Standard Contract Guidelines for a Fraudulent Marriage - Chapter 4

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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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Chapter 4

It was true that Adelia was a junior at the Academy and brilliant enough to have graduated top of her class.

During his own years at the Academy, Loarston had heard rumors of a prodigy in the lower grades, so it couldn’t be said they were complete strangers to one another.

But the crucial fact lay elsewhere.

Their marriage was…….

★A complete fraud★.

House of Wheaton had collapsed entirely when Adelia was ten years old.

Adelia’s mother, exhausted by her gambling-addicted husband, had abandoned her child—barely four at the time—and left.

Her father, in turn, left Adelia with a cheap governess and spent his days squandering money with abandon.

When Adelia’s father finally filed for bankruptcy, hounded by creditors,

Adelia was only ten years old—a fourth-year student at the Academy.

Because Adelia was exceptionally gifted, the Academy had covered her tuition, but there was nothing they could do about living expenses or housing during breaks.

It was then that an anonymous patron extended a hand to her.

He was none other than Loarston’s father, the Late Duke Insel.

‘Well, Father had always taken pleasure in supporting scholars, so there was nothing odd about it.’

The Late Duke Insel had made a substantial donation on Adelia’s behalf, instructing the school to construct a dormitory.

Thanks to this, Adelia and other children from distant regions—who had been shuttled between uncomfortable boarding houses—all benefited.

It was through this connection that Loarston and Adelia came to know one another.

To Adelia, who had graduated top of her class from the Academy but couldn’t afford to continue her studies at the Research Facility, Loarston proposed a contract.

If she would marry him and pretend to be his wife, he would spare no resources to support her through the Research Facility.

Loarston chuckled softly, recalling Adelia’s frightened expression when he’d first made the proposal.

―But why would you go so far for me?
―Because I’m absolutely sick of hearing people nag me about getting married.

She’d looked just like a ripe ruby, he thought.

Besides, Adelia was the perfect candidate for a clean, no-strings-attached separation once the contract marriage ended.

That brilliant junior of his seemed utterly uninterested in anyone who wasn’t a microorganism.

“Duke Insel, what good fortune has you smiling so contentedly?”

At the familiar voice suddenly behind him, Loarston scratched the nape of his neck sheepishly and turned around.

A well-built middle-aged woman stood regarding him, her mouth concealed behind the edge of a fan.

“It’s been a long time, Duchess Haizenne.”
“Indeed it has. I left the Capital for my health some time ago—nearly two years now?”
“Has it been that long already?”

Even as Loarston gave his polite reply, he found his jaw clenching uncomfortably.

“I trust your family is well?”
“Oh yes, everyone’s doing splendidly.”
“That’s a relief…….”
“Except that since ‘the news,’ our daughter Violet has had no appetite day or night and refuses to eat anything.”

A faint groan escaped him internally.

Loarston grimaced inwardly.

“Imagine—I’ve barely returned to the Capital and the first thing I hear is that the Duke has married. And without so much as a ceremony, too? How remarkable must this young lady be?”

Duchess Haizenne continued to prod him with deliberate barbs.

‘Remarkable young lady,’ indeed.

Given that no ceremony had taken place, the very suggestion was absurd.

What she was really asking, in her thinly veiled jabs, was: ‘What scandal kept you from holding a proper wedding?’

“Circumstances prevented it at the time. We intend to hold a formal ceremony later.”
“Violet will be absolutely thrilled to hear that.”

Loarston let out another polite laugh.

She was determined to wound him, clearly.

Among all the nobles he knew, the Duchess Haizenne was perhaps the most tiresome to deal with.

According to rumor, she had harbored a long-standing infatuation with the Late Duke Insel.

When Loarston’s mother passed away, Duchess Haizenne—having lost her own husband around the same time—supposedly saw her chance and attempted to subtly seduce the Late Duke Insel.

