You could have mistaken it as youthful folly, probably.
The engagement between Lilietta Mordis and Adonis Bardner came about partly for political reasons, and partly because their parents were already close and the two of them were near in age.
Wasn't there someone better out there for you?
If your expectations were that high but no one ever met them, then by the time reality finally sank in, even the partner you once been willing to settle for would already be engaged, leaving you past the ideal age for marriage.
Of course, there are times when things work out and a good match can be arranged, but since failure is far more common than success, both parents decided to settle the matter quickly themselves.
There's always the chance of some kind of accident happening - like, because you don't settle properly on a partner, you end up catching the eye of someone troublesome...
They might have told each other's parents they were simply overthinking - but going by the rumors circulating in high society, they couldn't say for certain that no such person existed.
In the end, both Lilietta and Adonis accepted it with a ‘That's just the way things are’ attitude.
Both families generated decent profits by maintaining the roads used to travel between their respective territories and by processing goods produced in each other's lands, items akin to local specialties.
The couple would get along fine together even without getting married, but that doesn't mean there would be some sort of interference.
Well, since a business contract is already in place, I'd like to think things won't get too messy. Moreover, if both families were joined by marriage, it would make things all the more secure - that would be the political side of the matter.
"Here, this is for you two, for now."
Lilietta's father held out what he had to offer, a perfectly simple necklace.
"What's this?"
The necklace came together, each with a small stone set into it.
A small but beautiful stone... just as Lilietta was thinking, Adonis stared intently at the stone before saying,
"A magic stone?"
She asked, frowning, a crease forming between her brows.
"That's right. The contracts between our two families' businesses were sealed as magical contracts, and the same goes for your engagement as well... but- "
Adonis's father spoke up, sounding a bit troubled, and said something like this:
A noble marriage is a contract.
Even so, every now and then, someone comes along who misunderstands what it means.
If they commit a blunder after entering into a magical contract, it's only natural that the one at fault suffers the greater loss.
If every member of the family responsible for the blunder is a fool, then they have no one to blame but themselves. But there are also cases where one acts recklessly of their own accord, dragging everyone else down with them.
"For example, let's say one secretly resented the fact that it was an arranged marriage, and became distracted with someone else, and decided they want to abandon their fiancé for this new person."
"Ah, it would be one thing if they spouted nonsense about 'true love,' but some even go so far as to frame the fiancé, shifting the blame on them to make it look like they were the one at fault."
"Well... I've read stories like that in novels, but are there really people who'd do something so reckless when it's obvious it'll end in disaster?"
"Truth is stranger than fiction, they say. Just because you haven't encountered such fools in your own circle, you must not assume they do not exist elsewhere in the world.
"Fools have a way of screwing up far beyond anything we could imagine.
If it's something we can foresee, we can take measures in advance. But because fools do the unexpected, we're forced to react only after they've already acted, and by then we can't contain the damage before it grows even worse."
"This isn't something I can say too loudly, but you remember that family’s downfall about three years ago, right?"
That's the one."
"Is that really true?!"
Adonis was startled even before Lilietta could be.
When Adonis was told it was the family's downfall three years ago, he reacted immediately - so Lilietta, who couldn't quite place it right away, asked him, "You know them?" His answer was oddly distant: "A friend of a friend of a relative of mine."
For Lilietta, the man was a complete stranger she had no connection to whatsoever, but Adonis apparently had caught wind of him through some vague "friend of a friend" kind of rumor.
"If, from here on, the two of you end up going to the academy in the royal capital and making more friends there...
You'll probably feel as though your world has gotten bigger so it's only natural to find your attention pulled in all sorts of directions.
But if it comes down to neglecting your fiancée and ruining this contract, I'd like you to discuss things with us."
"Even so, there are still some idiots who go off the rails and screw things up... sadly enough."
"Of course, we also believe neither of you would do anything like that. but... what about when being love-struck makes someone think differently than usual?"
"Ah, it's like being drunk - no matter how level-headed you normally are... whether you can actually make a sound decision with a clear head in that kind of state is... yes, another story entirely."
Lilietta and Adonis both sensed that their fathers were choosing their words carefully.
They say love is blind, and right now I can confidently say I'd never make a mistake like that - but who knows.
But if she were to fall carelessly in love, whether she could really keep herself from screwing up was something Lilietta honestly couldn't say.
