Rejecting The Perfect Marriage - Chapter 8

“How amusing. Those who so eagerly accepted everything from the House of Ohara are suddenly talking about class and standards.”

“T-that’s…”

“Perhaps you’d like to check where your current suits and jewelry came from?”

His grey eyes landed on Count Lian’s tie pin—a hefty sapphire, easily over 20 carats, surrounded by diamonds. The nobles, realizing just how much the Duke noticed, coughed and turned red.

“…Count Ohara was the one who insisted we look after his daughter.”

“Then keep your promise. You accepted his gifts, so you entered into a fair bargain.”

“Duke! How can you—”

Count Lian narrowed his eyes at Decarno’s steady tone. This was all wrong. Frowning deeper, he pressed a hand to the desk.

“Do you… do you actually love that woman?”

“What do you mean?”

“I just can’t understand why you insist on such a disastrous marriage unless it’s a matter of the heart.”

He didn’t believe it himself, but he needed to press for any answer. All eyes turned to Decarno in a heavy silence, anxious to hear his reply.

“Of course not.”

“Ah…”

A sigh of relief—or something like it—escaped from the crowd. In the commotion, none of them heard the footsteps stopping outside the door.

“Then why are you being so stubborn?”

“Because it’s convenient.”

“……”

“Evangeline Ohara is a prepared duchess. At this point, searching for another woman would be troublesome, and there’s no guarantee anyone else could do as well as she has.”

Decarno’s words were as smooth as they were factual. If you looked only at what Evangeline had shown—both in the family and in society over the last two years—the matter was settled.
On top of that, she was the only woman ever recognized by both the famously exacting former duchess and the noble lady of the distant northern Nyx Duchy.

Still, the issue was what it was; it felt a little too easy to just let it go.

“Even so, this is a once-in-a-lifetime marriage. Shouldn’t we at least take some time to reconsider…”

“She’s never disappointed me—except for this one incident.”

“Duke…”

“I hate nuisances. Let’s settle this here.”

As the duke pressed his fingers to his furrowed brow, even Count Lian had to fall silent.
Decarno’s sharp gaze flickered through his fingers, landing on each of them one by one.

“If you want to keep pressing this issue, be prepared to hand over not just the jewelry you’re wearing, but every piece of land and business tied to the Teze name.”

“…Hmph.”

“I’ll take your silence as agreement.”

It was an elegant dismissal, but a warning all the same: everyone here, in one way or another, depended on the House of Teze. If he wished it, Decarno could ruin any of them overnight.

Quick with their calculations, the relatives quietly slunk away. Only Count Lian lingered a moment, shooting a last resentful look, but even he couldn’t do much more. When the door finally closed with a hesitant click, Decarno leaned back in his chair.

“Ha.”

Love? The thought was almost laughable.

He’d heard all kinds of rumors in his position, but he hadn’t expected to hear something so ridiculous as that.

Yes—ridiculous.

There was no other way to put it. Evangeline Ohara was… simply convenient. Even after everything that had happened, nothing about her value as a duchess had changed.

Given his age and his status, marriage was inevitable anyway. And there was no better candidate than Evangeline. He didn’t even need his mother’s approval anymore.

She was elegant and rational, and skilled at concealing her own emotions. She handled people flawlessly—sometimes manipulating them with ease. Her knowledge was impressive; she was never out of place in any conversation.

And that was all.

“…Right.”

Decarno slowly opened his eyes as he leaned back. Of course, not everything about her was perfect. The scratch on her cheek lately had bothered him more than he cared to admit—but it would soon heal, leaving no trace.

There was nothing more to it. There couldn’t be.

That was the nature of this position.

It was an unsatisfying conclusion, but Decarno was not the type to second-guess his own decisions. He was tired of overthinking.

He signed the sales contract lying before him without a moment’s hesitation.

The Rodka Plains and the vineyards in the south—some of the most fertile land in the Veliche Empire. But he had no regrets. It was a fair price to restore Evangeline as the perfect duchess.

◇ ◆ ◇

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Grace the Duke of Teze. I am—”

“I know who you are, Lady Ohara.”

Looking back now, her first meeting with him had been remarkably ordinary. Or, more precisely, both families had gone to great lengths to make it appear that way.

Her father had become an honorary member of a hunting club she’d never even heard of, donating an enormous sum for the privilege. He brought her as his guest, even though a double-member pass was twice the cost of a regular one—but to her father, it was pocket change.

The late Dowager Duchess had done her part, too. While not as proactive as her father, she saw to it that her son was “coincidentally” forced to attend the same hunting club party. She made excuses about too many wild animals on the family’s estate, but Evangeline suspected the prey she wanted her son to catch wasn’t the four-legged kind.

And so, that was how she met him.

On the second-floor balcony overlooking the riverside, Decarno spoke her name for the first time. Maybe that was both the beginning and the whole of it.

They exchanged introductions, started talking little by little, and before she knew it, she had become part of House Teze.

Throughout that whole process, Decarno never once disappointed her. No matter the situation, he was always proper—never once impolite. There were never any crude jokes or those blatant stares of admiration she was so used to from others. Sometimes, he would give a faint smile, but it never seemed to carry any real emotion.

Maybe that’s why, from time to time, she had wondered why he had agreed to marry her at all.

And only today did she finally learn the answer.

“Because it’s convenient.”