I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 68

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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.
Episode 68

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Emilia, too, recognized the man’s face as he approached and went rigid.
‘Cedric…?’
She knitted her brows without thinking, and in that instant, a forgotten fact surfaced.
Right. Cedric was here at the Imperial Palace too.
‘But even so, the Palace is this vast and of all places—’
Emilia swallowed an inward sigh.
Cedric, meanwhile, still looked stunned.
Wondering if he’d mistaken what he saw, he shook his head vigorously.
Then he strode toward her.
“You! How did you get in here!”
Emilia saw no reason to answer and kept her mouth shut.
But Cedric interpreted her silence however he pleased.
His mouth twisted and he let out a short exclamation.
“Ha! You came all the way to the Imperial Palace pretending to be nobility just to see me?”
“…What?”
His misunderstanding was so absurd that the word escaped her belatedly.
But Cedric merely nodded as though he’d reached his own conclusion.
Then he fixed her with a self-satisfied smile.
“Well, what could you have done leaving the Village alone?”
Cedric recalled the day she’d wrecked his home and vanished.
At first he’d been angry along with his mother, but he’d quickly brushed it aside.
If Emilia had stayed in the Village, it would only have brought trouble.
And he’d forgotten about it.
He’d never wondered where she’d gone or how she was living.
‘Not until Alex brought it up.’
It was only when the bastard asked about Emilia’s whereabouts that he’d thought to wonder where she could have gone.
Cedric looked her up and down again, gesturing toward her dress.
“That dress you’re wearing—you bought it by selling the things you stole back then?”
His voice dripped with mockery.
As though there were no other way to explain her current appearance.
Emilia swallowed a hollow laugh inwardly.
‘Sell them, my foot.’
They were probably drifting in the river.
And even if she’d sold every last one, she wouldn’t have been able to afford a single jewel in the dress she wore now.
But it wasn’t worth explaining, so Emilia brushed past him and got to her feet.
As she tried to leave him behind, her arm was seized roughly.
“…What are you doing? Let go.”
But Cedric only spoke menacingly.
“My sentence isn’t finished. Where are you going?”
Emilia’s brow furrowed.
Then he made a sound—whether admiration or mockery, she couldn’t tell.
“Wow—I almost fell for just seeing you from behind.”
Then he began looking her over brazenly.
That appraising gaze made Emilia’s skin crawl.
“If you’d dressed yourself up like this from the start, I might have reconsidered.”
Cedric swallowed hard as he glimpsed the shape of her body through the dress.
‘Damn it. Should’ve listened to Mother.’
He’d deliberately kept his distance the whole time they were betrothed, just to be safe.
Now he felt like he’d wasted something precious.
‘But now that I think about it—’
It was then.
“I said let go.”
Emilia spoke coldly and pulled her arm away.
But Cedric showed no sign of releasing her.
So Emilia glared at him icily.
“Does anyone else know about your nasty habit of keeping your hands to yourself?”
“What?”
Cedric scowled.
“There’s a Decorum Maintenance Clause that Imperial Court officials are supposed to follow.”
“Pff, decorum?”
“Yes. Though I doubt that head of yours—the one that failed the exam three times—can remember it.”
“Hey, you can’t talk to me like—”
Cedric gritted his teeth and tightened his grip, but Emilia cut him off without hesitation.
“So why don’t you go to the Finance Ministry while you’re at it, playing nobleman?”
“Wh-where are you saying—”
Emilia spoke with a cold smile at her lips.
“The Finance Ministry where you work. If I let slip about how you use violence, and how you left your betrothed to father a child with another woman, how do you think people will react?”
Of course, even with the Decorum Maintenance Clause, Cedric wouldn’t necessarily face punishment.
But scandalous rumors like this always spread quickly, no matter where.
If word got out that he was a worthless man who’d gotten another woman pregnant while betrothed, at least he’d be too embarrassed to show his face.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“If you don’t like that, let go now.”
“You’re insane!”
Cedric ground his teeth and spat out curses. Then he raised his other hand—the one not gripping her arm—suddenly.
But right then—
Whack!
A dull impact rang out.
“Agh!”
With a cry, Cedric’s head snapped forward violently.
And as it did, his grip on Emilia’s arm loosened of its own accord.
The situation had been so sudden that Emilia stood bewildered.
“Oh my. I do apologize for that.”
At the leisurely voice, Emilia’s gaze shifted.
Behind Cedric’s shoulder, Lucas appeared.
He wore an astonishingly calm expression for someone who’d just struck another man’s head with considerable force.
And in his hand was the bag Emilia had left behind—the one with what looked like a rather heavy metal ornament on its lower edge.
‘Could it be—’
Emilia blinked.
‘Did he hit him with that?’
“You’re so short I didn’t see you there. My mistake.”
Lucas laid particular emphasis on the word “short.”
“Ughhhh…”
Cedric whimpered, cradling the back of his head. Tears had even formed at the corners of his eyes.
“Damn it!”
He shouted roughly.
“Who hits someone from behind!”
But when Cedric spun around indignantly, he flinched immediately.
The man before him was far larger than himself.
“Just an Imperial Court knight passing by, I’m afraid.”
“A-an Imperial Court knight?”
At the sword sheath hanging from his waist and his clearly well-trained physique, Cedric shrank back momentarily.
But indignation welled up in him again.
After all, he was the victim here.
“Be-being an Imperial Court knight doesn’t excuse this, does it?”
Cedric raised his voice.
“No matter how much you say it was a mistake, hitting someone from behind like that—what gives you the right! Apologize at once!”
“Tsk.”
Lucas clicked his tongue.
“As small as you are, your spirit’s just as petty.”
“P-petty?”
“Yes.”
Lucas nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“Well, sorry I suppose. Seems I hit a bit harder than intended.”
He muttered this regretfully, then turned his gaze away as though his opponent weren’t worth any further effort.
And he stepped straight toward Emilia, holding out the bag.
“Here’s the bag you requested, Duchess.”
His knightly bearing and manner of speech were impeccable.
“Just now, what did you—”
And at those words, Cedric’s eyes went wide as saucers.
The anger that had been mounting in him vanished in an instant.
“D-Duchess?”
Cedric’s mouth fell open stupidly.

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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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