Right... It's basically like being drunk. If you ask whether someone in that state can think rationally and make sound decisions... well... yeah.
"Hence, this."
The necklace had a small magic stone attached to it.
Adonis's frown deepened even further when he was told that a spell had been cast to inflict a penalty if the contract were broken.
"In other words, would there be some kind of penalty if one of us cheated?"
"That's how it is."
"The possibility that I take this off and end up cheating…"
"To prevent that, I want the two of you to decide on the penalty right here, and then put those necklaces on each other."
"So instead of exchanging wedding rings, it's more like exchanging cursed collars… that's pretty twisted."
"Don't say that. Depending on the situation, it could be a means of protecting yourself."
"Should I go ahead and tell you what the penalty involves right now?"
"Ah, yeah, well... sure."
“After all, It's meant partly as a restraint discouraging someone from suddenly announcing they're breaking off the engagement.
If you want to break off the engagement, we need to discuss it first.
Incidentally, you can tell from the size of that magic stone, it isn't capable of supporting powerful conditions.
So something like 'if you cheat, you die instantly' just isn't feasible."
"Isn't that a bit too extreme?"
"Killing the culprit outright would certainly settle things quickly, but..."
When Adonis called his fiancée the culprit, Lilietta couldn't help but nod. 'Well... I suppose that's true...' If the other person dies, then yes, there won't be any breaking off the engagement or anything like that. The fact that they cheated, neglected, or mistreated their partner would still remain, but once the other person is dead, nothing worse can happen after that.
“Incidentally, it’s designed so only the person who put the collar on you can remove it. If you mistreat this other person and then order them to take it off, the penalty kicks in.”
"Would there actually be a person who obeys when the person they've been neglecting tells them, 'Take the collar off'?"
"You wouldn't expect anyone to, normally."
"Yeah, I figured..."
They were told that all they had to do was hold the magic stone, channel their own magic into it, and focus their intent on inscribing the penalty's details - so the both of them thought it over for a moment.
Lilietta and Adonis knew a fair amount about each other, at least on some level.
That is why, well... if you were to recklessly fall in love, I doubt one would go that far that you completely forget everything you've shared with your partner, to see your fiancé as some nuisance. Before it ever comes to that, it seems much easier to discuss things and end the engagement amicably.
Even though a business partnership could be made even stronger through marriage, that absolutely doesn't mean the marriage between our families is necessary.
"Then... if Lili (Lilietta) were to ever cheat on me or start treating me badly, I'll make it so that everyone around her sees her as something terrifying!"
"Well... let's see... maybe I'll just make it produce some kind of nasty smell."
Saying that, we put the necklaces on each other. Rather than putting my necklace on myself, having someone else put it on me felt oddly refreshing... or so I thought.
"What exactly do you mean by 'something terrifying '?"
"That's just how it will look to everyone else. Lili, you might not be able to see it."
"Um... you want to do it somewhere with a mirror?"
"You want to try to put it to the test?"
"To test it, sure, but... where exactly does 'neglecting Doni (Adonis)' draw the line? If he called out to me but I simply didn't hear him, it's hard to call that neglect. Or does it only count if I deliberately ignore him? But even then, depending on the circumstances, there are times when ignoring someone can't be helped, aren't there?"
"That part probably depends on the spell inside the magic stone, I'd guess...
By the way, what do you mean by 'nasty smell' ? "
"Eh? If you were thinking about cheating, wouldn't a nasty smell coming off the other person totally kill the mood?
No matter how gorgeous the guy or girl is, could you actually fall for someone if they reeked?"
"That would be troublesome... unless you've got a cold or something and your nose is all stuffed up."
"But if anything, it's the other woman who's going to be smelling that stench - not just Doni."
"I see."
I couldn't help feeling a little uneasy, wondering if our fathers really understood each other from that conversation...
Both Lilietta and Adonis were much more interested in figuring out when the penalty would trigger, and as a result, they didn't notice their father's concerns at all.
- Anyway, that's how it happened.
The two of them ended up attending the noble academy in the royal capital.
Even though each family hires private tutors to cover a fair amount of the schoolwork at home, there are still gaps left to fill, and beyond that, there are plenty of other benefits to actually attending the academy.
Building connections with families you wouldn't normally have can be valuable. When it comes to expanding one's network, there are cases where it's better to establish these ties early on, rather than waiting until one comes of age and makes a debut into society.
