I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 6

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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’ve rushed into a marriage with the male lead.
Chapter 6

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Emilia arrived at the Neighboring Territory by public carriage.
It was the only place in the vicinity with a train station.
Standing before the ticket counter, Emilia swallowed hard.
‘Expensive…’
She’d only ever seen Cedric off at the station before; she’d never actually ridden a train herself.
True enough, the trains here ran on Mana Stones, which meant the fares were steep.
“Excuse me, miss?”
The clerk called out, and Emilia laughed awkwardly.
“Ah, could you give me the fastest available ticket?”
“Of course. Just a moment, please.”
A short while later, Emilia received a brief rundown of the details from the clerk and left the counter.
Then she looked up at the large clock tower in the center of the station.
‘Not much time before departure.’
She entered the waiting room in the station hall and settled onto a long bench.
She’d thought to rest for a bit until the train arrived.
But a strange, sticky atmosphere began to seep through the waiting room.
‘What’s this?’
Emilia’s eyes naturally drifted across the space.
“Mm… stop it, you.”
In the far corner, she spotted a couple pressed tightly together.
“People will see us.”
The woman, flushed with embarrassment, made a show of pushing the man away.
“Ah, what does it matter?”
But the man didn’t budge, instead leaning closer and attempting increasingly bold displays of affection.
Emilia, mortified, quickly turned her head away.
‘How shameless—what on earth are they doing in public?’
Smack.
At the embarrassing sound that followed, heat rushed to her face.
They looked ready to do even more if only there were no one watching.
“Ahem, ahem!”
A middle-aged man sitting nearby made a pointed show of clearing his throat.
But the couple’s resolve was stronger still.
“Tsk. Young people these days…”
Eventually, the man, unable to bear it, left the waiting room.
And as he passed nearby, he shot a glare in her direction too.
‘Wait—why am I…?’
Emilia felt indignant at being lumped in with them.
Meanwhile, the couple, having dispatched their unwelcome audience, only grew more brazen.
Emilia decided she couldn’t take it any longer and hurried outside.
She shook her head, trying to erase the scene from her mind.

* * *

Ding, ding, ding, ding—
Fortunately, the sound of the train’s arrival came soon after.
People were already lined up in a long queue before the platform. Emilia went to the back and took her place.
As she waited for the line to move forward, she heard something stirring in the distance ahead.
‘What’s going on?’
Emilia craned her neck slightly to peer sideways.
The source of the commotion was quite far ahead.
Some child was clinging to a man up there.
But the child’s appearance was rather striking.
A robe so oversized that the child’s face was barely visible, and clothes covered in dirt and dust as if they’d been rolling in the ground.
The man looked at the child with displeasure because of it.
“What are you going on about? If you want to beg, go do it over there! Everyone here is busy!”
The man waved his hand dismissively, shooing the child away.
The child then looked around and reached out to another passerby.
But no one paid any attention.
Because of what had just happened, everyone assumed the child was begging.
Emilia watched the child’s behavior carefully.
‘It doesn’t quite seem like simple begging… Could they have lost their parents?’
She stepped out of the line where she’d been standing and walked forward.
And soon she realized something.
The child was saying something with urgency.
“Help me!”
But the language being used wasn’t the Imperial tongue.
‘This is…’
From among the jumbled languages in her mind, Emilia quickly found the answer.
‘Hifrian?’
Hipria, located at the far end of the continent.
Due to its closed-off nature, it had almost no contact with the Empire.
That’s why the people here couldn’t understand the child’s words.
Emilia had taken an interest in Hifrian a few years ago.
‘Cedric was struggling with how to easily learn legal terminology, and that’s how I ended up studying it.’
In the past, Hipria had dominated surrounding nations and wielded considerable influence.
As a result, Hifrian became the origin of much legal terminology, leaving traces throughout the region.
Emilia approached the child and spoke to them.
“What’s wrong?”
Though she hadn’t studied Hifrian properly, so her command of it was clumsy.
Meanwhile, the child’s eyes widened when they heard a familiar language, tears still glistening on their lashes.
The child quickly turned around to look up at the woman who’d spoken to them, eyes bright with hope.
“Can you understand what I’m saying?”
‘Speak, understand.’
She grasped the general meaning.
Emilia quickly nodded.
The child’s face lit up.
The child, excited, immediately began pouring out words.
“Wait, slow down!”
Emilia bent down to stop the child.
“I can’t understand that fast—ah, slowly, slowly.”
Fortunately, the child understood and quickly nodded.
The child paused to think, then, instead of full sentences, spat out several words.
“Medicine! Cure! Wound!”
At the same time, they pressed both hands to their abdomen and contorted their face in pain.
‘Ah, so they have a stomachache and need medicine?’
“You hurt?”
But the child shook their head vigorously, as if that wasn’t it.
‘Then what?’
The child, frustrated, shuffled their feet impatiently.
The child made a thoughtful sound, then pointed at themselves with one finger before making an X-shape with their arms.
‘Ah.’
They meant it wasn’t them.
It seemed a companion of theirs was hurt and needed help.
“Someone with you hurt?”
“Yes, yes!”
The child grasped the fabric of Emilia’s dress as if it were a lifeline.
In fact, before losing consciousness, the child’s companion had made one final request.
That there was someone dangerous on the train, and they must not move or reveal themselves.
But the child was too worried about their companion dying to obey.
So after struggling with the decision for a long time, when the train had stopped, they’d slipped out alone.
In search of anyone who could help.
But the people outside the train couldn’t understand their words and were all cold and indifferent.
Despite all the crowds, not a single person would listen to what they had to say.
Then, like a miracle, the woman’s voice had come to them.
“Take a deep breath first…”
Emilia squeezed the child’s hand, trembling with tension, and knelt down before them.
But at that moment, the child’s head moved and the hood fluttered aside.
‘Wait. Those eyes…’
Emilia paused at the glimpse of the child’s eye color.
A suspicion bloomed in her mind all at once.
“Forgive me a moment.”
She carefully released the child’s hand and gently pushed back the hood.
“Oh.”
Having confirmed the eye color, Emilia exhaled sharply.
A golden yellow, almost amber hue.
Such an eye color was uncommon in the Empire.

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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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