The Villainess Proposed a Contractual Marriage

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

"Harte!"

Elphisia instinctively shouted.

What was the baptismal name vow? It was the highest form of binding that never allowed for non-fulfillment. In fact, in the erased history, Harte had no choice but to die no matter what option he chose, thanks to the baptismal name vow.

"It's alright, Elphisia."

Harte calmed Elphisia with a gentle voice. Though he might be dull-witted, he wasn't lacking in learning ability.

"The baptismal name vow doesn't always create extreme bindings."

"That's true. Even if the content is trivial, you must keep your word without fail."

The High Priest readily agreed. At this, Elphisia shot a venomous glare at the High Priest, who seemed to be strangely encouraging Harte.

Of course, the hostility of a young commoner had no effect on the High Priest's actions.

"So, let's hear it. What's your intention in declaring that you'll take on this binding at this point?"

"It's to provide justification."

"Justification?"

"If it were just between individuals, this conversation would end quickly. But your leader needs to explain to the other demons why you should interact with humans, doesn't he?"

"What can you do?"

The High Priest's eyes narrowed to threads. Harte judged that he was showing considerable interest. So he decided to fit in the last key to the negotiation.

"The achievement that the demon race will gain from interacting with humans is the sealing of my divine power."

"You...?"

"You can spread the rumor however you like. It doesn't matter if you say I begged you to open the channel, promising to seal my divine power."

This wasn't an exaggeration of self-importance. Sealing Harte's divine power was a security benefit for the demon race.

The balance between humans and demons was severely tilted due to Harte's existence alone. Above all, from the demons' perspective, the incident of Harte killing the holy maiden would still be deeply engraved in their consciousness.

"Of course, we have conditions too."

"...I'm listening."

"You won't lend your strength to conflicts."

In other words, even if a holy war breaks out, as long as the High Priest doesn't intervene, Harte's divine power seal would remain valid.

It was essentially giving with one hand and taking with the other. Even if a holy war erupted, if the High Priest was absent, the advantage would still be closer to humanity.

'He probably knows this, but he'll accept it.'

As long as Glen was alive, the Demon King couldn't make the decision to invade humanity. Moreover, barring any mishaps, Harte was destined to age and return to the earth earlier than Glen.

In other words, it was a contract where humanity had nothing to lose.

After brief consideration, the High Priest let out a heavy breath.

"If I don't accept here... I'd be admitting that I'm always plotting revenge."

"There'd be no problem for either side. For humans or demons. It's just a promise to return to the earth in a few decades if peace is maintained."

"Human lifespans are short. Even anomalies like you succumb to the natural order, huh."

"I'm just a human who was luckier than others."

He really could only describe it as being lucky.

From birth, he had received the name of a great god and was taken in by the comfortable temple. As time passed, after many twists and turns, he met Elphisia, and thanks to the divine blessing he received at that time, he had overcome various incidents to reach this point.

That made him purely happy. He could protect the happiness that continued every moment by giving up pure 'coincidence' from now on.

"...Your Majesty."

"Speak."

"Let it be as you wish. The temple will follow the decision of our lord."

The High Priest handed over full authority. Now the decision rested solely in the Demon King's hands.

"Whew..."

The justification had been established. Moreover, neither side had anything more to concede. Therefore, after a long silence, the Demon King gave his answer.

"...The ceasefire agreement. I'll accept it."

"Ah...!"

The first person to exclaim at his declaration was Letitia. She had been anxiously wondering if the Demon King might express a different intention.

"If our lord has made such a decision, we must fulfill our part as well."

"Of course we should."

The moment Harte and the High Priest's eyes met, golden divine light brightly illuminated the reception room. The particles moving as if pushed by water currents resembled a cluster of stars pulsating in the Milky Way.

The baptismal name vow had begun.

"From this moment on, I swear to seal the power of the Sovereign God."

Elphisia felt uneasy. Though it was a vow that had undergone sufficient review, bad memories plagued her.

Harte reassured her with a gentle eye-smile.

"I engrave before the Sovereign God an eternal promise that, unless the High Priest of the demons uses his power to threaten humanity, this vow shall persist."

The divine power that had been rippling like a river formed a ring like a Möbius strip. Then, it entwined Harte and the High Priest, the subjects of the vow, engraving an absolute binding.

"...I really can't understand."

The High Priest muttered.

"I get that you're trying to be considerate of our lord's bloodline. But why sacrifice yourself by taking on such a one-sided burden?"

"Your question is wrong, High Priest."

"What?"

"More precisely, the question doesn't make sense."

Harte refuted his doubt with a detached smile.

"You can't call doing what's right a sacrifice."

Though they might not be Glen's parents, they were family. That's why he wanted Glen to recover even a little more of his lost happiness.

He was also Elphisia's partner. He wanted to share the weight of the guilt she carried. If he could lighten his wife's burden even a little in exchange for his divine power, it was an incredibly cheap price to pay.

Surely the Sovereign God had bestowed the baptismal name for this purpose.

The name Messiah, which was too grand for him.

"I don't get it."

"Everyone has their own way of living. I won't force you to understand."

"..."

The High Priest shut his mouth as if he'd been hit with a comeback. Seeing this as an appropriate timing, Harte spoke up with a somewhat brazen face.

"From today, I won't be able to manifest miracles."

"So what?"

"Could you open a path for us to return?"

"Ha..."

