A Contract Marriage with My Child’s Father Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“…He’s handsome.”

Back when I was the adopted daughter of Marquis Deboreux, I’d had the occasional opportunity to attend banquets.

But I had never seen a face as flawless as a sculpture.

A sharp, straight nose. A firm, masculine jawline. Deep, intense eyes. The harmony of his features felt unreal.

For a fleeting moment, I wondered if he might be someone from the original novel.

But that didn’t seem likely. There had never been mention of a black-haired, black-eyed man like this.

Still, it wasn’t easy to simply admire his appearance.

There was something about him—an aura that made him difficult to approach.

For no clear reason, it felt as if the air around me had grown thinner.

Did I make a mistake speaking to him?

Just as that thought crossed my mind—

Huh?

A gust of wind carried a metallic, fishy scent to my nose.

Blood.

But not quite human blood.

It was strange… yet oddly familiar.

Where had I smelled that before?

Then it clicked.

“Ah! Wait!”

Realization struck, and I grabbed his sleeve in a hurry.

“Don’t tell me… this is monster blood?”

“And if it is?”

He replied as if stating an obvious fact—like one plus one equals two.

His indifference made my eyes widen.

“Then this is not the time to stand around! You’ve got a scrape on the back of your hand!”

I couldn’t just ignore that.

If monster blood seeped into an open wound, the flesh could rot.

Thankfully, he didn’t appear seriously injured—but even that small scrape was dangerous if contaminated.

“Disinfectant… ointment… quickly…”

The oppressive aura he’d given off earlier vanished from my mind. I blocked his path and rummaged through my bag.

Meanwhile, he seemed utterly unconcerned. Worse, he kept trying to pull his hand away.

He wasn’t a stubborn village child—he was a grown man!

My nagging burst out automatically.

“Hold still! What are you going to do if monster blood gets inside? Worried it’ll sting? If it festers later, it’ll hurt far more. And crying then won’t fix it!”

“Who’s crying? I don’t need this. It won’t have much effect on me any—”

I shot him the sternest glare I could muster.

Usually, this expression made every child in the village behave instantly.

And sure enough—

“…Hah.”

He let out a dry laugh.

Then, as if conceding, he stopped resisting and allowed me to treat him. His eyes seemed to say, What kind of situation is this?

I didn’t have time to worry about that.

Like with squirming children, I worked quickly—efficient and practiced. Before he could properly react, I was done.

There.

I could breathe again.

When I released his hand, he looked down at it, as though sensing something unusual.

“Not bad, right? I made that ointment myself.”

“You did?”

“Yes. I’m an apothecary.”

Even during our brief exchange, the slight swelling had already gone down. The pain must have eased too.

He continued inspecting his hand, clearly surprised.

A small, proud smile crept onto my face.

I did have confidence in my medicine.

My remedies had always been unusually effective.

…Though.

Now that I’d calmed down, embarrassment crept in.

Stopping a complete stranger like that—seriously?

Ugh. But I couldn’t help it. Occupational hazard.

I’d never been good at ignoring injured people. Lately, it had only gotten worse because of the village children.

If something hurt, they should just say so and let me treat it! Instead, they’d hide it until it worsened.

Somewhere along the way, I developed the reflex of chasing down anyone who looked injured.

Even when the person in question looked perfectly fine.

I glanced up at his face again. Despite being splattered in monster blood, he looked entirely unfazed.

So he really was a monster hunter?

I’d heard there were far more monsters near Winterwald than in the capital. The original novel had mentioned it too—stories of the ducal knights, and sometimes even the duke himself, subjugating monsters.

This man was probably one of them.

That would explain the overwhelming presence he carried.

In that case, as a grateful citizen of the empire, I couldn’t just leave it at that.

“Here—take this. It works really well.”

“I’ll repay you.”

As I handed him the ointment, he immediately reached into his robe.

“Repay me? For this? There’s no need! Just be more careful next time so you don’t get hurt.”

“I don’t like owing debts.”

It was only ointment. What debt?

I waved both hands.

“It’s really fine. You do monster subjugation for a living, don’t you?”

