The Soulless Duchess

Chapter 10

At this, Yvona remembered that Mathis had spoken harshly of Claude and that she got into an argument trying to defend him.

She hadn’t defended him knowing that he was around and might hear her. She truly believed everything she’d said. The unplanned interruption in her plan seemed to have worked to her advantage. She decided to seize this opportunity to introduce herself to the duke.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Your Grace. I’m Yvona Bote.”

“Pleased to make my acquaintance?” Claude mused quietly.

Yvona was taken aback. “Oh... I suppose I have seen you from a distance, sir.”

She was puzzled. She had attended social events sometimes as a member of society and Gaspar’s fiancée. She had seen Claude from across the ballroom on the rare occasion that he did show up, but they had never spoken to each other, much less been introduced.

How did he recognize her when others thought she was a different person just because she was in a new dress and makeup?

Curious as she was, she had more important matters to attend to. “I was hoping to speak with Your Grace before I was unfortunately delayed. May I speak with you for a moment?”

“Sure.” Claude felt there was something about Yvona he could not put his finger on. He thought as far back as he could manage but still came up with no memory associated with her.

Had this woman cast a spell to appear in his dreams?

But all she had done so far in real life was take his side by acknowledging his efforts over the years that his parents failed to notice.

So he followed Yvona out of the ballroom. He might have been guarded about a stranger he’d just met wishing to speak with him, but he felt strangely at ease.

They soon arrived at a maze garden. This was the Iphelia Garden of the Imperial Palace, famous all over the world for its beauty. But in this popular spot for marriage proposals, Claude did not see many couples. The flowers had failed to bloom, leaving the garden unspeakably bleak.

Is she leading me into a trap deep within the maze? Claude wondered what Yvona might do next.

“I asked you here because I wanted to keep this a secret from others.”

And with that, Yvona gathered her mana and conjured a magic circle. Claude’s guard would have gone up, except the creature summoned was none other than a pink kitten—Charlit, the divine beast of flowers and trees.

The cat purred pleasantly, transforming the barren trees around them.

“I understand this is a little sudden, but...” Yvona trailed off.

Green buds appeared on the branches and grew into flower buds that blossomed. The garden around them was instantly filled with lush, white Iphelia. The sun of noontime flooded where they stood with light. It was Iphelia, the promise of a future together.

Just then, the wind rushed in, carrying a whirl of flower petals.

Standing in the rain of flowers, Yvona looked straight into Claude’s eyes. “May I have your hand in marriage?”

Claude was dumbstruck. That was the last thing he expected this woman standing before him to say.

“This may sound like an impulsive proposition, but please hear me out, Your Grace. I am not proposing marriage out of love.”

This further confounded him.

Claude paused to gather his thoughts. “Why do you want to marry me?”

“I would like to propose marriage as a contract. Not one based on love, but on mutual trust.”

He had received countless marriage proposals to date, but none as business-like as this one.

“Marriage as a contract?”

“I imagine you are in need of a wife, Your Grace. You are largely immune to others’ opinions of you, but people do call you by the unflattering nickname of ‘half-a-duke.’ And you have to fulfill the duty of producing an heir, but you don’t wish to be romantically entangled with women.”

“Sure, I’ll have to marry, but I don’t have to marry you.”

“You are right, Your Grace.”

Yvona was undeterred by Claude’s cold observation. It would have been rather strange, in fact, if he jumped at the chance and accepted her proposal instantly.

“You don’t have to marry me.”

Claude saw this woman in a new light. She was not thrown by his unkind tone. It was a composure rarely seen in a person proposing marriage.

“Your alliance with me will be an advantage to you because my family has little influence, unlike the imperial princess or the daughter of Marquis Keldern.”

These were the two most likely contenders, according to society, for the position of his wife. Yvona explained to him why it worked to her advantage in this circumstance that she was from a family of little influence. Claude found himself fascinated by Yvona.

“Elaborate.”

“The princess is twenty this year. There was little pressure on you to marry so far because society was assuming that you were waiting for the princess to come of age. And with that, the theory that you were vying for the imperial throne gained more traction. The emperor is pitting you against Lord Gaspar Gieze so that the two of you will be encouraged to make ever greater contributions to the empire, but... I wanted to ask you myself.”

Yvona looked up at Claude with earnest eyes.

“Do you wish to be the emperor?”

Based on what she had observed of the duke in her past life, she had strong suspicions that he did not. He was not leading the imperial army to glorious victories to become the emperor.

“If you do not wish to become the emperor, nothing will signal this more clearly than your alliance with the daughter of a mere viscount.”

