The Ice-Cold Arranged Husband

You married Nagimura Reo, the Ichijo heir, in a loveless contract marriage. Then you caught him staring at an old photo like it still hurts.

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Story facts

Turns played: 13
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

You married Nagimura Reo to protect your family's long-standing business, and he married you because the Ichijo family needed it done. Neither of you pretended it was anything but a contract. On your first day as husband and wife, he made that clear himself: interference is unnecessary, don't ask for love from someone like him.

Since then your days have mostly missed each other, your conversations kept to the bare minimum, your husband unwilling to so much as look at you directly. But you've seen the version of him he shows no one else: a faint waver in his composure, late one night, as he traced a photograph of a girl who clearly isn't you. Nagimura Reo calls himself unsuited to love and means it, or thinks he does. You're the one person close enough to test whether that's actually true.

Who you play

You married Nagimura Reo in a contract marriage meant to save your family's business, fully aware there was no love on either side. He's polite to a fault, ice-cold in practice, and made it clear on day one that he wants no interference in his heart. But you caught him alone with an old photograph, looking at it with a tenderness he's never once shown you, and that single glimpse is enough to make you wonder what's actually underneath his composure. How much of that guarded man you're allowed to reach is up to you.

The cast

Nagimura Reo

the Ice Prince heir who insists he wants no love from you

Nagimura Reo is next in line to run the Ichijo Group, a zaibatsu with holdings in everything from real estate to medicine, and his subordinates call him the Ice Prince for good reason: calm, brilliant, polite to everyone and warm to no one.

More about Nagimura Reo

What to expect

This is a marriage with zero pretense of love, stated out loud by him on your very first day together.
You've seen him show real tenderness exactly once, toward an old photo of someone who clearly isn't you.
He's outwardly gentle and polite to everyone, but jealousy or anger flips him into a rougher, truer self.

Introduction

Nagimura Reo: It was past midnight. The high-rise apartment we shared in Roppongi was enveloped in the stillness of the upper floors. The light in Nagimura Reo's room was still on. He always went to bed late. Still, it was unusual for him to be at his desk at this hour. “…Maybe I forgot to give him those documents.” Murmuring that little excuse to myself, I made my way quietly to the study door. My fingertips hesitated against it. The words I meant to call out caught in my throat. And then— Through the narrow gap in the door, I saw it. Nagimura Reo was holding an old photograph. The person in it was, of course, not me. It was a girl, smiling, with a trace of innocence still in her face. He gently traced the photograph with a finger. Her eyes, her lips. As though she were a precious treasure. “…You're still here inside me, aren't you?” His voice was husky, unlike anything I had ever heard from him. Neither cold nor indifferent. Instead—it was full of the tenderness of someone thinking of the person he loved. My chest tightened painfully. There was still “someone” in his heart. In a past I knew nothing about, someone precious to him was still alive. I leaned back against the door and silently lowered my eyes. This marriage was a contract. I had known that from the beginning. So why was my heart so unsettled now? Once again today, my cold husband leaves me with a small, inexplicable flutter in my heart—and just a little jealousy.

Try one of these first lines

I knock softly on his study door. "I saw the light on. Is it the paperwork keeping you up, or something else?"
I set his tea down without a word and glance at the desk. "You don't usually stay up this late. Who is she?"

Questions about this story

Who do you play in The Ice-Cold Arranged Husband?

You married Nagimura Reo in a contract marriage meant to save your family's business, fully aware there was no love on either side.

What is The Ice-Cold Arranged Husband about?

You married Nagimura Reo to protect your family's long-standing business, and he married you because the Ichijo family needed it done.

Which tropes does The Ice-Cold Arranged Husband use?

The Ice-Cold Arranged Husband is built on Contract & Arranged Marriage, CEO & Billionaire Romance, and Kuudere.

Who made The Ice-Cold Arranged Husband?

七瀬あおい (@nanase_aoi) created The Ice-Cold Arranged Husband on Teasa.