Rebirth Of The Witch Queen

Chapter 4 - The Perfect Marriage Candidate

Kaden stared down at his palm, his mind blank and confused like never before. There were very few things that could take him by surprise, let alone render him speechless and unable to move. Of all of them, he never thought touching another person without them screaming their head off would be something that he would have a problem with.

He could still feel the warmth of her palm on his fingers. On the rare occasions when he had touched someone else, they all had felt cold as ice. But her hand had been so small and delicate yet so warm.

And he hadn’t hurt her. She didn’t get burned, she didn’t feel pain. He had planned to just brush against her to wipe that cocky smile off her face - most people screamed and recoiled in pain when he so much as touched them with the tip of his finger. But she had squeezed his hand, hard, and nothing had happened.

How was that even possible?

“...den! Kaden!” A voice almost shouted next to him and Kaden pulled himself out of his reverie, turning to face the speaker. He hadn’t realized when the door had opened and a man had stepped through it, standing awkwardly on the threshold with a tense expression. His glasses had tilted to the edge of his nose and his small beady eyes were watching Kaden with curiosity and worry. “Are you alright? I thought you would have left by now.”

“I’m fine, Dugley,” Kaden said quickly, squeezing his hand into a fist and heading towards his chair by the table. His heart was beating too fast and there were too many thoughts clouding his head to leave now. He needed to cool down first and decide how he’d do it. “Just a bit distracted. Do you need something?”

“Well, yes,” Dugley replied, pushing his glasses up as he stepped into the room. “The lady that just bolted out of here, who was she? I was supposed to meet a client tonight, but they never showed up, so I was coming to…”

“Now that I think about it, she did ask if my name was Dugley.” Kaden shrugged and Dugley pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sigh. “Was that the famous Duchess Talwen everybody has been talking about these days? The one that keeps losing family members and now has more money than she can spend even in five lifetimes?”

“That’s her.” Dugley sighed again. “She didn’t tell me her name, but if I can’t find that much on my own, there is no point in me working here. But the problem is that she came to us with this insane request…”

“I heard.” Kaden grinned, sinking down in his chair and placing his feet on the table. “A husband, eh? Sounds easy enough.”

“What are you saying! Two days? Even a witch can’t do that. How am I supposed to find someone to agree to marry her and on top of that, to settle for just a fifth of her fortune upon divorce? Nobody is going to agree on that unless they have a hidden agenda.” Dugley grumbled. “I was going to turn her down, but she flew past me like she had dogs on her heels. You didn’t do anything inappropriate, did you?”

“Of course not. I was the perfect gentleman.” Kaden scoffed. Dugley raised an eyebrow, eyeing his unbuttoned shirt and relaxed pose. “In any case, we are not turning her down. We are accepting her request.”

“What?” Dugley shouted, then quickly lowered his voice. “Are you insane? I spent the whole day digging through the nobility register and checking with the information we have on every bachelor that fits her criteria even remotely. It can’t be done. The only two people that do tick all the boxes are the crown prince and…”

“...me.” Kaden finished instead, his smile widening. “The crown prince won’t do. She is doing this to avoid marrying him - or at least that’s what she says.”

“Well, with her wealth and title, she is the perfect candidate for the future queen position,” Dugley murmured, scratching his head. “Even so… this is marriage we are talking about and one with a deadline, too. Not to mention you told everyone to keep you and your name out of any deals. And most importantly, with your… condition, how can…”

“If the crown prince wants this girl, then I’ll do everything in my power to stop him from getting her. Even if it means marrying her myself.” Kaden said with a cold smile, his eye twitching in annoyance. “Besides, she sounded so sure she’d become the crown princess if she didn’t find a husband. And she was adamant she didn’t want that. What woman in her right mind would turn that down?” Dugley continued to watch him over his glasses, his expression thoughtful and tense. “Only a woman who is hiding some very big secrets. Maybe it’s something in her family that she can’t have the crown prince know about. Maybe it’s something about the crown prince himself that is making her want to escape getting entangled with him. Either way, secrets are expensive. Whatever she is hiding, if I can find that out, we might hit a jackpot. Not to mention it can help us with our search.”

“That’s true, but is it worth getting married for it?” Dugley asked with a sigh. “Marriage is not a joke, Kaden. Even if it is a contractual one. And that one-year deadline? What is it for? Something to do with the inheritance, maybe?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Kaden shrugged, jumping to his feet. “This may help me out actually. I’ll get my vassals to lay off my back about getting married, I’ll find what kind of secrets she is hiding and might have fun while it lasts. Things have been so quiet lately, I’m bored out of my mind.”

