I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 20

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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 ended up in a flash marriage with the male lead.
Episode 20

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Meanwhile, Robert the butler was himself consumed with worry.
The cause lay with the woman his master had brought home so suddenly today.
Or rather, he’d sensed something unsettling in the way his master treated her.
Robert furrowed his brow, recalling what had happened just moments before.
He’d shown the woman to her room, and shortly after, he’d sent a maidservant up to check on her.
But the maid had returned almost immediately, tilting her head in confusion.

“There’s no sign of her. Has she fallen asleep?”

He’d assumed, as the maid suggested, that she must be sound asleep, and had thought nothing more of it—

“Where the devil has she gone?”

His master, having just returned to the Estate, crumpled his face in displeasure and set about searching for the woman at once.
Finding the room empty, he had Robert search the Garden, but the woman had vanished without a trace.
And so his master, having only just arrived, left the Estate again to search for her.
‘Even so, there’s no need for him to go out searching himself.’
She wasn’t a five-year-old child, after all, and besides—her belongings were still here.
Surely she’d find her way back on her own.
‘I was told she’d be a tutor…’
The older one grows, the more one’s mind wanders.
And a mind prone to wandering has seen its share of varied situations.
Based on that experience—
‘It’s not a good sign, is it.’
Robert’s expression darkened.
Just as his unease was deepening further, the sound of rapid hoofbeats echoed from outside.
Robert quickly roused his aging frame and made his way downstairs.
There he saw Herald climbing down from the Carriage alone, moving sluggishly.
Clear signs of exhaustion marked his every step.
“Herald, where is everyone else? Why are you alone?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
Herald gazed up at the empty air as if trying to recall something.
Then he let out a hollow laugh, shaking his head.
“Where are the master and that woman?”
“They’re coming.”
Herald suppressed the words ‘on foot’ that threatened to follow.
‘What a creatively inefficient thing to do.’
She could’ve woken briefly if he’d put her in the Carriage.
Since when had he become so considerate, anyway?
“I see.”
But Robert couldn’t have known the true situation.
He nodded without realizing that Kaiden wouldn’t return for quite some time.
In fact, he was rather glad of the chance—he had something he wanted to ask Herald.
“Herald, about that woman.”
“Yes? Ah, yes indeed. You mean Emilia?”
Herald nodded with a slightly worn expression.
He’d heard her name wearisome times over the course of the day from his superior.
“What’s your impression of her? What manner of woman is she?”
“My impression, sir?”
Herald looked back at him with a puzzled expression.
“She’s perfect as a tutor for Ivan.”
When Herald failed to understand at first, Robert narrowed his brow.
He’d wanted to know whether the woman, should his master show interest out of mere fancy, had the good sense to know her place.
One couldn’t very well install a commoner as a duchess, after all.
He’d witnessed more than once noble men blinded by love setting unsuitable women in positions of prominence.
And he knew how such arrangements typically ended.
Robert wanted to ask Herald directly, but to pass judgment on his master’s private affairs would be beneath his station as a butler.
So he posed the question delicately.
“Don’t you find the Duke’s behavior toward that woman rather… peculiar?”
“Well, yes. It seems the Duke was truly grateful to her, ha ha.”
But Herald gave him not the sort of answer he sought.
Frustrated, Robert set aside his butler’s discretion somewhat.
“What I mean is—might that woman harbor some other motive?”
“Some other motive? Well, she saved the Duke and didn’t even accept payment for it, did she? And she didn’t seem particularly interested in money, either?”
Yet again, Herald had answered in a way that missed the mark entirely.
Robert decided to abandon this line of conversation with Herald altogether.
He’d momentarily forgotten about Herald’s romantic track record.
A flicker of pity and disappointment crossed Robert’s face.
“…Forgive me. I’d forgotten how innocent you are. Go get some rest now. You look exhausted.”
Robert gave Herald’s shoulder a reassuring pat.
“What? Wait a moment, sir.”
Herald was taken aback.
It was concern for his fatigue, certainly, but that strange pause beforehand troubled him.
“Sir?”
But before he could stop him, Robert had already vanished as if by sorcery.
“Huh?”
Herald, who’d been maltreated by several people this night, felt like crying.
His only crime, if he had one, was working faithfully and well.
“No, really! Why is everyone being like this to me today!”
His hollow cry echoed through the Estate.
Of course, no one was there to hear it.
‘Sigh… I’ll just go to sleep.’
Herald shuffled off, nursing his wounded heart.
At least tonight he’d sleep deeply, worn out as he was.

* * *

Whisper, whisper.
The curtains rustled as wind drifted through the open window.
Sunlight began pouring in abundantly after it.
But to the figure sprawled across the large bed, it was merely a nuisance disturbing her sleep.
Emilia, breathing regularly in slumber, rolled over to escape the light.
“Mm…”
Though the sunlight woke her slightly, she frowned and buried her face in the soft bedding.
For a time she lay still, motionless—until suddenly her eyes snapped open.
The blurred world swam into focus, revealing an unfamiliar room.
She startled, her eyes darting around.
‘Right. This is Kaiden’s Estate.’
Looking at the window, the sun was already high in the sky.
She’d never slept so late before; she must have been truly exhausted.
Emilia threw back the covers to get out of bed.
And there it was—her injured leg, now tended and bandaged.
She froze.
Only then did Emilia realize she hadn’t walked to the Estate on her own yesterday.
And at the same moment, she remembered her state before falling asleep.
‘…I’ve lost my mind!’
He kept staring down at her so intently that she’d closed her eyes to escape it.
‘How on earth did I manage to fall asleep in that position?’
But Kaiden bore some responsibility for this predicament too.
The problem was that he’d been far too close.
‘But still, to lose consciousness so quickly like that—!’
Emilia bit the inside of her lip, reproaching her own lack of composure.
Knock, knock.
At the sound of a knock from outside, Emilia flinched.
She hastily ran her fingers through her hair, trying to make herself presentable.
“Yes, come in.”
With a soft click, the door opened.
Fortunately, it wasn’t Kaiden.
It was a maidservant who appeared to be roughly her age—or perhaps slightly younger.
When their eyes met, the maid broke into a bright smile.
“You’re awake!”
At her cheerful tone, Emilia gave a small, awkward cough.
It felt as though the word ‘finally’ had been deliberately omitted from that greeting.

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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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