The Contracted Daughter-in-Law

“Hand over the money! I said, give me the money!”

Seventeen-year-old Judith’s situation was far from good. She was, quite literally, an orphan left with nothing but debts.

“If you don’t at least pay the interest by Thursday, don’t think I’ll let you off!”

She had heard similar threats at least twenty times by now.

Judith Eylan sighed and closed her weary eyes in disarray. Her father, Paul Eylan, had taken his own life, leaving her, his only daughter, as the new Baroness Eylan.

Baroness in name only, for all that remained was a mountain of debts.

To make matters worse, her mother had taken everything of value and fled—along with a particularly close servant—stealing even Judith’s jewelry.

All that had been left behind was Judith herself.

“What am I supposed to do…”

Judith, clad in a worn dress, let out a heavy sigh. Her father had been a gambling addict who rarely came home, and her mother, indifferent to her existence, had always been busy clinging to servants rather than to her daughter. Their deaths and disappearance, oddly enough, felt almost detached from her life, as if she had long anticipated them.

What she could not face calmly, however, was the mountain of debt now squarely on her shoulders.

“What am I going to do…”

She had no friends left. After her father’s death, she had tried desperately to borrow money from anyone she could call a friend—but in the process, she had lost even them.

Her debts were so overwhelming that she didn’t even have the heart to resent anyone. If she failed to pay the interest, loan sharks would come for her. In such circumstances, noblewomen usually had two options: either submit themselves to preserve their honor or be sold off to wealthy elderly households willing to clear their debts.

The truth was, she had been backed into an inescapable corner.

Yet, there was one thing Judith had that set her apart. Upon her father’s death, she recalled memories from her previous life.

Even as she was being forced out without so much as a glance at a friend she considered close, it struck her: she had been reincarnated from a book she had read in her past life.

‘Hmm… even if I try to use the original story, this is way before it starts.’

How did she know the story’s starting point? Because the cheap boarding house she now stayed in after auctioning off the baronial estate was perfectly intact. The original story’s prologue described the same street engulfed in flames, leaving nothing but ruins.

The novel she had been reading before her previous life ended was titled A Flower Blooms Amid Ruins. It was the tale of a resilient flower-shop owner who, despite losing her home in a fire, persevered through hardship and eventually found love.

Though she hadn’t read it meticulously, every detail remained vivid in her memory.

The moment she remembered her past life, Judith immediately went to visit the local flower shop owned by the young heroine of the story. The protagonist was just twelve years old.

The fire wouldn’t come for another three years. Eight more years would pass before the heroine would become deeply involved with the male protagonist.

‘There must be something… something I can take advantage of,’ Judith thought.

Fortunately, she could recall the book word for word. But no matter how she examined the heroine or the hero’s storylines, there wasn’t a viable opportunity.

‘Then what about the villain…? Well, he’s still a child, but… wait!’

Karl Meyus, the villain of the story, harbored twisted feelings and an obsession with the heroine, tormenting her.

‘The Meyus Ducal Family!’

Karl’s villainous arc had a reason: the family had placed a temporary contracted daughter-in-law in the house who secretly abused the young Karl. Already emotionally unstable due to his elder brother’s disappearance, he suffered quietly under her care without telling his parents.

This abuse warped his character, eventually shaping him into the story’s villain.

‘Could I step into that role? For the Meyus heir, it doesn’t matter who does it.’

Indeed, they had even staged a marriage with a maid, claiming she bore the missing elder son’s child, all to delay his official death notice. If the son ever returned unexpectedly, it would only be a fortunate turn of events.

While the family could have forced someone into the role, the risk was too high.

‘Besides, the royal court dislikes the Meyus family. Any forced cancellation would leave them vulnerable.’

Thus, they only needed a girl—any girl—to complete the contract marriage. And since this marriage would be officially recorded, the family would reward her handsomely.

‘The elder son won’t return anyway. Later, they’ll claim the inheritance went to her and send her off with a fortune.’

Judith’s eyes rolled thoughtfully.

‘If I take that place, I don’t have to abuse the child villain, I just collect the money, and everyone benefits. Even better, if he never suffers abuse, maybe he won’t become a villain at all.’

Judith steeled herself, recalling the local heroine and her own observations of the neighborhood. Three years later, with careful timing, securing the contracted daughter-in-law position in the Meyus household would not be difficult.

With the family’s fortune handed out according to the story, her massive debts would vanish in an instant.

‘Of course, unlike the original maid, I won’t be offered the role automatically. I’ll need to play my cards smartly… but still…’

The problem was surviving the next three years.

‘Meanwhile, I still have to pay the interest. How will I manage that?’

Even if she worked every odd job to survive, it wouldn’t be enough to cover the interest. Judith buried her face in her hands, deep in thought.

She reviewed the story again, remembering every detail word for word. Her advantage was knowledge—though limited, it was invaluable.

‘Ah! Information! I know information.’

Her eyes sparkled with a sudden idea.

‘There’s also an information guild in this alley.’

The novel had mentioned that when the street burned, the capital’s information guild headquarters perished too, killing everyone inside. Later, the male protagonist regretted that loss.

‘If I sell the information I know, I could make some money.’

It wouldn’t be a fortune before the story officially began, but at least there was a market.

‘Grey Information Guild… that’s the name, right?’

Judith sprang to her feet and headed out into the street.

‘I must meet the Master. If the Master doesn’t approve the information, it won’t sell for anything.’

The information guild wasn’t hidden in some secret location. It looked like any ordinary shop—you could find it just by spotting the sign. Meeting the Master, however, was another matter.

Grey Information Guild had recently grown into a rising force. Many sought the Master, but he rarely appeared. Rumor had it that no one had ever seen his face.

“I’m here to sell information.”

Judith had resolved to deal directly with the Master.

“Please tell me,” the attendant at the entrance smiled.

“I’d like to speak to the Master personally,” Judith replied.

“That’s impossible as a rule. Give me the information, and I’ll pass it on and give you the payment.”

“I see.”

As expected. Judith had already considered ways to bypass the rules.

With a smile and a natural lift of her chin, she said,

“Could it be that the Master refuses to deal with me simply because I’m young?”

She knew her age wasn’t the real issue—but she mentioned it to lead into her next point.

“I understand the Master is also a minor.”

The attendant blinked, slightly taken aback. For a moment, he looked uncertain how to respond.

Judith held her confident stance, and after a brief silence, the door behind the attendant slid open.

A young man wearing a mysterious mask appeared.

“This…”

Though his expression was hidden, the intrigue in his voice was unmistakable.

“An interesting guest has arrived.”

This was the first meeting with the enigmatic Master, the young man with whom Judith would conduct dealings over the next three years.