Chapter 1

“I never wanted to marry that idiot in the first place!”

My small fist slammed onto the table, sending ripples through the tea in my cup. Had there been anyone nearby, they surely would have turned to stare, but this hotel cafe was designed for the privacy of its aristocratic clientele, with each table fashioned like a private room. Thus, the small commotion remained contained within our four walls.

“Just think about it. This man—a prospective groom I’d never even met—looks at me during our first formal meeting and says that while my small frame looks like it would be ‘entertaining in bed,’ he’s disappointed by how small my mouth is. Is that something a human being says the moment they meet someone?”

Recalling the blatant bullshit spewed by that slimy-looking pig made my blood boil all over again. I knew noble marriages were business deals calculated for the benefit of the families involved, but there was still such a thing as basic etiquette.

However, it seemed the Count’s family—currently one of the most influential noble houses in the capital—had no intention of showing even a shred of respect to the daughter of a fallen Viscount being sold off to them.

The proof was right there: the people at the table had pretended not to hear the words of the Count’s heir, my pig of a fiancé, while my own father, Viscount Arosha, acted as if he’d lick the Count’s boots regardless of the insults hurled at his daughter.

“So, I gave him a piece of my mind.”

“Oh, is that so? I wasn’t exactly thrilled about rolling around in bed with an ugly, short pig who’s ready for the slaughterhouse anyway. This works out perfectly.”

There was no obligation to treat someone like a human when they were barking like a dog. The pig’s face looked as though he’d been hit with an electric shock; apparently, no one had ever spoken to him like that before.

“L-Lady? What did you just…”

“My, why that face? Have you never looked in a mirror? If you had, you’d understand perfectly.”

“What?! Why you—!”

The pig’s face turned beet red as he tried to snap back. I had no intention of wasting time bickering with him, so I cut him off immediately.

“You’re probably wondering how such words could come from the mouth of a woman who did nothing but study at the Academy, right? Well, I don’t want to deceive you, Young Lord, so I’ll be honest. I am actually not a virgin.”

The meeting, which had felt like a swamp of fake smiles and pretension, froze instantly at my declaration.

In the Empire, a noblewoman’s chastity was tied directly to her family’s honor, not just her own. The higher the status of the noble house, the more strictly they verified the purity of a prospective bride. Of course, this standard never applied to the men.

Everyone at the table stared at me in horror. Viscount Arosha, who had been acting like the Count’s lapdog, was no exception.

“What… What are you talking about, Beatrice?! Not pure?!”

“Exactly what it sounds like, Father. I felt a passionate love at the Academy. I already gave my heart and soul—and my body—to him.”

“What on earth are you saying! Shut that mouth! Haha, Count, my daughter occasionally talks nonsense like this. It’s all a lie…”

“The moment I met him at the Academy, I was engulfed in a flame burning inside me. And that day, we made love. The Academy is truly a wonderful place; I learned so much there.”

In reality, the original Beatrice had indeed learned a lot at the Academy. Things like how to efficiently manipulate a schedule to maximize holidays, how to sneak past guards at night to test theories with friends who were losing their minds studying for exams, and how to forge results on magic tools so perfectly that even the professors were fooled.

Thinking back, those were likely her happiest moments.

“What is the meaning of this, Viscount?! You demanded a higher dowry, claiming she was a brilliant full-scholarship student who never even held a man’s hand because she was too busy studying—perfect for bearing a smart heir! Are you mocking the Count’s family like this?!”

‘Wow, he actually said all that?’

Becoming a full-scholarship student and studying until her nose bled to maintain her grades was all thanks to Beatrice’s own effort. Yet, the Viscount’s family didn’t recognize her hard work; they only saw it as ‘specs’ to fetch a higher price on the marriage market.

Viscount Arosha, pale as a ghost, stammered excuses while practically clutching the Count’s pant leg. It was a pathetic sight, so, as a ‘dutiful’ daughter, I decided to help him out by presenting the grand finale.

I pulled out a small, round magic tool with a light in the center: a chastity tester.

I couldn’t fathom why mages would grind their lives away to create such a useless device, but for the citizens of the Empire who believed magic tools were the ultimate truth, there was no better evidence to support my claim.

I held it up high for all to see. A crimson light flickered vividly. It meant ‘not a virgin.’

The things I learned at the Academy were truly useful. Not a single person in the room suspected it was rigged; they just stared at that glowing red light in shock.

The already fragile meeting descended into total chaos. In the midst of the uproar, I quickly slipped away, grabbed the suitcase I had packed in advance, hopped over a low wall I’d scouted earlier, and ran toward my destination without looking back.

***

A few days before the meeting, I had woken up inside a novel I recently read. I thought I had died in a car accident, but I opened my eyes here.

Like most people who find themselves possessed into a story, I figured out who I was through the original body’s memories. Once the confusion settled, I sighed and put my hand to my forehead.

