While You're In Love

My heart was beating so fast I thought it would jump out of my throat.

His wordless silence weighed heavily on me, and his cold gaze seemed to pierce through my skin.

But the silence in the room was not painful.

The fact that he didn’t push me aside to ask where I was going with my ramblings suggested that he was willing to listen to me for now.

But by remaining silent, I wondered if he was trying to see how far I would go. I tried to guess what he was thinking.

I clenched my sweaty hands and summoned the courage that lurked underneath.

“Just let me stay here for three years, three years, and I’ll be quiet, dead as a rat, and then I’ll be gone.”

“Three years…….”

His jaw clenched, he muttered in a low voice.

“A three-year time limited marriage.”

Aslan, who opened his eyes slowly, asked.

“Why should I accept that proposal?”

He didn’t seem offended by my proposal. Rather, he seemed interested.

I quickly told him what he would gain from the arrangement.

“First of all, if you marry me, I can solve some of the headaches that are currently bothering the Duke.”

His eyebrows shot up. He gave me a look that said how could I know of a problem that he didn’t even know about?

“You’ll stop hearing people say you can’t be trusted because you’re unmarried and have no heir, you’ll have an easier time gaining the support of your older vassals, and you’ll find it easier to turn down the many women who flirt with you.”

He laughed.

“Well, I never thought of that as a problem.”

He spoke deeply.

“I can’t get married over something that is even less troublesome than a swarm of midsummer flies.”

“…….”

As expected, this won’t work.

But I wasn’t discouraged. I still had something more powerful.

After a long exhale, I pulled out the most powerful card I had.

“Helena Larestine, I have an enormous inheritance in store under my name . It’s untouchable and intact until I come of age, and I’ll give it all to you if you marry me.”

“Hmm.”

He didn’t seem to like the idea.

Wondering if I hadn’t explained enough, I quickly opened my mouth before he could utter a word of refusal.

“The Countess Larestine, who died a few months ago, left a will that says all the dowry she brought with herself when she got married goes to Helena Larestine.”

“It’s still intact because no one can touch it until I come of age, and once I’m married, I’ll give it all to you.”

Aslan Tordel still showed no reaction.

Could it be that such an enormous inheritance, one that would be beyond my reach, seemed so insignificant to him?

‘No. Maybe I didn’t explain it well enough.’

To persuade him, I traced my memory and specifically mentioned the legacy left to ‘Helena’.

“A small but well-located estate in the north, and attached to it-“

“Enough.”

Aslan Tordell interrupted me.

I clamped my mouth shut reflexively and stared at him nervously.

The moment our gazes locked, he looked at me with an unreadable gaze, my body shivered as if an electric current had passed through it.

Like prey in front of a beast, I stiffened.

His lips moved slowly as he stared at me.

“I know about the legacy the Countess of Larestine left behind, and I know that even at the time of her marriage, it was so extravagant that it was the talk of the town.”

“Then-“

“But it’s unnecessary for me.”

He cut me off.

I looked at him blankly. Aslan had a calm face, not even his eyebrows flinched.

I chewed my lips.

Helena’s legacy was all I had. It was also the most coveted thing I had.

It was because of her legacy that the county that had outlived its usefulness still existed in the world.

Without it, I had nothing.

‘What should I do now?’

Would I be cast out? Would I be sent back to that hell, back to Count Larestine, back to those beasts.

‘No!’

Goosebumps rose and shivers ran down my spine at the mere thought.

I gritted my teeth and tried to think of something I could use as my brain spun in crisis.

‘The novel content’

Sentences from the ‘novel’ based on this world flashed through my head like pages of a book.

Especially something that could be used in the current situation.

The part of the novel where Helena Larestine came to become contractually married to Aslan.

{T/N : THE PART BELOW IS THE CONTENT FROM THE ORIGINAL NOVEL THAT LYLA (HELENA) REMEMBERS}

[Are you threatening me?]

Aslan said in a cold voice.

He did not hide his contempt for the woman who dared to threaten him, Helena Larestine.

A secret that no one knew .

A weakness of his .

Despite his obvious disdain for her, Helena Larestine lifted up her chin arrogantly.

[If you want to keep it a secret, marry me.]

There was a strong certainity in Helena’s eyes as she met Aslan‘s glare.

The certainty that he would not be able to refuse her blackmailing offer.

And he really wouldn’t be able to refuse…

[You wouldn’t want it to be known that your mother, the Duchess killed your father, the Duke, would you?]

The weakness of the perfect Aslan Tordell.

The wounds of the, beautiful, affectionate and noble person whom everyone is in awe of.

It was about his mother, whom he imprisoned in a remote monastery.

Aslan wanted to throw out the woman before him away at once.

But he could give no command, as if his mouth were glued shut.

He couldn’t ignore the threat of that terrible woman.

She knew a secret that he thought he’d buried from the world so no one would ever know.

A secret that must never be revealed to the world. He couldn’t let the world wreak havoc on his poor mother, who had lived a miserable and lonely life.

So Aslan gritted his teeth, clenched his fists so hard they bled, and swallowed back the disgust that made him vomit.

And he slowly nodded his head. Still glaring at Helena in front of him with eyes full of rage.

Helena wasn’t intimidated at the slightest. She said with a smile.

[Good choice.]

Helena with a smile was beautiful.

But in Aslan’s eyes she looked more terrible than the devil.

[Live well and be kind. You can’t suppress women. Please. Huh? Please, please.]

After hearing the words that his biological mother had begged after killing his biological father, he felt a surge of compassion for his mother and wanted to do what his mother wanted.

But in an instant, he realized.

He will never forgive this woman, Helena Larestine.

This passionate hatred for her will never go away, and it will cause him to break convictions he has spent a lifetime trying to defend.

Aslan vowed to destroy Helena Larestine for trying to sway him using his only weakness.

The vivid words pounded in my head.

I lifted my eyes and looked across at Aslan.

He hadn’t said anything, lost in his own thoughts, waiting for me to speak.

“…….”

The silence was heavy.

How can I persuade a man who is like made of iron and doesn’t lift his eyes even when I say I will gives him everything I have.

Stifling a sigh of frustration, I ran the math on what I’d just come up with.

If I follow the original.

Then I would be able to break down his iron wall.

It was an easy way out, a few words and I would have what I wanted.

A great temptation darted its tongue at me. I was tempted to give my soul to the devil.

I remembered what had happened before I came here.

The terrible gaze that clung to me, the fleshy weight that weighed me down, the disgusting touch that groped my body.

I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t, so I pushed Glock with the intention of killing him.

At first I wanted to die but now, I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live, to get away, to find my family and keep them safe.

To do that, I had to become Aslan Tordell’s wife.

So I unscrupulously asked him to marry me in exchange for a handkerchief.

I also traded the only valuable thing I had, Helena’s inheritance.

It wasn’t really mine, but I’d steal it again and again if it would get me out of hell.

But all of my attempts to convince him have failed, and now I stand at the edge of a precipice.

If I don’t convince him here, all I have left is…….

‘I won’t fall into their hands again.’

I didn’t want to go back to the dreadful Count Larestine manor, where I had no good memories.

Just remembering Glock’s disgusting voice and eyes made anger rise in my chest.

My fists tightened, sharpening my weakening resolve.