Chapter 4. Marriage on Paper

I never imagined myself standing in front of the marriage registration desk, wearing a plain dress borrowed from a boutique. I barely recognized myself—the girl who usually hid behind oversized hoodies and nerdy glasses.

This morning, I was here, with camera flashes shining on my face.

"Selene Cole?" the administrator called.

I nodded, my voice catching. "Yes."

Beside me, Lucian stood tall in a black suit—cold, authoritative, as if this were a business meeting rather than a wedding. His fingers calmly signed the documents, while I had to hold my hands steady to keep them from trembling.

Click. The camera captured us both with stiff smiles. The official wedding photo. Proof that I—the woman who had been cast aside by the Blackwood name six years ago—was now officially part of it.

But behind the camera lens, I could feel piercing stares.

The Blackwood family.

They stood at the side of the room: Arthur Blackwood—founder of Blackwood and Lucian's grandfather with his wooden cane, Gregory Blackwood—his father, whose face was as cold as his son's, and several other relatives. Their whispers were no longer hushed.

"How embarrassing."

"A former intern?"

"Lucian has gone mad."

Lucian's grandfather, an old man with a sharp gaze, tapped the floor with his cane. The room fell silent.

"Lucian," he said softly but powerfully. "You have fulfilled the conditions. You are married. But remember—marriage is not just a signature. If you want this company in your hands, make sure your wife... is worthy."

His gaze shifted to me. Its coldness pierced me to the bone. I straightened my back, refusing to look down.

I knew that one wrong move, and they would devour me alive.

"Of course. Selene is more than worthy," said Lucian, without warning grabbing my waist, pulling me in, and landing a quick kiss on my lips.

I almost pushed him away in surprise. But I quickly realized that Lucian was only doing it so that his family wouldn't suspect anything about the marriage.

I could only smile thinly to hide my irritation rather than embarrassment, while he smiled triumphantly in front of the Blackwood family.

***

That night, I stood in front of the door to a large room in the south wing of the Blackwood residence.

"This is your room," Lucian said briefly, pushing the door open.

I stepped inside. The room was spacious, too spacious. A king-size bed with neat white sheets, large windows with thick curtains, the faint scent of masculine perfume in the air.

I turned to him. "You can't be serious..."

"We're married, Selene." His gaze was calm, but there was a challenge in his eyes. "There are no separate rooms."

The blood rushed to my face. "This isn't a real marriage."

Lucian closed the door behind him, his steps drawing closer. "The public doesn't care if it's real or not. All they see is that we're husband and wife."

The air between us thickened. I took a step back, but my back hit the small table next to the bed. He was too close.

Lucian finally turned away, unbuttoned his jacket, and placed it on a chair. As if the closeness earlier had been nothing more than a psychological game.

I breathed a sigh of relief, though my body was not yet completely at ease. I still remembered this man kissing me without my permission, and I couldn't guarantee he wouldn't do anything else tonight.

I had just turned on my laptop, trying to find a distraction, when the screen flashed. A message appeared—red letters on a black background.

"Don't play games. Everyone knows you're just a tool. You'll never be Mrs. Blackwood."

My hand automatically closed the screen. My heart was pounding.

Lucian, who had just taken off his tie, turned his head suspiciously. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I quickly stood up. "Just... a normal notification."

His gaze exposed my lie. But he didn't press further.

I began to suspect one thing: our enemies weren't just lurking outside. They were inside the system, maybe even inside this house.

"Then let's go to sleep," he said casually, as if discussing the weather.

He didn't care that I hadn't moved an inch; he casually pulled the blanket over himself and lay down to sleep as if nothing strange was happening between us.

Nothing happened that night except that I couldn't sleep all night because I wasn't used to sleeping in the same bed with a stranger, especially someone like Lucian Blackwood.

The next morning, I went down to the living room. Several staff members bowed as I passed, but I could hear their sarcastic whispers.

Among them, a man stood tall. Black uniform, athletic body, sharp eyes. I recognized him now—Ethan Cross, Lucian's personal bodyguard and secretary. He was also the one who had driven us to my mother's house two days ago.

His gaze caught mine. It wasn't a strange look, nor was it suspicious. It had the determination of a professional.

"Good morning, Mrs. Blackwood," he said, his voice calm, polite but not stiff. There was a slight smile that made the greeting feel sincere.

I paused for a moment, then replied softly, "Good morning, Ethan."

Lucian entered a few seconds later. "We have to leave," he said briefly.

Ethan glanced at him, then looked back at me. "If anything makes you uncomfortable in this house, tell me. My job is to protect my master... and his wife as well."

I could feel some of the servants behind us tense up, as if they weren't used to hearing anyone being friendly to me. For the first time, I felt a small breath of fresh air amid the coldness of the Blackwood family.

"Then, I know what happened in the car that time. Lucian didn't wake you up at all, it seems he didn't want to wake you up because you looked like you were sleeping soundly. This is a secret, but even though he's annoying, he has a sweet side," Ethan whispered in my ear.

Lucian's gaze pierced Ethan sharply, but the man just nodded calmly, completely unfazed, ignoring me as I struggled to digest the information he had given me.

A Lucian Blackwood? And a sweet side? I hoped Ethan was just joking.

After breakfast, I returned to my room. I sat on the balcony chair and opened the black folder again in my memory—the ink of my signature still felt like it was staining the white sheet.

