Episode 108

“It’s a contractual marriage.”

“…Yes?”

I flinched, thinking she had discovered the contract marriage between me and Sir Dylan.

But Hailey continued,

“Hehe. The couples in Newlywed Town, except for Sir Dylan and Lady Ishael, are all contract marriages.”

…?

“No, really?”

The first day we met these astonished newlywed couples during the social event.

The time when Sir Dylan and I astounded all the newlyweds at the social event by addressing each other as “honey.”

“That’s something only real couples can do!”

Reflecting on the past, while drowning in feelings of betrayal, a heavily intoxicated Haley took another bottle of wine and said,

“But now it’s true love. It started with a contract marriage!”

I quickly glanced at Emmanuel and said,

His expression was growing cold.

“Hey, calm down. I can hear the house about to fly away. Don’t regret it later.”

“Hoho, regret? What’s there to regret!”

Right at that moment.

Emmanuel suddenly erupted like a bolt of lightning.

“What’s this noise?”

At his thunderous voice, Haley jolted awake as if sobered from her alcohol-induced daze.

“Well, you see. Haha! It’s, it’s nothing, really?”

She hastily tried to salvage her slip of the tongue.

But regret, no matter how fast, is never timely.

Emmanuel mumbled in anguish like someone realizing their first love was a goblin.

“…It was a contract marriage?”

Emmanuel twisted his body and stood up.

Everyone fell silent.

Emmanuel’s eyes slowly reddened, and teardrops fell like tiny drops from his eyes.

“My, my dreams and hopes…”

He looked like someone intoxicated with alcohol.

Kashian-Haley, who had seemed drunk, quickly approached Emmanuel.

“Th-that’s. It’s a joke!”

“Haha! It’s a sur-s-surprise!”

Despite their playful demeanor, Emmanuel was skeptical.

“I, I actually prepared a lot of fun activities for real couples.”

He pulled out a series of signs from his pocket, brimming with Emmanuel’s bureaucratic sentiment.

[Farewell to a fun honeymoon!]

[A different kind of newlywed is coming!]

I tried to stay quiet, but upon seeing the signs, a serious exclamation escaped my lips.

“Wow, you’ve really prepared a lot. Those lines are so impressive… in ancient languages and even magical script.”

Emmanuel, who had worn a betrayed expression, suddenly turned his head to look at me.

In his eyes, a fiery joy finally ignited.

“Ah, now that I think about it, there’s a real couple here!”

Ah, I shouldn’t have said anything.

‘I’ll have to take the secret of me and Sir Dylan being a contract couple to my grave.’

Even meeting Emmanuel’s trembling gaze was an otherworldly experience.

I tried to console him and said,

“They’ve also come to experience true love now, you know.”

“Ahem! Well, yes, they started with a contract.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice to hear their love story too?”

The Kashian-Haley couple quickly intervened to handle the situation.

“W-well, if we talk about the most romantic incident, it’s this! The day before our trip, we drank and had a fight.”

“Kashian started it, saying we’re just a contract couple anyway!”

“Y-yes! The morning after hearing my words, Haley ran away. All the way to the Duchy of Castilla!”

I flinched.

‘Come to think of it, those people still don’t know about Sir Dylan and my true identities, right?’

I glanced at them and subtly heaved a sigh of relief.

“Isn’t the Duchy of Castilla usually chosen as a travel destination?”

True to a couple blinded by their love, they innocently laughed and continued,

“These days, the trend in romance novels is for the heroine to run away and the hero to follow. I wanted to follow that and hide up north!”

“Well, still, all the way to the Duchy of Castilla?”

“I believed that if there’s love, he would chase after me.”

“And he really did chase after me.”

They definitely had the attitude of a couple in sync.

I nodded my head.

Emmanuel’s expression became moved as he spoke,

“So, this must be the power of love.”

“To be honest, I didn’t feel much until he chased me. But that day, we just looked at each other.”

“The place that was once filled with icy coldness transformed into something grand and beautiful!”

“We captured the moment when the curse of the North lifted together.”

“When was that?”

“Hmm… Wasn’t it around lunchtime the day after we were informed about writing the <Travel Journal>?”

I flinched.

It was the exact time when Sir Dylan was about to confess his identity to me.

It was the time his emotions were changing and the curse of the North disappeared.

I pondered this fact as I looked at the newlyweds.

“It’s really a romantic story.”

“There’s more! We kissed in front of the Luck Tree!”

“I’m not interested in that part.”

“As soon as we saw the Luck Tree, our hearts were completely at peace, and I felt like love was enough.”

“A feeling of purification?”

“Ah, when we kissed, the leaves of the Luck Tree rustled gently. At that moment, even the water in the nearby lake seems clearer.”

“Surely it was due to the power of love we radiated that even plants and the lake were influenced…!”

Excited, they hugged each other tightly again.

I was also excited.

I was excited too, because I had found a hint to break Dylan’s curse!

The Luck Tree they mentioned was a plant famous for its gentle purifying power.

‘When Dylan’s emotions changed, the Luck Tree exerted its purifying power, which is why the water in the nearby lake became purified and the curse was lifted!’

So, the method to break the curse is simple.

1. Create an event that triggers a turning point in Dylan’s emotions.

2. Immediately unleash the power of purification.

I smiled brightly and stood up energetically.

“By the way, I have a question.”

“What…?”

“What methods are there to drastically change someone’s emotions?”

At that moment, the Kashian-Haley couple’s eyes sparkled.

Their expressions looked quite mischievous.

* * *

…Should I follow the advice of the newlyweds, or not?

Facing Dylan, I bit my lip nervously.

He gently touched my lip to prevent it from getting hurt and whispered,

“Now I’m going to sleep in the adjacent room. No entry allowed.”

“Well…”

I grabbed the edge of his clothes with a flushed face, then whispered so softly that even I could hardly hear myself,

“Is that… alright?”

It was a voice so quiet that I could barely hear it in my own ears.

At that moment, his pupils quivered intensely.

“Yes. It’s possible right now.”

“Oh? Did you hear what I said?”

“He ordered me to the bedroom.”

Looking at his devout expression and tone, it felt as if he was proclaiming a curfew.

“I just asked if we could sleep together in the bedroom.”

He whispered, fixing his trembling gaze on me.

“Of course. I sleep well at night too.”

“Really?”

“Didn’t I tell you before?”

At that moment, his previous words flashed through my mind.

‘From now on, I’ll sleep well at night too.’

I nodded firmly.

Indeed, it seemed like the time had come to create our turning point.

Me too…

As a couple, I also wanted to be with him.

* * *

As soon as I secretly entered the bedroom, the neatly arranged sheets on the bed became disheveled.

Ishael, lying on the bed, placed her hand near Dylan’s firm thigh, which covered my body.

“Really, you?”

In a husky voice, he kissed her without answering.

Our breaths flowed towards each other without hesitation.

Dylan glanced at her collarbone and the soft flesh below it with a crooked expression.

The dress was roughly taken off, revealing a transparent slip resembling wings.

In an instant, his pupils filled with lust, desire, and various indescribable emotions.

It was a side of her that she had never expressed before, not even once.

She laughed softly with a husky voice and whispered lowly.

“I think this should be enough to lift the curse….”

“Do you have time to think?”

Rarely, he interrupted her and twisted his lips.

Curses and the like were of no concern to him, as if he were insignificant.

His cold hand moved unhesitatingly beneath the slip.

The cool sensation on her heated body felt unfamiliar, causing Ishael to twist her body.

However, his hand was faster.

He roughly grasped her thigh.