money that could tie him down, and it was money that could save him.

I was confident that Aden would eventually sign the contract, even though he was appalled by the enormous amount of compensation.

Unless he was delusional, he would sign it.

The reason was simple

“…It can’t be helped.”

His immediate need was reliable food and necessities.

I took his signed contract, tucked it into my bag, and handed him another.

“That’s for you to keep.”

“…You’re meticulous. Do youngsters learn these things these days?”

“I don’t think the average youngster does.”

I glanced at Aden, who signed thoughtfully.

‘First time…’

It was a first.

I’ve taken what belonged to Belietta.

I snatched her man away from her, who always wanted to be like me. 

Even though I was the one she pushed away because she didn’t like me, I didn’t care.

No, it made it more fun.

What would she think if I told her I had the man she had rejected? Would she look incredulous? Or would she be embarrassed?

I wasn’t sure, but one thing was for sure.

She would try to take the man sitting in front of me back.

Like he was hers.

How fun.

I couldn’t wait to tell Belietta about this.

Starting with this, I wanted to steal everything from Belietta one by one.

No, maybe I should say I’ll take it back.

After all, everything Belietta had was once mine.

“It’s done.”

“Thank you.”

I smirked, and he stood up.

As I followed him to sprang to my feet, Aden spoke briefly.

“I’ll show you around.”

“You’re going to show me around?”

He smiled sheepishly and nodded his head in acknowledgment.

Opening the door, his waiting eyes turned to me.

“Since I have to pretend to be your formal but loving fiancé, then there is no need to hide.”

The moment I heard Aden’s words, it suddenly felt real.

I forced down a chuckle that didn’t escape my lips.

“Thank you.”

I stole Belietta’s fiancé.