Chapter 3.1

‘What a bunch of dramatic nonsense…’

Cynthia stood with her arms crossed, slightly leaning to one side.

Dale observed her with a gentle smile in his eyes.

“Our proposal is very simple. We only ask that you visit the Grand Duke’s estate when we call and spend some time with Grand Duke Tesion Romanov, Lady Elizabeth’s fiancé.”

“…All I have to do is spend time with him?”

“Yes. The meeting is expected to last about an hour, and all you need to do is have a brief conversation with him. So far, the two of you have only met once, and it was a very brief encounter, so there’s no need to worry about it.”

Dale removed his glasses and took out a polished cloth from inside his coat, calmly wiping them down. Even that simple act radiated unwavering discipline.

‘He’s the perfect image of a loyal Bailey family aide…’

While watching him in silence, Cynthia thought about Grand Duke Tesion Romanov.

Grand Duke Tesion Romanov.

He was the official fiancé of Elizabeth, the heroine of the original novel, and one of the twenty-one male leads. He had been by her side the longest and knew her best, yet never once so much as touched her hand. A man of steel restraint and absolute purity.

He had lost his sight in a tragic accident as a child and lived in darkness ever since, only regaining his vision in the latter part of the novel…

As she quietly pondered, she spoke again.

“Even so, there’s no way Grand Duke Tesion wouldn’t notice that his fiancée has changed. He’s not some fool.”

“There’s no need to worry about that. Lady Elizabeth was raised on a rural estate under the Bailey family and only moved to the capital less than a year ago. Even then, she barely left the mansion because she was busy with noble etiquette lessons. She also has a rather sensitive temperament and doesn’t get along well with others…”

“….”

“In short, very few have encountered her in person, including His Highness the Grand Duke.”

“And?”

“Hair color and eye color. As long as the basic appearance matches, it shouldn’t pose a significant issue.”

Cynthia, still eyeing him with suspicion, asked,

“If I go through with this because I trust you, Dale, what happens if someone discovers my true identity?”

“As I mentioned earlier, the Bailey family will do everything in our power to guarantee your safety.”

“…It really is five million mint, right?”

“It is.”

Dale nodded with a soft smile. Cynthia stretched out her small hand in front of him, palm open.

“Please give me the advance payment now.”

“Of course. Please come this way.”

౨ৎ

The Bailey estate’s study.

Cynthia followed Dale into a spacious, high-ceilinged room.

Dale, walking ahead, opened a drawer in the desk and pulled out a sheet of paper stamped with the Bailey family seal. He picked up a fountain pen and began jotting down a few lines, scribbling them out without much formality.

‘That’s probably the contract, and next to it… is that a blank check?!’

Cynthia had been watching Dale with her mouth wide open when she suddenly came to her senses and spoke up.

“By the way, Dale…”

“Yes, Cynthia?”

“Why are you going this far?”

“Pardon?”

Dale raised his head from where it had been resting on the desk. She met his gaze, gave a slight shrug, and repeated the question.

“Lady Elizabeth died, and not a single person seemed to care. No one mourned her. All they cared about was making sure the engagement with Grand Duke Tesion didn’t fall apart.”

“….”

“And this proposal is strange too. It’s not like you’re asking me, ‘Please help us fill the void Lady Elizabeth left behind.’ You’re flat-out asking me to pose as a fake fiancée.”

At her words, Dale’s hand, which had been busily moving across the paper, froze. He set the fountain pen down slowly and looked up at her.

“…You’re quite perceptive. Though I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Yes?”

Dale raised an eyebrow as he answered.

“I’ve said this more times than I can count today, but this is the Bailey estate. There’s no such thing as family bonds, sentimentality, or love here. You should think of the Baileys not as a family, but as a corporation.”

“What? Still, someone died…”

“That’s exactly it. They’re so desperate to maintain the engagement that they’re even willing to put in a substitute. The Bailey family never cared about Lady Elizabeth to begin with. All they care about is the benefit her engagement brings them.”

Cynthia frowned.

In the Bailey family, where daughters were a rarity, Elizabeth was a girl from a collateral branch, hastily adopted as the Duke’s foster daughter a few months ago, all to secure a political marriage with the Grand Duke.

“Why is that jewelry guild they’re supposed to get back through the engagement so important, anyway?”

The merchant guild, which was supposedly once owned by the Bailey family, didn’t play much of a role in the original novel. And while she had known Elizabeth struggled among her borderline-villainous family members, she hadn’t realized it was this severe.

Then again, the novel mostly focused on all the 19+ content…

Ahem!

Suddenly feeling embarrassed, Cynthia cleared her throat.

‘No wonder she was so emotionally unstable, growing up in a place like that…’

She recalled the original novel, where Elizabeth’s emotional void—rooted in her dysfunctional family—was portrayed as something she tried to resolve through intense relationships with men.

‘When you think about it like that… Elizabeth’s life must have been quite lonely.’