Chapter 18
“…What?”
Because Ella so calmly uttered words as explosive as a bomb, it took Diasi a moment to process what she meant.
And the moment he understood, Diasi immediately rose from his seat.
There was nothing more worth listening to. Telling him, out of the blue, to love her—what nonsense was this?
“Not worth hearing.”
Ella called out to Diasi, who was turning away without a hint of hesitation, as if he had no more business with her.
“You’re awfully quick-tempered. You should hear me out until the end. I’m not telling you to genuinely love me.”
Her voice was monotonous, and Diasi turned back to look at her again.
Ella did not avoid his gaze.
“Think of it as an extension of the devoted husband act you’re already putting on in this house. The range of your performance would just… expand a little.”
“I see.”
Only then did Diasi seem willing to listen, taking a step closer to her.
“A man blinded by love, putting everything else aside, is no threat to anyone. Isn’t that a good way to slip out of the Pope’s watchful eyes, even for a little while?”
Diasi remained silent. Everything she said was correct—so correct that he couldn’t find a counterargument.
From the way she spoke, she seemed to think he was merely dissatisfied with being dragged around by the Pope. She clearly didn’t know his real plans.
Realizing this, the first emotion that flickered through his mind was relief.
But almost immediately, suspicion followed.
“Let’s say I agree. What do you gain from this?”
“…I didn’t think you’d be curious about that. Are you so considerate as to think about my benefits too? How unexpected.”
“Drop the sarcasm. You want a deal, but you won’t reveal your own motives, yet you expect me to lay all my cards on the table first? How do I know what you’d do with whatever you gain?”
To his question, Ella answered only with a lifeless stare and silence.
Looking into her expressionless face felt as precarious as stepping onto a frozen lake.
He was the one standing above her.
It wasn’t just the literal difference in height because he was standing and she was sitting—it was that in status, in social standing, in every respect, he was above her.
And yet, why did this feel as uncomfortable as an audience with someone of higher rank?
Those unreadable eyes unsettled him.
“…Perhaps, like how you’re tired of the Pope’s summons, I’m sick of my parents’ interference.”
As if to support her words, her face—like a glass mask—seemed to carry traces of boredom and fatigue.
“Once a woman is married, there’s nothing more exhausting than being swayed by her family’s will. If I can act well enough to make it seem I have you firmly in hand, my parents will leave me alone.”
“Hah, that’s a remarkably irresponsible statement for the young lady of a papal faction noble house. I can imagine how disappointed Duke and Duchess Meyer must be.”
“You should be grateful for my irresponsibility. It’s better than having a wife diligently play spy behind your back.”
Ella countered him without hesitation, and Diasi found himself at a loss for words.
“….”
“….”
With his silence, the familiar stillness returned between them. Taking advantage of the pause, he organized his thoughts.
Ella’s proposal made sense—every part of it.
He hated being dragged to the Pope at his beck and call and wanted to break free of that.
In that sense, her “pretend to be a man in love” idea was flawless.
As she said, a foolish man blinded by love could never be a threat to the Pope.
If the Pope summoned him, he could use the excuse of being with the woman he was enamored with. The Pope wouldn’t be able to say much in response.
In fact, this was something Diasi had once considered himself—he had just shelved it because he couldn’t find a woman willing to play along.
Besides, pretending to love Ella wouldn’t be difficult.
Though the depth of it differed, he was already putting on an act to make their relationship appear good.
No matter how he thought about it, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. There was no reason to refuse.
It left an uneasy feeling, but one thing he could be sure of—
Ella didn’t know his real goal. Otherwise, as someone on the Pope’s side, she would never suggest such a thing.
And indeed, just as he suspected, Ella only intended to use the temporary rift between him and the Pope for her own purposes.
Still, his thoughts kept circling back to the same conclusion:
“Like she said, I’ve got nothing to lose. Whatever she asks for, it’ll be within what I expect.”
After a long deliberation, Diasi returned to the seat he had just left.
“Even if she’s trying to deceive me, I’ll stay on guard. I just need to use her for my own advantage.”
Locking his eyes with her sky-blue ones, he said,
“I accept your deal.”
The two people who despised each other sat face to face to lay out their conditions. Diasi spoke first.
“You told me to love you.”
“Yes.”
“But wouldn’t it be strange if only I acted like I was in love?”
Ella’s expression hardened, knowing where this was going.
“You’ll have to love me too.”
“….”
His words were exactly what she had expected.
She’d already guessed when she made this ridiculous proposal that she’d have to act like she loved him too.
But actually agreeing to it now filled her with revulsion.
Love Diasi?
Even if it was only an act, it was absurd. How could she fall in love with the son of the man who killed her parents?
But she had no grounds to refuse. He would only agree to her plan if she agreed to his.
She swallowed dryly.
“Yes. You’re right. Let’s put on the ‘madly in love’ act whenever there are people around—just not when we’re alone.”
“Quick on the uptake, good. Second, about ‘sharing a room.’”
“Is that really necessary?”
Ella’s body language radiated distaste, and Diasi looked all the more pleased.
“Of course. I like everything to be perfect. If we’re going to act, we need to fool those closest to us first.”
“….”
“Oh, but don’t worry. All I mean by sharing a room is staying together in the same space until morning. I won’t do anything to you.”
Seeing how casually he said it, Ella slowly nodded.
“That’s a relief. Do we set dates in advance?”
“No.”
He smiled at her in a domineering way when she looked at him questioningly.
“Whenever I feel like it.”
“….”
“I’ll just request it at an appropriate time—your room or mine, doesn’t matter. Oh, and if you want to initiate, that’s fine too.”
He smiled teasingly, his face beautiful enough to make anyone swoon.
But to Ella, it was nothing but irritating.
“That will never happen.”
“You never know.”
Letting out a small sigh, Ella closed her mouth. She didn’t want to be swayed by him any further.
Talking to Diasi always gave her a headache.
At first, even speaking a single word in the suffocating silence between them had been difficult.
But that wasn’t the problem anymore. She simply disliked him.
She hated how he lived fully in the present, as if he had forgotten Louise, forgotten the blood-stained past.
“…Amazing. I never thought the day would come when I’d look at you without feeling pain.”
As Louise, she had spent countless days with him.
Yet as Ella, she could count their meetings on her fingers.
And those few meetings had been enough to erase all the countless days before.
She’d never imagined she could see him this coldly.
The first time she met him in Ella’s body, she had been preoccupied with hiding her trembling.
Even after that, the thought of married life with him had always left her feeling stifled.
But over time, she adapted. Now, concealing her hatred from him was nothing.
No—more accurately, she didn’t need to hide it anymore. She felt nothing for him at all.
Realizing this change, she thought, So this is how pathetic love really is.
It was love that had withered before it could even bloom.
What she had felt for Diasi was now buried in the ground, never to see the light again.
Her once-clouded mind cleared like a sky lifting after fog.
Ella smiled faintly where he couldn’t see and spoke.
“What’s the next condition?”
Her voice was frighteningly flat.
