Chapter 19

Is this something Larissa shouldn’t have heard of?

I glanced back.

Larissa’s gaze was blank as she sat by the window and looked out.

“If it’s okay with you, can we go to the next room? I don’t want to be far from my sister.”

“Sure.”

Leaving Larissa alone was a bit unsettling, but I was only in the next room connected to the door, so I thought it would be fine.

I approached Larissa and said briefly, “Larissa, I have to talk to him for a while, so I’ll go to the next room. Nothing will happen, but if you are still anxious or if something happens, you can come to the next room right away. Okay?”

Larissa was motionless, but I was sure she heard me.

‘Will there come a day when we can communicate in two ways?’

After staring at Larissa for a moment, I walked over to the next room.

Fabian also came along.

He carefully closed the door between the two rooms.

‘What the hell are you going to talk about?’

I have a somewhat ominous feeling……

I asked carefully, “What do you want to say?”

Fabian was standing only three or four steps from me, looking down at me.

I’m not short either, but Fabian is really tall.

He stood so close that I had to raise my head to see his face.

‘Huh? His face is going down……?’

My gaze that had been looking into his eyes went down at the same time.

Fabian is kneeling before me!

An ominous feeling ran down my spine as if I had been electrocuted.

‘No way, this is……’

I froze.

As far as I know, there is only one thing for a man of high rank to kneel on one knee to a woman of lower rank than him.

“Lady Blick, will you…”

“No!”

I almost screamed out loud.

No, this is not.

Your partner is not me, but Larissa!

Fabian knelt down on one knee and burst out laughing.

“You haven’t even heard to the end.”

“I don’t need to hear it to the end.”

Now is that the problem?

You chose the wrong person to propose!

“Don’t you want to be the Grand Duchess?”

“No. Not at all!”

I never thought of putting myself there in the first place, and I’m not a fairy-tale-person enough to make up my mind to marry a man I’ve only met for three days.

I admit that he is terribly handsome.

And have a lot of money…

I shook my head vigorously.

And I said firmly.

Fabian stared at me for a moment, then got up and stood up.

“I need a wife right now. Whatever your conditions, I will grant you all. You will become the only Grand Duchess in this country.”

Fabian’s eyes as he spoke those words as if he were nervous, had disappeared.

I think this is more of a businessman’s tone than a shy young man applying for marriage?

‘Are we going to negotiate now?’

I folded my arms.

“Conditions? It doesn’t seem like the right attitude to propose. And it seems like it doesn’t have to be me. If you’re in such a hurry, how about looking for someone else?”

“You are free to spend as much money as you like. You can indulge in luxury you can’t even imagine. You can do whatever you want.”

Fabian’s lips curled up lightly.

“It doesn’t matter if the Grand Duchess’s name is defiled.”

His tone sounded more like he was asking me to do whatever I wanted than to take responsibility for my position.

However, I was not interested at all.

All I want is that my neck is still attached to my body even after three years.

‘Above all else, it is the man in front of me who is killing me after marrying Larissa.’

So from now on, I’m trying to look good to Larissa as much as possible, but don’t try to fish me with your money!

“I have enough money to live on my own.”

I said coldly.

Then Fabian raised both hands lightly.

“Sure. I give up. Can I tell you about my situation instead?”

I thought for a moment and then nodded.

Let’s hear what the heck is and why the ‘prince’ comes to me and proposes to me as soon as the Grand Duke leaves this world.

“The will of the Grand Duke was announced this morning. To put it simply, I will become the next Grand Duke as long as I meet one condition.”

“Is that supposed to be marriage?”

“Yes. All I need is a woman of noble descent. We have to get married within a year from today.”

“What if I can’t?”

“The position of Grand Duke passes to my uncle.”

I opened my mouth.

It is my first time hearing about it.

‘Wait, if someone else can become the Grand Duke…’

The prince may not be Fabian, can he?

“Uncle?”

“Count Dominic Laurent, the second son of the Grand Duke.”

“Excuse me, but how old is he?”

Fabian laughed at my question.

He answered exactly what I wanted to know.

“He’ll probably be… forty-one this year. By the way, he got married a long time ago, and he has a son who will come of age next year.”

Wait a minute. This is not!

A married man with a child is far away from the prince’s conditions.

‘Then again, is the prince is Fabian?’

Oh, wait. There were other possibilities.

If this man in front of me can’t get married, so a year later, a man named Uncle becomes a great prince, and if something happens within two years after that, and the Uncle loses his life…

‘Will the uncle’s son who is Fabian’s cousin, will soon come of age and take over the Grand Duke’s position?’

Three years later, Larissa is 16, and Fabian’s cousin is 18.

‘Isn’t this enough for a prince in a fairy tale?’

After thinking about it, I raised my eyes and looked at the man standing in front of me.

‘There is no way a man who looks like that can’t get married.’

It looks like my heart will melt just by making eye contact.

Not only was he handsome, but he was also young and wealthy, and he had a very high level of status.

However, if Fabian got married within a year from now, that was a problem.

The age to get married is from the age of 16.

‘But Larissa isn’t even an adult yet.’

Finding a fairy tale prince for Larissa is so difficult.

I sighed.

“Why the hell is it me? Isn’t it easy to marry anyone if you put your mind to it? Our family is a noble with no titles.”

Fabian smiled at the desperate words I spit out.

“That’s the point. That’s what I liked the most. As I said before. It is okay to defile the name of the Grand Duchess, I do not want a girl of a strong family.”

Fabian’s eyes looked particularly red.

It fluttered bright red like a ruby, like a flame.

It was a seductive color.

“Anything. You can do whatever you want.”

I swallowed dry saliva without realizing it.

I could roughly guess what he couldn’t say.

He wants to make sure his family is in his hands.

In the process, the wife’s family with strong powers only gets in the way.

‘So, marriage is just a waste of energy for him.’

It’s just a means to becoming a Grand Duke.

And then I was just lucky to be there.

If marriage was a means to him, so if I was the right person for him, there were at least one means that I could become.

I looked straight into his eyes and asked, “Then how about a divorce? Can I do that too?”

Larissa will be able to get married in three years.

However, Fabian should be married within a year.

Then, getting married to someone temporarily and then getting a divorce can be one way, right?

Fabian didn’t raise an eyebrow at my bold question.

“If necessary, I will sign the divorce papers in advance. You can use it whenever you want.”

“Really? Anytime I want?”

“Yes, but not for one year. There is a condition in the will that the marriage must be maintained for at least one year.”

“Don’t worry about that part, because I plan to keep it for three years. If only I did.”

I am sure this world is inside the fairy tale book I read.

Because the Larissa I saw was no different from the female heroine in the fairy tale book.

A girl who has spent her whole life being trapped in the basement as her tears turn into diamonds.

Therefore, if Fabian was the prince of this world, it could not be that he did not fall in love with Larissa.

It’s the same as the original development.

‘But I ditched the original a bit.’

I want to survive.

And I feel sorry for Larissa.