Marriage Contract with Two Husbands

is a minor.
It is impossible to marry her without permission from her guardian.”

The emperor, who had been slanting, slipped down.
He clutched the armrest and, holding himself up, lifted only his head and stared at Melchor.

“What? A minor? How old is she?”

“Seventeen, Your Highness.
Her birthday still hasn’t passed.”

Emperor Balthazar placed a hand over his mouth and blinked.
His eyes widening on his face was like someone witnessing a really unbelievable scene.

“Whoa.
That is shocking.”

“Your Highness?”

“My Melchor… Lord Melchor… Melchor Postenmeyer the Grand Duke, I didn’t expect you to fall in love with her this much.”

It was normal to give up if parents opposed the marriage of their minor child.
But Melchor had promised her that he would wait until she became an adult, and even that fact had been kept a secret.
Just so he could keep her!

This here was a scandal.
Emperor Balthazar rubbed the corners of his convulsed lips with his fingertips, barely holding back the urge to gasp.

“I truly thought you would remain single forever.
You’ve always seemed uninterested in marriage.”

That was correct.
Melchor had never thought of marrying anyone until now.

“Isn’t that so? You rejected Princess Annestrothe’s proposal.”

“The Postenmeyer family is loyal to the imperial family.
Shouldn’t the heir to the blood of the royal family join the family, so that their loyalty won’t be blurred?” Melchor said.

“No, it wouldn’t have been a good reason for you to refuse the marriage then.
At that time, you looked really adamant about not wanting to get married.
So that’s why I thought ‘Okay, he’s going to live alone forever or adopt a child.’”

The emperor’s judgment was correct.
A successor was essential as long as he was the head of the Postenmeyer family.
However, since he was still young, he was not in a hurry to make a successor, so he said that he could someday find suitable talent from the field and make him his successor.

“Anyway, I understand the circumstances.
I am upset about… the reason you kept it a secret from me, but it is convincing.”

“Thank you for understanding me, Your Highness.”

“Melchor, what else can I say when you want to keep your wife? I would tell you that you better stop keeping this from the empress.
And since Count Crimson Rose is dead there is nothing else to dig up.”

“Your Highness.
As for the gambling situation, I have some suspicion.”

“Suspicion?”

“I mean the details of Count Crimson Rose’s murder.
I was rounded up and ran away from the gambling house, and on my way back to the mansion, the location the wagon was passing was strange.
And even the traces of the assassin have been wiped away clean.”

Emperor Balthazar, who had been sitting in a leaning position with his arm on the armrest the whole time, straightened himself out.
His face became quite serious.