‘This has to be an abduction!’ Amethyst fumed. She had initially been with Count Lohikin, but was now in Duke Skad’s drawing room.

‘Duke Alexent Skad- the culprit could only be him!’

His silky, platinum hair that was always brushed back, combined with his captivating red eyes were irresistably intoxicating.

Not now, Amethyst. She silently scolded herself. With her arms folded across her chest, she huffed and puffed, making sure he knew she was displeased. She glared at the duke. However, he seemed unbothered by her reaction.

“Lady Lohikin, let me make you a proposal.”

Amethyst was far too angry to really pay attention to him, but he continued.

“Have you ever heard of the term contract marriage?”

“Contract…what?” She was taken by surprise, her eyebrows raised and her mouth wide open at the thought. First, it was an abduction and now a contract marriage.

Amethyst started to wonder if Duke Skad was losing his mind.

“Yes, a contract marriage. Just so you know, I believe in celibacy. However, I find myself in this complication situation where marriage cannot be avoided. I need the help of a noble lady who can pretend to be my spouse for some time.”

“Why does it have to be me? I have grown up despising the entire idea of marriage. I don’t even like mentioning it!”

“Huh, Lady Lohikin, then you and I are very much alike. I too hate that word ‘marriage’. But you know your father won’t let you spend your life alone. You can’t avoid it forever. Consider it a sort of collateral. Let’s help each other out. It’ll be just a single year that you will have to endure me.”

Amethyst quickly calculated her options. It was an attractive offer, she could not deny that.

Her father, Count Lohikin, may be appeased for now, but he would certainly push her into a marriage with someone she highly disapproves of. There is no guarantee that she would be able to convince him otherwise. If she were to accept the duke’s proposal however, she could buy more time. She would even be in control of who she marries.

She turned towards the duke. “What happens after the year is over?”

“Whatever pleases you. We can publicly divorce, or I can help you start a new life somewhere else, far away from this madness. We can pretend you died in a sudden illness or an accident. I will even be able to live as a widower, mourning my dead wife forever. People will understand my desire to be alone then.”

“You won’t really kill me, will you?”

“Please, Lady Lohikin, I am an honorable man. You will have my protection.”

“I don’t know that. Prove to me that you will keep your promise.”

“Fine, how shall I prove it?” Amethyst mulled over her options.

Should I leave it as a document? No. Even if I were to get it notarised, what would be the use of a document when I’m already dead. It’ll obviously be a secret contract between us so I’m sure he won’t agree to it. What should I do?

Oh! The world tree. They said the world tree is the most important being in these lands. It is like a ruler. Since Duke Skad is in line to the throne, I am sure he thinks highly of the world tree.

“Alright. Swear upon the world tree!”

“What?!”

“I heard the world tree is like a goddess. You’re a member of the royal family, and the royals are descendants of the goddess, so swear upon your ancestor: that you will not kill me and that you will protect my life. Do it.”

The duke was speechless. He stared at Amethyst, his gaze becoming intense with every second and his fiery eyes almost burning with emotion.

He spoke finally.

“Fine, I will swear it upon the world tree. I, Alexcent Frostin du Skad will protect your life no matter what. Will that do?”

A shiver ran down Amethyst’s spine at that response. But she persevered.

“Okay then. How much solatium are you going to give me?”

“You’re even going to request for a solatium? You’re quite a deal maker, aren’t you?

“How am I supposed to live without a penny to my name after one year has passed. By then I would no longer be the consort of a duke, neither a daughter of a Count.”

“That’s true. So how much would you need?”

Oh, I don’t know what to tell him. I don’t understand the Sehar currency. I should have learned it from my mother when I had the time. No. I should be able to live comfortably even in these lands. He is a duke, I am sure he can afford a small price for his plans. He probably already spends a fortune to maintain this grand mansion. If he can afford that, he should be able to afford my expenses.

“I think 10 years worth of pay from your work and two buildings you own somewhere. That should be fair.”

“What? You sound like you are ready to rip me off, dear Lady.”

“I don’t think you grasp the situation. I am in no need of this ‘contract’. I don’t lose out either way. If you don’t like my offer, we can forget about the marriage.”

‘There is no way he is getting off so easily.’

She knew she had been audacious, but she did not want to back down.

The duke looked at her, studying her for a moment. “Fine, let’s do it.”