In her past life, jealous Gaspar employed many schemes to trip Claude up. Yvona learned only later that he’d rounded up some like-minded gentleman to do despicable, childish deeds.

Yvona assumed this was ongoing in the present—not that these ploys would impact Claude in any way. The inheritance of the title that the temple would not recognize, the duty as the head of the household to produce an heir, the irritating ploys of those who thought he was in line for the throne, the women who threw themselves at him—these were the major annoyances in his life.

In her past life, Yvona died when Claude was twenty-six. She did not know what kind of life he went on to live after that, but he must’ve married at some point down the line as long as he chose to remain in Parama.

With apologies to whoever ended up marrying the duke...

“If you do not have your heart set on anyone…If you do not care whom you marry, please choose me—your most convenient choice.”

No woman from a lesser family dared propose marriage to Claude. If they could work up the courage to talk to him, all they would propose was a brief fling. For the proposal to be official, Claude had to initiate it.

Any woman who wants to marry him would want his heart as well. His grace will not be pleased by the prospect.

Claude was silent for a long time. He was really considering her proposal.

Yvona added after some time, “I wouldn’t mind if you do have your heart set on someone, either.”

“What?”

“If you marry me, I will not claim you for myself in the name of love. If you haven’t married because you have a secret lover or a bastard, I am willing to—”

“I do not have a secret lover or a bastard,” Claude declared before she could go on.

He could not understand why he was divulging these things to her when he couldn’t care less what others thought of him. What was more astonishing than his reaction to her was Yvona’s response when he denied he had a secret lover: she seemed almost disappointed.

“Oh.”

She appeared to think that he had less of a reason to consider her as an option since he did not have a secret he needed to keep under wraps. It was a fleeting look, but Claude caught the slightly sad look.

He was baffled. She was so different from the ladies to date who had thrown themselves at him. “Different” did not do her justice. She was on another level. He had never met anyone so incomprehensible in his life.

“Hmm,” Claude sighed. “If affection is not what you seek, what have you to gain from this marriage?”

“I am engaged at present to Lord Gaspar Gieze. He comes from a powerful family, as you are aware. I would like to break off the engagement with him, and I find myself in need of a legitimate reason for it.”

“I don’t know why you want to break off the engagement, but if we do marry as you propose, how can I be sure that you won’t break off the marriage just as capriciously?”

Claude had a point. Yvona realized that she would not be able to sway the gentleman if she kept her arguments strictly business-like. She bit her lip. She would have to speak from the heart in order to persuade him.

So she spoke from her heart as she never had in her life:

“Lord Gaspar does not love me, and I do not love him, either. There is nothing for me to gain from the marriage. If I manage to break off the engagement, I’ll have to find another man to marry as long as I intend to live in this empire. I don’t know if it is wise to stake my future on a sentiment as unreliable as love.”

“So you’ve chosen a contract marriage?”

“Honestly, the very idea of marriage is suffocating, but if two people enter into an arrangement in which they only take what is agreed upon, I think it can be managed. What’s written on paper has to be adhered to.”

Claude remained silent.

“I think one is more likely to honor a contract than an avowal of love. You must have similar thoughts on the matter, given that you have not married when you have neither a secret lover nor an illegitimate child.”

“...I can see why you might think that.” Claude realized that he agreed with her view. Love was fickle, love was a set of chains. He did not want that for himself at all. She was proposing marriage for the very reasons he’d been avoiding it.

The confounding idea of “contract marriage” was starting to make sense to him.

“Your Grace, there is research I intend to devote myself to. It’ll take a year at most. I propose that we maintain our guise of marriage for at least a year and put off engaging in activities for making an heir until the following year. If you honor this contract with me, I won’t care if you divorce me at that point for whatever reason—falling in love with another, finding me intolerable...”

The demon army was due to invade within the coming year. She did not wish to lose her position of duchess, thereby exposing herself to undue attacks for being a summoner, nor did she wish to compromise herself by fighting in the war while pregnant.

“If you accept my proposal, we will be of use to each other. I have no interest in unilateral relationships.”

She could not bear to enter into another grossly unbalanced relationship like the one she had with Gaspar. She wanted the exchange to be fair. She did not want to owe anything. She did not wish to be useless in a relationship or receive favors she could not pay back, especially if affection came into play.

What she wanted was a clean, equal relationship—dry, business-like.

Yvona waited anxiously for Claude’s response.

He said at last, “Let me think about this.”

Yvona smiled. “Of course. This is not a decision that should be made lightly. Take your time, and let me know when you’ve made up your mind.”

And with that, Yvona took her leave. She was relieved that he had taken her seriously.

She heaved a sigh of relief and she thought, I hope he accepts.

All she could do now was wait patiently.