He hesitated briefly, then nodded.

As expected.

“Then think of this as a small token of gratitude. Our village was in danger because of monsters a few months ago too.”

Things had quieted down recently, but monster waves had been unusually frequent over the past three years.

Without people like him, we wouldn’t be living safely.

I pressed the ointment back into his hand and smiled gently.

“We’re always benefiting from your work. Thank you.”

“…You’re not from around here.”

“Ah—yes. I have some business in the area.”

“What kind of business?”

“Mm… job hunting, I suppose?”

A convenient lie.

“Oh! By the way—do you know the way to the ducal estate?”

“Up that hill.”

Following the direction of his gaze, I saw a mansion so vast it looked like a castle.

Wow…

A quiet breath escaped me.

“Thank you for telling me!”

He gave a small nod.

What a strange man.

He seemed unfriendly, yet he answered every question.

And the strangest thing of all was his unnatural composure.

How could someone walk around drenched in monster blood like that?

Even for a hunter, most people would flinch.

Ah—one more thing.

“Don’t ever underestimate small wounds! If they get infected, they can rot. You were lucky this time, but next time it could be serious!”

I made my fiercest expression.

But—

“Hah.”

He merely tilted his head slightly, lifting one corner of his mouth in a faint, amused smile.

That was my ultimate glare… It always worked on the village kids.

Right. It wouldn’t work on an adult.

Still, you don’t have to laugh.

I was being sincere.

Suppressing my embarrassment, I waved.

“Take care!”

He began walking away, then paused.

“…It seems the ducal estate will be hiring a healer soon.”

Huh?

Before I could question him, he disappeared into the crowd.

I stood there, replaying his words.

I was wondering how I’d get close to Kain…

This was it.

Jackpot.

Far away, the man muttered quietly.

“How curious.”

For a simple ointment to work that well…

He looked down at his hand.

The man—no, Kain—was the head of House Ashellen.

A family with power rivaling the imperial house, and wealth to match.

But the defining trait of Ashellen was their dragon blood.

They were the only lineage in the empire to inherit a dragon’s blood—physically distinct from ordinary humans from birth.

Because of that, ordinary medicine had almost no effect on them.

Even imperial physicians struggled to produce meaningful results.

So what was this?

Who is she?

Unaware of his gaze, she was completely absorbed in sightseeing.

Her lightly curled pink hair fluttered in the wind.

“…Hah.”

No matter how he considered it, she was a peculiar woman.

She hadn’t feared him.

She had scolded him like a child.

That couldn’t simply be dismissed as cheerfulness.

He glanced again at the back of his hand.

The scrape had completely healed.

Even accounting for dragon-blood regeneration, it wasn’t normal.

For some reason, she lingered in his thoughts. Before he realized it, his eyes were following her.

It’s because of her skill, he told himself.

I should bring her to the estate. She could be useful to Jaden.

Even if his nephew weren’t ill, that ointment alone justified recruiting her.

Just as he made up his mind and began to approach—

“What is it, Melody! Did you come looking for me with Auntie?”

“Uu!”

A small child dashed forward and flung herself into the woman’s arms.

…Her younger sister?

They looked identical.

Pink hair. Fresh green eyes. As if cut from the same mold.

Kain stopped in his tracks.

I already told her. She’ll come.

He watched the two of them for a moment before turning away.

And so he returned to the ducal estate.

His aide hurried to greet him.

“Your Grace! You’ve returned!”

Kain handed over the bloodstained robe—something he wore when subjugating monsters, partly for practicality, partly to vent excess strength.

When he deactivated the disguise artifact, his appearance shifted instantly.

His hair turned silver like spun thread.

His dark eyes burned crimson.

His already inhuman beauty became almost transcendent.

Conrad, though accustomed to it, still couldn’t help lowering his gaze in reverence.

But true to his dragon-blood nature, Kain ignored him and headed straight for his study.

Just before entering, he stopped.

“Your Grace? Is something the matter?”

“Post a notice.”

His voice was calm.

“We’re recruiting a healer.”