Amethyst drew in her breath. Oh my. Did he just agree? Did I just agree to marriage? She felt giddy with excitement and fear both at the same time.

In any case, she would be free one year from now.

“Alright then. Let’s discuss the terms of this contract. We will be living in separate bedrooms, correct?”

“Yes, but I will drop by occasionally since the maids will be observing. They will notice.”

“Okay, we do need to keep them fooled. As for the wedding, I would like it to be a grand affair.”

The duke raised an eyebrow. “That’s surprising. I always took you for a girl with minimal tastes.”

“A big wedding is every woman’s dream, and I do need to play the part.” Amethyst smirked. “Also, don’t actually fall in love with me and try to skew our contract.”

The duke frowned. “How ridiculous! That will never happen.”

“Have you never read any romance novels? It’s a pretty common storyline. Anyway, even if you do fall in love with me, I hope you won’t expect me to reciprocate. I am leaving you as soon as our contract is up!”

The duke once again ran his fingers through his hair and seemed to study Amethyst.

“Do you really believe a face like yours is easy to fall in love with?”

“What! You ras…”

“Pardon me, miss, what did you say?”

Amethyst put on a smile and grinned through her teeth, “Nothing at all, never mind. I must have read too many books”.

Duke Skad gave her icy smile of his own in return. “You should be careful of falling head over heels in love with me, lady.”

“Ha! That will never happen, sir”, Amethyst rolled her eyes at him.

“Why makes you so sure?”

If he ever lived in Korea, he would never want to get married. Guess he also haven’t heard of Generation Y – those who have renounced the entire institution of marriage.

Amethyst focused on Duke Skad. She could not speak these thoughts aloud, so she came up with another response.

“Well, I don’t believe in staying with a single person all my life. That is boring.”

That’s right. I am what they call a fan – obsessed with idol groups and wearing my heart on my sleeve. I fall in love several times in a single year/

An image of a dance group member ran through Amethyst’s mind and she shrugged the thought away.

Duke Skad was ready with his rebuttal. “What? With that face, miss, you will be lucky if you can find even one person to commit to you.”

Amethyst glared at the Duke.

“Okay, maybe you are right. Whatever, it is not my concern”, he quickly added, trying to douse the heavy air between them. Amethyst shrugged and changed the conversation. “So will this do?”

“Yes, I will announce the engagement tomorrow. We will have the wedding in a month’s time and exactly a year from now we will part ways.”

“That sounds good. Can I ask you a question?”

“No.” Duke Skad was wary of Amethyst at this point.

“Come on! You don’t even know what it is.”

“Exactly why I don’t want to hear it.”

“You are so stubborn. I am still going to ask. Why do you want to have a contract marriage?”

“Just like that.”

“Just like that?!”

His fiery eyes narrowed down on her and then he looked away. He seemed to have no intention to reveal his motives.

He spoke softly, looking at the room at large. “Let’s just say it is for my own privacy and freedom. And for my sister’s inner peace.

“Speaking of privacy and freedom, you can’t have affairs with other women for the entire duration of our relationship.”

“What do you take me for?!”

“Not even an affair with a man.”

“Are you serious right now?”

“Aw, you can be endearing when you want to be”, Amethyst teased him.

‘He is not bad-looking, either.’

She may lie to herself, but his good looks had played a large part in her agreeing to the whole sham. She, who loathed even the mention of marriage, had been convinced just because he was so dreamy to look at. It would certainly make the relationship more bearable.

All men are the same, Amethyst. Don’t fool yourself.

Yet, Duke Skad was the best possible option. Amethyst, who was living the second chapter of her life, had nothing to be afraid of.

“It’s Alec.”

“Excuse me?”

“My name. You can call me Alec.”

“You can call me Amethyst too.”

“Okay, Ash.”

“Ash? My name is Amethyst.”

“I know that.” Amethyst was frustrated but decided to not let it show. I am not going to argue with this stubborn fool.

Their relationship had begun, and he could call her whatever he desired as long as he met all the conditions of this contract.

The last thirty-six years of Heeyeon's life had not been particularly fortunate. She had lived with an indifferent husband and needlessly rude in-laws, and her parents nagged her endlessly as if she was their sounding board for all their complaints with life.