“Dammit. I’m screwed.”

The character I inhabited was the wife of an extra who gets humiliated by the Crown Prince (the male lead) after hitting on the female lead. Yes, the ‘pig ready for slaughter’ from that disastrous meeting.

As is typical for villains, the pig wasn’t just a one-trick pony. After being humiliated by the Crown Prince, he would go home and take his rage out on his wife, Beatrice.

Beatrice, naturally quiet and gentle, couldn’t properly fight back. She tried talking to her father-in-law, the Count, but he only insulted her, calling her a mere ‘broodmare’ bought with money who had no right to complain.

The Viscount’s family, who sold her for a massive dowry, ignored her. Her in-laws, seeing she had no backing, bullied her even more cruelly. Eventually, unable to endure the reality that no one was on her side, Beatrice took her own life.

When I read the novel, I thought it had an excessive amount of detailed setting, but thanks to that, I knew exactly what my future held. That was no comfort, however.

“I’d rather be a villainess! Dying in a hellish marriage as an extra? No way!”

I threw myself onto the bed, kicking and screaming. Reincarnated only to have a cursed life! If I had to be reborn, couldn’t it have been into a smooth life? But soon, I stopped moping. I couldn’t let things flow according to the original plot. I immediately gathered every newspaper in the house and meticulously mapped out the timeline.

By matching the Empire’s major events with the novel’s descriptions, I realized the main story hadn’t started yet. I wasn’t married yet.

There was still hope. Hope that I wouldn’t die as a nameless extra, and hope that I could avoid being sold into that marriage.

***

“And so! As an Academy graduate and your junior, I have something to propose to you, Duke!”

I emphasized the words ‘Academy graduate’ and ‘junior’ as I pushed a contract toward the man sitting across from me—Ruslan Itenas, the sub-male lead of the novel and the Duke of the North.

“I’d like to propose a contract marriage. The term is one year. After that, I’ll grant you a clean divorce without asking for a single penny in alimony.”

Ruslan, who had been listening in silence, picked up the contract. His deep, pleasant voice vibrated in the air.

“What is the reason you are making this proposal to me?”

“Because you were the most suitable candidate, Duke.”

Ruslan raised an eyebrow slightly, clearly finding the answer insufficient.

“I’ll be blunt. The Arosha House is financially ruined. Every business venture has failed, and my brother, under the pretext of needing to succeed the family, refuses to work and keeps failing the central civil service exams. My father wants to sell me off to a noble family for a massive dowry to fix this.”

“But didn’t you say you just made that marriage deal fall through?”

“I wrecked the marriage with the Count’s house, yes. But my father won’t give up. After the scene I caused, I won’t get any good marriage offers, but there are plenty of wealthy old nobles looking for a second wife. He’ll try to push me into one of those.”

I had luckily escaped for now, but I wasn’t safe. As long as I was in the capital, the Viscount could catch me at any time. I had even made a plan to flee to another country if necessary, but that was a last resort.

“So that’s why I’m ‘suitable.’ A Duke living in the distant North, far from the capital, where the Viscount can’t reach.”

Ruslan nodded, seemingly convinced. His silver hair shimmered brilliantly in the light as he moved.

He was partly right, but the real reason I chose him was different.

In the original story, Ruslan was the quintessential sub-male lead—the ‘Cold Duke of the North’ who was only warm toward the female lead. His unrequited love was heartbreakingly tragic.

That meant I could trust him. A cold man who only loved one woman wouldn’t get romantically involved with me, and he was someone neither the Viscount nor the Count would dare to touch.

I nibbled on a sweet cookie, my mind racing. Like in all contract marriage stories, a sub-male lead devoted to the female lead wouldn’t accept such a proposal easily. Given his personality, cold as a northern winter wind, he would likely reject me flatly.

But I was confident. I was a ‘possessor’ who knew the original story, and I held information he desperately wanted. Even for a difficult-to-conquer Northern Duke, my offer would be irresistible.

Just in case he tried to leave without a word, I flexed my fingers under the table, ready to grab him.

“I understand.”

“I know my proposal must seem absurd, Duke. But… huh?”

“I will agree to the contract as you wish.”

What?

“Shall I sign here immediately?”

“Wait, why?!”

I was so startled by his calm acceptance that I accidentally slammed the table as I stood up.

“Did you not just propose a contract marriage to me, My Lady?”

“I did! I mean, yes, I did… but aren’t you supposed to find it absurd? Don’t you want to rip up the papers or storm out of here in a huff?”

“It seems your mental image of me is that of a very rude individual.”

“No, it’s not that… it’s just that even I know it’s a ridiculous proposal.”

It wasn’t normal for a woman you’ve barely met to suddenly ask for a contract marriage. Especially not the daughter of a failing noble house approaching a man of his stature.

