“Welcome back, Lord…”

The butler, who was in the middle of greeting the Archduke, trailed off when he saw the woman dressed in a gorgeous indigo gown nestled in his arms.

The experienced butler’s smiling expression didn’t change.

“Is she perhaps… a guest?”

“Yes.”

“I will arrange a bedroom.”

The Archduke frowned at the butler’s words.

She was simply here as a drinking companion. However, in the span of a few minutes she had become his lover.

The Archduke looked down at Clea.

“We’re going to have a drink in the drawing room. Make sure to prepare some snacks.”

“Understood, sir.”

The butler bowed.

The Archduke silently walked to the drawing room, still holding her.

He thought it would be better to carry her to the drawing room instead of letting her walk on her own and risk her vomiting blood.

“Thank you.”

“You barely jumped down two steps and you’re already like this. Why are you so weak?”

“It’s alright. I’m used to it.”

His expression became strange when he heard her answer.

The Archduke set her down on the sofa and sat down across from her.

He stared at her with folded arms.

“So, how are we going to get married?”

“Just normally. We don’t have much time, so we don’t need a wedding. Oh! But please make sure to prepare wedding rings. I’ll sign the marriage contract tomorrow morning and I’ll move into the Grand Duchy afterwards. Or, maybe it would be better to move in the day after tomorrow?”

She talked as if she had everything all planned out. The Archduke raised a hand to stop her.

Clea, who had gushed out her whole plan, looked at him.

“Let me know if you have a problem with anything. I want us to come to an agreement as quickly as possible.”

“Wait, what’s the rush? I think it would be a good idea to slow down and use a month’s time to properly plan this out.”

“Oh…”

Clea was left with nothing else to say.

Indeed, even if it was just a contractual marriage, it had to be done formally.

However, she didn’t want to let him know about her limited lifespan.

Honestly, it would feel awful to be in his shoes.

The fact that the woman he was about to marry was slowly turning into a corpse…

So, she planned to set off to somewhere far away when her body finally reached its limit.

“I don’t have time. I also think it would be better to do this quickly now that we’re both in agreement. It wouldn’t be well received for someone of your position if we dragged this out.”

“…”

The Archduke was speechless. Were those the words of a person who truly loved him and wanted to marry him?

He had no choice but to be doubtful.

“I’ll love you with all my heart during our marriage.”

“What?”

“Oh… of course I still love you now. But, for half a year, I want you to love me, too.”

The Archduke didn’t understand why this was one of her requirements.

It was rather doubtful whether she actually loved him and if love was the real reason for her desire to marry him.

If love was not the true reason, he suspected that there was something she was trying to protect.

“Even if you don’t love me, you have to pretend to love me,” Thinking the Archduke’s silence was because of this, she chimed in to reassure him.

After a while, the Archduke of Detroit nodded.

There were some parts he was uncomfortable with, but he had already made a promise; he was not the type to go back on his word for no good reason.

“I’m asking you sincerely. Are you sure about signing the contract on these conditions? There’s nothing else you want? If you want something now, you should make it clear before making the contract.”

The Archduke asked in a serious tone.

He looked like an adult advising a small, naive child. Clea smiled slightly.

‘I don’t think he’s a bad person.’

She had heard the original owner of this body had done a lot of bad things, but surprisingly, she liked the good and righteous type.

Or maybe it was because she had done a lot of terrible things that she was attracted to someone with the opposite personality.

“No, there’s nothing. If you keep your part of the deal, all of Count Reno’s possessions will be yours.”

“…”

The Archduke’s expression changed subtly. Clea smiled as brightly as she could.

She wanted to show him that she had no hidden intentions, and besides, smiling was an essential way to quickly improve relationships.

[This body will continue to progressively deteriorate in the future. After all, this body is supposed to be dead; I only forced your soul here in place of Clea’s shattered one to prolong its lifespan. In the future, you won’t be able to control the blood vomiting nor will you be able to walk about freely.]

Clea swallowed hard as she recalled the Demon King’s words. He had warned her nonchalantly as if she wasn’t the one who would be experiencing such terrible things.

She had to get married as fast as possible and be happy as well. That was Clea’s final wish.

“But Duke, it doesn’t have to be sincere.”

“What…?”

Clea decided to slip a truth between her many lies.

“Just don’t let me know you’re pretending. I need to forget this marriage is just a contract.”

“Countess Reno, what the hell are you…”

A knock on the oak tree door sounded. The Archduke kept quiet, still speechless from Clea’s words.