There was also the matter of her colleagues who never missed an opportunity to stab her in the back. Her children felt like a burden, but she was too afraid to say it out loud for fear of censure. Nobody could really understand. Her husband might have as he should have, but he was too busy with his own affairs and expecting favor after favor from Heeyeon to pay attention to what a struggle motherhood was for her.

Heeyeon was barely getting by in life, what with all these tangled, messy and complicated relationships surrounding her. Perhaps they were the reason she had picked up the habit of saying, “I'm sick of this,” every now and then. She wondered when life had become so intolerably boring.

Every day in her life seemed to drain the energy out of her like a parasite. Her life after marriage had become a nightmarish reality, one where she was failing an exam as there was no right answer to the problems. Her life repeated a mundane cycle of work and home and Heeyeon was rapidly nearing exhaustion.

Today was another one of those days. She boarded the elevator holding a bag of compost with her gloved hand. A warm and dry breeze swept the hair off Heeyeon's eyes as she approached the steps leading outside her building. The breeze felt comforting and she looked up at the night sky almost subconsciously. Though the night was cloudless, not a single star could be seen. The waning crescent of the moon lit up the ground weakly, as did the streetlight. As she walked toward the dumpsters, she looked around her, noticing the cozily lit apartments and their warmly decorated balconies. The night was quiet except for the rustling of the young leaves that seemed to be enjoying the breeze as much as she was.

Heeyeon let out a deep sigh. “I wonder what is the purpose of my life,” she said out loud to no one.

Having disposed of the bag of compost, she took her time walking back to the apartment. She walked to her building and stopped right under her balcony and looked up. Her apartment seemed similarly cozy to the others, and yet Heeyeon felt a sense of dread looking at it. Instead of security, her home seemed to elicit a sense of imprisonment in her heart.

Nevertheless, she soldiered on as there was an endless list of tasks still to be completed that evening. Heeyeon put her kids to bed, then made a weak attempt at cleaning the living room. She managed to do all the dishes and caught up with some menial tasks that her husband would never help with. Dedicated to finish her chores, she didn't realize when it was already past midnight. That was usually when her weeknights ended. Every night Heeyeon would pass out from fatigue and begin a new day with the same tasks and the same drudgery.

Maybe it was her predictable future and the repeated nature of her chores that made way for her frustration, but that evening Heeyeon decided to make a stop at the bench near the entrance to the apartment. A cherry tree provided sweet escape from the blazing heat.

'I'll take just 5 minutes for myself.'

Being five minutes late should not flip her world upside down, and being five minutes early would not make her husband and kids more appreciative of her.

Heeyeon sighed. It had been eleven years of being trapped in this cycle of work, parenting, and forced relationships.

Her relationship with her husband had long since withered, and Heeyeon believed she did not know her husband any longer. It was like living with a stranger. She didn't know if all marriages turned similarly sour after a time, but social media stories seemed to tell a different story. The little bit of time she had for herself on the commute to and from work, Heeyeon spent it on her smartphone.

“I guess this means not every man in Korea is like that.”

The relationship with her husband was one-sided, and he did not bother to show her any consideration just because she was his life. He seemed to want to stick around because of the convenience Heeyeon provided by being there and completing all his chores without complaint. This same dutifulness made her feel humiliated often. The rare moments of intimacy that came out of nowhere would end before Heeyeon could really acknowledge the excitement, and as always it was expected of her to make up for any shortcomings or unsatisfied desires. Disappointed by her marital life, she had stopped trying to open herself up with him.

Couples who suffered from sexual incompatibility often cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for divorce. But Heeyeon's marriage was not failing just because of an unsatisfactory conjugal relationship alone. The simplest and most benign of arguments would make her think of divorce.

On such days, she often recalled the words of a divorced friend, “Heeyeon, you should never get divorced. From the divorce you see the lowest and worst side to that person…it's something one should never willingly put oneself through”.

'I want to just escape. Simply disappear one day.'

She wasn’t sure if she could go through the proceedings of a divorce.

‘No. I have thought about it ten thousand times now, but from an outsider’s point of view, I would appear ungrateful. We work as a family after all. I have food on the table and life is not that hard. That is probably the cause of such devious thoughts. If things were really hard, I wouldn’t even have the time to consider a divorce.’

Though I do feel suffocated all the time.

The only problem seemed to be her mindset really.

‘If I can’t get divorced then for this moment at the very least, I wish I could disappear. How I would love to turn back time. If I could do that, I would never marry!’