“Excuse me, Duke… have you ever been scammed into buying something you didn’t want before?”

“So now I’ve gone from ‘rude’ to a ‘pushover’?”

‘Because otherwise, none of this makes sense!!’

I took a long gulp of sweet milk tea to calm my throbbing head.

“Well… if it were anyone else, I might have been offended. But you are fine, My Lady. As you said, are we not seniors and juniors from the Academy?”

‘He actually took that letter seriously?!’

While researching the timeline, I had discovered by sheer luck that Ruslan and I attended the same Academy. For an extra like Beatrice, who had no connection to the main cast, this felt like a lifeline sent from heaven—the power of ‘school ties.’

I had sent him a letter packed with bait, starting with our Academy connection and ending with various things to grab his attention.

To be honest, the content was so bold I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d thrown it in the fireplace. I came here prepared to have water thrown in my face. But he agreed without even questioning the details or doubting me? Sub-lead, were you always this easy?

“Here it is.”

I snapped out of my thoughts at his voice and took the contract back. His signature was clearly written. The contract I had prepared using crucial information from the original story… I stared at it for a moment before taking a pen and signing my own name.

Truthfully, I didn’t fully understand why this was going so smoothly. But I decided not to overthink it. Whether it was easy or not, I got the contract marriage I wanted.

The important thing was that I had avoided a dog’s death in the original plot and secured a year of safety to prepare my move to another country.

‘Besides, it’s only for a year, not forever. What could possibly happen in that time?’

Ruslan offered his ducal carriage, telling me to go ahead to the castle first. Since that was exactly what I wanted, I didn’t hesitate to climb in. As the carriage began to move, a cheer burst out of me at the thought of finally escaping that place.

“Goodbye forever to that damn Viscount’s house!”

By the time the original story actually started after the divorce, I’d be somewhere far outside the Empire. Let them have their flashy palace romances to themselves—I was bowing out.

The carriage traveled for days until it reached the northern reaches of the Empire. As we climbed higher, the landscape shifted; dense, towering trees rose up to greet me like a wall. Every so often, in the middle of the dark, eerie forests that looked like they belonged in a ghost story, warning signs were posted:

[DANGER: NORTHERN TERRITORY BEYOND THIS POINT]

[DO NOT THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY LIGHTLY. THIS IS TRULY THE NORTH.]

[RECKLESS CURIOSITY CAN RUIN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE. RETURN TO YOUR FAMILY WHILE YOU STILL CAN.]

Normally, I would have scrutinized such warnings and noticed the strangeness, but I was so deep in planning my sweet life after the divorce that I barely spared them a glance.

Leaving the forest, we hit a well-maintained stone road. A little further on, a weathered but sturdy castle gate came into view. It was Ishelbach, the land of the Northern Duke.

The guards standing watch saw the ducal crest on the carriage and opened the gates without a single question. Usually, they would have conducted a rigorous identity check and asked a dozen questions, but the crest bypassed it all. Power really was the best thing in the world.

“Is the person in that carriage really that ‘tragic bride’…?”

“Shh! Don’t be disrespectful!”

‘Huh? Why are my ears itching? Is someone talking behind my back?’

I scratched my ear with my pinky and tried to think of anyone who might be gossiping about me, but nobody came to mind. Then again, it’s not like I’d lived a particularly saintly life.

The carriage soon reached the main castle. The gates opened, and as we drove along the stone path, a road draped in wisteria appeared. The purple flowers hung like lanterns from the arches lining the path, swaying in the breeze.

The scenery was so breathtaking that I leaned out of the window to soak in the lavender-tinted world. The scent of wisteria brushed against the tip of my nose.

“Ruslan, come look. The scent of the wisteria is wonderful.”

‘Wait, what?’

For just a fleeting second, a memory that didn’t feel like mine flashed through my mind.

Was it Beatrice’s memory? I tried to pull it back, but it receded like the tide. While I was struggling to catch it, the carriage finally came to a halt in front of the castle.

“This is the Northern Duke’s castle?”

My eyes went wide at a sight I couldn’t believe, even after rubbing them.

Ivy clung to the walls like ghostly hands, and despite the clear weather, the castle itself looked dark, dreary, and so ominous it made me hesitate to even step inside.

I wanted to ask the coachman if we were in the wrong place, but the carriage had already vanished. Was this really the Duke’s castle? Was I scammed?

How could the castle of the strongest Duke in the Empire look like a haunted house? Was he strong because his home was literally a dungeon?

I worried I’d been tricked, but then again, what profit is there in scamming the daughter of a bankrupt family? They probably spent more on the carriage rental.

Standing there wouldn’t change anything. I concluded that if I knocked, someone would come out and give me answers. I grabbed the door handle and hammered it as hard as I could. A moment later, the heavy door—which looked like it would never budge—groaned open.

