I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 66

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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 gone and married the male lead in a flash wedding.
Chapter 66

* * *

Emilia left the Princess Palace with Lucas’s escort.
‘Though calling it an escort might be generous,’ she thought.
She watched him walking ahead, her brow furrowing slightly.
‘Did he not hear me say we needed to talk earlier?’
Lucas walked on without uttering a word, and his gait felt oddly stiff.
“Um……”
She was about to call out to him when a voice reached them from nearby.
“Sir Lucas! Where are you? I got lost while touring the gardens—!”
Someone was calling for him in the distance.
Emilia had just turned to look when—
“Oh!”
Lucas suddenly grabbed her hand, and her eyes went wide.
He immediately dragged her behind a nearby tree.
It happened in an instant.
Emilia’s back pressed against a large trunk. Lucas’s shadow fell across her face.
“This is so annoying……”
Lucas muttered low, bracing himself against the tree with both arms, peering past it.
Realizing they seemed to be hiding, Emilia asked quietly.
“Whoever it is, they’re looking for you quite desperately.”
“It’s just some nonsense……”
Lucas let out a dry laugh—then froze.
The woman trapped between his arms was staring up at him with clear green eyes.
“Nonsense?”
Emilia tilted her head, her voice laced with curiosity.
For a moment, Lucas’s expression wavered.
A soft, sweet fragrance drifted past his nose.
‘I’m losing it.’
Earlier, when Lucas had first seen Emilia, his mind had gone blank in a way he’d never experienced.
What was with that noblewoman’s getup?
When her long hair came cascading toward him, he’d swallowed hard without even thinking.
Then Emilia moved her lips.
“So—did that nonsense person leave?”
Lucas realized his body was pressed quite close to hers.
Close enough to feel her breath from those delicate lips.
“Ahem.”
He cleared his throat, dropping his arms and stepping back.
“Yeah. Gone.”
“Wait a moment.”
She peered at him, her brow knitting.
“……Why.”
“Why have you been avoiding my eyes since earlier?”
Emilia narrowed her eyes as she asked.
Ever since they’d entered the reception room, Lucas had been deliberately looking away from her.
Like someone unsure where to let his gaze fall.
At her question, Lucas flinched.
“……When did I?”
“Right now.”
She answered immediately to his protest.
‘See?’
He was looking away again, his gaze fixed on the sky.
The moment Emilia stepped closer, a low sound escaped Lucas’s lips.
He glanced down at her for an instant, then quickly turned his face away.
‘What is he doing?’ she wondered.
Feeling oddly stubborn, Emilia pressed even closer, rising on her toes to thrust her face into view.
“Sir Lucas?”
Their eyes met for an instant, and Lucas’s widened.
The next moment, he spun around entirely, turning his back to her.
Emilia blinked in bewilderment.
“C-come this way. Let’s talk.”
Lucas said it hurriedly, striding forward with purpose.
Watching his retreating back, Emilia tilted her head.
‘Strange.’
Every time they met, he’d grin smoothly and tease her—but today he seemed like a different person.
Emilia’s gaze drifted to the Imperial Uniform he wore.
‘Hmm. I suppose clothes do make the man?’
He certainly seemed stiffer than usual.

* * *

Lucas led Emilia deep into the Forest Path.
It was quite distant from the Princess Palace.
As Emilia followed, she surveyed her surroundings.
‘There’s no one passing through.’
It appeared to be outside the Imperial Guard’s patrol routes as well.
Overgrown grass surrounded them on all sides—no one would know they were here.
When Lucas stopped, he dropped heavily onto a nearby stone.
Then he let out a deep sigh.
“Hah……”
He dragged his hand across his face and spoke in a low voice.
“You’re really the wife of House Valen?”
His tone suggested he didn’t want to believe it.
To hear him react so strongly made Emilia feel slightly embarrassed.
‘Well, I understand, but….’
From Lucas’s perspective, it was understandable enough.
A commoner woman he’d known suddenly appeared as a duke’s wife.
It would be strange if he weren’t shocked.
‘But I’m in the same position.’
Emilia pouted slightly.
“I had no idea you were Her Highness the Princess’s knight.”
“Are those the same thing?”
“What difference is there?”
Emilia fired back confidently.
“We simply didn’t know about each other.”
If anything, Lucas was the one who’d deceived people by pretending to be with the Capital Guard.
She, meanwhile, had only gotten married while he was out of touch.
Though the fact that her husband was House Valen was problematic, that was all.
Lucas looked at her with a complicated expression before roughly running a hand through his hair.
“So……”
“……?”
His words trailed off, and Emilia blinked in surprise.
“……You didn’t marry the duke out of love, right?”
“Sorry?”
After all that buildup, he was asking something so absurd?
Emilia rolled her eyes briefly before answering with an easy tone.
“No—actually, I did marry completely out of love?”
“What?!”
Lucas jumped to his feet.
“You—scared me.”
The intensity of his reaction caught Emilia off guard.
“What? I was joking. Why are you so shocked?”
But Lucas stared at her as if flabbergasted.
“That’s your idea of a joke?”
“Well, you’re the one who said ‘I’ll prove I’m not a married man’ and suggested we get married as a test. You don’t have room to talk.”
“……That—”
He seemed to remember his own words and lost his edge.
At that, Emilia burst out laughing.
Shaking her head, she settled onto the facing stone and spoke.
“Anyway, my marriage isn’t really the important part……”
“It’s not the important part?”
Lucas regarded her as if she’d lost her mind.
Emilia’s eyes narrowed.
“You’re Her Highness’s bodyguard, aren’t you?”
“So?”
“Surely you already knew my marriage was a sham?”
There were several reasons for this assumption.
When they’d met at the Park before, Lucas had shown affection for someone he called his master.
And most tellingly, Selena had chosen Lucas without hesitation as her escort.
So Emilia could be certain Lucas was on Selena’s side.
“Yeah. I figured the duke was using the marriage. But……”
After a moment’s silence, Lucas’s gaze slowly turned to her.
“The thing is—you were the bride.”
His eyes held none of his usual playfulness, only something serious and intent.

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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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