Chapter 01
“I’ve liked you for a long time, Lady.”
At the sound of the man’s pleasant, low-pitched voice, Liriope froze on the spot.
That man is…!
Anyone could tell at a glance that the man before her was none other than the Duke of the North.
Black hair, black eyes.
His sharply chiseled features, paired with languid yet somehow arrogant eyes, gave off the feeling of someone far too unapproachable.
Because of their height difference, the downward tilt of his gaze jabbed at one side of her heart, making Liriope instinctively avoid his eyes.
Why on earth is he here…?
It was a situation where panic was inevitable.
Nowhere in the novel she had transmigrated into had the northern duke—the original male lead—ever visited the ducal estate.
She would know. It was her favorite romance fantasy novel, one she had reread down to the very extras, so there was no way she could have forgotten such an event.
Moreover, the body she now inhabited had absolutely no connection to the male lead. She was just the villainess who would die midway through the story.
Unable to tell if the dignified man before her was real or an illusion, Liriope only blinked her eyes.
And then—
“Liri! Daddy brought the marriage contract with Duke Artein!”
Behind the northern duke, her father came rushing in, waving a golden-glimmering sheet of paper in his hand, and at that, Liriope more or less understood what was happening.
Seeing her father beaming brighter than ever, and the northern duke staring down at her with his sculpted face, she squeezed her eyes shut.
No, seriously. Look at this, Father…
Liriope had transmigrated into her favorite novel.
She had adored how the cold, indifferent northern duke gradually became tender—yet obsessively possessive—for the heroine. It was the kind of story she had read until the pages nearly wore thin.
But the body she ended up in was none other than the villainess destined to die in the middle of the novel.
The daughter of a duke who would pine for the crown prince, torment the heroine he loved, and eventually be executed by that very crown prince—Lady Liriope.
She had barely finished lamenting over how unfair it was to be stuck in the body of a doomed villainess when she realized that survival itself was the sweetest deal she could ask for. With her noble status as a duke’s daughter, life could be more than comfortable—if only she lived.
So she resolved to slightly twist the original plot.
First, she had to cut off ties with the crown prince, which was the biggest reason for her death.
Thus, she told her doting father—the duke—that she liked not the crown prince, but the northern duke.
It had only been a convenient lie to break off the engagement with the crown prince by borrowing the male lead’s name for a moment.
But this was the result.
She had simply forgotten one crucial detail—that her father was the type of man who would pluck the moon from the sky if his daughter asked.
Sigh…
Suppressing the sigh that tried to escape, Liriope looked at the northern duke, who sat elegantly drinking tea with her father.
The way he drank with such refined grace was so mesmerizing, she felt her soul leave her body.
He was the very male lead she had fangirled over so desperately that she had given him a nickname—North Duke. Seeing him up close now felt even more like a dream than finding herself inside her favorite novel.
“I’d like to speak with the lady alone.”
Lost in thought while staring blankly at Theo, Liriope shivered the moment the word alone left his lips.
She wasn’t prepared for this at all. Instinctively, she shook her head.
“Oh, oh, of course. How tactless of me.”
But her father, who seemed utterly incapable of sensing tension, just laughed warmly and stood up.
Perhaps he wanted to impress the man his beloved daughter supposedly liked. Or maybe he was cautious because this was the second-most powerful man after the emperor. Or perhaps he simply didn’t want to risk offending the man who could decide his daughter’s future happiness.
Whatever the reason, one thing was certain: the duke was delighted by the union between his precious daughter and the northern duke, Theo.
As he left the parlor, he even gave her a thumbs-up.
Liriope frowned. She didn’t even want to know what that gesture was supposed to mean.
“Now, tell me your reason, Lady.”
The moment the duke left and the parlor door closed, Theo spoke.
His cold voice carried an oppressive weight, but Liriope already knew he was warm at heart. Tilting her head, she asked:
“Reason? What reason?”
“The reason behind this little stunt of yours.”
