.jpg)
Only after I was standing entirely on my own could I look the three men straight in the eye, one by one.
With my hands clasped together and my back straight, I spoke.
“I am scheduled to be engaged to a certain man, but I would rather die than be entangled with him. Therefore, I would like one of you to act as my long-time lover and help me break off this engagement.”
The reason I kept my explanation so vague was because of Yulan's warning.
Explaining my incredibly complicated situation from start to finish was a task meant for only one person—the one who would actually end up playing my lover.
After a moment's hesitation, I slowly bowed.
I wanted them to feel that I was seeking their help with absolute sincerity.
I straightened my back at the same slow pace I had bowed.
Though it was only a short amount of time, I noticed a subtle shift in the expressions of the three men.
To be precise, the aversion I had felt from their faces had clearly faded.
One of the men, sitting in the middle, tilted his head up slightly and asked.
“Um, Miss?”
“Yes, please speak.”
“Why our guild, of all places? From the looks of it, you seem very, uh, sophisticated? I mean, no one would believe that someone like you is lovers with guys like us.”
Though he corrected himself at the end, his dialect still seemed to cling to his tongue.
Just in case, I asked the other two men.
“If you don't mind me asking, where are your hometowns?”
“I'm from the East.”
“I'm from the South, sir.”
As soon as I heard the answers, I looked straight at Yulan.
He gave a light shrug and said,
“If it were a man from the capital, there's no way he wouldn't know the lady, right? This adds a sense of realism.”
“What kind of nonsense is that...?”
The name 'Princess Martyr' itself was certainly famous.
However, the fact that there was a princess within House Martyr was a piece of information so trivial that one could easily go their entire life without knowing it.
Nobles like a Duke were, after all, like stars in the night sky.
To those busy living hand-to-mouth, talk of a Princess Martyr would hardly even register.
The three men who had just entered this room were no different.
“How long has it been since you all came to the capital?”
Perhaps not expecting me to ignore Yulan and question them directly, all three of them hesitated, glancing nervously at Yulan.
Feeling that I wouldn't get a proper answer this way, I reached out and covered both of Yulan's ears with my hands.
Yulan looked utterly bewildered, but whether he found it funny or not was none of my concern.
“I won't tell this man. So please, answer honestly. Yes?”
“Uh, yes? Well...”
Only after I went this far did the hesitating men answer in shrinking voices.
“About 15 years...”
“I've only been here for 3 years, sir.”
“8 years.”
Unconsciously, I tightened my grip on Yulan's ears.
'Why on earth did he assemble only men from the provinces, to the point where they have dialects, and not even from the outskirts of the capital? Did he read some pulp novel where a noble lady falls for a commoner from the countryside?'
I tried to grasp Yulan's intention, but it wasn't easy.
However, he surely wanted my plan to succeed as much as I did.
Only if this childish love story worked would we avoid the disaster of my father digging into the background and discovering Yulan.
With a sigh, I let go of his ears.
Instead, I looked at Yulan without hiding my dissatisfied gaze.
“Fine, I'll accept your opinion. You must have a reason.”
“I'll have to make sure I don't disappoint the lady.”
With an exaggeratedly polite gesture, he turned toward the three men and spoke.
“First, alright, Jack. You stand by the lady first.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yes, hurry. The lady doesn't have much time.”
Coming from the person who had wasted the most of that 'busy lady's' time, it was a remarkably shameless thing to say.
But if I argued with him again here, I would only be wasting more of the little time I had, so I endured it.
When I approached the man called Jack and held out my hand, he looked lost for a moment before awkwardly interlocking his fingers with mine.
“...This is quite refreshing.”
“Huh? Oh, excuse me?”
“No, it's a compliment. Your hands are large.”
“Ah, yes, I... tend to be on the larger side...”
Seeing him stammer through his words, it seemed Jack was a lost cause.
But perhaps if we shared the setting and practiced together, we could look like a decent couple.
Since he was one of the three Yulan had picked from so many people, it wasn't an overreach to have some faith in him.
“It's very awkward, but we can get used to it slowly.”
“Didn't you say you were in a hurry, Miss? Slowly?”
I had said it to ease Jack's tension, but Yulan's uncanny ability to nitpick my words made me grit my teeth.
After glaring at Yulan with cold eyes, I patted the back of Jack's hand, which was still interlaced with mine.
“Ignore him. Slowly. Got it, Jack?”
“Ah... Yes, slowly.”
“See. Your hand was shaking violently before, but it's a bit better now.”
I couldn't bring myself to say it wasn't shaking at all.
I knew he was trying, but no matter how I looked at it, our joined hands were definitely trembling.
After a moment's thought, I asked very carefully so as not to seem rude.
“...Um, Jack? Was it?”
“Ah, yes, I'm Jack.”
“Have you... ever had a lover before?”
“No, I ha-have... no, I haven't.”
It was only natural that my eyes immediately flew to Yulan.
Averting his gaze slightly, he spoke as if making an excuse.
“How many people are in our guild? How could I possibly know every single one of their romantic histories?”
“What? No, Captain, I...”
“Regrettably, Jack, you should head out. Go finish the drink you were having.”
“Huh? What? Yes?”
Jack, who continued to utter nothing but questions, was thus kicked out of the room.
All that remained inside were two bewildered men, Yulan, and my damp hand.
Wiping my hand with a handkerchief, I asked the two men.
“What about you two...?”
“Ah, I have a wife. We had a very cute daughter last year, and she's so clever that...”
Once again, I looked at Yulan.
While Vic was boasting about his young daughter, he was ushered out of the room.
Now, only the bewildered Sol, Yulan, and I remained.
As the gaze naturally shifted to Sol, he waved both hands and spoke rapidly.
“I've dated before, I don't have a wife, and I definitely don't have kids!”
“That's a relief...”
If anyone were to ask if marital status mattered for a simple acting job, I would tell them to look at my father.
He was a man who was digging into the Imperial Family's secrets simply because my name had been erased.
If he found out that the commoner I brought as my long-time lover had a family...
'Ugh, I'm terrified just imagining it.'
Of course, after the engagement was completely canceled, he would have to become the bastard who ran away from me, but until then, he had to be a single man with absolutely no disqualifying factors.
He seemed a bit timid and prone to nervousness, but well, it would be hard to find a perfect candidate without a single flaw in such a short time, so I'd have to overlook this.
'In the first place, a commoner who didn't tremble at all in front of my father would look even stranger, so this might not be bad.'
Having finished my deliberation, I turned toward Sol and opened my arms.
To Sol, who was just staring at me blankly, I beckoned with my finger and said,
“Hug me. Naturally, like a lover.”
“Huh? No, what?!”
“Mr. Sol, you're the only one left who can take my request, right? So let's get this moving quickly.”
Looking straight at the stunned Sol, I gave a firm nod.
Then, Sol's frozen feet began to move forward, one step, then two.
.jpg)