That dang mosquito, after being drained of mana by Duke Rethaniel.
The stolen mana didn’t replenish with mana breathing or any other method.
I used to despair endlessly over that fact in the past, but now, it was different.
I inhaled deeply and exhaled again, breathing steadily.
After just a few rounds of mana breathing to absorb the surrounding mana, I felt like I had recovered about 1/500 of the mana I once possessed.
“Wow… if the discarded potion is this effective, just how amazing are the other potions?”
If I could sneak into the famous magic house, the Duke of Kalinos family, known for being extremely secretive, consuming potions and learning magic would be as easy as pie.
‘The problem is that infiltrating the Duke of Kalinos family is not easy at all.’
They would barely consider hiring even the top graduates from the academy.
For someone like me, with nothing to offer, even getting a glimpse of their faces would be difficult.
‘If I were hired by the Duke of Kalinos, both the agitator and the mosquito would faint in shock. How should I entice them?’
Regretful Male Leads 1 and 2 were constantly at odds with the Duke of Kalinos.
‘They had an inferiority complex towards the Duke of Kalinos.’
They probably stole research from the Kalinos family and sold it off in a despicable manner, didn’t they?
In the original story, their despicable acts were praised as a ‘Machiavellian attitude that doesn’t hesitate to use any means for their gain,’ but to me, they’re just criminals.
“Stop daydreaming and go home.”
I smacked my lips and straightened the bag containing the empty potion bottle.
Anyway, since I know what potion was discarded by the Kalinos family, I thought I might as well pick it up and try whatever I can find.
But just as I was about to trudge away, I heard a chilling wind whoosh behind me, and someone asked in a very low voice, “Giselle Florette?”
“……?”
I turned my head without much suspicion and widened my eyes in surprise.
‘Is this a dream?’
I rubbed my eyes.
‘It’s not a dream?’
……But why is the Duke of Kalinos standing there?
I stared at him with a dumbfounded expression.
‘Did the heavens grant my wish?’
That’s impossible.
‘Or is this another stroke of luck caused by twisting the original story?’
Looking even fiercer hidden in the darkness, he fixed his gaze on me and spoke.
“Is it you?”
“Yes…? It’s me…?”
“Ah, let me introduce myself first. My name is Bientine Kalinos. I am the Duke of Kalinos.”
His fierce eyes curved seductively.
What’s going on here?
“I’ve come to make a request to you.”
Suddenly, the prince from the fairy tale, no, the villain appeared as a savior.
And I grabbed that lifeline…
“Suddenly? A request? To me?”
…I’m not naive enough to grab it impulsively, though.
“Yes, suddenly.”
“…What exactly is the request?”
It’s definitely not because I was swayed by that handsome face.
It’s just that I had intended to take his hand anyway, so I figured I should ask first.
“A proposal.”
…What?
“Giselle Florette. I’d like you to be my wife publicly.”
‘What is this?’
It took me a while to comprehend what I had just heard.
Finally coming to my senses, I stared at him as if he were crazy.
‘Is he a lunatic?’
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Ah, right. I was thoughtless.”
“Excuse me?”
The Duke of Kalinos, with his usual nonchalant expression, held out a ring case.
“Proposal.”
Inside the now wide-open case was a ring with a diamond the size of a child’s fist.
‘Did they move a mine here? What’s with the ridiculously huge diamond?’
Salivating unintentionally, I quickly snapped out of it.
Who am I?
I’m the female lead in a regretful story where the whole world torments me.
That means nothing good ever happens to me.
Still suspicious, I looked at him and said, “I don’t know how you found out about me, but I don’t offer impure services like wife-for-hire or lover-for-hire. That’s all.”
Just then, he tilted his head and stared at me intently.
“The compensation for being a wife-for-hire is.”
I was ready to ignore any strange words.
Really.
But my ears perked up involuntarily.
“50 billion gold a year.”