The thought of being in charge of the trajectory of her life brought a smile to Heeyeon’s lips.

‘I should go home. They must be waiting.’

Heeyeon quickly stood up from her seat, dusted herself, and started to walk back. She called the elevator which started to descend from the 10th floor.

Level three

Level two

Level one

Ding! The elevator ringed and opened up to a dark space inside. It was a common occurrence for one or two of the lights to go out from time to time. Since it was an old apartment complex, she did not think of it much and stepped inside. The moment the door closed, Heeyeon knew she had made a mistake. The elevator lurched and suddenly dropped. She collapsed with fear and a sinking feeling in her heart.

“Help! Did the elevator drop? Is anybody there? Help!!”

She yelled herself hoarse, believing her life was in danger. Nobody answered her calls, and her surroundings only became quieter. She couldn’t even hear the echo of her voice now.

‘I was definitely on level one. Is there a basement I never knew about? Even so, I’m sure it can’t be this deep!’

She mustered up the courage to look around, but it was so dark that she couldn’t even see her body. Horror pulsated throughout her body like a current of electricity. She was covered in goosebumps and hot tears made their way down her cheeks. It was not just the darkness. Something was off, but she couldn’t place her finger on it. She called for help again as the elevator continued to fall.

After an indeterminable amount of time, she thought she could make out some faint light coming in from behind the doors. The light seemed to grow brighter and Heeyeon covered her eyes when it became painfully bright inside. A moment that had felt like forever had finally passed, and when Heeyeon opened her eyes again, she was not alone. It felt warm and almost cozy now.

*

A friendly voice almost sang to her.

“Wake up, my lady. It’s morning. Did you sleep well. The master and mistress await your presence downstairs for breakfast. We need to get you ready.”

‘My lady? Who is this? Where am I?’

She blinked away her confusion while staring at this rather friendly person who was calling out to her while referring to as ‘my lady’. Her attention was drawn away by the high ceilings decorated in gilded leaves and detailed floral patterns.

Heeyeon realized she was in a bed, and was momentarily frozen in confusion and fear. When she gave no sign of moving, the calm and youthful voice repeated itself.

“Hurry up, my lady. We need to go.”

‘My lady?’

Heeyon jumped out of the foreign bed and looked around in amazement. Her surroundings seemed reminiscent of the books she had read in school.

‘It is like I have suddenly arrived in the worlds of Madame Bovary or Jane Eyre. Everything is so antique here.’

The bedroom was fitted luxuriously, and yet was designed almost to modern tastes. The woman who had been insisting she wake up was dressed just like the women in the period movies she saw on television. Heeyeon spotted a mirror with intricate leaf-like patterns on the borders and rushed to it. She jumped back on catching her reflection.

She was not herself. Something was very wrong. All of a sudden, she had grown copper curls and her eyes had turned almost emerald. A button-like nose now occupied the center of her face and her lips seemed naturally peachy instead of their usual pale color. Nothing of her current appearance was like her original self.

‘What had happened to her? What was going on? Is this a dream? This doesn’t make sense. I must be dreaming.’

Heeyeon wanted to wake up. She slapped her cheeks, fully expecting to wake up in her cold and dreadful apartment building. Except, her slap left a stinging sensation, and she was still stuck in that foreign dream. She continued slapping herself.

“Wake up, wake up, come on! Come to your senses. Wake up!”

“My lady? What’s wrong? You are already awake.”

“Arghhh!”

Heeyeon was now frustrated with this dream. She was also almost frightened by this woman who had not disappeared after all. Her head hurt and she felt caught between incoherent memories.

‘Am I in a dream right now? Was this what people meant when their dreams felt real?’

The other woman’s kind hand on her shoulder felt too real for this to be a dream. All of it felt too real, and Heeyeon’s thirty-six years of life felt like a dream instead. She cradled her aching head and mumbled helplessly.

“Where am I?”

Heeyeon had whispered, but the woman seemed to have heard and replied swiftly.

“My lady, what’s wrong? You are Countess Lohikin. You behave so oddly today, I am confused. We must hurry and get you dressed. I would not like to see the Master scold you again.”

“Who are you?”

“Oh my! Have you forgotten me in a single night? I am Yellie! I attend to you every day. Do you feel ill? Do you have a fever?”