In fact, most boyanins proceeded with their marriages by omitting the ‘Ideal Spouse Qualification Certificate.’

It was quite cumbersome and tricky to prepare the supporting evidence for each question.

Even if all the necessary documents were prepared, it still took time for the archbishop to check them all by himself.

As the head of religion in the Grand Duchy of Hersen, the Archbishop had a lot on his plate, so he limited the number of certificates he could issue per year.

Some years it was one, other years it was five, so no one knew how many there would be this year until the archbishop announced it in the new year.

So there was always a shortage of time to prepare for an immediate marriage.

The Duchess Smirnov worried that even at the blink of an eye, she might have passed on her illness to her children.

She felt sorry for her daughters, afraid that if they met the love of their lives, they would not be able to marry because of their family history.

“I’m a terrible mother, honey.”

Pavtisky Smirnov’s wife’s last words had always weighed on his mind.

So he had a resident physician at the ducal residence, and as the sisters grew older, he conducted annual medical examinations and collected data on their health.

As it turned out, much of the documentation required by the Ideal Spouse Qualification Certificate was already complete.

Katya was also very familiar with it from a young age.

***

Two days ago.

As soon as she got home from meeting Ivan and promising to marry him, Nikolai burst through the door.

“Tia, what are you doing here at this hour?”

At that ambitious hour, Princess Katarina of the Smirnov duchy knocked the Grand Duke of Hersen onto the bed.

No, actually, she had only approached him, and Nikolai had panicked and stumbled backwards, falling flat on the bed.

Katya gripped the bed with both hands and climbed on top of him.

“Tia, we are not yet married…….”

“Grand Duke.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s do it now.”

Nikolai’s eyes snapped open at the sound of her approaching face.

“Consummate?”

There were two ways to have a marriage recognized in Hersen.

There were two ways to recognize a marriage in Hersen: by entering your husband’s name in the family register, or by getting married in front of a priest.

The marriage was effective the moment the wedding ceremony took place before a priest, to protect those who were unavoidably delayed.

Once the wedding ceremony was held, the period before the official consummation would be retroactively applied, officially recognizing them as a married couple.

The law was originally designed for commoners who didn’t have the time or inclination to travel to government offices, but the convenience spread to the nobility, and it became a tradition for most people to register their marriage after the wedding ceremony.

“And the wedding ceremony?”

She immediately confessed that she had met Ivan.

Nikolai, surprised by this fearless bride, pulled her into a hug.

“Why did you meet that person without even telling me? Whatever the reason, you should have informed me!”

“Your Highness, we can talk about that later. Right now, there’s something urgent. We need to obtain the Ideal Spouse Qualification Certificate from the Archbishop within two days and use it for registration.”

In the past, to become the Grand Duchess, there was a formal qualification examination for potential candidates overseen by the previous Grand Duchesses.

Katarina was well-versed in the history of Hersen. Once in the past, during a difficult time for the country, the formal process was skipped, and the Grand Duchess was chosen through an alternative method using the Archbishop’s certification.

“It’s our once-in-a-lifetime wedding, and it feels like we’re rushing through it… I’m sorry, Katarina.”

Feeling guilty for not following the proper procedures, Nikolai regretted that they couldn’t have a more traditional wedding.

If he had known it was going to be like this, he would have just pushed Ivan out of the window that day and sent him on his way.

Katarina sensed his unease and asked if he had thought of something bad.

“Grand Duke, you just had a bad idea, didn’t you?”

“……”

With a sharp stab of pain, the Grand Duke of Blood silently confirmed her assumption.

“Well, killing him would have made things simple, wouldn’t it?”

“And how do you dispose of the body?”

“We can burn it, bury it in the lake, or–”

“Stop, stop! Are we planning a crime right now? How can you say such wicked words with that expression on your face?”

Katya took Nikolai’s chin in her hand, her eyes searching his pretty face.

“I’m looking for a quick, easy, and surefire way.”

“Grand Duke, you’re serious, aren’t you?”

“If it’s a child who disappeared from home, it will take years for a missing person report to be filed. And by that time, the remains would already be…”

“You’re still serious.”

Katya sighed heavily, a villain in name but weak in heart.

She didn’t want to be a criminal.

Nor did she want to stain her husband-to-be with bloodsheed.

“I want to become your wife quickly. I want to become Katarina de Vasily.”