However, at the same time it might also cause people to feel reluctant to associate with that family in the future.
The academy is also being used as a means of making the family's name known.
There are a few other reasons behind it as well, but since graduating from the Academy is also considered proof that one has come of age, every family sends their children there unless there's some truly exceptional circumstance preventing it.
Some children come to the royal capital on their own, while others move into a townhouse together with their family.
Lylietta and Adonis were the ones who had come to the townhouse together with their family.
I've heard that families who can't leave their territories use the academy dorms, but Adonis and I will both be commuting from the townhouse.
Their circle of friends grew considerably once they started attending the academy, and with so many unfamiliar things to see that they'd never encountered back in their territory, the two of them truly felt as though their world had opened up.
That said, neither of them ever neglected the other. Once they were back at the townhouse, their homes were close by, so whenever they had time, they’d talk to each other about all sorts of things - which meant it didn’t matter if they had nothing to talk about at the academy.
It was around the time I'd been attending the academy for nearly a year that something resembling a real problem finally began to surface.
In an academy that serves as a place for building connections, it's not unusual for those without a fiancé yet to find a partner on their own. In fact, one of Lilietta's friends met someone that way and got engaged, so there's nothing strange about it at all.
However... lately Lilietta had been getting continually pursued by a certain young lord.
His family's social standing isn't all that different from Lilietta's.
Well, I think that he is fairly good-looking, all things considered.
To a young lady searching for a fiancé, the fact that he doesn't seem to have any glaring, obvious flaws makes him look like an excellent catch.
However Lilietta already had Adonis, she had no intention of casually accepting anyone else's romantic advances.
No, wait... the thought crossed my mind that if I went along with the invitation, the spell imbued in the magic stone would trigger - so it might be my chance to ask how I actually looked to everyone around me when that happens.
But there's no way I'd let curiosity ruin the contract.
To begin with, the spell imbued in the magic stone apparently triggers by sensing the wearer's mental state, so if you have no intention of cheating, there's a good chance it won't trigger at all.
Lilietta doesn't know the specifics of how that kind of detection actually works - magic studies were never her field. Most nobles, herself and Adonis included, do have magical power, but only a very small amount.
Consequently, magical contracts also require a medium, such as a magic stone.
Even if you tried to cast a spell without a medium, it simply wouldn't work.
At the same time, Adonis found himself in much the same situation.
Adonis, for his part, was also at a loss, attracting a certain young lady who wouldn't stop pursuing him.
Her family background is excellent, and she's cute.
But even so, that didn't mean he had any intention of abandoning Lilietta and choosing her.
To simply list the objective facts, it sounds like a good match.
That may be so... but if you asked Lilietta or Adonis whether they could actually make things work with the people pursuing them, they'd both disagree.
I'm trying to keep a respectable distance since I'm engaged, they're the one who's being really pushy.
It could even be called one-sided.
It felt like they were implicitly saying they had no intention of respecting the relationship, yet the situation was also delicate enough that flatly rejecting them face to face didn't quite feel right either.
Although they're clearly making advances, they still haven't openly said anything definite.
And yet, if I were to turn them down and they simply replied that they only wanted to be friends, I'd end up looking like I'd been horribly full of myself for reading too much into it. If they’d just come out and said something decisive - like ‘dump that fiancé of yours and choose me instead’- I could outright refuse them. But as things stood, neither option was easy.
After classes at the academy ended and everyone went their separate ways, we exchanged information with each other, but both of us had hit a dead end.
I tried casually asking a classmate for advice, only to be told that yes, from an outside perspective, he did seem to be actively trying to get closer to me - but whether that closeness was meant romantically was such a borderline call that I honestly didn't know how to react, leaving the whole situation frustratingly ambiguous.
Rank-wise, the other family's title wasn't all that different from ours- but perhaps because their territory lay close to the capital, they had strong ties to the central nobility. If we mishandled our dealings with them, there was no guarantee that the surrounding houses wouldn't turn against us.
He never pitched himself with lines like, ‘Getting friendly with me will get you valuable connections.’ But looking at it the other way around, making him your enemy could also mean making yourself enemies of many others."
In the end, all Lilietta and Adonis could do was stay calm, careful not to invite any awkward misunderstandings from those around them. The fact that things managed to work out was also thanks to their friends, who quietly lent a hand here and there. Otherwise, who knows how things would have turned out by now...