He sighed as if exasperated. Though he didn't explicitly say it out loud after that, Harte took this as a sign of acceptance.

Snap!

The High Priest snapped his fingers. Instantly, Glen's figure appeared in the reception room.

"Whoa..."

Glen groaned at the sudden change in his surroundings. But that was only for a moment; he soon exchanged glances with Elphisia.

Sensing that the negotiation had been successful, Glen quietly curled up the corners of his mouth slightly.

"...Ahem."

At that moment, the Demon King made a natural-sounding fake cough. It was just enough noise for Glen's gaze to linger on him for a moment.

Thus, father and son's eyes met directly.

"..."

"..."

But neither of them exchanged even a simple greeting. An awkward atmosphere persisted to an almost troublesome degree.

'This is so awkward...!'

Glen cried out inwardly. He was facing a father who didn't even remain in his memories, at the onset of puberty. With Glen's personality, it was inevitably difficult to lead the conversation.

Even without the buried years, there was a barrier.

'More than that, he's too young...'

Calling him young was a polite expression because Glen himself was young. If Glen had met him as an adult, it would have been replaced with the expression 'looks young'.

Even now, his appearance suited the title of older brother more than father. It seemed more natural to call Harte father instead.

'Mother is young too, but Father is... excessive.'

At best, he looked about seventeen in human years. For twelve-year-old Glen, it was difficult to address him as father.

"...Enough."

"Starke!"

Squeeze.

Letitia gripped the Demon King's wrist with all her might. Then she showed Glen an unnatural smile and made an excuse.

"Um... Your father isn't good with words usually. I'd appreciate it if you could understand."

"...I'm the same."

"You take after him in that aspect."

"Is... that so?"

"Of course!"

Harte thought it was quite a spectacle watching them from a few steps away. Certainly, except for the color of their eyes and hair, he could see Glen in their features.

He felt a bit sorry for thinking they looked more like siblings than father and son.

"Glen, could you come here?"

"Yes, Mother."

Glen readily complied with Letitia's request. As the distance between them closed, he soon received a rather difficult request and broke into a cold sweat.

"Give your father a hug. At this rate, it seems he won't be able to say a word until you leave..."

"Ah... um."

"Just once is enough, please."

Glen took several deep breaths. It seemed to be quite a challenging request.

Letitia's eyes were too desperate to refuse, and it felt like betraying the bonds of family.

After a moment of mental preparation, Glen closed his eyes tight and hugged the Demon King's back.

"...!"

Small and soft. That was the Demon King's first impression.

The reality that the child who could barely walk had grown up and was now giving an awkward hug felt dreamlike. On the other hand, he felt afraid, sensing that the years he would have to endure from now on would pass very slowly.

In the midst of this, Letitia embraced the frozen father and son together.

It was truly a dream-like scene.

But dreams are meant to be woken from eventually.

The time for farewell was steadily closing in on them.

"......Your Majesty. It's time to send them off."

"Ah..."

The Demon King let out an empty sigh. Letitia was no different, having woken from the sweet dream.

"It's... it's too frustrating. If we part now, I don't know when we'll be able to see each other again..."

"...It's my fault, Letitia."

In the past, he had made a hasty decision.

The Demon King, with memories from before the regression, only knew that Glen was being abused in the human realm. So he sought ways to retrieve him somehow.

That was why he had raided the hunting festival, accompanied by the High Priest.

However, the fact that the Demon King's memories from before the regression were limited to his lifetime led to a misunderstanding. He had presumed that the High Priest would have punished Harte after his death.

Moreover, even the High Priest had asserted that God's vanguard couldn't defeat him...

The surprise attack on the hunting festival was indeed as close to a perfect plan as possible.

'If only that incident hadn't happened, we could have opened the path to interaction faster...'

But no matter how much he regretted it, the clock of the mortal world would no longer rewind.

As the Demon King resigned himself and steeled his patience, Glen sprinkled rain on him.

"I'll see you again."

That rain was clearly tinged with shyness.

"...Father."

"...Yes."

Though the conversation between father and son ended there, Letitia expressed her lingering attachment with her whole body.

Go to bed early and wake up early.

Eat hearty meals, and stay away from bad friends.

Listen well to the Director and grow up strong.

...And so on.

She poured out a flurry of nagging as if unleashing ten years' worth at once.

When Harte took charge of the paralyzed Glen, the High Priest lightly opened a spatial rift.

Harte sent Elphisia and Glen ahead first, then followed their footsteps.

The moment his feet stepped towards the boundary of space, the world turned black and white. Moreover, the scenery visible to the eye slowed down infinitely. In this world that seemed as if time had stopped, the High Priest's voice was heard.

"...Youngster."

"Do you have something left to say?"

"There's something I want to ask."

"Go ahead."

The High Priest twisted his lips. He maintained a long, sticky silence as if hesitating.

Then, what he asked was...

"...Who won?"

It was a foolish question.

"Pardon?"

"I don't know the erased history. I only know what I heard from our lord. The confrontation between you and me must have been inevitable..."

Despite having the face of a veteran of a hundred battles, he asked a very childish question.

"You and me... who was the winner?"

"Would you believe me if I told you?"

"Ha...!!!"

The High Priest exclaimed, expelling all the breath from his lungs.

"It seems I've heard the answer..."

The High Priest turned his steps. At the same time, the world's scenery was restored to its original colors.

And so, Harte returned.

To his world, full of precious people, having become human.

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