Dear Contract Husband, I Didn't Know You Were Like This? - Chapter 7
The reason Maya had encountered the monsters that the Royal Family or the North usually dealt with was due to unforeseen circumstances requiring additional manpower.
The monsters, originally discreetly handled, had become exponentially more powerful, leading to the death of the originally deployed forces.
Maya had no connections to the Knights Order at all, but she was eventually called upon mainly due to the ‘influence’ of the Pendragon family name, which still held significant renown, despite the reality of their household.
This was a necessity for assessing the situation. It was too costly to risk more Knights Order members. They needed time to devise new strategies against the unexpectedly strong monsters.
In essence, Maya was a stopgap, an expendable stand-in.
‘If you weren’t of the Pendragon family, we wouldn’t have even considered calling you.’
The former knight captain’s smug attitude was still vivid in her memory.
Yet, in the battle with these new monsters, Maya returned alive, having faced death numerous times.
In these fights, she experienced a thrill.
Swinging her sword, she felt truly alive.
Therefore, she unhesitatingly accepted the additional missions that came her way.
After several encounters with various monsters and defeating ‘that’ one, she awakened as a swordmaster.
‘That’s how important battle is to me.’
This was a future that must not change.
Being disowned by the Pendragon family meant she couldn’t partake in battles against monsters.
Most of the monster appearances were near the Sirac Mountains, close to the Grand Duchy, a journey almost half a month from where she was.
Thinking of the Grand Duchy naturally brought Tristan, the Grand Duke, to her mind.
‘…Tristan, the Grand Duke.’
As she recalled his youthful face, she pondered over his last words to her.
“I also wanted to meet you.”
“You were the only way to break my curse.”
‘What did he mean by saying I’m the only way to break his curse?’
Could Maya really be the key to lifting Tristan’s curse? Had he sent the proposal for that reason?
‘Impossible.’
How could she, once the Emperor’s pawn, be the solution to the high and mighty Grand Duke’s curse?
Maya respected and acknowledged Tristan as a person but wanted to avoid any contact with him in this life. He was from a different world.
‘…Let’s not give Maguire too much credit.’
Maguire was foolish. His constant attendance at gambling houses, always losing money, was proof enough. In a few days, he would likely forget today’s events and confront her again. Then, she could just take a hit from him.
‘Perfect.’
That was the plan.
Well, until Elise decided to summon and threaten her.
***
“You are to be disowned from the Pendragon family.”
The way they dramatized it as if it were a death sentence was almost laughable.
‘Frankly, I’d be grateful if they did that.’
It would mean an effortless escape from this crumbling family. But currently, it was a complication.
‘I need to encounter the monsters for my awakening.’
The exact locations where monsters appeared were only shared with a select few, and the areas were sealed off by barriers, inaccessible to ordinary people.
But the real problem was something else.
‘I can’t find my way there.’
Maya was notoriously bad with directions.
‘If I had known I regressed, I would have lived quietly.’
Before her regression, Maya genuinely sympathized with Maguire, who did nothing but obediently follow Elise’s words. She even felt guilty due to her family’s continuous brainwashing.
‘It’s not acceptable even now, but…’
In any case, she needed to stay attached to this crumbling household. Maya’s mind raced.
‘In the past, they tried to use me as leverage for money.’
She could leverage that! Maya blinked her eyes pitifully, playing up her usefulness as much as possible.
“Such a hasty decision. Think about it. I’m a great candidate for a political marriage.”
Money was the most effective bait for Elise.
“The wealth I can bring and…”
Elise interrupted her.
“Because you insulted Maguire.”
The situation was urgent; facts needed correcting.
“But that’s not my fault. Honestly, Maguire is just too weak…”
Maya almost slipped out the truth before clamping her mouth shut.
‘Being too honest is also a sin.’
She had adhered too faithfully to her motto of living an honest life. There was still hope.
‘Maybe she didn’t hear it.’
The volume of her voice hadn’t been that loud, and she hadn’t finished speaking.
“What did you just say?”
Unfortunately, it seemed Elise had heard everything.
“How could you do this to us! After all we’ve done for you!”
Like mother, like son.
Her face, flushed with anger and trembling, was a spitting image of Maguire who had barged into her room recently.
‘What’s wrong with incurring debt in your name? Who gave you that power, if not us? You should be grateful to us for the rest of your life.’
The last time they met, they brazenly demanded money, showing no shame. Of course, Maya wanted to awaken as a swordmaster.
‘…But do I have to endure this too?’
This time, it was too much to bear, given that her patience had already run out in her previous life.
‘I decided to live speaking my mind. There must be another way.’