“Master, it’s Denver. I brought the drinks.”

“You may come in,” the Archduke answered, his gaze still fixed on Clea.

‘…A drink… Was it possible?’

Clea sighed inwardly as she looked at her HP bar.

The Archduke’s eyes were still fixed on her.

【HP 874/1210】

Thanks to the fact that she had been carried here and allowed to rest, she was able to regain some physical strength. Come to think of it, the Demon King’s arrangements were kind of funny.

He had allowed her to see her own HP, like a video game, so she could monitor her physical condition…

“Please call for me if you need anything.”

“Alright.”

Denver, the butler, withdrew.

The drawing room door closed and the room fell into silence again. Clea gently flitted her fingers across the surface of the empty glass.

The Archduke opened the bottle and filled her empty glass before tipping the bottle towards his own glass.

Clea frowned at the sight of the crimson liquid as it poured out.

The smell alone was intoxicating, the strong aroma irritating her nose.

“I’ll take the first sip.”

“Oh…” Clea couldn’t even respond in her hesitancy.

She wondered if her tofu-like internal organs would be able to cope with the strong alcohol. Clea was seriously concerned.

Tak.

Across from her, the Archduke had already drank one glass.

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Clea, who was only holding her glass, seemingly lost in thought.

“Can’t you drink strong alcohol?”

“Well, no….” Clea glanced at him and took a sip.

As the hot liquid slid down her throat, she urgently lifted her hand to cover her mouth.

‘It’s hot…’

It was so hot it felt as if her organs were being lit on fire. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

She shouldn’t have drank it.

It was only one sip but the pain was excruciating, she could only grit her teeth behind her tightly shut mouth.

【The body has exceeded the pain limit of what your mind can endure.】

【Pain relief activated. You won’t feel any pain, but your health will continue to deplete.】

As soon as the HP window lit up, she could no longer feel the burning pain.

It was still hard for her to breath but her body wasn’t in pain anymore.

Clea hurriedly put down the glass that was still held in her hand.

“Are you alright Countess?”

“Yeah. However, I don’t think I can drink anymore. It’s stronger than I thought. Could you please excuse me?”

“Yeah, don’t overdo it…”

The Archduke replied, gently taking the glass Clea had been holding.

Although she didn’t feel any pain, she was still in a terrible condition.

She didn’t even have to check her HP bar to know how low her health was; it was starting to look like there were two Archdukes in front of her.

“Is there any reason why you’re in such a hurry to get married?”

The Archduke’s question was not one that Clea could answer easily, so she kept quiet.

Frustrated, he emptied the whole bottle of alcohol by himself.

“Okay, I’ll do what you want.”

“What?”

“Tomorrow, I’ll call an imperial notary. He’ll give you a contract. I’ll help you fill out the marriage papers.”

Clea nodded.

In addition to her triple vision, his voice resonated like an echo so she couldn’t properly hear him.

She was slowly lifted onto the sofa, her body feeling as heavy as wet cotton.

“Please call me Clea from now on.”

“You should call me Isaac too.”

”
”
“Okay, Isaac.”

The conversation slowed into silence.

He was tilting his glass around; lost in thought, when suddenly, he raised his head with a strange expression.

“Your rumours reached me even when I was at war.”

“It must have been only bad rumors.”

“I can’t say they were good, so it’s a little hard for me to believe the Clea Reno who’s in front of me right now.”

The rumours surrounding Clea Reno were awful.

The rumours ranged from her involvement in an attempted assassination of the Crown Princess, to her encouragement of ostracisation in social circles.

She oppressed people who did business with the families she didn’t like, threatening their livelihoods.

That was the extent of what Isaac, who had spent most days stationed on the vanguard of war, had heard.

Including the tidbits of trivial rumours and hearsay that circulated through high society, that topic made for great conversation.

At Isaac’s words, Clea simply laughed.

”
”
The red arc of her lips, which contrasted greatly against her pale skin, had caught Isaac’s eye.

Her slightly lowered eyelids made her expression look grim.

“I’ll delegate the authority over the Count’s estates slowly and consecutively.”

Issac tilted his head a little and with narrow eyes, fixed his gaze on Clea’s lips. Without blinking, he finished off the last of his drink.

She only had three sips of alcohol but a pungent, sweet smell was already wafting out from between her lips.

“It’ll be difficult if I delegate everything to you all at once, so it’s best if you gradually take over authority. In the meantime, I’ll help you familiarize yourself with everything.

“It seems like you’re settling some personal affairs.”