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“There’s no reason not to believe it.”
A clear, resolute response.
“Who easily believes the story of you and I about our luck that cannot be seen or felt? But aren’t you and I the only ones who know how powerful and certain that luck is?”
Ainar embraced the absurd story that Lyna had passed away once and been sent back in time after death, as if it were a proven fact like the sun rising in the east.
Lyna gazed at Ainar softly and spoke.
“I accept the wager. However
”
“However?”
“May I add a condition?”
“Surely.”
“You already resolved to have me at your side, so would you do me the honor of becoming engaged to me?”
Ainar’s brows twitched slightly.
Everyone in the Empire knows the meaning of being engaged to Lyna Bolshevik.
“I have no aspiration to become emperor.”
“Nor do I have any intention of making you emperor.”
“Then what?”
“As you know, I annulled my marriage with Prince Third.”
“Ah, trying to shake off that pesky guy.”
“Yes. If I’m single, many will pester me, especially Prince Third.”
So, she planned to enter into a contract engagement to repel the clingy third prince.
A mutually beneficial arrangement for a fixed period of time.
It would be even better if the person was someone who needed her anyway, and someone who outranked the third prince.
Ainar reached for Lyna.
Gently clasping her hand, he smiled warmly.
“I’ll make the necessary arrangements.”
And he kissed the back of her hand, with reverence towards the woman who will stand by his side.
“Milady.”
Ainar, now alone after Lyna’s departure, smirked as he gazed at his empty hands.
“Is this also luck?”
The only one who comprehends and accepts his truth as it is.
He encountered such a person by chance, and they confirmed each other.
“And
 returning
 It’s
”
An unforeseen or unparalleled story.
If anyone else had told him this, it would have been just another tale at a drinking party.
But it was Lyna.
Ainar wouldn’t have questioned it, even if she claimed that beans grew out of her mouth.
Isn’t she the first person in his life to acknowledge and empathize with his bizarre “good luck”?
No matter the conditions Lyna put forth, Ainar would have agreed without hesitation.
He had no intention of letting go of Lyna, whom he had just found.
The only reason he offered her a wager was that it was fascinating to compete with her luck, but the real reason he wanted her by his side was simply

Knock knock.
A voice he recognized interrupted his thoughts with a dry knock.
“Your Highness,” his aide said as he entered.
Ainar took the documents handed to him and glanced over them.
One document stood out, the Hunting Competition.
His aide quickly handed over another.
“I’ll inform them of your absence, and this is
”
“Wait,” Ainar said, looking toward where Lyna sat.
As her bright red hair swayed and disappeared like an afterimage, he continued,
“Is the Third Prince participating in this hunting competition?”
“All the princes are participating, except the youngest who is unwell.”
“Interesting,” Ainar said.
His aide looked at him with little anticipation.
“Don’t tell me
are you participating?”
Ainar had not participated in a hunting competition in recent years.
After all, the competition would have no meaning if Ainar took part.
What is the meaning of a contest when the winner is decided?
In any competition, skill is a must, but luck is also an essential part to win.
And Ainar had both extraordinary skills and even bizarre luck.
For this reason, Ainar always used to catch the biggest, most fierce, and most unattainable of the game.
“Would you like to participate this year?”
Ainar smiled at his aide’s eager expression, a rarity.
People were drawn to Ainar who effortlessly accomplished what they couldn’t and were envious, frustrated, and hopeless.
He decided not to join the hunting competition the previous year because someone had gotten seriously injured trying to beat him and could’ve lost the use of their arm.
The injured person was not just any ordinary aristocrat, but a crucial talent for the empire.
“His Highness is unscathed!”
The knight who was injured looked at him with a puzzled expression and others also looked at him with sympathy.
Ainar couldn’t proudly say to them that this was the ‘skill difference’.
Skills

 Yes, when asked if Ainar was strong or not, it could be said that he was one of the ten strongest men in the empire.
But that wasn’t all he could say, so couldn’t say anything.
They don’t believe it when he told them in the first place.
If he had no talent at all, Ainar would have lived appreciating her overly “good luck.”
But Ainar had more than average talent in almost every field.
If you ask a hundred people, a hundred people would have envied his talent.
However, to Ainar, that talent came back as poison.
“Oh, my God! Your Highness has a talent that comes along once in a thousand years!”
A compliment he received after he grasped the sword.
“Haha, listening to you, Your Highness, makes me feel ashamed as an old man,” political and economic scholars bowed down to him as a young man.
Ainar learned from a young age what would happen if he combined his good talent with overwhelming luck.
He also learned that

“I was lucky,”
“luck is also a skill.”
Ainar’s truthful words only came across as humble,
“I was just really lucky,”
“Heh heh, Your Highness, you need to be a bit less humble. Excessive humility is also arrogance.”
Ainar spoke from the heart but received no response.
At that time, Ainar didn’t understand why people wouldn’t believe him and had such high expectations.
The emperor’s mention escalated the expectations even further,
“I heard you’re outstanding.”
Ainar quickly became close to the crown prince position, but he saw himself accurately, that what he achieved was 90% luck.
People around him wanted more, but without luck, it was too much for him.
Ainar realized that if he agreed, he would live in fear for the rest of his life, relying on luck that he didn’t know when it would disappear.
He declined, “No, it was just luck.”
After just one conversation with the emperor, Ainar gave up everything.
“Your Highness’s gift is
”
“Oh, this talent
”
People in every field he touched regretted it, but Ainar just showed a dull expression and a bored look,
“I’m sick of it.”
It was a boring life, with guaranteed success and no failures or difficulties.
The thought of living such a dull life until he died one day slowly crept into his mind.
Then Lyna appeared, like a blue flame in his gray world.
“Your Highness?”
“Ah, yes. I will this year.”
“Understood. I’ll pass it on.”
“Seems like you’ll be spreading rumors instead of just relaying the message.”
“Of course. Many people are eagerly waiting for this moment.”
Ainar sighed at the enthusiastic response from the aide, who was like a dried squid.
“One more thing.”
“Yes! Just tell me!”
“Get all the information on the Third Prince.”
“Got it, I’ll bring it right away.”
The aide bowed deeply without questioning.
Unlike the Third and First Princes, who were both eager for the throne, Ainar had no interest in it and had not paid much attention to the other princes.
At least, he remembered meeting the youngest prince a few times, who couldn’t even dream of being on the throne due to his illness.
However, he didn’t know anything about the Third Prince’s personality or who he was.
But one thing was clear: the prince was so persistent that Lyna was fed up enough to bet on a fake engagement with him.
So it was better to lay the bait before formally announcing the engagement with Lyna, instead of doing nothing.
Whether it was a political or romantic engagement, the hunting contest was a great opportunity to make the relationship between the two known to the public.
“Let’s go hunting, it’s been a while.”
Ainar’s previously dull eyes now shined brightly.