I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I’d somehow ended up in a shotgun marriage with the male lead.
19

“Then I should return to my Mansion, yes?”
Kaiden walked toward me, asking as though seeking confirmation.
Emilia nodded in bewilderment.
“I, suppose so?”
But then he suddenly stopped and asked in a tone of disapproval.
“Are you hurt somewhere?”
“Pardon?”
Emilia followed his gaze downward.
Among the hem of her skirt, darkened with dirt, she could see a small patch stained with blood.
“Oh? It really is…”
Emilia lifted her skirt slightly and examined her leg.
Just below the knee, there was a shallow but long vertical wound.
It must have been scraped when she fell into the Sinkhole earlier.
Then, footsteps approached again, and Kaiden came quickly to stand before her.
As Emilia looked up at him, Kaiden’s face suddenly drew near.
She gasped in surprise, her eyes widening.
“One moment—pardon me.”
With those brief words, Kaiden supported her beneath her back and knees.
Before she could even question it, her body lifted into the air.
Emilia could only blink at the absurdity of it all.
“…What are you doing right now?”
“Returning to the Mansion. Is there a problem?”
Kaiden replied with complete composure.
He wasn’t wrong, technically.
As he moved his feet, the surrounding landscape shifted as well.
But that wasn’t what she meant.
“No…the way we’re going about it is quite problematic!”
Emilia cried out softly, pulling her hand from his shoulder.
She was pointing to the fact that she was now cradled against him like a princess.
To her protesting voice, Kaiden lowered his head.
When their eyes met directly, Emilia flinched.
‘Too…close.’
She quickly turned her head away to avoid his gaze. Then the tip of her nose brushed against his shirt.
“That’s precisely why I said ‘pardon me.'”
“…Does saying ‘pardon me’ make it all right?”
By turning her head, she found she could hear his voice more clearly.
But she couldn’t bring herself to look at him again—she still felt his gaze upon her from above.
Then his voice came down, tinged with something askew.
“Yet you offered no such courtesy when you did it.”
“…Pardon?”
Realizing what he was referring to, Emilia’s face flushed and she bristled.
“That was an emergency situation!”
“This qualifies as one as well.”
“How so?”
“If you walk on that injured leg, night will fall before we reach the Mansion. We won’t be able to sign the Contract either.”
At his words, Emilia voiced the question she’d been holding since before.
“But why are you so obsessed with that Contract anyway?”
Anyone watching would think a vengeful ghost clung to him, one unable to rest without it signed.
Come to think of it, the shop owner I worked for briefly in the Capital had resisted signing one so stubbornly.
Kaiden let out a hollow laugh at Emilia’s expression of bewilderment.
And whose fault was it that he’d become so fixated?
“Besides, it’s not such a serious wound…”
Emilia murmured quietly.
Then she moved her leg to prove she was fine.
At her wriggling movements, Kaiden’s brow furrowed again.
“Can’t you hold still for a moment? If you keep thrashing about like that, I’ll lose my grip.”
“I’m not a fish—what do you mean ‘thrashing’?”
While Emilia was reeling from his choice of words, Kaiden adjusted his hold on her.
As their bodies pressed closer, an odd sensation stirred in her.
“I-I’ll try to walk faster.”
“I left a Carriage nearby. Just stay as you are until then.”
“But still…”
“Simply pretend you’re in the Carriage now, yes? It’ll be a small one at most.”
He had the audacity to append “small” to himself without a shred of conscience about his own build.
Emilia clenched her fists and grumbled.
“A Carriage is uncomfortable.”
“How so, exactly?”
At that, she had no choice but to bite her tongue.
In truth, her heart was tremendously uneasy—but her body was perfectly comfortable.
Just as his words suggested, no less comfortable than a Carriage would be.
‘And I’m so tired…’
Having squandered what little strength remained, she felt it drain away further.
Emilia felt Kaiden’s gaze upon her from above and squeezed her eyes shut.

* * *

Kaiden, who had been walking at a steady pace, suddenly stopped.
The rustling movements in his arms ceased.
In the quiet of the surroundings, only a faint, shallow breath could be heard.
Glancing down, he found the woman sleeping peacefully.
Her pale face bore some dark smudges.
Her small hand clutched his shirt hem.
And as he noticed her breath escaping between slightly parted lips, he found it remarkably ticklish.
‘…What am I observing?’
Kaiden collected himself and resumed walking.
He forced down the gaze that kept trying to drift lower.
‘That said—’
How was it that this woman vanished the moment she closed her eyes?
Kaiden frowned as he pondered it.
‘Does she have some urge to wander?’
This woman had no idea how exasperating he found the situation.
What had seemed a casual remark nearly led him to file a missing person report before he’d even officially hired her as a Tutor.
If it actually came to that, how would he even phrase it?
Should he ask them to keep a constant watch, since she disappeared the moment he looked away?
No. That felt deeply unpleasant.
Then should he ask them to inform him the moment she was found?
And if they asked what their relation was…
That too was frustratingly awkward to answer.
He recalled the middle-aged women who had made such a fuss before.

“My, has your wife run off again?”
“…Yes.”

He had not denied their question.
If he claimed they were nothing to each other, they wouldn’t tell him where she’d gone.
So he’d chosen affirmation, unavoidably and necessarily.
The women, who had seemed hesitant at first, soon chattered away merrily.
Thanks to them, Kaiden had been subjected to lectures on the life philosophy of complete strangers and the virtues of matrimonial relations.

“You should’ve treated her better. No matter how wealthy or well-born you are, in the end none of that matters.”
“Just understanding your wife’s heart gets you halfway there, I tell you.”

Understanding her heart…
With a woman who constantly did the unexpected, following their advice seemed profoundly difficult.
No—before that, he knew nothing of her heart or her person at all.
Why had she learned Hebrew? What business had brought her to the Capital?
But he couldn’t ask such things one by one.
The moment he showed curiosity, she’d likely flee elsewhere, Tutor contract or not.
‘…Yes. As long as she doesn’t run, that’s enough.’
Kaiden swallowed a bitter laugh internally.
He hardly recognized himself, reduced to hoping for something so humble.
Especially from a woman who felt not the slightest curiosity about him in return.
Whatever the case, he was resolved to get that Contract signed immediately.
If anything, the resolve had only strengthened.
He mentally composed clauses for it.
Even as reason held back the temptation to add inhumane provisions like ‘prohibition on leaving the premises’—
‘The moment we return…’
Soft.
Then her head dropped fully onto his chest.
Kaiden paused for a moment.
‘Signing the Contract today isn’t happening.’
He exhaled and resumed his pace.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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