Dear Contract Husband, I Didn't Know You Were Like This? - Chapter 19
In the capital from which Maya had departed, Kendrick, receiving her letter belatedly, crumpled the paper in his hands, trembling.
“Maya… is getting married?”
This was inconceivable.
The Maya Pendragon he knew had always kept men at a distance.
Yet now, she was off to marry ‘him’, Grand Duke Bayarden.
“What’s the matter, Kendrick Arkisia?”
A senior wizard standing before him frowned.
Of course, Kendrick was lost in thought.
Entering the Mage Tower meant no leaving until passing the promotion exam.
And it was a necessary procedure to take up the position of the Magic Tower’s Master.
‘I thought Maya would be fine.’
Since the first time he saw her, how much had he feigned indifference to win her heart?
“But you’re proposing to someone?”
Did that even make sense?
Kendrick ruffled his hair in frustration.
“It’s time to enter the tower.”
Kendrick ignored the warning and asked,
“When’s the earliest promotion exam?”
To everyone but Maya, his temperament was known to be foul.
The senior wizard, used to Kendrick’s impudence, sighed in annoyance.
“Tomorrow. But you know, preparing for the promotion exam usually takes months of training, right?”
Failing the first promotion exam could mean expulsion from the Mage Tower, so everyone put in their utmost effort.
“I’ll take it tomorrow.”
Of course, this didn’t apply to Kendrick, who had lost his senses over Maya’s news of marriage.
“…What?”
“I need to get promoted quickly. I have someone I need to meet.”
His ultimate goal was to become the Master of the Magic Tower, considering it the best way to fully support Maya with his abilities.
But her marriage would render all his preparations pointless.
‘I can’t let her go like this.’
Thinking of Maya, Kendrick smiled.
***
Maya was led to her room. As she was yet to be married, she stayed in a guest room, which was a luxury for her.
The room seemed twice the size of her own in the Pendragon household.
Most importantly, the room was vibrant with life.
The fireplace inside blazed, warming the room.
Decorated primarily in the Bayarden family’s black and white, the space was tidy yet cozy. Snow was heavily falling outside the window next to the bed.
The black of night seemed to be devoured by the stark white snow.
“Wow…”
She had seen snow on her way, but such heavy snowfall was a first for her. The thickly fallen snow brightened the surroundings like a lantern, diminishing the darkness.
She was on the boundary between day and night.
“It seems the contract discussion ended well.”
Holding the contract exchanged with Tristan, Maya sat at the desk, pondering.
Even the guest room was well-maintained, with clean paper, a pen, and ink readily available in the drawer.
“It would be wise to organize what needs to be done next.”
Though things had ended well, the idea of representing the Bayarden family and meeting the Emperor was daunting.
Utmost caution was necessary.
‘I might seriously behead him on sight.’
Meeting Tristan, she realized her pre-regression emotions were more intense than she thought.
Unable to control her anger, she could turn the hero who defeats the tyrant emperor into a traitor.
To prevent this, breaking Tristan’s curse quickly to allow him to appear in public was preferable.
Maya roughly outlined the events in her crooked handwriting.
Awakening was essential to break the curse.
She couldn’t remember the number of monsters she originally had to face while awakening…
‘It should work if I do it the same way as that time.’
It would be best to start the monster subjugation quickly.
Today, while talking with Tristan, there were some stumbling points.
‘He was desperate to convince me.’
When Tristan noticed Maya avoiding contact, he appealed with such earnestness that he set aside all of the pride a Grand Duke must have.
However, after Maya became the commander of the Imperial Guard in her previous life, Tristan was nowhere to be seen.
It was strange.
‘There are three possible reasons.’
First hypothesis: After Maya became the commander, Tristan gave up on her.
‘That makes no sense.’
He certainly wasn’t one to give up just because he was rejected once.
No matter how secluded he had been, if Maya was the key to breaking his curse, and she had rejected his proposal, it would have been more likely that he went to the capital out of desperation.
Second hypothesis: Tristan couldn’t contact her at all because of the tyrant’s interference.
That was also strange. Of course, after becoming the knight commander, Maya had faithfully followed the tyrant. But the Emperor’s power wasn’t that strong from the beginning.
It means it was impossible to block all communications from the Bayarden family.
That leaves one assumption.