[Creeeeaaaak—]

I stood there for a long time, but beyond the door, only silence and darkness awaited. My logic screamed at me to run away right now. But I had already fled the Viscount’s house; I had nowhere to go. And… whatever. If I die, I’ll probably get another life. Reincarnation, regression, and possession were the basics of these stories, right?

“Still, if I die here, please let me be born as a rich villainess in the next life.”

Whispering a prayer to whoever might be listening, I took a brave step into the darkness of the castle.

***

The interior was just as grim as the exterior. Compared to the bright sky outside, not a single light was lit, and a heavy atmosphere weighed down the halls.

“This is a total horror movie cliché.”

It’s always the brave extra who goes in first and dies first. I used to mock people in movies for doing exactly this, and now here I was. Haha.

No point in regrets now. Despite the gloom, the interior was spotless—not a speck of dust. A haunted castle wouldn’t be this clean; someone had to be living here.

Keeping my “optimism circuit” running at full power, I wandered around until I heard the sound of someone sweeping the floor near a bright hallway.

‘A living person! I knew it!’

I hurried toward the sound.

“Excuse m— AAAGHHH?!!!”

My cheerful greeting crawled back down my throat. I locked eyes with a woman holding a broom. Half of her face was gone, and her skin looked half-melted.

“…!!!”

The woman with half a face looked even more surprised than I was. She glanced around frantically, leaned her broom against the wall, and simply… dissolved into the shadows.

What was that? A ghost? I must be exhausted. I’m hallucinating. That’s it.

Backing away while clutching my mouth to keep from screaming, I bumped into something. I looked up. A snow-white skeleton was staring down at me. Locking eyes—or rather, locking my gaze with the empty black pits where eyes should be—the world went dark.

***

When I opened my eyes, I saw an ornate ceiling. I blinked, remembered the skeleton, and scrambled up. I was in a luxurious room filled with sunlight.

“Was it all a dream?”

I looked around frantically. No half-faced woman, no skeleton. It was a dream. There aren’t ghosts in romance fantasies. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“Ah, you’re awake.”

A neat, middle-aged man in a butler’s uniform stood there with a kind face. And behind him… was the skeleton.

It wasn’t a dream. Cold sweat poured down my back.

“We received word from the Duke, but we weren’t fully prepared for your arrival. I am Edward, the butler here.”

“Where am I? What is that skeleton? Is this really Duke Itenas’ castle?”

“Please calm down. It may be frightening, but that skeleton will not harm you, Lady Arosha. It is quite alright.”

‘How can I be ‘alright’ with a monster right there?!’

Edward’s calmness was actually scarier.

“Her name is Elizabeth. She will be your personal maid.”

Elizabeth the Skeleton, dressed in a neat maid’s uniform, stood in the corner fidgeting with her finger bones and peeking at me. When I looked back with trembling eyes, she flinched and ducked her head, hiding further into the corner.

“Elizabeth is very shy. But she will be excellent at serving you.”

I had just won a staring contest with a skeleton. Yay. My head started to throb.

“Is… is Edward a ghost too?”

“No, I am a powerless human. Though the others are not.”

The butler laughed it off as if it were nothing.

‘He’s probably the strongest person in this house.’

I wanted to just lie back down, but I had to know one thing.

“Why are there only ghosts here?”

The novel never mentioned this. It just said the North was Ruslan’s territory; it never said he lived in a haunted mansion.

“Did you really come here without knowing anything?”

Edward looked more shocked than I was. He began to explain the history of the castle, also known as the Ghost Castle.

The North had been a place of monsters and bizarre horrors since before the Empire. Humans failed to conquer it until the first Duke Itenas—a legendary exorcist—cleared the land. He drove the monsters to the far north, but to keep the “Ghost Gate” (the entrance to the underworld) sealed, he built his castle right on top of it.

Over time, as the family’s spiritual power waned, the ghosts naturally attracted to the gate began to manifest. The human servants all fled in terror. Eventually, the only human left was the butler.

Determined to maintain the castle, the butler of three generations ago made a radical decision: “Let’s just hire the ghosts.” And that was how the castle earned its infamy.

***

Once Edward and Elizabeth left to get me tea, I tried to process this. My husband is the Duke, the butler is human, and everyone else is a ghost.

“I ran away to avoid dying, only to end up in a castle full of dead people!!!”

In the novel, Ruslan only appeared when he went to the capital. He fell for the heroine, Evangeline, at first sight, but she already had the Crown Prince. He loved her from a distance and eventually vanished while trying to save her. The novel focused on romance, so it never mentioned his home life was a literal horror show.

“I can’t even cancel the contract! I already signed it!”

I kicked my blankets in frustration. I was the one who insisted the contract be irreversible. If I could go back, I’d shake my past self by the collar.

I started living like a shut-in. I ate in my room and only left for essentials, sprinting back to lock my door. I even asked Edward for red beans and coarse salt—classic ghost-repellents.

