Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Chapter 1. When I was young, my dream was to have a store of my own.

Whether it was a convenience store, a bakery, or a stationery shop, it didn't matter.

Born an orphan and having lived in poverty, I thought that once I became a shop owner, I would be able to have whatever I wanted freely.

As I grew older, I realized that becoming a shop owner didn't mean I could have whatever I wanted freely, but I still worked tenaciously to obtain my own store.

On the day I finally opened my store with the money I had saved that way, I died.

The cause of death was a heart attack.

But that life was not the end. When I opened my eyes, I had possessed the body of a fifteen-year-old girl.

Usually, when you look at novels, isn't it the standard to enter a precious body like the daughter of a grand duke or a saintess?

But I was an orphan again.

There was no need to resemble my previous life even in something like this.

Fortunately, in this country, the Empire, even an orphan could become a civil servant if they studied hard, so making a living was not a problem.

I resolved that in this life I would aim to become a government official early on for a comfortable future, but...

“So choose. Come on, stamp your seal here. Or else...”

The eyes of the man in front of me gleamed dangerously.

Treon Ibaropa.

Unlike his handsome and refined appearance, he was a man with a personality without blood or tears, a loyal vassal of Duke Valfruga, the male lead in the romance novel I had read.

I swallowed dry saliva and looked at the paper placed in front of me.

Judging only by the atmosphere, it was closer to human trafficking or a loan shark, but what lay before me was a marriage registration form.

Damn.

Only then did I recall who I had possessed and what kind of world this was.

It seems I have possessed a romance novel with the somewhat childish title ‘Taming the Beastman’.

My name is Felia Poldbish.

In the original, Felia, like me, was an orphan who married the ten-year-old male lead at the age of fifteen.

In the midst of a sensitive puberty period, she suddenly got a little groom.

Felia had no interest in the young male lead, and at the fact that she could resolve food, clothing, and shelter, she settled on the outskirts of the castle and lived quietly.

I don't know how Felia thought of that life.

However, she did not know what was happening in the ducal castle, nor did she know the fact that the male lead and female lead had fallen in love.

Then, on the day the male lead demanded a divorce from Felia in order to marry the female lead, she saw the now-adult husband, the male lead, for the first time and fell in love.

Felia told the female lead that she and the male lead had been in love since childhood, and that the female lead was merely a temporary plaything, trying to drive a wedge between the two.

Of course, Felia's scheme did not work, and Felia was killed by the male lead's hand just like that.

For the damn affection parade of the two protagonists, Felia was a villain who couldn't even become the final villain, used only as an extra no different from one.

After Felia died, the scene where the female lead and male lead made love confessions too embarrassing to put in their mouths while going to bed was really good.

In a way, Felia was also a pitiful woman.

The reason Felia and the male lead got married in the first place was because of the male lead's needs.

After the male lead's parents passed away, the still-young male lead could not inherit the family.

It was said that he could get it back when he became an adult, but there was no way they would give it back willingly.

So the male lead used the imperial law that a married person could inherit the family, married Felia, and inherited the family.

It was a marriage for the purpose of easily using and easily discarding from the beginning.

If it wasn't for this much reason, there was no way the high-ranking noble male lead, even if ruined, would marry Felia, an orphan with no connections.

“If I refuse this...”

I tried to hint a little.

Of course, if I get married, I can see the male lead's face, and once I become a person of a noble family, it will be easier to become a civil servant.

Still, I didn't want to be hit by the male lead's sword and die as a passing villain.

If I just refused this marriage, I could live peacefully without getting involved with the male lead for the rest of my life.

Male lead, you go your way!

I'll go my way!

Let's do that!

But before I could finish those words, I saw the hand of the knight beside me resting on the sword hilt.

It is an expression of strong will that since I have heard the story, they cannot let me live...

If I had known earlier where I had possessed, who I had possessed, I could have avoided it.

It wasn't that I followed because the orphanage director said she would give me chocolate bread in secret just for me.

“It's a joke. Why would I refuse such a good opportunity?”

I smiled brightly.

“That's fortunate.”

The man also smiled looking at me.

Hahahahaha.

We smiled facing each other for a while.

Nasty bastards.

As expected, they were like vassals who devoted their loyalty to the male lead's family.

I asked with a servile smile.

“Do I stamp the fingerprint seal below this?”

“Yes. You can stamp it next to the name.”

Already next to the male lead's name, the family's seal was neatly stamped.

I swallowed tears and stamped my fingerprint seal on the marriage registration form.

Seeing myself entering the pit of evil voluntarily, tears come out.

Since it has come to this, I'll live quietly as if I'm there but not there so as not to be killed by the male lead, and then get a divorce right away.

If it's a ducal castle, it's wide so they won't even know I'm there, and if it proceeds according to the original, they'll send me to the outskirts of the castle too.

Still, living alone might be a bit lonely, but can't I say I'll live in the village?

And that resolution completely disappeared exactly one week later, the moment I arrived at the ducal castle alone by carriage.* * *“H-here, why is it so c-c-c-cold.”

I chattered my teeth and put on one more layer of clothes.

Even after overlapping two layers of thick fur clothes, white breath still came out of my mouth.

“I'm sorry, Madam. We didn't have enough money to buy firewood... For now, please cover with this at least.”

The maid covered me with a thick blanket.

It was still cold, but better than nothing.

It wasn't that the male lead said ‘Your face looks bad. Send her to the abandoned palace.’ as soon as he saw me.

I still haven't seen the male lead's face since coming here.

It's just that this family is poor.

The male lead had a precious status befitting the male lead.

Founding contributor of the Empire, Duke of the Empire.

And that ducal family was currently completely ruined.

“Ha...”

I pressed my forehead.

