After attending Irina’s wedding and raising Tia, I felt a pressing realization.
Tia needs a father.
Of course, I believe I have managed quite well on my own until now.
I have successfully sent her to a prestigious school and provided opportunities to meet people from various social classes.
But what’s clear is that there are limitations.
Tia has top-tier talent, but it is highly likely that under my guidance, she will not reach her highest potential.
She needs someone who can take her to greater heights, to a broader world.
Another reason is that I feel a deep need for a companion.
I decided to think about it rationally.
From now on, I am in a position where I cannot die and must live eternally.
Additionally, I live in fear of the church.
Is there someone who can understand me, hide me, and be with me forever?
There is. Surprisingly.
Just one person.
The very person I had hated so much.
Now, someone I don’t dislike as much.
I honestly don’t know much about love or anything like that.
After all, I am a man.
When I am with the Duke, I feel at ease, want to lean on him, want to hold his hand, and want to bury my face in his chest, but it doesn’t seem like love.
However, I need the Duke, and the Duke wants me.
Perhaps that is the only thing that matters.
“Master.”
“Yes. Please speak.”
“I need to marry you.”
.
.
.
I need to get married.
Upon hearing those words, the Duke swallowed his bitter feelings.
It was clear that Julia had expressed it in her own considerate way.
I do not love you, but I am willing to marry you because it has several advantages.
Julia was hinting at that meaning.
“I’m fine with it.”
“Are you really okay? You’re marrying a woman who doesn’t love you?”
“That’s the case for most partnerships. In noble society, there are many women who cry as they are sold off to their husbands. Among them, many eventually become couples who can’t live without each other over time. Relationships that start with love are more rare.”
“Even so, this is… not the same… I’m a man?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me. I probably will never love you eternally. I might receive protection from you and a lot of help through the marriage, but you won’t gain anything.”
It was ridiculous.
While being sold off, she worries about me.
The Duke held Julia’s hand firmly and bit his lip.
The more Julia leaned toward him, the greater his guilt became.
“Why would I gain nothing? I’ll be able to be with the woman I love forever.”
“At first, it may be good, but over time, you might dislike it. Regardless of how beautiful the woman is, they say that if her temper is bad, many end up divorcing later.”
“Miss Julia has a good heart, though.”
“It was a metaphor. Don’t take it literally.”
“Hahaha. I know. But it’s alright. I believe that one day, Miss Julia will warm up to me.”
“Really? Aren’t you worried I might cheat?”
“……”
The tips of the Duke’s eyes twitched.
He worries.
Of course he does.
In fact, when he ran around pretending to meet Alexander every Sunday, he even contemplated how to kill that gloomy priest.
But all those worries were futile.
“I’m going to stop worrying. Since, anyway, there’s no one but me who can stay by your side until the very end. While living through eternity, my heart may waver for a while, but I believe you will return to me.”
“You’re quite confident.”
Leaning against the Duke’s shoulder, Julia took a deep breath and felt herself calming down.
Why does his scent make people feel so relaxed?
She briefly thought that it closely resembled Tia’s scent.
“Miss Julia doesn’t need to worry about me. You don’t need to pretend to love me. I won’t ask for intimacy, nor will I demand sweet whispers of love. I’m simply satisfied if you prepare my meals with care, welcome me when I return home, and occasionally listen to my worries, while sharing your own with me as a faithful wife.”
“Is that really enough…?”
“It would actually be better this way. Emotions like love or lust are like fire; they are intense when they burn, but they die down quickly. We are companions who will live together through eternity, walking side by side. While it may not be intense, a longer-lasting and stronger bond might be better.”
“……”
Having been persuaded, Julia fell silent, lost for words.
A companion in life who won’t let her feel lonely even through eternity.
It was clear that a disrupted relationship with such a person would make her endless life difficult ahead.
Yet, that counterpart didn’t seem to think much about being burdensome.
It couldn’t be better.
“That’s nice. Such a relationship.”
“……”
Julia smiled shyly and rubbed her cheek against the Duke’s shoulder.