While I was scattering salt and beans across the room, the door creaked open. By reflex, I threw a handful at the intruder.

Patter.

The beans hit Elizabeth the Skeleton. They bounced off her bones and hit the floor. We stood there in an awkward silence.

“I… I didn’t know you were coming in.”

“…”

“I’m sorry.”

Elizabeth stared at the beans on the floor and then quietly walked out. I worried she’d curse me, but nothing happened. She didn’t melt or vanish.

“Salt and beans don’t work! It’s all a lie!”

I stomped on the floor in frustration, which just made my feet hurt. A moment later, the door creaked open again. A boney white hand slid something onto the floor and retreated.

It was a pair of fluffy sheepskin slippers. And a note:

[It hurts to jump on salt and beans with bare feet. Please wear these.]

The skeleton was worried about my feet.

“Okay, garlic and crosses surely must work.”

I spent all day making crude crosses out of twigs and hanging garlic everywhere. I was wallpapering the room with crosses when a voice spoke up.

“Child, what are you doing to that garlic?”

I turned to see a cranky-looking old grandmother ghost watching me.

“Tsk. Are you peeling it or crushing it? Give it here.”

She sat down beside me and started peeling the garlic at a supernatural speed.

“You have to peel the skin first like this…”

“Excuse me, but…”

“Are you listening? How will you handle a household if you’re this dull? Tsk.”

“When did you even get in here?”

The grandmother’s hands stopped. I had locked the doors and windows. The room smelled like a garlic factory.

“Who are you? How did you get in?”

She didn’t answer. As I reached for a cross to throw at her, I heard a sickening crack.

Her head twisted around 180 degrees. Then it twisted again. And again. Her neck was contorting in ways no human could survive.

“Deary,” she said, her head tilted at a grotesque angle. “What is this mess?”

Her mouth split open to her ears as she began to cackle.

“DEARY, THE SOUP IS TOO SALTY! HAHAHAHAHA!”

I scrambled out of the room on all fours, the image of the cackling, neck-snapping ghost burned into my brain. But even more horrifying was the realization:

“I ran away from that household because I didn’t want to be tormented by a mother-in-law, so WHY am I hearing THAT here of all places!!!!!”

Even as I sprinted through the dark hallway, the laughter followed me, echoing through the halls of the Ghost Castle.

As soon as the sun rose the next day, I packed my bags and sprinted out of the castle.

“I don’t care if I’m just an extra; I am not finishing my life like this. A ghost castle is where I draw the line!”

Our contract was nothing more than a scrap of paper, lacking even a lawyer’s notary seal. There were no clauses for alimony or penalties if I broke it and ran. It was better to flee now than to waste time and eventually get stuck forever once the marriage vows were officially stamped. If I just run away now…

My frantic pace through the wisteria-lined path slowed, then halted altogether. I collapsed right there on the spot.

“Where the hell am I going to go even if I run?!!!! I have no money, no connections, and I’ve abandoned my family! What am I supposed to do out there?!!!!”

Dammit, this was the reality. You need money to successfully run away. But I had nothing because I’d fled the Viscount’s house in a hurry. Reality is a cold-hearted law. My life was truly sorrowful.

***

On a night where the crescent moon was said to be the trace of the God of Darkness caressing the night, a shadow moved swiftly through Ishelbach Castle. The shadow wandered briefly, lost in the corridors, before marching purposefully toward its destination.

I soon arrived before a door decorated with ornate carvings. I knocked immediately. A moment later, someone emerged.

“What is—”

“Sleep with me, Duke!”

Ruslan’s face froze instantly. The light spilling from his room cast shadows over his features, making his expression seem even colder.

“…Do you understand the meaning of what you just said?”

Inside my head, where question marks were bouncing around, I replayed my own words. I didn’t need to think long.

“No, not like that! What I mean is…”

“Come in for now.”

Ruslan opened the door wide to welcome his midnight visitor.

“I assume the bride-to-be didn’t come here to demand we share a bed a few days before the wedding because she couldn’t wait. So, what is the matter?”

“…I’m sorry for doing this the moment you got back from the capital, but I really tried to endure it and I just can’t.”

I slowly approached Ruslan, grabbed his collar, and looked up at him with burning eyes. Don’t stop me. I am a dangerous beast right now.

“I can’t sleep because of the ghosts coming out in my room every night!!!”

I was a beast driven mad by a week of sleep deprivation!

“Are the ’employees’ visiting you at night?”

“No. Those ghosts don’t come near me.”

Ever since we accidentally locked eyes while they were clearing the dishes and they slammed the door in terror, they hadn’t shown themselves to me at all.

“The problem is, whenever I try to fall asleep, I suddenly hear sobbing from somewhere, and the curtains flutter even though I’ve never opened the windows.”