Honestly, deep down I could tell I was being targeted - there was no doubt about it. But the other party never said anything definitive, and just kept closing the distance, so I couldn't pin them down on anything. It was enough to make me shudder at the thought, realizing this must be how nobles at the capital operate.
Whether they saw me as a marriage partner, or as merely someone to keep them entertained during our student days.. Or maybe there is something about my family that their family was after? Without even knowing that much, I had a distinct feeling that if things kept on like this, I'd end up being taken advantage of before I even realized it.
Just as she was at her wit's end, a duke's daughter - someone from a different faction with whom Lilietta had previously had no connection - spoke to her. It seemed she had learned of the situation through one of Lilietta's friends.
Meanwhile, Adonis found himself being approached in much the same way by a young lord of a marquis family.
Both of them noticed the magic stone necklaces Lilietta and Adonis were wearing and asked if they were a mark of their contract.
In response, Lilietta and Adonis nodded, while the young lady and young lord each shifted their gaze slightly, as if lost in thought-
"Who arranged that?"
"My father."
"He sounds like a good father. No problem there."
"Eh?"
After that exchange, both the young lady and the young man walked off with bright smiles on their faces.
The two who were left behind just stood there, dumbfounded.
Wait, that was it...?
My heart was full of that feeling.
Since there was no particular advice to go on, I figured we'd just have to keep muddling along together somehow - but from that point on, things began to change.
Maybe it's because I'd been dodging the issue so evasively until just now.
The young lord who had been courting Lilietta was the first to grow impatient.
He started seriously trying to court Lilietta with cheesy, over-the-top flattery, but of course, she turned him down, telling him she already had a fiancé.
Of course, it wasn't as though she was ever alone with someone who was making advances on her like that.
A short distance away, their friends were watching over the situation, split between those ready to step in and help if things got serious, and those prepared to call a teacher.
That's exactly why I can swear to it: Lilietta hasn't cheated on me, and she doesn't have the slightest intention of ever doing so.
No matter how good-looking they might be, this is someone who has essentially done nothing but stir up trouble. My heart has never once wavered.
However-
"-Still, just this once, I want you to really think it over. I promise you won't regre-...gah, aargh!?"
The young lord, who had been hinting at replacing her fiancé, glanced away for a moment-then turned back toward Lilietta with his best attempt at a dashing expression, only to let out a scream the instant he did.
As far as Lilietta was concerned, she had no idea what had startled him. Was there a frog at his feet or something? She glanced down at the ground for a moment, but there was nothing there in particular. Wondering if a bee had been buzzing around, she looked around as well, but there was no sign of one, nor any buzzing to be heard.
"A... a monster...!"
With a thoroughly pathetic yelp, the young lord staggered away from Lilietta as fast as his unsteady feet could carry him.
"Well, that's just awful."
"To think he'd resort to such abuse just because I wouldn't give in to him..."
The friends who had been quietly watching from a distance seized the opportunity and came over.
"Don't let it bother you, Lilietta. There's clearly something wrong with his eyes."
"Or else... you're just out of your mind"
He's getting absolutely trashed.
From her friend's perspective, too, the young lord's attitude toward Lilietta had been frustratingly ambiguous, so they couldn't simply tell her 'Just be direct and tell him off.' Even if she had confronted him too boldly, he'd still be left with so many escape routes that he could easily talk his way out of anything.
When that happened, the young lord would probably go around telling everyone that Lilietta was hopelessly full of herself, making her a laughingstock. Considering that worst-case scenario, her friends could offer nothing better than the unhelpful advice that she'd just have to keep dodging him somehow.
However, that young lord let slip a blunder so serious it couldn't just be brushed off as a slip-up, and then ran away.
Lilietta's friends spread the story around as if to say, ‘We had this all planned out from the very beginning, so what's the problem?’ No matter how decent her family background or how good she looks, this whole affair was, frankly, way too rude to let slide.
She made sure to emphasize that Lilietta was in no way at fault, while also warning the other young ladies who weren't aware of the situation not to be taken in by that man's sweet talk.
At around the same time, Adonis found himself in a situation with a young lady who was closing the distance between them, leaving him unsure whether or not he was actually being seduced.
A little way off, Adonis's friends were quietly watching to see how things would unfold.
There's no telling what people would say if a whole group of men were seen surrounding a single young lady like that.