Little stunt…? Does he mean the marriage contract?
Her eyes fell on the golden paper on the table.
If that was what he meant, then yes, she had an explanation.
She had never intended to get engaged to him. She only borrowed his name to break off her unwanted engagement with the crown prince.
But her father had brought a real contract without even consulting her.
“Everyone in the empire knows you’ve adored the crown prince for over a decade, yet suddenly you…”
Theo’s sharp eyes pierced into her, but then he abruptly stopped mid-sentence, frowned slightly, and cleared his throat.
“…claim to like me instead.”
He finished his words.
“There must be another reason.”
“Another reason?”
At her innocent question, his previously narrowed eyes relaxed into their usual sharpness.
“The real reason you want this engagement with me.”
Liriope’s face flushed with panic.
“There is no such reason.”
She forced a laugh. Theo’s well-shaped brows twitched ever so slightly.
And even that tiny movement was unbearably attractive.
How could someone look that handsome even when frowning?
Instead of being nervous, Liriope found herself inwardly marveling. Just looking at him made her heart race wildly. Truly, a male lead was a male lead.
She finally understood what people meant when they said a halo shone behind someone’s face.
His beauty alone could dazzle anyone into submission.
But her dazed expression must have looked either foolish or suspicious, because Theo’s brows furrowed in annoyance.
“No reason, you say?”
“Yes, none at all.”
“Then are you truly saying you’ve fallen for me?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Since when?”
“Uh… Since when, exactly…?”
Caught off guard by the unexpected question, Liriope scrambled for a believable answer.
Just then, Theo cleared his throat again, bringing his fist briefly to his lips to stifle a cough.
That small gesture sparked a memory in Liriope’s mind.
Her eyes darted quickly around the room until they landed on something. With a short exclamation, she grabbed the paper from the table and shook it briskly.
The rustling sound prompted her maid, Gemma, to open the door and step inside.
“Yes, Lady Liri.”
“Remove all the Razerian flowers from this room.”
Razerian flowers, white and similar to lilies, contained a special property that caused the northern duke’s one and only allergy—pollen. She remembered reading this in the book.
Razerian flowers were beloved by all noble ladies, including the heroine, Countess Rosearin.
In the original novel, Theo endured his pollen allergy just to please Rosearin, even filling his greenhouse with those flowers. That was where the episode of him struggling to hold back his coughing fit had taken place.
Because she had loved that scene so much, Liriope immediately recognized his cough now.
As Gemma and the maids removed the vases of Razerians, Theo’s expression hardened slightly.
Meanwhile, Liriope went around opening every window in the parlor.
Dusting her palms off, she sat back down—only to find Theo staring intently at her.
“It’ll be fine soon, once the room is aired out,” she said, forcing a smile and turning her eyes away from his piercing gaze.
“How did you know?”
His sharp voice made her flinch.
Ah, damn.
Struggling to look natural, she replied:
“Know what?”
“The Razerians.”
“…Ah. You didn’t know? The rumors are all over the place.”
“Rumors?”
“That you start coughing whenever there are Razerians nearby. So everyone says they must trigger your pollen allergy.”
It was a lie she made up on the spot, but considering the countless rumors about the empire’s two most handsome men—the crown prince and the northern duke—it wasn’t entirely implausible.
Still, Theo frowned as if he’d never heard such a thing before.
Not wanting him to dwell on it, Liriope quickly changed the subject.
“A-anyway, where were we? What were you asking again?”
She gave him a sweet smile, and his eyes narrowed.
He leaned back in his seat, legs crossed, as though uninterested in the flower matter anymore.
“I asked when exactly you fell for me.”
“Ah, since when… Let’s see… When was it, again…”
She muttered to herself while glancing aside. Theo’s sharp eyes never left her.
“Perhaps… at the Founding Festival two years ago? At the palace ball?”
She tilted her head as she spoke.
“I’ve never attended the palace ball at the Founding Festival,” Theo said.
Ah. Wrong guess.
