“I heard contract marriages are trending these days.”

Amil suddenly spoke, interrupting my paperwork. It was unusual for him to bring up a topic unrelated to work.

〈 It Was a Contract Marriage, but I Ended Up Finding Love. 〉

On his desk, amidst the papers, there was a single book placed deliberately. It was the romance novel that had gained immense popularity, the one that actually sparked the trend of contract marriages.

“If you were to enter into a contract marriage, what conditions would you set?”

Restrict access within a 42.195 km radius.

“Well, I haven’t really thought about it. I never considered it.”

“I find it hard to believe that you’ve never thought about it.”

He replied.

I sensed that there was something more he wanted to say.

“I don’t suppose you didn’t realize that the only way to avoid marrying the Emperor is to marry someone.”

He continued with a soft smile. There was something hidden beneath his gentle laughter. I could feel the tension in the air.

I realized what Amil wanted to convey.

…He knew that I had entered into a contract marriage with Reinhardt.

“…Yes.”

I responded, feeling a cold sweat running down my spine. I tried to maintain a calm voice.

“It’s not that I haven’t thought about it. But no one was willing to enter into a contract with me, so I quickly gave up on that idea. Everyone was afraid of provoking the Emperor.”

“Only those who are not afraid to provoke the Emperor would agree to contract marriage with Irovel. Ah! My cousin was a perfect match, wasn’t he?”

“Well, that may be true, though Reinhardt and I decided to get married because we fell in love at first sight.”

If I calmly thought about it, there was no need to be surprised. Amil’s words so far were just hypothetical. Even if it were a marriage contract, there would be nothing he could do about it. He had no evidence.

“So, you expect me to believe that Reinhardt decided to marry someone he met less than a day? Do you really expect me to believe that?”

“Well, if he’s faced with an extraordinary beauty, people can act differently than usual.”

Amil laughed at my shameless response.

“Huh, you’re saying that you’re beautiful in your own words?”

“Then, what do you think?”

“I can’t say no to that… but…”

“Besides, I have my own charms. Moreover, I know very well how to appear more attractive! How refreshing I must be to the prudish Reinhardt. Don’t you think?”

“….”

At those words, Amil narrowed his eyes and tightly closed his lips. It was the first time I saw a cold expression on him.

In response to his honest expression, I also discarded the pretense between us.

“Marquess Leopold. It seems like you’re trying to force the idea that we entered into a contract marriage, but it’s incredibly impolite to accuse someone without any evidence. And even if Reinhardt and I did have a contract marriage, what does that have to do with you?”

“There’s nothing I can do, but it would be different if it were my aunt.”

He was referring to Camilla, his aunt. If she found out that we had entered into a contract marriage, it would cause a huge problem. As the former Duchess of Erestein, she had the authority to annul our marriage.

“Do you really think she would believe your baseless accusations?”

“If she hear this, she would think what I’m saying is not baseless but true.”

Hear this? What? No, it couldn’t be.

In an instant, Amil pulled out an object that looked somewhat familiar, with a slightly different design.

“It’s a recording device. Designed to be used discreetly.”

He pressed a button on the device, and a voice flowed out.

“No, besides that. Did you find him handsome or not?”

“Ah…”

“He was handsome, I guess.”

“I knew it!! My words were right, weren’t they?”

“I said he was handsome, but I didn’t say I fell for him.”

“But isn’t that what it means to you, Madam?”

“No, not really. If I fell for every handsome man, I would have asked Reinhardt long ago to marry me for real instead of a contractual marriage.”

“You wouldn’t say that if it isn’t true, right?”

“….”

I sealed my lips silently.

“Didn’t you say it’s insulting to accuse someone without evidence?”

Amil spun the recording device and raised one corner of his mouth.

“What’s wrong? I’m just bringing the evidence before informing my aunt. It seems proper to inform the person involved first.”

He must have installed the recording device in advance. I didn’t expect this because it didn’t happen in the original story.

