6.
“Ma, marriage?”
The Master, who had been coughing for a long while, stared at her in astonishment.
“The Mayous Ducal Mansion?”
“Yes.”
When Judith answered, the Master could not hide his bewildered expression.
“That… The Young Duke is eight years old, isn’t he?”
“Not the Young Duke. Besides, early marriage is legally prohibited anyway.”
“I see… I was under the impression the Duke and Duchess enjoyed a very happy marriage?”
“Not the Duke. Besides, the Empire follows a strict monogamous system.”
“Then, who…?”
“The Young Duke.”
“Look, Lady Aylan. Are you talking about Ekian Mayous?”
“Yes.”
Judith understood why the Master was reacting so absurdly. It was only natural that talk of marrying a man who was officially missing in action would sound like madness.
To prevent any further debate, she said firmly, “You said you knew nothing about Young Duke Ekian Mayous, right? Then let’s keep it that way.”
“But how can you marry a missing man?”
“That is exactly how it will happen.”
Judith offered a bright smile. “Has my information ever been wrong before?”
* * *
He returned to the Gray Information Guild in a state of mild panic.
Stumbling into his room, closing the door, and finally collapsing into a chair, a dry laugh escaped his lips.
“Marriage to Ekian Mayous?”
She had been an absurd woman from the moment they first met. Lately, however, it was worse; she was committing shocking acts and spouting nonsense every single day.
Even though he had defused all the real bombs in his life, the Master’s head felt like it had been hit by a literal explosion.
From her nonsensical declaration that she loved Ekian Mayous—a man she hadn’t even exchanged a word with—to this sudden talk of marriage.
“Marriage without a husband?”
The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous it became.
Since she had visited the Mayous Ducal Mansion today, it meant she intended to gain the recognition of the Mayous Ducal House—but was that even possible?
The Mayous Ducal House was a power unto itself, boasting influence comparable to the Imperial Family. They were not targets she could manipulate or deceive at will.
And from what he had observed thus far, Judith Aylan was, at the very least, a kind and righteous person. She was not the type of woman capable of defrauding such a house.
“No, that’s why it makes even less sense.”
The Master muttered in a voice thick with confusion.
“Marriage to the Young Duke, what on earth…”
In the empty room, he finally took off his mask, feeling suffocated. The mask, which had meticulously covered even the back of his head, fell to the floor with a dull thud.
His hidden, jet-black hair spilled out. A head of hair like the night sky, a straight forehead and neat, dark eyebrows, cold, deep eyes, and a sculpted nose bridge were revealed.
His pupils were a dark, bruised red, as if stained with blood, and his sharp jawline harmonized with the soft curve of his lips.
“How on earth are you going to marry me?”
The Master of the Gray Information Guild.
A man who had founded an information guild with his bare hands while hiding his identity in his late teens, he had become the king of these back alleys.
Not even his closest associates at the Gray Information Guild had ever seen his face. Furthermore, he was a master of swordsmanship, a skill he kept hidden from everyone.
His true identity was that of Ekian Mayous.
It had been exactly five years since he had run away from the Mayous Ducal Mansion. In other words, having been missing for five years meant an official death declaration was inevitable.
‘That is correct. There shouldn’t be a place for me in the Mayous Ducal House.’
Ekian closed his eyes, thinking of the Duke and Duchess Mayous and his younger brother, Karl Mayous.
‘I must remain a missing person.’
If he did not disappear, the Duke and Duchess would never make Karl the successor.
He had enjoyed the support of the retainers since he was young. Unless the situation forced Karl to take the position of Young Duke because of an official death report, there was practically no way for him to step down.
‘There isn’t much time left, so what on earth is this about marriage…’
He could not fathom what Judith Aylan was thinking. Only her confident words remained vivid.
‘Has my information ever been wrong before?’
Judith and Ekian had officially had not a single point of contact.
That was natural. When he was at the Mayous Ducal Mansion, Ekian had barely enough time to meet with high-ranking nobles, and he didn’t care for social circles, so he didn’t mingle much.
‘Judith Aylan is even sitting on a mountain of debt among the nobles… wait a moment.’
Only then did Ekian realize something and press his hand to his forehead.
He had been so shocked by Judith’s bombshell declaration that he had realized he’d left without stating the very reason he had gone to find her that morning.
He had intended to use his life savings to pay off her private debt!
He had completely forgotten.
There hadn’t been many events in his life that made Ekian so flustered he forgot his own objective.
Ekian glanced at the clock.
‘It’s a bit awkward to go find her again. She’s probably doing her work as a tutor by now.’
He knew her daily routine well enough. She lived her life with desperate diligence because of her debts.
Even though she managed to live without spiraling further into debt by selling information to him, she needed money for living expenses, too. No matter how cheap a boarding house was, she had to pay rent and earn enough for basic clothes and food.
‘Most people would have just given up, but she is an amazing woman. Diligent, positive, and never losing hope.’
Usually, even if people lived that hard, they couldn’t even think of paying off the principal of their debt. Yet, Judith showed no signs of despair. She had never once complained to him about her life.
She just quietly handled her days as if she had some grand plan in place. That steadfastness remained deeply in his mind.
‘I’ll go find her tomorrow. No, I’ll just call her here instead. I can hand over the check right away.’
Ekian organized his schedule for tomorrow without even realizing he had been thinking about her the whole time.
‘And I must ask her in detail about that marriage plan, too.’
An investigator had shown up because of the bomb incident, so he hadn’t been able to have a proper conversation with her earlier. He couldn’t interrogate her about such things in a public place, so he had just left.
He figured it would be better to call her here and find out more when the two of them were alone.
Ekian immediately picked up a quill.
He wrote a letter asking her to stop by the information guild when she had time the next day, and sent an employee to deliver it.
* * *
The next day, Judith came to the Gray Information Guild just as evening was setting in.
“Am I a bit late? I’m sorry.”
Her face was incredibly vibrant.
“I’m on my way back from the Mayous Ducal Mansion. I had intended to go in two days, but the Duchess called for me in such a rush.”
He already knew she had been summoned by the Mayous Ducal House since dawn. If anything, that was exactly why Ekian had been waiting for her all day in a state of extreme agitation.
Because… he had never sent his informants into the Mayous Ducal Mansion.
Even while collecting all sorts of information, he never knew what was happening inside that house. In order not to cling to the past, he had excluded the Mayous Ducal House from his operations entirely.
“What on earth were you doing at the Ducal Mansion all day?”
“Ah, I was busy filling out the marriage registration.”
“……Excuse me?”
“By tomorrow, the marriage registration should be complete.”
Ekian felt like he had been struck on the head.
Truly… he had never imagined he could be this shocked in his entire life.
“N-no… h-h-how…”
“It will be all over the capital soon, so out of loyalty, I’ll tell you first,” Judith said cheerfully.
“Soon, the Mayous Ducal House will announce that I am pregnant with Ekian’s child.”
Ekian retracted his thought that he “couldn’t be more shocked” when Judith had talked about the marriage registration.
Because he was even more shocked than before.
In fact, he was terrified.