Nikolai’s heart dropped with a thud.

No, it didn’t stop there, it felt like his heart had jumped out of his body, rolled across the floor, and flown away.

His heart pounded in his chest and his stomach ached.

It wasn’t a confession of love, but it was enough to get him excited.

“Say it again.”

“I want to be Katarina de Vasily.”

“Before that.”

“I want to become your wife quickly? That?”

“Ha, it feels like there’s no way out, even if I die tomorrow.”

The man in love whispered like a sigh.

“Hey. Do you want me to become a widow? I don’t want to be divorced after this contract ends.”

“What do I need to do?”

Nikolai asked eagerly.

But there was an unexpected twist.

This year’s ‘Ideal Spouse Qualification Certificate’ was already full.

If they reveal that it was for the grand duchess, it was natural that it would be carried out through a special selection process. However, in order to do so, it was necessary to send an official document to the grand ducal household.

If that were to happen, Nikolai’s plan to proceed with the marriage without Grand Duchess Oksana’s knowledge would be shattered.

For security reasons, there was no justification to call the archbishop to this side, and besides, he was already elderly and about to retire the following week.

“Is there any way to see the archbishop?”

Katya had kept her father in the dark about Ivan’s lawsuit, telling him only that she needed a certificate to become a Grand Duchess without being examined.

Pavtisky Smirnov listened to his eldest daughter and immediately began writing to the archbishop of the south.

Without revealing that the Grand Duke was here.

“Father, are you well acquainted with the Archbishop?”

“I do not know him personally, but you will hear from him soon.”

The next day, instead of a reply, the Archbishop himself paid a visit to Duke Smirnov.

“I know you must be busy, but thank you for coming.”

“It’s my benefactor’s granddaughter’s business, so I cannot just sit back and do nothing.”

During the time when religious wars were raging in the Western Continent, there was an incident where the Southern Central Temple, where the archbishop resided, was attacked.

It was Katya’s grandfather, the former Duke Smirnov, who risked his life to rescue him.

She was blessed by her ancestors.

The Archbishop, who was willing to verify the credentials of the couple, was thrilled that it was Nikolai who was to marry Katya and gave them his blessing.

***

“Do you see now, Ivan? t’s all over.”

Ivan felt miserable as he watched Katya stare down at him.

She was now the Grand Duchess of this country.

She had risen to heights beyond his reach.

But it was too much for him to bear.

“This is ridiculous! The Archbishop must have fabricated this under the pressure of the Grand Duke’s power!”

“Still can’t admit it?”

“Then why did you try to get a doctor to destroy this confirmation then?”

Katya bit her lower lip at those words.

But there was no evidence or witnesses to prove that Ivan had witnessed the cover-up on the spot that day.

Just as she was about to say something, Bianca jumped up from the crowd of people who had been watching them in silence.

“Because that medical certificate belongs to me, not my sister. I am the one who is infertile.”

Katya turned pale, looking back in shock.

It was the secret she had been trying to hide all this time, the reason she had been helpless and treated poorly by Ivan.

How on earth could her younger sister know?

“Sister, I heard it from the physician. You were afraid that my secret, which I didn’t even know about, would be revealed to the world, and that’s why you’ve endured such hardships with Ivan all this time…”

Tears started to fall from her large deer-like eyes like raindrops.

Bianca was in so much pain that she felt her heart would break.

She knew all too well what had happened to her sister at the Petrozsky family villa.

She found it strange that her sister, a genius with clever wit, who would always retaliate fourfold if someone slapped her, was just enduring it all without fighting back.

“Lady Bianca!”

“What’s going on? Why is my sister looking for a fertility treatment?”

“That, that…….”

As Duchess Smirnov had feared, her illness had been passed on to her beloved second daughter, Bianca.

When the disease was first detected in Bianca, many doctors gave her a terminal diagnosis.

Because she was small and young, the disease had metastasized faster than it had in her mother.

As the messenger of death descended upon the child, a medical organization that Duke Smirnov had supported since the day he married his wife rushed to her aid with a cure.

Bianca was brought back from the brink, and though weak, she thrived.

It was only earlier this year that they realized that the treatment had a fatal side effect.

During a routine annual checkup, Duke’s doctor found something wrong with Bianca.

The side effects of the treatment had been delayed, leaving her unable to have any more children.