AWEOM 10

Chapter: 10

“……How do we… get proof?”

At my question, the woman looked up at me brazenly.

“Anything. If it can serve as proof that I spent the night with Duke Argent, then anything.”

At those words, I tilted my head slightly, pretending to think.

“Proof?”

Do people usually leave proof on the wedding night?

I furrowed my brows with a troubled expression.

This was a crisis.

If we had actually spent the night together, there would have been some trace left behind—but we literally just held hands and slept.

This was a crisis… it would have been a crisis.

If I hadn’t asked Diello to prepare in advance.

“Ah.”

I opened my hand, as if I had just remembered.

Diello’s flustered expression from last night came to mind.

His slightly flushed face, his troubled expression.

And that strange feeling as well.

—Tap.

I unbuttoned one of the upper buttons of my dress.

Recalling the sensation from last night made my cheeks tinge slightly.

To an observer, this would probably look like the shyness of a bride thinking about her wedding night.

—Tap-tap.

I unfastened a couple more buttons and lifted the edge of my dress a little.

The author would probably notice.

The clear marks of passion etched into my collarbone.

“Is this enough?”

I spoke confidently, though I didn’t forget to act embarrassed.

This spot was clearly impossible to leave a mark alone.

The observer stared intently at the place I had revealed, then nodded.

“I’ve confirmed it.”

Then, they abruptly turned, used the artifact again, and transformed into a child, running off into the clearing.

“Wow! I found the way!”

It was a chillingly childlike appearance.

Before I could even straighten my clothing and follow, the child ran and was scooped up by Alosé’s maid.

“Oh my!”

The maid widened her eyes and held the observer.

Then, bowing slightly to me as if apologizing, she left the area.

“I expected they’d come to check.”

But I hadn’t expected this kind of scene.

I brushed my clothes off while watching them.

In the original story, there was no scene to check how the wedding night went.

The original story focused entirely on Croa tricking Diello to spend the night, so I couldn’t even remember how the aftermath was glossed over.

“I have a favor to ask.”

Thinking of last night, I turned my body.

Since Duke Alosé was meticulous, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to prepare.

“I want you to leave a mark… about here?”

I pointed to my collarbone as I spoke, and Diello looked genuinely surprised.

“Are you really… okay with this?”

“Of course I am.”

I’m asking him to do it, aren’t I?

Of course, I didn’t not feel a strange flutter.

But in the end, marks of passion are just wounds if you really think about it.

They heal over time and disappear.

So I gently held the back of his head and drew him closer to me.

“We need to make sure.”

Pressing him softly over me.

I whispered repeatedly to him as he hesitated.

“Whether you do it or not, that’s your choice.”

Besides, wouldn’t practice be necessary anyway?

After my words, he finally ended his hesitation with a short sigh.

“Ah,”

He instantly positioned himself over me, exhaling warm breaths onto me.

Because I was only wearing a gown, the collarbone area exposed to his breath made me slightly tense.

Sensing my flinch, he laced his fingers with mine.

And gazed at me with soft eyes.

“Then, Croa.”

I’m sorry.

Whispering so softly, he leaned toward me.

Then, brushing his lips against the tip of my nose, he hugged me and began to press deeper into me.

The warmth of his breath near my ear, his lips softly pressing my neck, and his fingertips sliding gently down—all felt vivid even now.

The exposed shoulder beneath the lifted dress soon flushed with heat.

And soon, his body was so close that there was no room for the cold air around us.

“What on earth…”

Recalling that moment, I fanned my face again.

This time, the flushed face wasn’t intentional.

Even fanning my face thinking about last night didn’t ease the heat on my cheeks.

“……What on earth.”

The question I hadn’t dared to ask yesterday swirled in my mind.

‘Why is he so good at this?’

“Argent’s fence is solid.”

Diello muttered quietly, resting his chin on his hand as he stood by the window.

Through a slightly open curtain, he looked down.

In his view, Croa Alosé was returning to the garden.

—Tap, tap, tap.

His fingers, which had been drumming a steady rhythm on the windowsill, stopped.

Yes, Argent’s fence was solid.

To someone outside, it was an unyielding high wall. To someone inside, it was a steadfast shield and support.

“Croa Alosé…”

She was Alosé’s person.

She had come on Duke Alosé’s orders and, according to his plan, had become the wife of Duke Argent.

Of course, she had suggested revealing herself as a fake Péro and doing a contract marriage until the real Péro arrived.

“…….”

Diello narrowed his eyes.

Last night, her eyes had seemed like the sea—they were now cool and guarded.

He didn’t fully trust Croa yet.

Even though they were married.

Completely trusting someone was foolish.

Even if Croa Alosé appeared to have laid all her cards on the table, he couldn’t know what thoughts she truly harbored.

Countless people in the histories of the three families had smiled while stabbing others in the back.

And Croa Alosé was one of them—Alosé’s person.

Alosé’s blood, skilled in schemes.

Those who used even a childlike guise to make opponents lower their guard.

“…….”

That was why Diello Argent let her roam freely inside the fence.

In the solid fence that moved only for Argent, any strange actions would naturally stand out.

Then, they could simply be weeded out.

Some, upon hearing that the current head of the family was weak and that Alosé’s Péro had been brought in, had already begun to waver.

Such shallow people would have no use in the future Argent.

When the real Péro arrived, they would be dealt with according to Argent’s rules.

“Whether you do it, or you don’t.”

—Tap, tap, tap.

He drummed the windowsill again.

Croa Alosé had to make her position clear.

If she came as Alosé’s agent with some plan, she had to deceive this side convincingly.

If she truly came to ally with Argent, she had to fully become Argent’s.

‘I have a favor to ask.’

Thinking of Croa Alosé saying this yesterday, Diello tilted his head.

Boldly asking him to leave a “mark,” she said it was to prepare for any possible situation.

“Duke Alosé might get suspicious, you know.”

And today, just as she had said, an observer indeed came.

Diello, both surprised and silently admiring how Croa naturally handled the observer, held his breath in amazement.

Duke Alosé’s direct method to confirm the wedding night was utterly repulsive—but it made Croa all the more intriguing to him.

“I hope you really sincerely proposed a contract marriage to me.”

A clean transaction without betrayal.

He planned to observe Croa Alosé a bit longer.

Up close, as a shy husband.