I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 52

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I ended up in a fake marriage with the male lead.
Chapter 52

“Do I really seem so incapable?”
“No, that’s not it, but…”
He wore the expression of someone for whom this was nothing at all.
It seemed he’d take offense if she refused.
Yet the sums written on the documents were so astronomically large they felt unreal.
After a long pause, Emilia slowly nodded her head.
“Then I’ll humbly accept it with thanks.”
The moment Emilia picked up the Fountain Pen beside her.
“Ouch.”
A sharp pain shot through her fingers, drawing a small cry from her lips.
“What’s wrong?”
Kaiden’s eyebrows rose as he immediately asked.
“It’s nothing, really…”
Emilia answered reflexively, lowering her gaze to her own fingers.
‘Right, I must have cut my hand while looking at the Legal Code earlier.’
She hadn’t felt any pain while the registry office was drawing up the marriage certificate.
But now that it ached, she was reminded how fickle the human body truly was.
‘I should ask Laura for some salve.’
She quickly shook her head, embarrassed at making such a fuss.
“It’s nothing serious. I must have nicked myself when I was hastily looking through the Legal Code.”
She spoke dismissively and reached for the Fountain Pen again, but he smoothly plucked it from her grasp with a fluid motion.
‘…?’
Emilia’s head tilted upward, following his.
“Just a moment.”
With that, he retrieved the Medicine Box kept in the Office.
Then, quite naturally, he knelt down before her.
Emilia spoke awkwardly.
“I can do it myself…”
But Kaiden proceeded with the treatment as though he hadn’t heard her words.
Though it was hardly a serious wound, he handled her hand as though it were made of glass.
Only her fingers were in contact, and yet somehow it felt as though they were pressed intimately close.
Worse still, he was near enough that her vision filled entirely with him.
‘What kind of man has eyelashes this long?’
As he moved, his dark hair scattered softly.
At that moment, Kaiden tilted his head slightly upward.
‘G-good grief.’
Emilia quickly averted her gaze, pretending not to look at him.
And with that, she withdrew her hand from his grasp.
“Th-thank you…”
Her finger, now disinfected, was wrapped in layer upon layer of bandaging.
The treatment was so excessive that she felt embarrassed—it was only a paper cut, after all.
At that moment, she heard something rather strange from above her head.
“Then I look forward to working with you, my dear.”
She blinked, tilting her head to look at the man before her.
‘…M-my dear?’
Emilia doubted her own ears.
The word “my dear” falling from his lips felt utterly foreign.
‘Of course, legally speaking, that term is accurate.’
But it was a title she had never contemplated.
Then Emilia felt her hand drawn upward.
Before she could even process what was happening, Kaiden bowed his head and pressed his lips firmly against the back of her hand.
“What are you—!”
Where his lips touched, it burned as though she’d been branded.
Startled, she tried to pull her hand away, but he tightened his grip.
Seemingly amused by her feeble resistance, a faint smile played at his lips.
“This much is nothing—barely a touch between spouses. Surely you’re not going to feign distance with me now?”
Emilia stared up at the composed man before her and swallowed hard.
‘…Wait, didn’t he just say this was a fake marriage?’
Out of his own mouth, no less!
She barely gathered her wits and jerked her hand free.
Kaiden, unlike before, allowed her to withdraw it this time.
The wound seemed to throb less than wherever else was burning. Her face had to be flushed red.
‘That man…!’
She bit her lip, fixing him with a steely gaze.
There were numerous things she needed to address about his behavior.
‘Starting with that form of address, and ending with that shameless move…’
A hand-kiss was doubtless mere light greeting in high society, but she’d never been part of that world, so it felt like cheating.
Still, Emilia forced herself to speak calmly.
“You don’t need to do things like that when we’re alone.”
“Understood.”
Kaiden answered without hesitation.
Yet his quick compliance somehow made her even more irritated.
‘It feels underhanded.’
He’d been playing everything so casually all along.
“Isn’t this coming a bit too naturally to you?”
Emilia shot him a look tinged with resentment.
“Rest assured. This will be your first time with any man, after all.”
“Th-that’s not what I meant—”
His unruffled words made Emilia stumble over her words.
“Isn’t it?”
“…No. And about the form of address—th-that one…”
“My dear?”
He spoke the word without hesitation, even though she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Emilia squeezed her eyes shut and spoke urgently.
“Using my name would be more than sufficient.”
“As you wish.”
She heard the acceptance in Kaiden’s voice, but—
‘This won’t do.’
If she let it slide like this, his impulsive gestures might literally stop her heart.
She needed some kind of safeguard, something she could prepare for.
“I think we need to be clearer about some other things as well.”
“Other things?”
Kaiden’s eyebrows lifted.
“Wait here for a moment.”
Without waiting for his response, Emilia left the Office.
Moments later, she returned with something he recognized.
“You still have the contract we made, don’t you?”
“…Yes, I do.”
“Good. Then would you please fetch it for me?”
At Emilia’s request, Kaiden pulled the Employment Contract from his desk drawer.
He walked toward the sofa but paused midway.
Emilia was studying the contract with an expression of firm resolve.
Some instinct within him screamed to tear the thing to shreds right then and there.
But when she met his gaze, he had no choice but to suppress the impulse and comply with her demands.
Soon Emilia flipped to the back of the contract, to a blank page, as though she’d been waiting for this moment.
“Let’s set down the terms we need to uphold between us.”
“Terms we need to uphold?”
“Exactly—since we’re in a fake marriage for a while, let’s establish beforehand that there will be no Unnecessary Contact like what just happened.”
The way she emphasized “fake marriage” and “Unnecessary Contact” seemed intentional, though it could have been his imagination.
“Are you alright with that?”
Emilia asked him with an almost innocent smile.
…Saying he wasn’t would make him worse than garbage.

* * *

Thus, as Emilia proposed terms, Kaiden accepted them, and the contract was revised accordingly.
For instance, when attending parties, linking arms was permitted.
If they were to dance, contact proportionate to that was allowed.
“Oh, and one last thing.”
She’d almost forgotten the most important clause.
Emilia stopped her hurried writing and lifted her head.
She found Kaiden’s expression oddly displeased, though she lowered her gaze and opened her mouth anyway.
“If you happen to develop feelings for someone, would you tell me in advance?”
After all, at any point, he might come to care for some woman.
And Emilia had no wish to experience again what had happened today.
That business of being made a fool on her own.
So, though it might overstep, she wanted to ask this of him.
“Why would I—”
Kaiden started to speak, his tone sharp for a moment.
But when his eyes met hers, he answered in a suppressed voice.
“…Very well. If that’s what you wish.”
“Thank you.”
Emilia smiled with relief at his answer.
Fortunately, he neither asked why nor displayed any hint of mockery.

* * *

After Emilia had returned to her room, Kaiden remained in the Office.

“Then I’ll look forward to tomorrow’s meeting.”

He shifted his gaze to the revised contract and frowned deeply.
Looking at the densely packed amendments clinging to every margin left him thoroughly dissatisfied.
He ran a hand roughly through his hair.
“Damn.”
He’d meant only to remind her to be aware of him by kissing her hand, yet achieved the opposite result entirely.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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