That said, if it ever came out that Adonis had assaulted her while they were alone together, proving his innocence would be no easy task. Granted, if she went so far as to claim he'd defiled her, it would spell the end of her own reputation in a way, so he wanted to believe she wouldn't go that far. Still, the world was full of fools capable of exceeding even his worst expectations, so he couldn't afford to let his guard down.
Ready to step in and prove Adonis's innocence if it came down to it, his friends stayed just close enough to catch every word, watching intently to see how things would unfold. They had a feeling that barging in right from the start would only make matters worse.
The young lady had brought up the connection between their families before, suggesting that a marriage tie with her house wouldn't be a bad deal. That might well be true. But if that was the case, it was a matter better left to the heads of the two families to discuss between themselves. Adonis had gone ahead and mentioned it to his father, just to be safe, but no formal proposal had actually come from the young lady's family.
At this point, it could still technically be argued that this was merely the young lady's personal opinion, and had nothing to do with her family.
So, as far as Adonis was concerned, there was nothing more to discuss with the young lady - yet she, for her part, seemed intent on closing the distance between them even further.
Adonis knew perfectly well that by this point, talk of their families was nothing more than a pretext. But if he brushed her off outright, there was always the risk that things would go sour once their families actually sat down to discuss the matter - and honestly, the thought of that was enough to make his head spin. So Adonis had no choice but to keep his distance from the young lady while handling the situation calmly.
Compared to Lilietta, Adonis is at a disadvantage simply by being a man - if a rumor ever got started that he'd mistreated a woman, proving it false would be incredibly difficult.
My close friends - I know they won't believe it.
However, rumors like these have a way of being passed around by people who have nothing to do with the matter at hand, yet somehow act as though they're in the know, speaking with an air of familiarity they have no right to - which was exactly why Adonis had to be even more careful than Lilietta.
But as he kept dodging her advances in that evasive, noncommittal way, the young lady apparently grew impatient, and she began closing the physical distance between them, approaching Adonis without the slightest hesitation.
She must have been intending to cling to him right then and there.
Adonis noticed this and thought about dodging out of the way, but if he did and she lost her support and ended up falling, that would spell trouble of a different kind altogether… So, shooting his friends a look as if to say - 'If anything happens, prove I was innocent!'- he reluctantly settled on keeping just enough distance to still catch her if it came to that.
Even if the young lady had collapsed of her own accord right in front of him, and it was entirely her own fault, dealing with people who barely knew the situation demanding to know why he hadn't caught her when he was standing right there would have been more trouble than it was worth.
However...
"Ugh, what is that smell... it stinks!"
Suddenly freezing in place, the young lady let out a groan like that, then scurried off, putting as much distance between herself and Adonis as she could.
Adonis, who'd been told he stank while standing right there, froze on the spot, unable to fully process what had just happened. Only once the young lady was completely out of sight did his friends cautiously approach him.
"Are you alright?"
"Ah, by the way, do I really smell that bad?"
"No? It smells fresh, with a bit of a sweet scent. If anything."
"That smell's familiar... what was it?"
"Oh, that's probably the herb that's overrunning the garden. Since it also works as a bug repellent, the servants turned it into potpourri and put it all over the place - including all over my room."
"Ah, that thing."
"They say it also helps you sleep better..."
"Yeah, I sleep like a log every night!"
"I should give it a try too."
From what I can tell listening to my friends talk, none of them seem to be reacting the same way as the young lady.
Adonis quietly breathed a sigh of relief, realizing they weren't just forcing themselves to be considerate.
Being mindful of one's appearance is important, but there's a noticeable gap between men and women when it comes to how much attention they put to it.
So even though Adonis was careful, the other young ladies might have secretly thought, ‘That man is actually the worst - he smells awful,’ or something along those lines. Judging from the young lady's attitude just now, that kind of scenario came through all too vividly, leaving him feeling a bit down.
If it had been Lilietta who did this to me, there's no way I could have recovered.
Still, judging from the reactions around me, I chose to believe that wasn't the case.
Lilietta and Adonis returned from the academy to the townhouse, where they each shared what had happened during their day.
Afterward, rumors began circulating about Lilietta and Adonis, but they quickly ended before they ever had a chance to spread.
The rumors were that "Lilietta appeared as a hideous monster - she was merely masking her true form," and that "Adonis reeked with an unbearable stench, utterly repulsive to be around."