The issue was the earthbound spirits who didn’t work and just haunted the corners. At first, I tried to ignore them. I thought if I ignored them, they’d stop. If I pretended not to see them, they’d go away. I figured they were just acting out for attention.

Before sleeping, I’d sprinkle salt around me and plug my ears. I knew it was useless, but I couldn’t stand the fear otherwise. But as two days turned into a week, my fear slowly curdled into rage.

I couldn’t spend another night wide awake. My desire for sleep and my anger at being harassed reached their peak.

“You damn ghosts! If you have something to say, don’t do this and just come out right now!!!!”

I had screamed that in a fit of temper. Since I was already half-insane from lack of sleep, nothing could stop me. It was either me collapsing or the ghosts running away. But after waiting a long time, nothing happened.

Fine, whatever. Come out if you want. It’s better if you don’t.

Just as I lay down on the plush bed, ready to let whatever happens happen…

Scritch… Scritch-scritch-scritch…

A spine-chilling scratching sound grated on my ears. I looked around to see where it was coming from. At that moment, feeling something was off, I slowly turned my head forward.

The portrait hanging in front of me had changed into the face of a woman who had been hanged. The gentle smile she once wore was gone; her neck was constricted by a rope, her tongue lolled out, and her eyes were rolled back. She was scratching at her own neck with her fingernails, trying to loosen the cord.

As I sat there frozen in unrealistic terror, the eyes of the woman scratching her neck suddenly snapped toward me.

“So I ran straight out of that room to your room, Duke. I don’t think I can sleep alone anywhere in this castle.”

As I finished the story, Ruslan suddenly stood up.

“To think they made my lady tremble in fear… I will go burn that portrait right now.”

“What?! No!!” I reflexively grabbed his arm as he prepared to march out. “Don’t do that. You don’t need to.”

“I have a duty to keep my bride safe in this place. Your sleep was disturbed in the place where you should be resting comfortably. Therefore, the cause must be eliminated.”

“I’m telling you, there’s no need for that!”

The reason I was stopping him wasn’t because I loved the portrait or because I was a saint. The Ishelbach family was so ancient they had been there since the founding of the Empire. The items in this castle were, at the very least, national-treasure-level artifacts. Burning that was like throwing a pile of cash into a fire. Selling it was one thing, but burning it was out of the question.

“Maybe… maybe the portrait only did that as a security measure because I shouted so loud!”

“I did not imbue the portraits with such security capabilities. It is undoubtedly a prank by a ghost in this castle.”

“Then scold the ghost!” Just don’t burn the money!

After a long struggle, I finally managed to calm him down and get him to sit. Honestly, what a mess in the middle of the night.

“What I want is just to sleep comfortably. I’ll feel safer in a room with two people rather than alone.”

“Do you feel safe when I am by your side?”

“Well, obviously?”

You’re my groom-to-be and the only living person in this castle besides Edward.

“If it’s okay, can I sleep first? I really haven’t slept properly for a week.”

“By all means. I will sleep on the sofa, so please rest easy.”

He looked strangely pleased for some reason. I was curious why his mood had suddenly improved, but the moment I hit the bed, sleep overwhelmed me and I had no energy left for deep thought.

***

Beatrice’s breathing became rhythmic and steady. Ruslan looked down at the sleeping Beatrice.

“You haven’t changed since then.”

A warmth flickered in his black eyes, which were usually like a winter night sky. He savored the moment of meeting her again. Even though she had rushed over and looked disheveled, in Ruslan’s eyes, she was more beautiful than anyone.

His bride, whom he had met again after a long time, was so brilliant he wanted to tell her who he was—even if she had forgotten that her contract with the Duchy was a noose around her neck.

Ruslan gently touched the dark circles under Beatrice’s eyes. To think such low-class spirits dared to play such vulgar pranks on the person even he found difficult to touch.

The air around him began to undulate coldly, and the ghosts hovering nearby started to tremble.

“I should have never allowed a castle to be built here. No, I should have destroyed the Ghost Gate itself and incinerated all of you from the start.”

A cold, dark energy swirled around Ruslan. The “Messenger of the Cold Night,” the “Sword of God,” the “Cold-Blooded Devil”—all these names described him; he was powerful and showed no mercy to his enemies. The ghosts wandering around didn’t dare challenge him and shivered on the floor.

“I do not leave you be because I like you.” The entire room began to turn frigid with his dark aura. “It’s because you are a hassle to clean up.”

To him, everything except for one person was a nuisance. The ghosts of this house, the Emperor who wanted his loyalty despite knowing his true identity, the Dukedom he inherited through a contract, and even that woman who wanted to possess him.

“Mmm…”

When Beatrice tossed and turned from the chill in the room, he immediately retracted all of his energy.

“Begone. This is the extent of my tolerance.”

