After I, a Penniless Noble, Entered a Fake Engagement with the Most Elegant Duke’s Daughter at the Academy, For Some Reason She Started Showering Me with Love - Chapter 01.3: A Fake Engagement and What Comes After

Chapter 01.3: A Fake Engagement and What Comes After

There was a sharp stir in the air.

For the first time, I felt a wave of tension and unease spread through the people around me.

Up until now, I’d done everything I could to stay unnoticed at the academy.

Nothing good ever came from standing out.

And that was even more true in a school full of nobles.

Jealousy made people vicious.

So I tried to live quietly, carefully—

If I could’ve just made it to graduation like air, invisible and untouched, that would’ve been perfect…

“What’s wrong, my beloved husband? You’re all stiff.”

Yuri, the one and only duke’s daughter in the entire academy, clung to my arm and called me her husband.

“Why him? He’s so plain…”

I heard the grumbles and resentment all around me—and honestly, I couldn’t blame them.

Why was someone like me, a broke noble with nothing going for him,

Being treated like the fiancé of Yuliana, the daughter of a duke?

To explain that, we’ll need to rewind things a little…

◆◆◆

“Get enga—wait, fake engagement??”

“That’s right.”

I had hoped she was joking.

But Yuri gave me a firm nod—so clear and certain there was no room for misinterpretation.

Just hearing the word engagement was enough to make my brain go blank.

Add fake on top of that, and it completely broke my ability to think straight.

“Fufu. Acting all clueless—what a sinful man you are.”

If anything, I was more dazed than clueless.

“A-Anyway, I need some time to think about it.”

“It was sudden, after all. Thinking it over is the right thing to do.”

“Exactly!”

“But I won’t let you think!”

“Why not!?”

I’d been panicking nonstop since earlier.

At this point, it was fair to call it a full-blown panic.

And yet, Yuri didn’t give me a moment to breathe.

She kept talking at full speed, not letting me calm down.

“If I let you think too long, I figured you’d say no.”

“That’s pure calculation!”

And sneaky!

“But this is a deal that benefits both of us.”

“It sounds like a scam!”

She was flooding me with so much information that I couldn’t even process it.

And before I could sort anything out, she was trying to get me to say yes.

Yeah—this had all the signs of a scam.

“It’s not a scam. I won’t ask you for even a single gold coin.”

“That just makes it sound more like a scam.”

“…Anyway.”

She brushed off my protest like it was nothing.

“You and I are both tired of the academy constantly pressuring us to marry.”

“I wouldn’t say tired… It’s more like I just don’t like it.”

“Then we feel the same.”

Isn’t finding common ground one of the oldest tricks in the scammer’s book?

“Um… you’re really close right now.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

Her face was too perfect—it was basically a weapon.

She was no longer just leaning over the table; she was practically on top of it,

Closing the distance more and more.

Now, all I could see in my vision was Yuri’s face.

“If we get engaged, no one will keep trying to propose to us anymore.”

“I’m not getting any proposals to begin with!”

And besides, I was just from a humble viscount family.

There’s no way I could act as any kind of shield for someone like her.

“You also won’t have to attend those student social events anymore.”

“It’d be nice to skip that mandatory once-a-month nonsense, sure…”

“And you were looking for a quiet place, weren’t you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“This garden is mine alone. No one ever comes near it.”

“…Seriously?”

I hadn’t known that.

Actually, the very idea of a private garden inside the school grounds was pretty wild.

Yuri’s status—which I really wasn’t supposed to know—was starting to peek through the cracks.

And the more I saw, the more my instincts screamed at me to run.

Too bad I was sitting down, with her staring straight at me. There was no escape.

“If we get engaged, I’ll let you use this place whenever you like.”

“That’s… honestly a very tempting offer.”

Inside my head, I tried to weigh the risks against the rewards.

But the scale didn’t just wobble—it slammed down on the risk side.

I had to turn her down.

Not just logically—my instincts were warning me loud and clear that this was dangerous.

“B-But wouldn’t a fake engagement get exposed right away?”

“It’ll be fine.”

“No, wait—there’s no evidence or reasoning behind that!”

“It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine. See? It’s totally fine, right?”

“I’m not going to be swayed that easily!”

“Or… maybe…”

Yuri suddenly lowered her eyes, her voice dropping softly.

“Even if it’s fake… you still wouldn’t want to be engaged to someone like me?”

The scale shattered without a fight.

◆◆◆

“This really is a scam, isn’t it?”

“Whatever do you mean?”

In the rose maze—right in the center garden—

Yuri acted like she’d done nothing wrong.

Sure, she was kind enough to prepare tea for me.

But that didn’t mean I was ready to forgive her.

I took a sip from the cup she offered, then glanced at her smug, satisfied expression.

“You never told me you were a duke’s daughter.”

“You never asked.”

“…Scam.”

I knew it.

That was just me whining after losing, and I knew it too.

The one who won was clearly Yuri.

She listened to my pitiful complaints like the chirping of a songbird, savoring her victory with a cup of tea.

“Don’t worry. I don’t plan on making trouble for you. (Probably)”

“…Didn’t you just tack on something suspicious at the end there?”

“You must’ve imagined it.”

Did I?

I really hoped I did… and thinking that way made it feel true.

“What even is my life now…”

“Hey now, don’t be so sloppy.”

She scolded me when I slumped face-first onto the table.

“At least let me have this. It’s our first day of fake engagement and I’m already emotionally wrecked.”

“Nope. You’re my husband now, so act like it.”

“Husband, huh…”

Come to think of it, when we were walking arm in arm through the school building—

Putting on a show so people would think we were really engaged—

She kept calling me that the entire time.

I’d thought it was just part of the act.

But even now, with just the two of us here, she still said it.

There was no need to keep playing when no one else was watching.

“It’s a fake engagement, right? You don’t have to call me that.”

“But what if it stops being fake someday?”

Huh?

I looked up, and Yuri greeted me with a soft smile.

“Even if it’s just pretend, I wouldn’t agree to be engaged to someone I didn’t like. Would you?”

“Well… no, I wouldn’t.”

“Then you really are my husband.”

Yuri straightened her posture.

She looked so graceful in that moment—like the very picture of a noble lady raised in elegance and refinement.

Even though I tried to brace myself, I found my eyes drawn to her smile. It was captivating.

“I look forward to spending a long, long time together, my dear husband.”

…Not that I was about to say I’d fallen for her or anything.

But when she smiled like that, it made me feel like maybe… just maybe, it wouldn’t be so bad.

―Until the scary-looking nobles at school surrounded me.

“So. What exactly is going on here?”

“…………yeah, I’d like to know that myself.”

Yuriiiii!!

You’re already causing trouble over here!

My peaceful life crumbled with a loud crash.