However, no one around them had ever once seen Lirietta as some kind of monster, and Adonis certainly hadn't drenched himself in perfume - if anything, people thought he wore a subtle, pleasant scent. So they concluded that whoever was spreading these rumors was doing so out of sheer malice, trying to drag the two of them down.
Even if she had actually altered her appearance using magic, the academy had devices specifically designed to detect that sort of thing - after past incidents involving people disguising themselves as other students to take exams on their behalf, among other things. When that device was used on Lilietta and it showed no reaction whatsoever, the "Lilietta is using magic to change her appearance" theory was instantly ruled out.
If they were to further press that issue, it would be no different from questioning the Academy's own magical devices - and since the royal family was involved in developing that technology, it could end up looking like criticism of the crown itself.
Even when it comes to jumping on a rumor just for the fun of it, most people make a conscious choice about whether to participate. In this case, most families didn't even mention the rumor, knowing that playing along could ultimately work against them.
As for Adonis, the teacher did go ahead and check his personal grooming just to be safe, but the truth was that from the moment he started attending the academy right up until now, he had never once been reprimanded for anything like that.
When the rumor happened to spread, there was even a check into whether he'd put on too much perfume, but Adonis and the friends around him testified that he didn't wear any, and the teacher concluded that there was nothing particularly wrong with his personal grooming, so the matter ended there.
The young lord who had still been trying to court Lilietta apparently couldn't accept it, and although he didn't say it openly, word got around among his friends that he'd been claiming that she was using magic to mask her appearance - and the whole thing was gradually growing into a real problem.
But when the young lord's friends actually saw Lilietta for themselves, all they could say was that she was nothing but a sweet, lovely young lady - there was nothing wrong with her at all. In fact, some of them apparently told him he owed her an apology for being so rude as to call her a monster.
The young lady who had been approaching Adonis apparently also complained that his stench was unbearable, and she reportedly urged the teachers to deal with it or get rid of him right away. However, every teacher who looked into it concluded that there was nothing wrong with Adonis.
Even after being told this, neither the young lady nor the young lord seemed convinced, and they continued saying one thing or another but-
In the end, it seemed that their parents were contacted, apparently because they had deliberately tried to bring someone else down without cause.
Even the parents who thought ‘surely my child wouldn't do something that foolish’ quietly requested meetings with Lilietta and Adonis to verify the situation. After doing so, they came to the conclusion that there was nothing wrong with either of them.
But... after seeing the pendants the two of them were wearing, they seemed to realize something.
The young lady's parents told her she could no longer expect a respectable marriage proposal. She was unwilling to accept this, and apparently confronted them about it. But her parents went ahead and arranged for her leave of absence, putting some distance between her and the academy for the time being.
Neither Lilietta nor Adonis knew whether she would leave the academy for good or eventually return.
If she were taking a leave of absence for some unavoidable reason, that would be one thing, but the fact that she was doing so without any particular reason meant she really couldn't expect a decent marriage proposal - that much I understood, but there wasn't much else I could say.
As for the young lord, he too ended up taking a leave of absence from the academy.
In his case, the young lord's father gravely remarked, 'There appear to be problems with making you my successor', so it looks like the future here isn't exactly bright either.
A few days later, letters of apology and gifts to make amends arrived at the couple's home from each of their families.
Both Lilietta and Adonis had figured it would be enough if those two just kept their distance from now on, so they were a little surprised to receive such a sincere apology.
At any rate, peace had finally returned, and I was finally able to feel at ease.
"..Do you know the story of the demon who tries to corrupt a saint chosen by God by every means possible?"
That's what I was told that one day, after the situation had completely settled down and I was fully at ease.
Adonis took a moment to grasp what the marquis's son was saying, but then he recalled there being something like that in one of the myths, so he nodded with a serious look on his face.
"The magic imbued in a magic stone is usually designed to activate if the wearer tries to break the contract. But every now and then, there are people who exploit that very mechanism against you, tricking you into breaking the contract. The magic stones belonging to you two are designed to activate even against people acting with that kind of malicious intent."
"Is that so?!"
"The appearance isn't distinct, but its value is on a completely different level. You're clearly trusted... and dearly loved as well."
The marquis's son didn't explicitly say who he meant, but there was no way they couldn't tell who he was referring to.
Both Adonis and Lilietta were loved by their parents. Once again, they let that fact sink in.
