I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 69

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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 somehow ended up in a sham marriage with the male lead.
Chapter 69

He doubted his own ears—surely he’d misheard something.
‘The Duchess? Emilia?’
What nonsense.
This knight must be confused. There was no other explanation.
Emilia, a duchess? Even a stray dog would laugh at that.
“Excuse me. I think you’ve mistaken someone.”
“Mistaken whom, sir?”
The knight’s face remained perfectly serene, as if he genuinely didn’t understand.
Cedric opened his mouth to set the record straight.
“She’s just a commoner who pretended to be a noblewoman to sneak into the Imperial Palace to see me.”
But then a thought suddenly struck Cedric’s mind.
‘Wait—she came to the Imperial Palace dressed like that?’
His eyes lit up.
“Actually, now that I think about it—”
He twisted his mouth into a smug grin, having caught her red-handed.
“You’re impersonating a noblewoman, aren’t you?”
At his triumphant tone, Lucas opened his mouth with evident exasperation.
“It seems you’ve made a significant error in judgment.”
He turned fully around after handing the bag to Emilia.
“This lady is indeed the Duchess of House Valen—”
And he looked down at Cedric with an icy gaze.
“She was attending a tea party with Her Highness the Princess and is now returning home.”
“W-what? Her Highness the Princess?”
Cedric repeated the words back in confusion.
They simply didn’t connect with Emilia in any way.
“That’s correct.”
A blatant smirk crossed Lucas’s face as he watched the man’s stupor.
“I don’t know whose family you belong to, but you’re a mere bureaucrat—hardly someone in a position to address her casually.”
“A m-mere bureaucrat?”
Cedric’s face flushed red. He whirled around to look at Emilia.
“Emilia, what is this knight going on about? Tell me he’s confused, right?”
His eyes begged her to deny it, but Emilia’s answer was calm and direct.
“He’s right.”
“W-what? No, that can’t be. You never said anything about—”
“I am the Duchess of House Valen.”
“That’s… that’s a lie! You didn’t say that before!”
Cedric cried out in desperation, his shock and anxiety tangled together.
Emilia regarded him for a moment, then spoke.
“I didn’t need to mention being a duchess just to deal with you.”
“…What?”
Cedric’s face went blank, frozen.
He wanted to protest, but the words wouldn’t come.
A stifled laugh erupted from beside them.
Emilia turned and gave Lucas a sidelong glance.
What was so funny about this situation?
She exhaled lightly before speaking.
“Lucas, would you mind showing me to where the carriage is?”
“Of course, gladly.”
Lucas straightened immediately and extended his hand.
The same hand that had just delivered a devastating blow to the back of Cedric’s head.

He simply stood there, stunned and hollow-eyed as if he’d taken a physical blow.
The fact that she’d become a duchess seemed to have hit him terribly hard.
‘…Now that I think about it, he really did get hit in the head.’
Emilia carefully withdrew her hand from Lucas’s arm.
“Thank you for helping back there.”
“Helping with what?”
Lucas lifted an eyebrow, genuinely puzzled.
“I only remember handing the Duchess a bag she’d left behind.”
At his shameless deflection—complete with a self-satisfied shrug—Emilia finally laughed.
“So that man was your former fiancé, wasn’t he?”
“Why ask when you already know?”
Emilia gave Lucas a pointed look in response to his question.
“Just confirming. So what’s his name and position?”
“…What?”
Emilia’s eyes widened slightly.
“Why would you need to know that?”
“Well, we both work in the Imperial Palace.”
He added this in a somewhat detached tone.
“We might run into each other from time to time. Thought I’d exchange pleasantries then.”
Emilia’s eyes narrowed.
Something about the way he said it didn’t suggest pleasantries at all.
In fact, those “pleasantries” seemed likely to be quite violent.
“Lucas.”
“Hmm?”
“You’re not planning to seek him out and do something to him, are you?”
“Who knows.”
Lucas let a corner of his mouth curl upward as he dodged the question.
Emilia’s expression turned serious, refusing to let him brush this off.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but that one punch was enough. And like I said before—if someone unrelated to me like you do something like that, it’s just thuggery, isn’t it?”
Lucas regarded her silently as she drew that line so firmly.
She probably meant it casually, but—
‘That hit harder than I expected.’
Until now, he’d thought he kept dwelling on her simply because she intrigued him.
Other noble daughters rarely showed the behavior he saw in her; the unexpected words she spoke amused him.
But reflecting on his own state today, he realized he’d been fooling himself.
The way he’d panicked so amateurishly earlier, hanging on her every word—
Even he found it ridiculous.
When he’d learned she’d married another man, his heart had sunk. The moment he’d spotted that man touching her wrist, he’d struck without thinking. That alone told the story.
He couldn’t deny it, no matter how much he wanted to.
“I’ve missed my chance.”
Lucas let out a hollow laugh, pushing his hair back absently.
The woman standing before him was already another man’s wife.
But all hope wasn’t lost.
The relief he’d felt hearing she’d divorce him soon was telling.
‘That’s pretty pathetic thinking, isn’t it?’
Lucas smiled faintly, watching her.
“Emilia.”
“Yes?”
At the sudden sound of his voice speaking her name, she looked up at him with a confused expression.
“When this sham marriage ends—”
His voice low, he began, narrowing his eyes slightly.
“Would you meet with me?”
Because he didn’t want to remain an irrelevant person to her.

“Sir Lucas.”
The tea party had ended in the meantime.
Once the Duchess of House Valen—the central figure of the gathering—had departed, everyone lost interest.
Though one might have expected Selena to regret ending her first tea party early, she seemed unbothered.
All the people from the Empress’s Palace had left as a result.
“Did you see the Duchess home safely?”
“Yes, of course.”
Lucas answered Selena’s question with casual indifference, waving his hand dismissively.
Then he shuffled over like an exhausted man and collapsed onto the sofa, his long legs dangling over the edge.
Selena tilted her head, puzzled.
Something seemed off about Lucas’s condition.
“Now that I think about it, why did you use the door normally today?”
“Hmm?”
“Is something wrong with you?”
His expression looked vacant.
At her concerned question, Lucas let out a soft laugh.
“Well, it’s just that—”
He spoke carelessly.
“I just got rejected by a woman I like.”
“What?”
Selena’s eyes went wide.

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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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