"..." I look at the girl sitting on the sofa across from me. She's sipping from a cup full of hot chocolate as if she doesn't fear my presence in the slightest. This is Tsuki Yrhiog, the foremost expert on marriages and marriage contracts.

Her race is that of a Lunar Demon, and she's a rather prominent demon noble, which gives her the immense confidence to remain so calm in front of me. Not that it's unwarranted; after all, she's 142 years old and has a wealth of experience in her field.

She's a girl with golden eyes and long brown hair. She has large breasts and an erect, firm posture, with a well-defined face and a soft, almost cute chin. Her gaze is gentle, but with a touch that seems to say she knows too much. She also has two pairs of thick, jet-black horns.

"Is the Demon King enchanted by my appearance?" she says with a smile, addressing me by my title.

"I was merely... observing your composure. Anyway, we are here on business," I say, seated in my office chair. She places her cup on the table, her smile not fading.

"That's right, Demon King. You called me here because you're interested in the rules of marriage... Hmmm... but what kind of rules? Are you thinking of getting married yourself?" she asks, curious.

'She's a gossip... It's not a good idea to give too much information, but I can't be too secretive either.' I think about what to tell her.

"I am planning to marry two of my daughters to each other... You must know of the rule for the competition for the throne that prevents the candidates from knowing who their family is," I say, thinking mainly of Esther.

Evelyn's family is quite influential and important, but Esther's family is even more so. I must say Esther's option is truly attractive. If I can secure the support of Esther's family, I can make things move as I wish.

And Evelyn's family, while of lesser importance, is still useful, mainly because they are an extremely wealthy family. It just bothers me that they are so greedy... and even worse, a bunch of cheapskates.

They do everything to save money while trying to amass as much as possible, a behavior Evelyn never displayed because she had no money. But I bet even Evelyn is greedy and a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to spending and saving money.

"I see... Since they aren't royal sisters, they don't fall into the problem of low magical variation that some pureblood families maintained. And considering you spoke of two daughters, I believe both of their families are useful..." She begins to ponder the options.

"Look, Demon King... the rules exist to prevent unfairness in the competition... If you are truly willing to reveal these two families... then I doubt it's to favor either of them... What are you trying to do?" she asks, letting curiosity override reason.

"Be careful with your questions, Tsuki, or you will make me furious," I threaten her, making her become more restrained.

"U-Understood, Demon King... Then let's get to the rules. That's what you want to know, right? Well... I never expected to be involved in supporting the marriage of two members of the royal family, but you never know, right? So I have studied these rules..."

"First, according to the law drafted for the competition, the family members of candidates for the throne may be revealed in the event of marriage. This is because, to maintain the bonds of the nobility and the honor of relevant families, it is important for each family to participate in the wedding."

"Naturally, the rule 'obligates' the candidate for the throne to meet their family that is not part of the direct royal lineage, and also obligates that family to participate in the marriage and have direct contact with the Demon King."

"...However, you probably already know this, so I doubt I'm here to list public rules... You called me to... create the marriage contract based on all demonic laws to avoid getting the short end of the stick, right?" She quickly hits the mark. We've had some conversations before, but nothing concrete.

And I hadn't fully informed her of what I wanted, as I was testing her, but she's good enough, so I decided to reveal it.

"Exactly. I plan to arrange a political marriage between Esther and Evelyn. Esther's family is my primary line of interest... Evelyn's family... well, just try to squeeze as much money out of those greedy misers as possible." Honestly, I don't want to have to deal with Evelyn's family.

If I don't extort money from them, they will extort money from me. So I'm striking the first blow, taking advantage of being the organizer of the wedding and the Demon King. As long as the contract is "minimally fair," they can't contest it.

It means they are forced to obey my contract no matter how much they hate it, and that's why I need Tsuki. As an expert on marriages and laws, she knows how to get the most out of a marriage without overstepping the bounds of acceptability.

"You are quite... tyrannical, Demon King... no offense, of course," she says, pulling out a notebook and a personalized pen with gold trim.

"Look... Evelyn's family is like, rich... very rich... Some say they're even the wealthiest family of all races. Although that's a rumor, there's some truth to it. Their wealth is abnormal," she says, and I agree.

Even I don't know how they got so rich. They are a very ancient family that has always hidden much about their money. Honestly, I might even agree that they are richer than I am, and I have an immense fortune in the royal treasury.

"And since they're so filthy rich... we can get a good amount of money from them if we cut a lot of additional requests," she says as I think.

"How much money?" I ask, uncertain. Honestly, I don't expect much, but maybe it will be better than I anticipate.

"Hmmm, can I be honest, Demon King?" she asks, and I nod.

"I've seen part of Evelyn's family's fortune... and it's sickeningly huge... I think their smallest reserve vault alone has more money than the royal treasury itself... In a matrimonial contract, we can demand up to 50 thousand Cryan Obsidian coins from them." When she says this, I am in absolute shock.

"Impossible!" I slam the table, shattering it to pieces as Tsuki scrambles back in fear.

