“What are you talking about?”

“25 Santes Street. Isn’t that the house you inherited along with your count title?”

“It is, but why?”

Philip read aloud a section of the newsletter in a loud voice, “‘Looking for a contract fiancé. Male between 20 and 30 years old. Duration is three months. Compensation negotiable. Decent appearance, currently enrolled or graduated from the Royal Academy or an equivalent institution, status irrelevant. Interview location: 25 Santes Street.’ This is in the classified ads.”

Kaiden snatched the newspaper from Philip and grumbled, “Where exactly is it?”

“Hey, give it back.”

Philip took back the newspaper, circled a section at the bottom, and handed it back smugly.

“You always miss important things because you only see what you want.”

Kaiden shook his head in disbelief as he looked at the spot Philip had marked.

“You actually read all this?”

“The classifieds are full of life. Weddings, obituaries, missing persons, job ads. And the highlight of the page is always the spouse-seeking ads. You wouldn’t believe how interesting they are. So many different people and conditions.”

“That does sound entertaining.”

Kaiden muttered in disbelief and checked the classified section.

Philip laughed at Kaiden’s deeply furrowed brow.

“A title that comes with only light and no fortune, aren’t you neglecting it too much? You said you’ve never even visited.”

“I did go once. Then I was in the military.”

“You inherited the title three years ago, didn’t you?”

Kaiden had no retort to Philip’s point and just shrugged as he set the newspaper down.

The two had just completed their one year and ten months of military service.

Since the long continental war ended years ago, all adult men in the kingdom were required to serve at the border.

Even Kaiden, as royalty, wasn’t exempt.

“So who put up that ad? Wasn’t House Javier only staffed by three elderly retainers nearing retirement?”

“Well, maybe they hired someone new.”

Kaiden’s indifferent answer made Philip sound worried.

“Aren’t you being too careless? You could end up like Viscount Plante, whose employees sold off everything and fled. They even sold the family heirlooms.”

Kaiden seemed composed on the outside, but inside, he was fuming.

He had been taught by Bern, the butler who was like a father to him, to know and prepare for everything perfectly.

Bern had called it a basic virtue expected of royalty.

And now the ad in the newspaper was proving Bern right.

The current situation was both infuriating and shocking.

He mentally reviewed all the reports he had received, but none mentioned any changes at House Javier.

Yet here was an ad looking for a contract fiancé in his age group.

That meant someone was living there without reporting to him.

Kaiden checked the time and abruptly stood up. “Let’s go. I’m stopping by House Javier before attending the party. I need to find out who did this.”

Philip got up eagerly. “Can I come? I’m curious.”

Saying no would be pointless, so Kaiden responded indifferently while walking to the door, “If you’re willing to sacrifice time you could spend preparing for the party, do as you like.”

***

“Are you out of your mind? A temporary fiancé?”

Her older brother, Eli Tanesia, shouted in fury.

Geneve pouted at the sight.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Betty told me. She was too anxious, so she told me where you were and said I should check on you.”

Waving the newspaper roughly, Eli continued to scold her.

“You were supposed to stay quiet until we convinced Father, and here you are causing more trouble. No wonder Betty panicked.”

Geneve glanced at the newspaper and muttered, “What else could I do? I can’t just sit around forever.”

To escape the original story, she had to cut ties with Harion as soon as possible.

So bringing in a contract fiancé to buy time and figure out a way to resolve her father’s weakness seemed best.

Eli pressed a hand to his forehead.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he began coaxing his sister.

“As soon as the trust fund is released, I’ll get you a house. Just come home for now and say you’re engaged to Harion. Let’s buy some time for about a month.”

Eli tried to pull her by the hand, as if to forcibly take her home.

Geneve grabbed the railing of the front steps and resisted, thinking quickly.

Getting a house wouldn’t solve the current issue. But since Eli was being so forceful, she purposely gave a different suggestion to avoid revealing her real plan.

“Can’t we ask for an advance on the trust fund?”

“You know that’s not allowed.”

The Tanesia siblings could inherit their maternal grandmother’s estate one year after becoming adults.

Their grandmother, a noblewoman from the esteemed House Lavatore and former Queen of Lemea, had left behind a substantial fortune.

Moreover, since Elizabeth had passed away, the two remaining siblings would split her share.

In other words, the two bickering at someone else’s front door were heirs to an enormous fortune.

“I’m not going home. I’ll hold out here, so you have to find me a place to stay as soon as the trust fund comes through. Got it? Not a day’s delay. I could die, you know.”

