Prologue

Prologue

“I have to leave for a campaign soon.”

Following a sudden, unexpected uproar over an apparent new mistress, Mr. Fisalis quite literally swept me away into the night, allowing the other knights and our butler, Rohtas, to show me that I was mistaken and to dispel my doubts. There was no new mistress at all, just Mr. Fisalis and his division conducting undercover work. What a relief that was all over with!

We were in the carriage on our way home when Mr. Fisalis broke the news of his upcoming campaign over muffled clacking and creaking sounds as the carriage rocked gently over the road.

A campaign, not a business trip. It’s just one different word, but I’m feeling so uneasy over it.

“A campaign? Not one of your regular business trips?”

“Yeah. This will be a campaign. And a long one, at that.”

“For... how long?”

“At the shortest, one month. Longest... I don’t know. That’s why I couldn’t stand the thought of leaving you with this misunderstanding still between us. I wanted to leave without having to worry about what you thought of me, and everything ended up getting rushed.”

Maybe it was the grim line of his mouth or the way he was more solemn in that moment than I had ever seen him before, but something about him made me anxious. Unsure of what to say, I gazed at him as he remained equally silent for a moment before continuing.

“You don’t need to look so surprised. Trust me, I swear I’ll come home. Just promise you’ll be waiting on my return,” he told me with a soothing, gentle smile.

I would have forgotten that we had that conversation, except that our marriage of convenience—I mean, our contractual marriage—had been otherwise rather void of emotion. How could he say those sappy lines with a straight face? Did he think we were lovey-dovey newlyweds? We were long past that point.

Mr. Fisalis wanted a fake marriage so he wouldn’t have to break up with his long-term girlfriend and love of his life (life being the operative word), Miss Calendula, and I, in turn, was drawn into this marriage by the promise that he would take on my parents’ debt. Our goals were perfect matches for each other, so we entered a marriage of convenience. Besides, it wasn’t like we were deeply in love or anything!

Granted, it never felt like a tragedy or some grim decision. I knew my chances, and I knew what I was: a four among tens (both on the outside and the inside), the daughter of a penniless earl. I’d made my official debut into high society, yes, but we didn’t exactly have cash to spare and parties were generally a pain to boot, so I very rarely went out after that. You couldn’t even really call me a proper young lady at that point, so it was no surprise when marriage proposals didn’t exactly come flooding in.

I was on the precipice of the unthinkable (for a lady of means, anyway): convincing myself that I didn’t need a husband! That I was more than capable of enjoying my life as a strong, independent, single woman! When, out of nowhere... a marriage proposal finally arrived.

I couldn’t help but wonder whose idea of a joke it was, asking me of all people to marry them, when to my disbelief, Father told me that it was Duke Cercis Tinensis Fisalis, the son of one of the wealthier noble families of Flür and a man of unparalleled beauty and celebrity.

...His offer had also came with a “be my show wife so I can continue seeing my girlfriend who is terrible for me in every way imaginable” clause. All I had to do was accept that clause and my beloved parents would be free of their debt. It was no wonder then that, true to my nature, I didn’t hesitate to sign.

And with the flick of a pen, we got married (or should I say ‘we concluded our negotiations?’).

My new husband took little notice of me and didn’t think much about his manor, either; I feared a pathetic life in the shadows awaited me. But as it turned out, what was actually waiting for me was a delightful new life as the lady of the house.

Under the watchful eyes of the manor’s wonderful and highly capable servants, I earned my stripes as something of a servant myself as I helped with the daily dusting, washing, and gardening! (Huh?) I-I, of course, I’m learning proper social etiquette, too. You know, because I’m a lady. Rohtas hasn’t let up with his torturous dance lessons, and I never know what to expect with Dahlia’s etiquette lessons, so those always help to keep me on my toes. And thanks to my maid, Mimosa, and her Spa Squad, my skin has never been smoother and my my hair has never been glossier. And since I’m basically living a servant’s life, I usually wear a servant’s uniform, only occasionally transforming into a duchess☆

Or at least, that’s what it feels like some days. At any rate, I’ve adapted to my new life in the duke’s manor.

I never missed Mr. Fisalis while I was relaxing in the servants’ dining room or eating with the servants on my breaks; in fact, it was as if I had died and gone to heaven!

The next thing I knew, however, Mr. Fisalis had gotten into an argument with Miss Calendula and broken up with her. I couldn’t believe it. I mean, hadn’t he married me precisely because he was in love with her? He didn’t stop with just cutting things off with her, either—he even went so far as to actually amend our contract. I thought you were supposed to stick to the original wording with contracts!

Once he had broken up with Miss Calendula, Mr. Fisalis started paying a lot more attention to me. But instead of being happy with his sudden about-face in behavior, I was mostly just confused. He started taking me on dates that really just served to show off his status and giving me expensive clothes and jewelry... It was like he was doing everything he could to push me out of my comfort zone. I guess you could say everything he did was a major turn off to me, but however you slice it, it was really... strange, honestly.

Around that time, Mr. Fisalis also realized something wasn’t right and asked Rohtas and my closest maids, Dahlia and Mimosa, what sort of things I liked. It seems like he put in a lot of hard work to learn more about me. It made me kind of happy to hear that.

After that, we survived one of Rohtas’ dance lessons together, Mr. Fisalis and I, and then he was very understanding when I broke a pricey vase, even helping me find a replacement. As we slowly started to spend more time together, I came to realize that there was more to him than I’d thought and then that moment in the carriage happened, and I discovered he wasn’t as indifferent to me as I’d thought.

But when a rumor of a new mistress started to circulate, I just assumed he was back to his old tricks! But this time, Mr. Fisalis really went all out to dispel the misunderstanding, going so far as to nearly leak classified information to me. His actions in that moment made me want to overlook his past transgressions. Er, rather... The whole mistress scandal was really just him and his division at work. Sorry about that, Mr. Fisalis! My bad.

And it was with all this new information spinning around in my head that I sat there dumbstruck in the carriage while Mr. Fisalis gazed fervently at me. Just as I was starting to feel so much closer to him than I did in the early days of our marriage, he told me that he was leaving for a campaign. Everything just felt... different. The way he looked at me, the anxious heaviness in the air.

It’s all starting to make me a little nervous!