Whether true or not, the Late Duke Insel had given no one a second glance after his wife’s death.

So the Duchess turned her attention to his son—Loarston.

Conveniently, her own daughter, Violet, was hopelessly infatuated with Loarston, and she had devised a plan to have them marry.

Even if she couldn’t gain the Duke himself, she reasoned, at least she could gain access to the Duke’s wealth…….

‘So he dares marry in the blink of an eye? And upset my daughter? I won’t let him get away with this.’

Though she dismissed her daughter Violet’s whining as nothing more than a nuisance, the Duchess nonetheless ground her teeth at Loarston with remarkable resentment.

But Loarston was not so easily manipulated.

“I’m afraid I have a meeting to attend to, Duchess. If you’ll excuse me.”

With a polite smile, Loarston gently turned the Duchess’s shoulders and moved to escort her away.

“What? But——”

His gesture was so natural that even the Duchess herself felt as though she were being courteously attended to.

After having thus (politely) dispatched the Duchess,

Loarston fell into deeper thought.

‘I didn’t expect House of Wheaton to return to the Capital so soon. I need to make sure Adelia doesn’t run into Violet…….’

But that wasn’t the only problem.

There was another reason—beyond the harassment from the Duchess and her family—that had driven Loarston to go through with this fraudulent marriage.

There was a woman who had been relentlessly pursuing him for years.

Though Loarston had told her many times he had no intention of marrying her, she’d turned a deaf ear to his words.

In any case,

even if their marriage was fraud meant to deceive the world, a wife was still a wife.

And Adelia was his junior.

She was also someone his father had supported for many years.

He couldn’t leave someone bound by such deep ties to be surrounded by vultures.

That would be unthinkable.

‘I should accompany her whenever she comes and goes for the time being.’

Loarston resolved.

***

While Loarston was deftly parrying the veiled thrusts in Duchess Haizenne’s words,

Adelia was touring the Research Facility with Professor Siern.

She remained utterly entranced.

“Professor, that thing over there——!”

Adelia pointed at something, her mouth falling open in wonder.

Professor Siern brushed his bangs aside and nodded, his eyes gleaming with evident pride.

“That’s exactly what you’re thinking it is.”
“The Automatic Nucleus Extractor——invented just last winter! I can hardly believe I’m seeing it with my own eyes!”
“Would you like to use it?”

Adelia’s eyes widened as though they might pop from her head.

“Am I allowed to?”
“Of course. You’re part of this Research Facility now, so it’s good you become familiar with the equipment.”

Siern approached the extractor, adjusted various components, placed a petri dish containing microorganism samples beneath it, and gestured for her to come.

“Come here and give it a try.”

Adelia’s breathing quickened.

To be able to use such advanced, cutting-edge equipment—

It would likely take three or four years before this machine was distributed to the Academy or general research institutions.

‘But I can use it right now……!’

Because I’ve been admitted to the Research Facility!

Dear God, thank you so much……!

Following Siern’s instructions, she placed her eye against the microscope lens and carefully grasped the extraction tube.

Then she brought the tip of the tube, with utmost care, toward a single microorganism.

The tube seemed to draw itself inward, inserting cleanly before extracting just the red nucleus with remarkable precision.

“I’ve got it, Professor!”
“Good. Now carefully transfer the nucleus to this dish.”

Adelia cautiously moved the nucleus as instructed.

The nucleus, now resting on the fresh petri dish, twitched slightly before stilling.

Stripped of its protective membrane and deepened in hue, it looked rather…….

“Delicious…….”
“What was that?”

At Siern’s question, Adelia laughed sheepishly, her cheeks flushed.

“Well, it looks exactly like a ripe cherry through this microscope…….”
“This is the nucleus of a microorganism that causes intestinal disease.”
“Even so!”
“……?”

Adelia’s green eyes began to sparkle excessively once more.

Professor Siern realized, not for the first time, that something was decidedly off.

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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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