"The magic when a contract is violated is normally designed to trigger if the contract holder themselves breaks the contract, and its effects appear in a way that's obvious to those around them. However, in this case, neither of them had any intention of violating the contract. Instead, the magic activated only on the two people who were trying to manipulate them into breaking it, and as a result, those two ended up being affected by the magic normally reserved for contract violators.
When it comes down to it, the truth turns out to be quite simple."
Upon hearing what the duke's daughter said, the two of them were convinced, realizing, ‘Ah, so that's how it was…’
When they made their contract, they'd agreed on penalties for breaking it: Adonis decided that if Lilietta broke her end, she'd turn into a monster - or at least appear as some kind of terrifying figure to everyone around her - while Lilietta decided that if Adonis broke his, he'd end up giving off some kind of nasty smell.
The magic's effect triggered only on the people who had been making advances toward the two of them.
That makes perfect sense when you put it that way.
"But why wouldn't Father have told me something so important?"
Lilietta's question was answered by the duke's daughter.
"If you tell that to the other person, and they simply believed you and backed off, then the next victim could have been someone else. Of course, that person might be someone completely unrelated to you - but it could just as easily be one of your friends.
If that happens, it would likely be difficult for you to step in to help.
Besides, if word got out that you were using such an expensive magic stone with that kind of effect, that could just as easily invite trouble - people who think your family has plenty of money might start to crowd around you.
Having a bunch of people like that gather truly is a bother...
So, if you didn't know, there's no way you can tell anyone, right?"
"Good point...!"
Even though Lilietta's necklace can only be removed by Adonis, and Adonis's can only be removed by Lilietta, there is no reason to go out of one’s way to invite the risk of becoming a target for profit-driven crime - after all, people might assume there are other valuables involved besides the magic stones.
Neither Lilietta nor Adonis had realized it was such an expensive magic stone, so they hadn't felt any particular pressure about it. If anything, now that they knew just how valuable it was, they were honestly a little unnerved.
"I need to thank Father a lot when I get home."
"Yep. This magic stone is the reason we're still alive."
"As for those two who filed for a leave of absence... Well, I don't know how things will turn out, but if they can't correct their attitude, I doubt they'll be allowed back."
"Ah, if it could be written off as something like, ‘They just wanted to stand out by saying something different from everyone else,’ or ‘They were just jealous and wanted to mess with the other person,’ then maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be impossible to come back from it by calling it a youthful folly. …Even then, though, things probably would never go back to the way they were before."
"Yeah. Even after becoming an adult, there's always the chance that people will keep bringing up what happened back then. In fact, it could be even worse - after they have children, if those children get into trouble during adolescence or a rebellious phase, someone else might expose the parent's past mistakes to them… That sort of thing can happen too"
"Oh, I know that feeling. My uncle still loves bringing up things I did as a little kid, but I don't remember any of it - I mean, it was before I could even form memories. Stuff from that far back, people can just smile and let slide. But this time, forgetting would be a real problem. And if I imagine the kid finding out about it once they're adults... honestly, I might just die of embarrassment right now thinking about it."
Hearing the lively exchange, Lilietta and Adonis also tried to imagine it.
Sure enough, when I imagine having my youthful blunders brought up once I'm an adult, even though it's hard to picture right now, it still makes me feel a little embarrassed just thinking about it.
Even if they managed to return to school, this incident is bound to become the subject of gossip, and if that continues afterward, it's not as though they can simply flip a switch and move on just because they'd had a change of heart.
There's no doubt they'll have an even harder time figuring out what to do with themselves now.
Well, either way, none of that really concerns Lilietta and Adonis.
Since after graduating from the academy, the two of them wouldn't be living in the royal capital anyway - they'd be settling down on the estate.
There's no way they'd come all the way to the estate. I can pretty much assume we won't have anything to do with them going forward.
That's exactly why, once classes were over and the two of them got back to the townhouse, they told their parents the whole story and thanked them again and again. If it hadn't been for that particular magic stone, things wouldn't have gone this smoothly - solving the problem would definitely have taken a lot longer.
After that, the two of them managed to avoid getting caught up in anything you could really call an incident, and once they graduated, they returned to their estate and held their wedding.
Even though we had removed the necklaces once before, we decided to place them back on each other once again.
Before I started wearing the necklace, I used to treat it almost like some kind of cursed object - but not anymore.
And so, as symbols of good fortune, the necklaces came to rest upon their chests, where they would shine for many years to come.