It wasn't a love letter, nor a sacred agreement, but a cold contract with terms that pierced my logic and my heart.

Marriage Contract–Blackwood Corporation

Duration: 6 Months

I reread the main points that I had signed with my own hand:

1. This marriage is purely a contract, involving no personal feelings.

2. Selene Cole is obligated to maintain her image as Lucian Blackwood's legal wife in public and is obligated to protect Lucian from various forms of cyber crime attacks.

3. Full protection is provided for Selene Cole's family during the contract period.

4. Selene's digital identity as a "former cyber crime suspect" will be erased. Blackwood Corporation will provide proof of her name being cleared.

5. Lucian Blackwood will give Selene Cole a legitimate position in the company as a data security analyst and pay her according to her duties.

6. Intimate relationships outside the marriage are forbidden during the contract period.

7. The marriage will automatically end after six months, unless both parties agree to extend it.

8. Any breach of contract by Selene will result in the revocation of family protection.

I reflexively gulped when I read the last clause; it was the most frightening. It was like a knife hanging over the necks of my mother and Noah.

However, I reread clause number five. It took me a while to realize the implications of that clause.

As someone who had been blacklisted by the company, it would cause controversy if I returned to work immediately after becoming Lucian's wife.

However, I also needed a long-term plan; I couldn't depend on Lucian forever. After the contract ended, I had to have enough strength to protect my own family.

I deliberately asked for a position that was strategic enough, not too low or too high, so that I wouldn't be underestimated or seen as nepotism, and data security analyst was perfect for me.

My job is to monitor the system, track potential data leaks, and analyze attack logs. It suits what Lucian needs as well.

Closing the black envelope, I reopened my laptop. I traced the logs I had captured last night. There was one suspicious IP address.

I narrowed my eyes. This was not a foreign IP from outside.

It was an internal IP. From the Blackwood Estate network itself.

My hands went cold. The threat wasn't just coming from outside. My hunch was real: there was a spy within the Blackwood family.

I was about to close my laptop again when the screen suddenly flashed.

Warning notifications popped up one after another, not ordinary messages—these were alarms I usually only used when infiltrating six years ago.

My heart tightened.

An attack.

Suddenly, my phone screen displayed a video call from Lucian's car. I immediately connected, and Ethan's panicked face and Lucian, still staring at the tablet, appeared before me.

"Lucian, there's an anomaly in the controls!" Ethan's voice trembled.

I saw the steering wheel shaking violently, the cruise control locked, the car speeding up.

"What's happening?" Lucian's voice sounded tense.

"The system's been hacked!" Ethan replied, almost shouting.

I looked at my laptop screen, and there was Lucian's meeting schedule, leaked on a dark web forum. The location, time, names of everyone attending.

Then the warning appeared on their car dashboards, clearly visible on the call screen: "Traitors always get their comeuppance. The countdown has begun."

"Damn it!" Ethan cursed, trying to control the steering wheel, but I could see his efforts were futile. The controls were locked tight.

I glanced at the rapidly scrolling log on my laptop. "Remote access... car control?" I muttered.

My blood ran cold.

My hands moved instinctively, even as my breath caught in my throat. In the back of my mind, there was an old script—a remnant of my past life—that I kept like a last resort.

The black screen opened, red code scrolling rapidly.

I launched a temporary blackout to cut the GPS feed, forcing the system into safe mode, then injected a spoofing signal so the car would think it was receiving commands directly from the official server center.

Three minutes. That was the time I had before the intruder realized.

My fingers danced on the keyboard, cold sweat dampening my temples. I glanced at the video screen: Lucian's car, which had been speeding out of control, finally slowed down, control returning to the driver. The countdown on the dashboard disappeared.

I slammed the laptop shut, my breath racing. I didn't explain what I was doing.

If anyone checked the logs manually, they would find traces. And that meant... my identity, which should have died six years ago, was at risk of being exposed.

***

Lucian got out of the car as soon as they arrived at the building. His breathing was still heavy, his tie was wrinkled, while Ethan was busy activating the security protocol. But his eyes—sharp, piercing—were immediately locked on me through the video call.

"What did you just do, Selene?" his voice was hoarse but cold.

"I just... cut off the attack route," I replied. My voice sounded steady, even though my heart was still racing.

"Did you catch them?" Lucian pressed.

I stared straight into the camera. "From the beginning, this has been a game of cat and mouse. We're chasing each other. They catch me, or I catch them."

"Then?"

"I can't gauge their strength yet, I can't let myself get caught first. You hired me as a data security analyst, right? Consider it my job. It's just... business." I couldn't say outright that his own family was involved until I found stronger evidence.

His expression cracked for a moment. There was a mixture of shock, anger, and—I almost couldn't believe it—admiration.

Soon, Blackwood's security forensics team entered, I saw on the camera.

"Sir, we found a unique signature in the attack code," one of the analysts reported.

Lucian reached out, quickly reading the file on his tablet. His jaw tightened.

The code was familiar. The signature was linked to a special account… belonging to someone from within the Blackwood family.

I could see from my phone screen: the access originated from Gregory Blackwood's private network.

Lucian closed the tablet slowly, his eyes dangerous.

"There's a traitor within our own house—and he just tried to kill me."