‘Maybe it was a trap that I used the recording device on the emperor.’

He was imitating my moves, that d*mn Emperor!

…What should I do? If Camilla listened to this recording, it wouldn’t end with just divorcing us. She might even try to eliminate me personally.

“…What do you want?”

“You’re asking what I want. I simply wanted to inform you before telling my aunt.”

Amil replied, pretending to search under the desk in the study. He seemed to imply that I could have hidden a concealed device like him.

“I see.”

I opened my mouth, recalling the original content.

“You’re asking me to surrender the authority to handle all documents and the family seal without my permission, and divorce is just a bonus.”

“No way.”

He denied it outright, but his face showed a hint of surprise. It seemed like he was curious how I knew. I couldn’t tell him that I knew because I read the original story.

Knowing secrets that others didn’t was my weapon.

“Ugh…”

At that moment, Amil suddenly wrapped his head with his hands and groaned.

“What’s wrong? Why are you like that?”

“…It’s nothing. I just have a severe headache.”

“Should I call a doctor?”

“It’s useless. It’ll subside in a moment.”

Come to think of it, the reason Amil became the emperor’s man was because of those headaches.

‘Wait… a headache—!’

Lucia also suffered from severe headaches. There was a turning point when her headaches suddenly disappeared as if washed away, and that was…

‘Awakening.’

The common symptom of a half-demon experiencing a severe headache before awakening was mentioned.

…If that was the case, maybe Amil?

Nevertheless, in the original story, there was no mention that Amil was a half-demon. Even when it was revealed that there were many distant descendants of demons, he wasn’t mentioned… Perhaps in the later part, his importance diminished, so there was no need to mention him.

‘…Should I give it a try?’

The condition for awakening a demon is simple: revealing their true nature. Just asking, ‘Are you a half-demon?’ and making them suspicious of their identity would fulfill that condition. If it was not true, I was the only one who would be embarrassed, so there was no harm in trying.

“Marquess Leopold. I feel like I might know why you’re suffering like this.”

I lowered my eyelashes and whispered softly. Amil’s eyes, distorted by pain, looked at me as if asking what nonsense I was talking about.

“Could it be because you haven’t realized that you’re a half-demon yet?”

In that moment, a brilliant light burst forth from Amil’s hair. Although he originally had black hair, the light had a pure pink color.

It was a signal that his awakening had begun.

‘I was right…!’

“That can’t be true. I’ve had black hair from the moment I was born until now.”

“Well… It doesn’t seem that way anymore.”

I took out a handheld mirror from the desk drawer and showed it to Amil. He was astonished when he saw his reflection in the mirror, emitting a pink light from his hair.

“This… How is this possible?!”

Amil, who had jumped up in surprise, eventually fell to his knees and sat down, stunned. It was no wonder he was shocked. He had lived his whole life without knowing that he was half-demon.

“A man is disgusting with pink hair!”

…Was he surprised about that? Not his true identity?’

“What are you talking about? Pink suits men.”

“I don’t like it!”

“Is it worse for you to have pink hair than the fact that you’re a half-demon?”

“I dislike both!”

Amil couldn’t take his eyes off himself in the mirror as his voice trembled.

“Why…why did this suddenly happen to me? Neither my mother nor my father are demons…”

“Well, there could have been a demon in your ancestors. Before the gates of the demon realm closed, there was active interaction between humans and demons.”

“Then, couldn’t anyone be a half-demon?”

‘That’s right. In fact, statistically, one out of every four people may have a demon in their ancestry. It’s revealed at the end of the novel.’

I shrugged my shoulders, swallowing the words, ‘That’s right. It’s a fact revealed at the end of the novel.’

“It’s possible.”

“Why me… It doesn’t make any sense.”

To comfort the despairing Amil, I mentioned a forgotten fact.

“But now you don’t seem to be in pain. Your headache has gone away, right?”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. How did this happen?”

“Magic has filled your body.”

Amil gazed at me suspiciously.

“How do you know that?”

—