Marriage Contract with Two Husbands

She had been on the garden’s large path when she purposely entered the rose-filled backyard as it seemed that she would run into Damian and Nicholas, but the place she stood was not the backyard.

A forest…? Is the backyard connected to the forest?

Roseline had no idea about this place. Not only had she never gone out of the mansion, but this was also her first time ever leaving her room, so she would not know about it.

As it was the Postenmeyer’s villa in the capital she had thought it would be quite big, but no way the backyard was this vast. Maybe it’s connected to the forest in the city.

I must have taken the wrong path.

She had expected to get lost in the backyard. She quickly scanned the surroundings but had no idea from which direction she’d come.

First, let’s try walking in one direction. Whether it’s the way out of the forest or the way out of the garden.

Roseline fixed her eyes in the direction of the long branches that made it impossible to search around as she went back the other way. What’d it been, five minutes?

“Stop!”

A little boy’s voice was heard from somewhere, followed by a slew of curse words and a dull thud.

Is that a fight? Are maids fighting?

The voice sounded too young to be a maid. Was the forest connected to some other place as well? Roseline squinted her eyes, then leaned her ear as she looked around.

It had not been the sound of a full-scale fight. At first, she’d heard just a striking sound once, and after that, there were only the sounds of people moving something around and giggling.

Is someone there? Roseline was careful not to make any noise while walking in the direction of the noises.

Men were surrounding a large tree. Seeing that the color and style of the jackets they were wearing were all the same, they seemed to be students of some academy. Although big, they sure looked like young boys, not adult men.

Is there some institution around here? Among the large bodies, Roseline saw the figure of a small boy leaning against the tree.

“It’s simple. All you have to do is sneak into Professor Canute’s lab and take the answer sheet.”

“Right. He won’t suspect a thing if it’s you who frequents the lab.”

“Aren’t you going to sit close to the old man and figure out the test questions ahead of time anyway? Otherwise, the grades won’t come out well.”

“I’m saying let’s share something good. It’s not a bad thing.”

Judging from the conversation, the large students seemed to be bullying the weaker one. Sneaking into a professor’s lab and stealing an answer sheet; were they trying to cheat?

“I can’t do such a thing.”

The small boy leaning on the tree rejected them. Then the ones around him giggled as if he were out of his mind.

“Hey. Did you hear him? He says he can’t do it.”

“I thought you were smart, but you don’t seem like it.”

The biggest one, standing in the middle, squeezed the boy’s collar. Though clearly the same age, the boy, who was an entire head shorter than the others, was lifted into the air by his feet.

“Arrrgh…!”

“Why do you not listen to my great idea? Huh?”

He, who threatened her by bringing his frowning face closer, raised his fist and shook it as if he was about to strike him. At that moment, Roseline absently grabbed a stone from the ground and threw it at the bully.

“Ow!”

He let out a scream at the striking sound. Perhaps the muscles in the hand gripping the collar loosened, and the young boy’s body fell to the ground. The bully student grabbed his hurt hand and groaned.

“Shit! What was that?”

Clack!

“Arrrgh!”

“Wh-what!? What was that?”

Roseline, hiding by a large tree, had calculated the angle so that stones she threw hit the tree, twisted in their direction, and flew in between them.

The direction of the stones hadn’t been only one direction. As Roseline was hiding, the boys were embarrassed by the absurd situation in which stones had suddenly been flung out of the air.

Thud!

Hit in the ankle by a stone, the large boy let out a weird sound as he fell to the floor.

Thud!

This time, a stone hit the shoulder of a boy with thick hair.

“Shit! Where are they flying from?”

“Ahhhh!”

A stone that narrowly zipped past the temple of a big boy staring through the bushes as if to track down the one throwing stones was stuck in a tree.

Crunch!

When the boys saw stones stuck in the cracked, hardened bark, they retreated in horror.

“We could die.”

“Shit! Let’s run away!”

The boys backed away in fear, then hurled themselves out of the path through the dense trees. They almost tripped over one another, but the boys, who felt the fear of death, crawled out of the forest almost on all fours.