The original started with the male lead fully grown.

It was mentioned in passing that the male lead was a genius who raised the fallen family again.

But in the original, after saving the family, the male lead spent money like water.

He was a man who, if the opponent bid 100 million marks at the auction house, would bid 1 billion marks, and bought expensive dresses and jewels for the female lead every single day.

He had never once shown such a poor appearance.

And poverty has degrees.

Isn't it a ducal family?

A family with an enormously wide territory, and jewels and artworks accumulated over time forming mountains.

I just imagined the family fortune was a bit declined, I never imagined it was ruined to this extent.

I looked around the room.

Even though it was the room where the duchess stayed, albeit nominally, not a single valuable item was visible.

Even the maids and servants, in this wide castle, I had only seen this child so far.

Normally, for a ducal family, the employees' clothes would be dressed in shiny good ones, but her clothes showed signs of being mended here and there.

“Hey, there.”

The maid answered with a bright smile.

“Call me Bella, Madam.”

“Okay, Bella. Are you the only maid?

“No, there are a few more.”

“Are there more than ten?”

“...”

Bella had no answer.

So not more than that.

I decided to ask directly.

“Bella. Why is this ducal house so poor?”

They say even if a rich person goes bankrupt, it lasts three generations!

Looking at the state inside the castle now, it seemed like loan sharks had come three times and swept everything.

“Well...”

The story Bella told was like this.

Three generations ago, that is, the male lead's great-grandfather was properly targeted by the Emperor.

Following the Emperor's order, at that time the great-grandfather went out to catch the dragon that was disturbing the Empire.

If he didn't go, it would be treason, so he had no choice.

But was dragon hunting an ordinary matter?

It was something possible only by pouring money and people wholesale.

Still, if you caught the dragon, you could get the treasure the dragon had collected little by little, so it wasn't a losing business.

So the great-grandfather mobilized all his wealth and went on the dragon hunt, but...

The problem was that the dragon was much stronger than expected.

So the great-grandfather and his vassals were all annihilated.

The invested wealth disappeared into thin air.

The Emperor, who had originally looked at the ducal family unfavorably, nitpicked that they failed to carry out the Emperor's order.

Thus the ducal family became a family with no talents, no money, and politically pushed back.

Still, to try to save it somehow, they ran here and there, but once started misfortune didn't end easily.

The invested businesses were either scammers or total losses.

The talents gathered attracted by the family's name either betrayed or fled in the night.

Thus, to save the family, they sold the remaining property to put out the urgent fire, but the ducal family walked the path of further decline.

Then eventually even the male lead's parents who ran day and night died, and the male lead was left alone.

Calculating, the male lead is exactly the 4th generation. Damn...

“Bella. Then when will the money to buy firewood come in?”

“That, I don't really know either...”

“Bella. This is really, really just in case I'm asking.”

I asked, hoping that Bella would give even a little positive answer.

“When was the last time you bought firewood?”

“One year ago...”

I tore at my hair.

The ducal family is at the northernmost part of the Empire.

Even inside the room and overlapping clothes, breath comes out.

No money to buy firewood, is there money to buy rice?

At this rate, I'll starve to death or freeze to death before being killed by the male lead's hand.

I forced myself to take a deep breath.

My nape felt stiff, I seemed to understand why the chairman who was shocked in dramas grabs the back of the neck and collapses.

This was no ordinary fraudulent marriage!

Now that I think about it, even if it's for use and discard, with the name value of a ducal family, couldn't they marry a moderately weak noble family?

There was a reason why they had no choice but to marry an orphan like me.

If parents had even a little sense, they wouldn't send their daughter to marry into such a ruined family!

I opened my mouth pretending to be calm.

It seemed my voice trembled a little, but it can't be helped.

“Bella. I have something to ask, I hope you answer honestly.”

“Yes...”

Bella answered while watching my mood.

“If I hadn't married my husband, what would happen to this family?”

“Um... there's a little remaining territory... it would be absorbed by another family, or His Majesty would take it?”

“Then my husband is no longer a noble?”

“Yes.”

Bella looked at me with uneasy eyes and quickly added.

“Um, Madam. If you get married while a minor, you can't divorce until you become an adult.”

She seemed afraid I would say I want a divorce.

It wasn't that I didn't think of that, but with Bella's words, I decided to give up.

Since I'm fifteen now, there are still 5 years left to become an adult.

“It's not that. Then how is His Majesty the Emperor? Does he still not like our family much...?”

“No. He doesn't really care... but he doesn't seem to like it that much either.”

Ah, why! What grudge does he have against an already ruined family!

“Why?”

“That, I don't really know either...”

My head hurt.

Anyway, for the next 5 years, I can't escape this family.‘Taming the Beastman’ starts when the male lead's age is twenty-five.

Since the male lead is ten now, it means he made the Empire's strongest, continent-conquering ducal family in 15 years.

Moreover, he is a genius in swordsmanship, so if he swings his sword once, a mountain collapses, the sea is parted...

Looking at the novel, whether the Emperor or other dukes, they couldn't raise their heads in front of the male lead.

So it means that saving this ducal family is not an impossible thing.

But I couldn't just rely on the male lead right now.

Who knows when the male lead will start seriously saving the family?

Rather than returning to the orphanage, I can't live even a year in this environment.

If I wait for the ten-year-old kid to grow up and support me, I'll freeze to death.

In the end, there's only one method.

This ducal family, I will save it.

Save the ducal family, raise the male lead well, and then get a divorce.

If I save the family, even so, they'll give me a fortune as alimony.

When the female lead appears, I can coolly divorce.

Then there will never be a thing of being killed by the male lead, and I can enjoy a happy second life with the fortune received as alimony.

A perfect plan.