Dugley shook his head, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“If you were a normal man I wouldn’t have advised against it, but we both know you’re not. The world might think you’re an eccentric and germaphobe and lets you avoid crowds and even proper greetings, but you can’t hide something like this from your own wife. Not for a whole year. Least of all, the marriage ceremony requires you to kiss the bride. What are you going to do then?”

Kaden let out a dry laugh, slowly getting to his feet and picking up his jacket from the back of his chair. He didn’t want to tell Dugley about what had just happened, not before he was sure it wasn’t his imagination or some kind of freaky coincidence. But the fact that he could touch her without hurting her was the main reason he was doing this.

He wanted to know how that was possible. He wanted to know if she might be the key to breaking his curse. Most of all, he wanted to know what it felt like to touch someone, to kiss someone, to hold someone without them shaking in pain or fear. His attempts at intimacy with Jenna, who could at least partially block his power, ended up bitter failures and had made him finally accept that he would never be able to be intimate with another person. He wasn’t like his father, he would never condemn an innocent woman to the fate his mother had suffered. He’d rather live and die alone than cause such a cruel end.

But now there was this girl.

Duchess Adeline Talwen.

The young, innocent girl whose parents and brother died in a carriage accident just eight months ago.

The mourning heiress to one of the most prosperous Duchies, who just lost her uncle to suicide and inherited a second household with almost as many lands and wealth to it.

The foolish woman who came to them looking for a contract husband without realizing how dangerous it was to put her trust in a place like this one. If Kaden was just a bit more of the scoundrel and criminal people said the owner of the agency was, she would have been in big trouble.

The determination on her face and the desperation in her eyes were still clear in his mind. This was the look of a person running from something, the person devoted to a goal. Maybe she actually knew what kind of danger she was putting herself in, but didn’t have a choice. This only made him more and more curious about what kind of trouble she might be in, what kind of secrets she was hiding from the world.

“Two days. Noon. Bellendal restaurant.” Kaden said as he put on his jacket and stepped towards the door. “Draft a regular marriage contract but leave space for additional rules and agreements. We’ll sign it on the spot.” Dugley opened his mouth hesitantly, but Kaden was already opening the door. “Yes, Dugley, I am very sure. Stop worrying so much and congratulate me on my wedding already.”

“What if she rejects you?” The older man said, raising an eyebrow. “She didn’t look happy when she was leaving this room.”

“She won’t reject me,” Kaden smirked, putting on his thick gloves. “She is out of time and options. Besides, I’m meeting all of her requirements and more. If that doesn’t work, I’ll just charm her with my looks. Girls fall for that kind of stuff, right?”

“Boy, you do have a terrible personality sometimes.” Dugley pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. “Just… be careful. Those kinds of things can get messy, especially when the deadline comes near. And her secrets might not be what you think they are. Or worse, she might have known all along who you are and came here with the purpose of luring you into a trap. While you think you are playing her, she might be playing you.”

“You’re too tense, old man.” Kaden laughed, waving his hand. “I’m off. I’ll see you in two days.”

Kaden left the room without waiting for his reply, swiftly slipping out the back entrance in the dark alley behind the line of buildings facing the main street. He raised his collar and kept to the shadows, heading down the street with his hands in his pockets. He couldn’t ride a horse home because the animals got too scared of him, as if sensing the devastating fire inside of him. He couldn’t call for a carriage either because that would bring too much attention to these parts and the last thing he wanted was to broadcast his presence here. He had done his best to hide his involvement in the agency’s dealings, he didn’t want to change that unless absolutely necessary.

Like revealing his true identity to his future wife in two days.

Kaden smiled to himself. He definitely didn’t expect his day to end like this. He knew he could be impulsive sometimes, but this time… this time he had made this decision carefully. He needed to find a way to break the curse. If he couldn’t, well, she might be the only person alive who he could have any kind of physical relationship with. And it didn’t hurt that she was pretty to look at and extremely cute when she got embarrassed.

Before he knew it, he had reached his mansion and was waiting for the guards to unlock the door for him. By the time he stepped through the front door, Holland, his butler, was waiting for him.

“Good evening, Your Grace.” Holland greeted, bowing his head slightly. “Would you like to have a late dinner prepared?”

"No, I already ate,” Kaden replied, shrugging off his coat and draping it over Holland’s extended arm while making sure not to touch him. “I’m heading straight for bed.”

“Very well. Do you need anything before retiring?” The butler asked while Kaden headed for the long curved staircase leading to the second floor. Kaden stopped, licking his lips before turning over his shoulder and smiling at his butler’s expectant face.

“Actually, yes. I’ll need an engagement gift prepared for three days from now.” He said, walking away barely holding his laughter at the sight of Holland’s expression.