50 billion gold is enough to buy two townhouses in the capital, an enormous sum of money.
Like lightning striking from a clear sky, silence fell between us for a moment.
But…!
I addressed the Duke of Kalinos firmly, coldly, and with dignity.
“Do you think I’m such a materialistic person who would succumb to money?”
His brow twitched, and a subtle confusion was evident.
‘Because I’m Giselle Florette, poor and disliked by everyone, he probably thought I’d do anything for 50 billion.’
I lowered my head slightly, my expression darkening, then…
“Yes, materialistic. You’ve come to the right place.”
I lifted my head with a bright smile.
‘If they’re offering 50 billion, I might as well hear them out.’
Exactly.
I am a monster born of capitalism.
Part 2. Marriage Contract
“Master, no, client? What exactly do you want me to do?”
The Duke of Kalinos, true to his nature as the mastermind, didn’t show much surprise at my swift change in attitude.
“It’s simple. After we get married, I want you to act like a terrible person, so much so that my family becomes completely disgusted with the idea of marriage.”
I was internally astonished.
‘Wow, he really found the right expert for this.’
I was someone who specialized in dealing with difficult customers.
Being able to handle troublesome customers perfectly meant I knew every trick in the book when it came to dealing with them.
‘Imitating a complete nuisance is my specialty.’
The payment was 5 billion gold, and the client wanted me to wreak havoc like a nuisance.
It was a situation tailor-made for me.
But no matter how blinded by money I was, I still had to tread carefully.
‘Why is he offering me such favorable terms to take me with him?’
I still had my doubts about him, which meant I needed time to gather information and reconsider.
“…I’m not saying no, but give me some time to think.”
Compared to marrying the bald Viscount Milpianne, marrying him was the lesser evil, that’s for sure.
Besides, in typical romance-fantasy contract marriages, the rule of thumb is to accept the proposal even if it seems suspicious…
‘But the bigger the difference in our levels, especially when the proposal is good, the less I should accept it immediately.’
Given the disparity in our levels, I needed to use some push-and-pull tactics to elevate my value.
‘Above all, there’s an advantageous event coming up that will raise my value.’
I had previously endured that event miserably, but the situation would change now.
“How about three days? Would that be okay?”
I was confident that if the offer was withdrawn within three days, it wouldn’t have been a good deal for me anyway.
He nodded, looking into my shining eyes.
It was a temporary pause for a favorable negotiation.
—
The small laboratory in the capital mansion, created for the Duke of Kalinos’s personal research.
It was 100 square meters in size, divided exactly into a 50-square-meter sealed lab and a research record room…
Bang! Crash!
With a loud noise, the monster’s head was shattered inside the sealed room.
“Finally, I’ve extracted the monster’s essence. A triumph after 399 days and 12 hours and 30 minutes.”
The duke, covered in the monster’s blue blood over his white lab coat, handed over a beaker, speaking with a seemingly indifferent expression that nonetheless hinted at pride.
Despite their hardened resolve from working with the duke, the researchers here had nerves closer to those of ordinary people.
They trembled, looked at each other, then closed their eyes tightly and spoke in unison, as if in chorus.
“Yes!”
“Co, congratulations!”
However, the duke, still drenched in the monster’s blood, muttered.
“Ah, come to think of it, I have something to say.”
“W-what is it?”
One researcher, watching the duke smile eerily while drenched in blood, nearly fainted.
Regardless, the Duke of Kalinos, who hadn’t forgotten disinfection and research records, whispered in a passing tone.
“Peter, is 5 billion gold a small amount?”
“My name is Petterson, and that amount would be about three years’ budget for a typical noble family. It’s a large sum.”
“…Then what’s the reason?”
Just as Giselle expected, doubts began
to flood the Duke of Kalinos’s mind.
Even while extracting the monster’s essence, Giselle’s peculiar expression lingered for about a second like an afterimage, indicating the depth of his suspicion.
‘I thought she would accept it without hesitation.’
