A Contract, A Wedding, A Wife?

Solitaire ran the store left by her father while supporting her sickly mother and student sister. When she learned that the rent of the store was going to increase, she went to see the wealthy man, Xavier, to protect the store and her family. When she desperately pleaded with him, "I'll do anything if you wait before increasing the rent," he made her a proposal: a "contract marriage" with a one-year term. Xavier, too, needed a wife as soon as possible to protect his precious home of memories. And so began the unhappy honeymoon of two people bound only by their interests...

(c)OKARA HASUNO/CHRISTY MCKELLEN