I Had No Complaints About This Marriage - Chapter 7
Herman fell silent, staring into her eyes. When sunlight from outside glinted—flash—turning them emerald, he shook his head.
‘Was Esina Lehire always like this?’
Searching his memories yielded little. Whenever he’d visited the Lehire estate to meet Roger, she’d just stood gloomily in corners—so quiet he’d sometimes forgotten she existed.
The girl who used to flinch and avert her gaze when eyes met—a timid, unremarkable child.
‘She wasn’t even on my radar, let alone my type.’
Herman’s preferences leaned toward women who were bold, mature, and unashamed of their desires. An intelligent older woman would have been ideal.
Esina Lehire—younger than him, always shrinking into the background, too busy hiding her own existence—hadn’t met a single one of those criteria.
At least, not until she marched into this parlor and started spouting nonsense like this.
‘Feels like I’m being bewitched by a witch.’
The more he listened, the more his rational side had to admit she wasn’t a bad option. Usually, he was the one weaving spells over others. This time, she was the one trying to enchant him.
‘This won’t do.’
To reclaim control, Herman lazily swept back his fallen bangs and leveled his gaze at her. Esina remained undaunted, arms crossed, her bright eyes silently insisting she was right.
“Fine. I’ll admit it. Not terrible conditions.”
“Then—”
“But your argument has one fatal flaw.”
“And that is?”
“Do you really think Roger would allow it?”
He’d refuse.
Not out of any brotherly affection for a sister he barely acknowledged, but because he wouldn’t want to earn the Telloiens’ displeasure.
Roger had always excelled at maintaining favorable ties with the nobility. The cost of angering the Telloiens would far outweigh any benefit from marrying Esina to Herman—he’d never permit it.
‘Especially when Esina Lehire’s alternative is a southern landowner.’
Why take a risk when a golden opportunity was already secured? Yet Esina blinked at him, wide-eyed, as if this were no obstacle at all.
“My father would permit it, though.”
“Viscount Lehire?”
Herman’s brow furrowed.
While Viscount Lehire had long relinquished the family’s reins to Roger, he still held greater authority over Esina’s marriage.
Still, would he really defy his own son to wed her to me…?
“Father has an inferiority complex toward high nobility like the Telloien ducal house.”
“……”
“That’s precisely why Brother goes out of his way not to offend other families.”
Esina pointed out her father’s flaw as if it were trivial and continued.
“When that insecurity is provoked, he does the unpredictable. It’s already caused friction with several houses.”
Then she straightened her posture proudly, the ruching of her dress accentuating her bust. Her fingers splayed over her collarbone, pressing lightly—as if emphasizing herself.
“So we just need to provoke him.”
“……”
“Make him think, ‘What’s wrong with our family?’ He’ll agree then.”
Herman studied Esina’s face, now flushed with excitement. Her peach-blossom cheeks, ripe with color, tugged at his gaze—as did those small, ever-chattering lips.
No wonder my lower body feels stiff.
‘The more we talk, the more I feel drawn in.’
The problem was that, far from wanting to kick her out, I kept wanting to hear more.
‘Honestly, it’s intriguing.’
Unlike before, I was starting to like this bold, brazen woman. Even the conditions she offered were perfect.
No interference in each other’s private lives, and she’d help me shake off Telloien’s influence.
‘With that petite body, what kind of impressive feat does she think she can pull off?’
And then she had the audacity to claim she’d be good at it—with a body even a man wouldn’t recognize.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, my gaze unconsciously drifted toward her slender figure. As my eyes traced the curves wrapped in a white dress, Herman, without realizing it, loosened his cravat.
‘I must be losing my mind, too.’
Herman scoffed at himself but then spoke up, as if making one last check. Even so, one thing still puzzled him.
“…Then why do you want to marry me?”
“Huh?”
“If you eavesdropped on my conversation with Roger, you must’ve also heard that you were supposed to marry Baron Elzen.”
