WGMFTR | Chapter 10

Episode 10

Lydia waited, wondering if Marquis Ilian Esteban had nothing to say about the incident that occurred at dawn.

However, he didn’t say a single word all morning, as if nothing had happened.

After agonizing over it alone, Lydia left her room. She could understand that he had many secrets, but trying to hide even the symptoms of the curse was too frustrating.

“We need to talk for a moment.”

That was exactly why Lydia had come to the marquis’s office now.

“Perfect timing.”

Without even raising his head, the marquis pulled out a piece of paper from a drawer and pushed it toward Lydia.

“What’s this?”

“A contract.”

Even while giving a short answer, his movements as he busily reviewed documents and occasionally signed them were steady and unshaken.

Lydia stepped closer and pulled the paper toward her.

As soon as she read the first line, which said, ‘The contract period is set to one year and may be terminated earlier by mutual agreement once the issue is resolved,’ she realized what kind of contract it was.

It seemed he wasn’t joking when he said they could really write a contract for this marriage if she wasn’t comfortable.

‘Well. He doesn’t seem like the type to make empty statements.’

As Lydia skimmed through the surprisingly simple clauses, her gaze unconsciously turned to Marquis Esteban.

One might ask how she could say something so definitive when she hardly knew him. But Ilian Esteban, if nothing else, was a man who spoke so sparingly that every word he did utter carried weight.

“If there’s a clause you’d like to add, say so.”

Ilian said, glancing at Lydia, who was quietly reviewing the contract again.

Lydia stared at the contract for a long time before carefully setting it down and suddenly looked up to ask,

“…May I ask you one thing first?”

Seeing that she didn’t bring up the ring immediately, as she had on several occasions before, it seemed she wasn’t planning to ask about that.

Perhaps her thoughts on the contract had changed since she started living here.

“You can ask.”

As expected, in the end, human nature tends to be similar.

Even those who seem to have no greed can develop it once they realize what they’re allowed to have.

He was just trying to gauge how big Lydia’s demand would be, considering how much she was hesitating.

“Who is Leon?”

“…What?”

Ilian, caught off guard by the completely unexpected name, showed a rare sign of surprise.

As a result, he stopped mid-signature, causing ink to splatter in all directions.

“Oh no, I’m sorry. Wasn’t that an important document?”

“It’s fine. I can just get another one.”

It was a report that had to be submitted directly to the king, but at this moment, it seemed truly insignificant.

“Leon is my nephew. The son of my only sister. Where did you hear that name?”

“Actually, I heard you saying it in your sleep last night.”

Lydia’s face turned red in an instant. Ilian dismissed the suspicion that she might’ve overheard something inappropriate and asked,

“But why?”

“I was just curious. About who the person was that you could say a name so affectionately for.”

“What would you do with that knowledge?”

“It’s good to know. And even if it’s not a real marriage, we are getting married, and at the very least, we’ll be seeing each other every day. There’s no harm in knowing about family relations.”

Lydia added her next words with a deeply thoughtful expression.

“…Like what happened yesterday—if I had known ahead of time how difficult it was for you, it would’ve been much better.”

“I just judged that telling you would only increase unnecessary complications. If it were something you needed to know, I would’ve told you first.”

Though his words were roundabout, in the end, didn’t it just mean he found it hard to trust Lydia, and that’s why he was being so cautious?

But Lydia had already made a firm decision that once she stepped into this matter, she would take responsibility for her choice.

Still, with the person in question being this uncooperative from the start, there seemed to be no way forward.

“Still, since we’re writing a contract like this and cooperating to solve what’s most important to you, I’d like us to promise to trust each other at the very least.”

Only then did Ilian Esteban sit up straight and properly meet Lydia’s gaze, who was staring right at him.

Lydia Solem might have been asking Ilian for what was perhaps the most difficult thing in the world.

“You keep giving me limited information because you don’t trust me. But if this continues, it might take longer to break the curse. There’s no reason to drag the contract out.”

Lydia’s logic was reasonable, perhaps even obvious. If he truly wished for the curse to be lifted as soon as possible, this uncooperative attitude was completely contradictory.

If he wanted to reduce even a single day of suffering from the curse, it would be only right to share everything from his past and have a discussion.

Ilian knew that too. But letting someone step across the line he had drawn so thoroughly was simply not an option for him.

It had been ages since he vowed not to do that again.

“I’m not asking for much. If you don’t want me to ask about other things, I won’t. I just hope you’ll be honest with me about the curse.”

It was that look again.

Feelings that resembled someone from a distant past whom he had buried and vowed never to recall.

“If you want, I can tell you honestly about myself and my family. You might already know most of it, but still.”

Her unguarded attitude, offering her trust so willingly while equally hoping for his in return, dug into the most vulnerable part of Ilian’s memories.

<Don’t trust others so easily. That’s the first virtue of a noble.>

<But you’re my brother. You’re not “others.” So I’ll trust you.>

<How can I win an argument with you? Fine. Do what you want.>

A cheerful laugh echoed in his ears like a hallucination. Ilian unconsciously closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his face.

Memories of his half-brother, who died long ago, were all steeped in piercing regret and guilt, making them unbearably heavy to recall.

“…Are you okay?”

Only then, at Lydia’s cautious question, did Ilian sit up with a deep sigh and dryly rub his face.

Lydia wasn’t entirely free of curiosity about why Ilian Esteban was so sharp and guarded.

But the moment she saw the deep exhaustion briefly cross his face, she sensed that perhaps the root cause of it was something she truly wasn’t meant to ask.

Marquis Esteban tapped his fingers on the desk, as if deep in thought.

Then suddenly, in a flat tone, he brought up an unrelated subject.

“My father has passed away, and the previous marchioness, a princess of the Kingdom of Ines, is no longer here. So you don’t have to worry about the elders of the family.”

Lydia simply listened with wide eyes before realizing that he had taken a step back in his own way.

It was his way of partially accepting Lydia’s request for mutual trust—by sharing something about himself.

Lydia hesitated, then cautiously asked,

“Still, she’s your mother… Won’t you even invite her to the wedding?”

From Lydia’s perspective, who lost her parents in a tragic accident and was raised by her grandmother, parents were precious and deeply missed.

If only she could see them once more—even their faces were starting to fade, and it always left her feeling hollow.

However, at the word “mother,” Marquis Esteban curved his lips in a crooked smile.

“I said the previous marchioness. I never said she was my real mother. I’ve never once acknowledged that woman as my mother. She was just someone my father chose to marry in order to expand his influence in the Kingdom of Ines.”

“Ah… I see.”

There was no way to respond. For Lydia, the word ‘family’ held nothing but tender significance—but it didn’t seem to be the same for him.