Her last words were sincere.

The mere thought of having to return to the grueling work of a maid made her want to cry.

Eli’s expression softened at his sister’s lament.

“Just come home. We can talk to Father and cancel the engagement.”

“If that were possible, he wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place.”

‘The Deranged Marquis of Tanesia.’

That was the nickname that had been heating up the capital lately.

In fact, Geneve had once scoffed at that gossip headline… and then died.

She had never expected that a murderer would arrive that very night.

She knew she was going to die, but she didn’t think the sentence from the novel, ‘Geneve was murdered as soon as the engagement news appeared in the society paper,’ would be so literal.

The female lead had incredible initiative.

Even a week after her death, Geneve trembled whenever she remembered that moment.

The pain of being strangled to death was truly horrific.

When she came to, she was briefly confused. Because she woke up completely fine in bed, she wondered if she hadn’t died after all.

But when morning came and the same events from the previous day repeated…

Betty’s words and actions when she woke her.

The breakfast menu.

Her father stammering as he brought up the engagement.

Everything was exactly the same.

After confirming the newspaper Maggie had brought in a fuss, Geneve was convinced she had returned to the previous day.

A headline she would never forget.

As soon as she saw the words ‘The Deranged Marquis of Tanesia,’ she ran out of the house.

Because, just like before she died, the nanny had been packing her bags.

The Javier estate, where Betty’s cousin worked, had been left almost abandoned after the previous owner died. The new count who inherited the title had no interest in it, and so the steward didn’t pay any attention either. In that state, she was able to stay there temporarily, but she couldn’t just act like a guest, so she ended up working as an unpaid maid.

Her lodging and meals were taken care of, but a problem arose.

For someone used to living with all kinds of convenient things, it was not easy working in this old-fashioned era, riding carriages and wearing dresses.

The employees, realizing she was a noble lady, showed her some leniency, allowing her to endure it somehow, but it was still extremely difficult.

Her face contorted just thinking about the miserable week.

Seeing his sister’s face full of despair, Eli let out a deep sigh. “Why on earth is Father trying to marry you off to Baron Harion too, after what happened with our sister?”

At her brother’s question, Geneve also sighed as if the world was ending.

She had escaped, but she still had to deal with the Tanesia family’s problems.

She couldn’t ignore the consequences of breaking off the engagement.

The engagement to Baron Harion had been forced by the Duchess of Adellio.

It was because she had a letter that the marquis had exchanged with the former Duke Adellio when they were young friends.

They were foolish correspondences from a time of youthful passion.

Thoughtless plans to change the world, saying Grand Duke Dumar, the prince’s younger brother, would make a better king than the crown prince.

Of course, they had never put anything into action.

Because once Grand Duke Dumar found out, he became furious and forced them to burn all the letters in front of him.

Marquis Tanesia had believed that was the end of it.

But he never imagined that one of those letters had ended up in the hands of the current duchess, who had been the Duke of Adellio’s fiancée at the time.

It contained enough to be considered treason. Even if they claimed it was just an exchange of opinions, the crown prince wouldn’t see it kindly.

Hadn’t they already experienced it once?

When Grand Duke Dumar died in a suspicious accident, his friends and aides insisted it was an assassination and tried to uncover the culprit.

But all the witnesses and evidence disappeared due to the crown prince’s interference, and those who had fallen out of favor had to resign from key positions.

Because of that, the Marquis of Tanesia was now filled with anxiety and couldn’t reject the duchess’s demand.

Geneve knew all of this, so there was much she had to do.

If she didn’t want to die, she had to avoid the main characters of the novel entirely. At the same time, to protect the Tanesia family, she had to find and destroy that letter.

But how?

Even knowing the plot, it wasn’t easy.

First, she had to stop being a maid to have time. And she needed time to look for a solution, but right now, she collapsed into bed as soon as her chores ended.

She briefly considered whether to tell Eli what she knew.

But it was hard to explain how she knew it, and this wasn’t the place for a serious conversation.

Instead, Geneve shrugged as if she didn’t know and emphasized again to send him off.

“Just one month. As soon as the trust fund is released, you have to get me a house. Got it? Not a day late.”

“I promise.”

“Then I’ll trust you and go inside.”

Eli, watching her closely, picked up the extra bag he had brought.

Then, looking at her with pity, he turned to go, but she gave him a push on the back.

“Hurry up. I’ll go in once I see you leave.”

She was afraid her resolve would falter, and she might end up going back with him.

But more than that, all the attention from passersby made her feel they needed to part quickly.