What she thought was just a man driven mad by lust turned out to see much farther into the future.
Meanwhile, she remained completely unaware that the Duke was desperately trying not to let his trousers bulge as he arched his back.
*
“Tia, Mom might be getting married.”
“……!”
That was like a thunderbolt.
Upon hearing those words, Tia couldn’t wrap her head around it.
Her mouth was agape, unable to close, while preparations for school were made in a flash…
“Tia, are you okay? Why do you look so dazed?”
“I don’t know. I’ve felt this way since I was heading to school.”
“Muah!”
“Whoa, you scared me.”
After arriving at school and a while passing, Tia finally regained her composure.
The shock was that immense.
Tia turned her head to check the faces of the children surrounding her.
Thuris and her classmates were nearby.
Worried about Tia’s unusual state, Nikolai stared at her from outside the classroom door.
Thinking that she had plenty of people to share her worries with, Tia immediately opened her mouth.
“Mom is getting married!”
“Well, that makes sense. She was single.”
“She was incredibly beautiful the last time I saw her at the entrance ceremony. It would be strange if she didn’t.”
“You’ve grown a lot, so she probably wants to fall in love.”
Tia was even more shocked when she saw the indifferent reactions from those around her.
Her mom was getting married?
The mom who had only loved her was going to have a man?!
Is this something that is supposed to be taken for granted?
She couldn’t comprehend it.
“Then who in the world is the partner?”
“Well, it would be Duke Dragania.”
“Isn’t that obvious? Who else is there?”
“Why do you think the Duke has been living at the villa since leaving his home…?”
This is unbelievable.
Everyone knew except me.
Tia felt dazed, unable to speak for a long time.
“Am I the only one who didn’t know?!”
So it was just me who was shocked.
I thought my mom would live happily with me forever without marrying for thousands of years.
I was the only one who hadn’t sensed the relationship between my mom and the Duke.
How could everyone around me know except for me?
“I don’t want Mom to get married! I just want her to live with me! I just wish she would love me!”
“Oh dear. Here comes the tantrum.”
“Give it up, Tiamat. Once your mom gets married, she’ll probably have a little brother soon. When that happens, the little brother will monopolize all your parents’ love.”
“……!”
At Nikolai’s words, Tia whipped her head around.
This was an emergency.
There might be a little brother.
That little brother would take all the love.
This was unacceptable.
Such a thing could never be allowed to happen.
“I absolutely cannot let her get married!”
I cannot let anyone take my mom’s love away.
I will protect my mom.
With that single thought, Tia clenched her fists.
This marriage was something I strongly opposed.
It absolutely had to be stopped.
“So, uh, how do we block it?”
“Hmmmm…”
At Thuris’s question, Tia rested her chin on her hand and seriously contemplated for a while.
How could she make it so that Mom and the Duke’s marriage never happens?
Would it not work if her mom started to hate the Duke?
But,
“But Mom already hates the Duke?!”
It was impossible to make someone who already dislikes someone dislike them even more.
“I can’t do it! Thuris!”
“Uh, what?”
“Thuris, move into our house as my little brother! Then my mom won’t have a little brother!”
“Uh, uh uh?!”
Embarrassment began to spread across Thuris’s face.
While he was seriously pondering how he could move into the Duke’s villa as a little brother.
The door creaked open, and Yuli entered, scratching the back of her head.
“What’s the first class today? Gym. Tsk. Sounds annoying; do you guys just want to play dodgeball?”
“Yes, yes, yes!!!”
Right away, Tia jumped up from her seat and enthusiastically responded.
With thoughts of happily playing dodgeball, her plan to obstruct her mom’s marriage was quickly pushed aside.
“Muhehe! That was fun!”
“Tia, so about moving in as a little brother…”
“Huh? Little brother? What do you mean?”
“Oh, it’s nothing…”
And when Tia returned to the classroom, sweating profusely, she had completely forgotten about her plan to interfere with her mom’s marriage, as well as the fact that her mom was getting married.
