Chapter 1

“Odellie, as of today, my contract with you has ended.”

His cool voice struck like a blade.

Ludvil Excepcion.

It was a cold declaration of parting, befitting the ruler of the North.

Odellie looked at the marriage contract lying on the desk.

As if it had never once been taken out all this time, it was perfectly white, without the slightest sign of fading.

“This is the promised compensation. Take it.”

He held out the documents.

It was a certificate stating that Odellie Cardel and House Cardel had lost all familial and legal ties.

Along with it were land deeds, details of a mansion, alimony, and the like.

Odellie paused for a moment when she saw the amount.

“There is no need to give me this much. As you know, I…….”

Her words trailed off. She took a brief breath, then opened her mouth again.

“……I don’t think I’ll live very long.”

But Ludvil cut her off firmly.

“You will need it.”

“…….”

Odellie lifted her gaze and looked at him.

An expressionless face, impeccably arranged attire, a posture without the slightest disarray.

As always, he was flawlessly perfect.

Even if she collapsed before his eyes right now, he would calmly summon a physician, then leave to carry out his scheduled duties without a hitch.

The man who was her husband on paper, bound to her by a contract marriage, was that kind of man.

He never wasted time or emotion.

So Odellie did not ask.

Why he was pouring so much without restraint upon someone who would soon die.

‘In any case, even that must be the result of your meticulous calculations.’

Ludvil briefly scanned the contract with his characteristic warmthless gaze.

Maintain the marital relationship for five years.

No private conversations, no physical contact, reside separately in the detached palace…….

Every condition had been upheld thoroughly.

After confirming that the payment had also been made without issue, he burned the stack of papers in the candle flame without lingering attachment.

As if they were now nothing more than meaningless scraps of paper.

The contract burned away in an instant, leaving not even ashes behind.

As though the five years they had spent were nothing at all.

“…….”

The end.

So, this was the end.

“You have worked hard all this time.”

At the grand duke’s words, Odellie wore a dazed expression for a moment.

Of course, considering their contract had clearly defined the superior and subordinate parties, there was no cleaner, more concise farewell than that.

He was the superior; she was the subordinate.

He was the employer; she was the employee.

Even so, they had been linked by the bond of husband and wife for a long time. Could their farewell not have been a little more convincing?

The thought suddenly occurred to her…… but she knew that, too, was greed.

“Is there anything else you require?”

So when Ludvil asked, as if he would grant anything she named.

“……I have already received enough.”

Odellie replied while suppressing her emotions as much as she could.

She wanted to leave a good impression until the very end on the man who had wanted a clean relationship.

But.

‘The end…….’

When she thought that the true “end” of her life was not far away.

She wanted to leave behind even a last testament.

Pathetically, truly pathetically…….

In the end, Odellie could not swallow down the churning emotion that had risen to her throat.

“I liked you.”

The words slipped out.

“The reason I took your hand that day was not because I wanted to live. It was because it was you.”

“…….”

“Looking back on it…… that was how it was.”

She was going to die anyway, so it was not a confession made in hopes of anything.

Only, even for a very brief moment.

She wanted to remain in his perfectly calculated mind as a variable he could never have predicted.

She wanted to throw at him the fact that she had continued to harbor an emotion that had never been part of his plan…….

Perhaps, even if only for an instant, he might be surprised.

Even though she knew there was no way he would be.

“It would not have mattered who it was.”

“…….”

“You simply fit the conditions the best.”

But she had not expected him to accept her confession so calmly, as if he had heard such words a hundred times before.

Right. Of course.

‘You knew.’

Even the feelings she had believed she had never revealed were within his calculations.

“Is that all you have to say?”

Odellie lowered her head and let out a small laugh.

Because, for some reason, everything had become absurd.

As expected, this man was perfect from beginning to end.

Heartless, without a single opening.

“Yes. There’s nothing more. Not anymore.”

The emotion driven like a wedge into her heart stung.

But soon, Odellie came to the conclusion that it was nothing much.

First love, innocent love—something like that.

Something everyone experienced at least once in life had simply come to her later than it did to others.

It was nothing remarkable.

“Thank you for everything.”

“…….”

At Odellie’s words, the man who had been watching her with an expressionless face answered slowly.

“We will not see each other again.”

It was a businesslike response, leaving no room for misunderstanding.

So Odellie thought it was better this way, that she had shaken off her useless lingering attachment before she died.

That was the end.

Of her contract with him, which had lasted five years.

* * *

Odellie set out on a journey to find a place for her grave.

Because she sensed that she did not have much time left.

She settled in a rural village she found along the way and began a new life as a healer.

Quietly waiting for the day of her death as it drew nearer and nearer.

But…….

‘……Why am I still alive?’

The days when she had vomited dark red blood amid pain that felt as if her heart would burst were still vivid.

Yet her body, which had been losing its vitality, began to recover little by little.

That was not all.

‘If anything, I feel healthier than before…….’

It was not merely her imagination.

It was as if her body was being reconstructed into its most ideal state of health.

‘Can something like this happen?’

It was a miracle.

She could not understand the reason at all, but since she was alive regardless, she lived as life carried her.

Ordinary days continued.

She saw patients, prepared medicinal herbs, walked around the village entrance, and occasionally browsed the marketplace, spending her days in quiet routine.

Peace, happiness, stability.

She felt as if she had experienced such emotions.

Perhaps for the first time since leaving her family.

‘It might not be so bad to live like this.’

Every now and then, a piercing loneliness would abruptly raise its head.

At times like that, the feeling that had burned quietly for five years before going out, like a log fire, would creep back up.

That useless emotion called lingering attachment.

But now that she had a “tomorrow,” she could keep herself from being buried beneath such feelings.

And so, a year passed in the blink of an eye.

It was around the time Odellie had grown accustomed to each day she remained alive.

Without any warning, the grand duke’s aide, dressed in black formal attire, came to see her.

“His Highness the Grand Duke has passed away.”

Bringing news of her ex-husband’s death.

“……What?”

“…….”

“That can’t be…….”

To suddenly say the grand duke had died.

“Only a year ago…….”

Had he not been alive and perfectly well?

He had not been terminally ill and about to die like her, nor had he suffered from any chronic disease.

There was no way she could believe it when told so suddenly…….

She hoped he would say anything more, but the aide stood still, his face straining to keep his emotions under control.

He handed her a scroll.

With faintly trembling hands, Odellie barely managed to break the seal and unfurl the scroll.

It was an inheritance notice.

And…….

A will containing the grand duke’s final words.

[After my death, I bequeath all territories, titles, authority, and assets of House Excepcion in their entirety to Odellie Cardel.]

“Why…….”

Her thoughts, her emotions—everything tangled together without order.

All Odellie had was the question, “why?”