At the dismissal, the ghosts fled the room instantly. Ruslan watched them disappear completely, then approached Beatrice and carefully stroked her hair that had spilled over the edge of the bed.

‘My bride, my everything. I can do anything to protect you.’

Even if it meant forsaking the gods. He quietly kissed her hair, which was the color of a clear sky. It was a gesture as careful as if he were honoring a holy relic.

***

Time flew by, and the wedding day arrived.

I wondered if a wedding was really necessary for a one-year contract marriage, but Ruslan pushed ahead, claiming the contract didn’t forbid a ceremony. Since he put it that way, I had nothing to say. I decided to follow his lead. I was worried about what would happen when we divorced right as the original story began, but whatever—not my problem.

I remembered the wedding being prepared in a huge rush, but the pure white dress he found from somewhere fit me so perfectly it was almost eerie.

The wedding began with the orchestra playing in the garden. I walked slowly down the red carpet decorated with intricate gold embroidery. The tiny crystals on the bottom of the dress sparkled in the sunlight with every step. At the end of the carpet was a wedding arch decorated with colorful flowers and jewels, and beneath it stood Ruslan waiting for me.

Dressed in a black uniform with delicate gold embroidery, Ruslan was even more dazzling than usual. He was handsome to begin with, but with the extra styling, light seemed to radiate from his face.

‘Whose son is he? His face is truly a masterpiece.’

Even under the extravagant arch, his beauty didn’t fade. Truly, if you’re going into a contract marriage, you might as well have a handsome spouse.

The wedding proceeded smoothly until the priest reached the final vows in a solemn voice. Once we exchanged rings and the kiss of oath, Ruslan and I would officially be a couple.

“I am glad to be able to meet you again.”

He spoke softly while lifting my veil, so I couldn’t hear him clearly. When I asked him to repeat it, he said it was nothing and slowly leaned down toward me. After a brief kiss, the priest made the official declaration.

“I hereby declare that this marriage is now official.”

***

The reception took place in a small banquet hall within the castle.

I wondered if anyone would actually come to a wedding in a place like this, but there were more guests than I expected. No matter how much the ghost castle was feared, people didn’t seem to care when it came to getting on the good side of one of the Empire’s only three Dukes.

“Hahaha! To think the Count would attend! How is your son… Eeeek!!“

Of course, they weren’t quite adjusted to the sight of the ghost servants popping up here and there. Inside the hall, the ghosts were concentrating all their spiritual power to remain invisible while serving food. According to Ruslan, the ghosts in the castle could be seen by normal people because of the castle’s power, which was an ancient artifact in itself.

The problem was that most of the ghosts in this castle had died in accidents, and their appearances were too gruesome to describe. So, when hosting guests, they had to concentrate intensely to hide their forms. In other words, for the ghost servants to remain invisible was equivalent to working in a rigid posture while wearing full makeup and a uniform. If their concentration broke even for a second, their true forms were revealed to the humans.

A servant who briefly flickered into view quickly vanished when a guest gasped in shock. I empathized 100% with that Count who was about to faint. I wanted to run away myself, so imagine how people visiting for the first time felt.

I wanted to lock myself in my room the second the wedding ended. But this was the Duke’s wedding. And not just any Duke—the strongest in the Empire. If his bride hid in her room because she was scared of ghosts, what would that make the Duke look like? A contract is a contract. Since I was the one who suggested it, I resolved to be a faithful mistress of the house for the next year.

However, sitting there was much harder than the occasional ghost sighting. I heard that in Northern receptions, custom dictated the couple sit in the high seats and receive congratulations until the party ended. Sometimes the party lasted for three days straight without sleep.

“Are you tired?” Ruslan asked from beside me.

He watched me with perfectly composed posture, as if sitting there was effortless. I tried to say I was fine, but my answer didn’t seem to satisfy him. I sighed and spoke honestly.

“I’m a bit tired, but it’s not unbearable.”

I guess it showed. I’d gone a week without sleep because of the ghosts; three days of sitting was nothing. I straightened my posture to greet the guests again. Suddenly, Ruslan reached over and scooped me up in his arms.

While the guests stared in shock at the groom’s sudden action, Ruslan made a declaration.

“I wish to take my bride to the bedroom immediately. Please conclude the banquet yourselves.”

“Wait! If you say it like that, people will misunderstand!”

I tapped on Ruslan’s chest with a bright red face, but he ignored me with a stoic expression and quickly left the hall.

Once in the master bedroom, Ruslan carefully placed me on the bed and immediately took off my shoes. Then his hand went straight for my dress—

“Your feet must have hurt a lot.”

“How did you…”

He didn’t undress me; he was just checking my feet. They did hurt because the shoes were new, but I hadn’t let it show in front of everyone. I’d occasionally slipped them off under my dress during the reception, so it was manageable.

“Shoes always hurt when you wear them for the first time. I made a mistake by not having them broken in before the wedding.”

