I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 42

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

She’d ended up in a shotgun marriage with the male lead.
42

“I’ll have to kill her where no one sees. Nice and clean.”
Selena’s body went rigid.
“Though before that, I suppose I could whip her a bit under the guise of education, and show the Duke the marks whenever he visits the palace.”
She took a long sip of wine tinged with blood, as though the thought alone delighted her.
“Haah… now that I think about it, killing her seems almost a waste.”
She exhaled a heavy sigh and clicked her tongue.
“It’s a pity I can’t show His Majesty the Emperor as he lies in his sickbed what she looks like.”
She sounded genuinely regretful.
“Well, if Aaron wants her, I suppose I should give her to him as a toy first, priority above all else.”
At those words, Selena’s fists clenched.
“…Mother, isn’t tomorrow supposed to be an important day? Shouldn’t you get some rest?”
The Empress nodded at that.
“Yes, you’re right.”
She rose from her seat, tottering slightly.
Soon at the Empress’s summons, the attendants waiting outside came in to help her up.
Once the Empress had left, Selena, who had been left alone to keep vigil, slowly rose to her feet as well.
Knights stood guard at the door outside.
As Selena emerged, one of them spoke.
“Shall I escort you?”
“No, I’m fine.”
The knight didn’t press further at her refusal—in fact, he looked relieved to be spared the trouble.
Tap, tap.
Selena walked slowly down the corridor alone.
All the knights, attendants, and servants shared the same attitude.
They were loyal only to her mother and Aaron.
They had no need to impress her or show her courtesy.
Those sworn to protect the imperial family cared nothing for her safety.
‘That day too.’
Tap, tap, tap.
Selena’s pace quickened slightly.
That day had been the same.
The day her younger sister had to go to the Temple at their mother’s command.
The knights moved only at the Empress’s word, indifferent to her sister’s resistance.
Even when Selena begged them not to take her sister, it was useless.
They’d torn her away roughly and taken her sister anyway.

“Sister, why does Mother only like Aaron?”

Her younger sister Lorelai had always been full of questions.
But Selena couldn’t tell her the answer.
What could she possibly say to a child?

Mother doesn’t want daughters like us.
Mother thinks Aaron’s frail body is our fault for being born first.

These were truths far too cruel and painful for her young sister to bear.
So what came from her lips was a lie.

“Aaron has a weak constitution, so Mother worries about him more.”

Of course, her answer couldn’t fully satisfy her sister’s doubts.
Years passed, and Lorelai came to understand the truth on her own.
After that, she no longer bore Aaron’s cruel pranks in silence.
And when she fought back against him and wounded his body—
Lorelai was no longer the Empress’s daughter.
She was merely a woman who’d dared attack the Empress’s son.
And Lorelai needed education, or so they said—
“……”
Selena bit her lip hard.
If she’d known her sister would never come back, she would have stopped it by any means necessary.
She wouldn’t have told her that things would be all right once the Empress’s anger passed.
But no matter how many hundreds or thousands of times she regretted it, her sister never returned.
Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap-tap.
Selena ran into her chambers, gathering up her skirts.
“My lady, did you eat with that witch again today—”
Lucas caught sight of her entering the room and stiffened, abandoning his usual playful tone.
“Has something happened?”
“Lucas.”
Instead of answering his question, Selena called out his name. Her voice trembled.
“Yes.”
Without hesitation, Lucas dropped to one knee before her, all traces of levity gone.
Selena looked down at him calmly.
If the Empress discovered she’d made contact with Duke Valen, Selena might suffer the same fate as her sister.
Or worse—a charge of presumption added to her crimes, she might be sold off to some cruel nobleman before she even came of age.
So to do this for the sake of her father’s illegitimate child, for a girl she’d never even met, might well be foolish.
‘But.’
Every day since Lorelai had been sent to the Temple, she had prayed.

She prayed that someone, anyone, would show her sister kindness there.
That she’d be cared for by someone, like the knight who had suddenly appeared.

If she harbored such desperate hopes that someone would pity her sister, yet turned away from her now when she was about to return to the palace—
Wasn’t that the height of contradiction?
“I have a favor to ask.”
“Your command.”
Selena’s trembling hand moved quickly across the letter, writing in hasty strokes.
Then she pressed it into Lucas’s hands.
“Take this letter to Duke Valen at once. In secret.”
The conference was tomorrow, so it might be too late for this to matter at all.
But Selena desperately hoped it would not be in vain.

* * *

“Then I’ll be off, Ivan.”
Emilia bent down and ruffled Ivan’s hair before speaking.
“Mm! But Emilia!”
Ivan had come out to the lobby to see her off.
“Dinner tonight is supposed to be really, really delicious!”
Emilia laughed at the boy’s words.
“You’re right. I’ll be back by then, so let’s eat together, okay?”
“Yes, yes!”
Ivan beamed as she immediately grasped his meaning.
“Let’s go.”
Kaiden, who had been standing quietly beside her, naturally guided her outside.
“Yes.”
Emilia waved to Ivan and stepped out with Kaiden, where the Duke’s carriage awaited.
Emilia’s brow furrowed slightly.
‘I thought I’d decided not to ride in this carriage anymore.’
Somehow, that resolve always seemed to fade.
Emilia took her usual seat across from Kaiden—one that might as well have been permanently assigned to her—and spoke.
“I didn’t realize the Duke conducted business with the Parizanan Merchant Guild.”
Today was her first external assignment as a business development officer.
The purpose was to select which merchants would supply the essential ore needed to produce Catalysts.
She was to visit the candidate merchants Samuel had in mind one by one and report back her findings.
‘The top choice being the Parizanan Merchant Guild.’
They supplied the most ore.
“For some years now, we’ve been trading in a particular fabric with them,” he explained.
According to his account, they were one of the few merchants supplying Hitran, a textile essential to the Northern Territory.
So Kaiden also had business at the Parizanan Merchant Guild, and had accompanied her on the journey.
Emilia leafed through the documents she’d brought and looked at Kaiden.
“What sort of person is the Parizanan Merchant Guild master?”
Since they might become clients of the Ardel Family, it was worth learning about them in advance.
But instead of answering, Kaiden furrowed his brow.
As though he hadn’t expected such a question.
“Is he someone difficult to describe?”
“No, rather—”
After a brief pause, Kaiden spoke.
“I don’t know much about him.”
“What? Why?”
Emilia blinked in surprise at the unexpected reply.
Hadn’t he just said they’d been doing business together for years?
Kaiden, silent again, offered a straightforward admission.
“This is my first time meeting him in person.”

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