"It's t-true, Demon King..." she says, her head bowed, while I contemplate this absurd amount. This could literally bankrupt several kingdoms. There's no way a kingdom could give that much money to someone at once. This is literally the economy of some small countries.

'How the hell can Evelyn's family give that much money without it being considered abusive?' I told Tsuki to make a realistic estimate that wouldn't be abusive so the contract couldn't be contested, but this is far beyond what I expected.

"D-Demon King, I'm serious. Evelyn's family could literally throw Cryan Obsidian coins in the trash if they wanted to... M-Many rumors have a grain of truth. Calling them the wealthiest family in the world isn't really an exaggeration..." she says as I approach her.

She's so short compared to me; I'm practically three times her size, making her seem tiny.

"How much did they pay you," I say, knowing she must know this from a realistic estimate, or she wouldn't spout such "nonsense" to me.

"...F-Fifty years ago, they asked for my help... I saw some of their many treasure vaults, among the several they have... T-They gave me 2000 Cryan Obsidian coins to keep quiet after the service... I-I can't break the contract... P-Please d-don't make me talk... I-I was stupid."

"I-I was drunk, and I signed without even looking, I was so happy. I-If I tell anyone, in any form, I'll receive a fine of over 2 million Cryan Obsidian coins a-and they will destroy my life. T-There's no way I can give that much money; it's r-realistically impossible." She starts to cry, curling into herself.

'They... tricked the woman known for making the most perfect contracts?' I look at her with a new sense of admiration for Evelyn's family. It seems those greedy misers are even cleverer than I expected.

'A 2 million Cryan Obsidian coin fine... It's impossible even for me to pay that amount. I don't even have that much money even if I pooled the entire kingdom.' I decide not to ask.

"I will not ask. It's better not to force you to take on such a debt. I don't want their problems splashing back on me..." They are worse than I imagined.

'How did they trick her?' It doesn't even make sense. It seems that when it comes to money, they become capable of anything.

"At least it's good to know they can pay." Just seeing that ridiculous fine is enough to understand the level of secrecy and greed of this family. I'm surprised they haven't tried to create their own kingdom.

'What they lack in power, they make up for in money... With so much money, they could literally face any noble family and still come out on top against almost all of them.' I underestimated the power of money. I thought Evelyn's family was just a large family that relied too much on money.

But it turns out they are literally the ones sustaining the world economy. If this family decided to do something with all that money, they could break the global economy—a power so terrifying it even threatens the stability of the four continents.

"Hahahaha, Evelyn's family is a pleasant surprise," I say, now certain that I will marry Evelyn to Esther. Honestly, I was thinking of marrying Esther to either Marie or Lucien since both of their families were good enough for me and seemed better than Evelyn's.

I was going to request contracts for each of them and see which was better, but now that I know Evelyn's family has so much money, it's more worthwhile to marry Evelyn and Esther in this political marriage.

Now that I've seen this money nonsense, there's no better option. Because in the end, a war needs money to move, and Evelyn's family is the perfect financial resource to maintain my kingdom's stability even with staggering military expenditures.

"I-I'll start drafting the contract..." she says with tears, not looking at me. It seems Evelyn's family truly terrified her with that contract.

"Of course. I am quite pleased with what I discovered here. You may draft the contract with that clause for 50 thousand Cryan Obsidian coins that Evelyn's family must give me as a 'wedding gift,' and add a clause for financial support in case of need."

"As for Esther's family, have them give me political and military support." This is the reason Esther is the best option; the political and military support from her family will be a great help.

"U-Understood..." she says quickly, jotting things down, her body still trembling as if she's terrified I'll force her to talk about that contract.

'Hahaha, what luck for me. That family literally has the power to cause me problems and ruin my kingdom's economy, but they are so ridiculously greedy that they themselves created a brake on the power they possess.' Evelyn's family is like this because of their race.

Their race is ridiculously stingy and greedy, which generates this compulsion to accumulate non-stop and avoid spending at all costs, creating a shield that protects everyone.

'In the end, their race is their greatest enemy.' Any other family having all this money would be disturbing, but precisely this family having so much money becomes the same as having nothing.

Since they'll only use it in absolute necessity, I bet they'll even try to haggle in this marriage contract to reduce the amount as much as possible, even though they can easily afford it.

'Evelyn demonstrates these same traits... but hers are lesser... Perhaps the hybridization of my race with theirs made Evelyn lose that rampant greed, leaving only a lighter greed.' That's good, I suppose.

After all, they are so greedy I doubt they'll give any money to Evelyn. Knowing that family, at the very most, they'll give words of congratulations while not even caring if the money could help a family member.

'If Evelyn had their financial support, it would be absurdly unfair to the others... Should I thank the heavens that they have such a great limitation that curbs their power?' It's kind of strange to celebrate the fact that a race has a "deficiency" that makes them accumulate treasure non-stop.

Since it's almost a racial disease—after all, no one should be so fanatical about their own wealth that they do things like that, hoarding without ever using it.

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