“That’s not your fault, Duke.”

The shoes had barely arrived on time for the rushed wedding. There was no time to break them in.

“I liked being able to wear pretty shoes and show them off at the wedding.”

“If you wish, I will gather every shoemaker in the world to make shoes you like every day.”

“If you’re going to do that, make sure they have plenty of jewels on them. So I can sparkle wherever I walk.”

“Then I shall have to gather jewelers as well.”

The thought of a room full of jewel-encrusted shoes made me happy. But human greed knows no bounds. I decided not to pack useless greed into a one-year contract marriage. It was a bit of a waste, but I couldn’t forget: my final goal was a stress-free, comfortable solo life. Don’t take or give more than necessary!

“Forget it. I’m not a centipede. I’m not that greedy for shoes, and if you put that many jewels on them, I’d be too worried to even walk in them.”

“If you allow it, I will carry you everywhere. So that your feet never have to touch the ground.”

If I left him to it, Ruslan really seemed like he’d kidnap a shoemaker from somewhere. I quickly blurted out the first thing that came to mind to change the subject.

“More importantly, Duke, the bride and groom are in the bedroom. What should we do after this?”

I wanted to go back five seconds in time. Of all the topics, why did I say that? The embarrassment was mine to deal with, but I tried to keep a straight face. Ruslan remained silent for a long time, then looked at me with a dead-serious face as if he had made a grand resolution. No, wait, not that.

“We have to sleep! If we hold hands and sleep, a crane will bring us a baby within 100 days!”

I decided to just shut up. If I opened my mouth to fix it, I’d probably just keep talking nonsense.

“Please sleep first. I will go finish organizing the reception.”

Ruslan tucked the covers over me with a peaceful face, as if he hadn’t heard my nonsense, and left the room. Once he was gone, the embarrassment hit me all at once.

“Ugh, seriously! I must be out of my mind!”

Why did I have to say that?! I never even had an ‘edgy phase’ like this in middle school!! Ruslan could tease me about this forever and I’d have no defense. I kicked the blankets in shame. The thick duvet filled with goose feathers fluttered in the air.

***

The wedding ended safely, but the work after the wedding was not over. Being a Ducal family with absolute influence in the North, numerous subordinate families were scrambling to send wedding gifts to the castle.

“Oh, this is a red pearl sent from the Lemnos territory. A rare item, with only a few dozen produced a year even in the Kingdom of Attica.”

“I see.” The man himself was indifferent to any of the gifts.

“However, I recall the Lemnos region recently applied for a tax reduction due to famine, yet they sent such an expensive gift. Compile a list of the subordinate families that sent gifts absurdly more expensive than their territory’s income. I will conduct a personal inspection of those regions later.”

“All of these? Felix is currently away, and you want me to do this all by myself?!”

“Don’t the ’employees’ help with the sorting?”

“Even so, this is a task that will take days for one person. Are you trying to force this old man into an early retirement?!”

“It’s a job that can be finished in about three nights of staying up. Simple.”

“You are not even human, Duke!!”

A heartfelt outburst from a butler who had worked at the castle for decades erupted. I barely managed to hold back Edward, who was insisting he would finally retire and enjoy a peaceful old age, preventing the tragedy of him submitting a resignation.

The only humans in this castle were Edward, me, and Ruslan. Excluding the busy Duke, Edward was the only other human; if even he left, I’d truly be alone in this ghost castle. I had to stop that at all costs.

Fortunately, my tearful plea worked on Edward, and I helped him compile the gift list. And just as Ruslan said, we went out on an inspection to see the situation of the places that sent gifts more expensive than their income. To be honest, Ruslan could have done it alone, but I was scared to be left alone in that castle, so I went along. Fortunately, he allowed me to accompany him.

As expected, the places that gave gifts far exceeding their income to get on Ruslan’s good side were riddled with corruption, such as tax evasion in collusion with local tax officials. We only visited a few places, but we already caught dozens of cases, and Ruslan, like the cold Northern Duke he was, executed summary justice on them.

And now, we were headed to the final location of the inspection.

“Where is the only place left to go??”

“A place called Svants. It’s not far from Ishelbach, but I saved it for last on purpose because I was worried. They might have hidden anything incriminating after hearing rumors from other territories.”

Inside the carriage running along the dirt road, Ruslan spoke while looking at documents without a hint of swaying. Even though it was a Ducal carriage, it was bound to shake on a rough road, but he looked as peaceful as if he were working in his office.

By the way, what Ruslan just said bothered me a little. If it’s not far from Ishelbach, why did he choose it as the last stop?

Just as I was about to ask why, the carriage suddenly stopped.

I almost fell forward from the momentum of the stop, but I grabbed the emergency handle installed inside the carriage faster than anyone. This prevented the grand disaster commonly found in romance novels—falling into the male lead’s arms.