I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 70
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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 gotten into a fake marriage with the male lead.
70
“He… broke it off?”
Selena repeated the words in disbelief.
It was such a shocking revelation that the relief she’d felt at ending the tea party vanished in an instant.
Now that she thought about it, there had been signs for a while that he’d taken an interest in some young lady.
But she’d never imagined Lucas would actually be the one to end things.
The fact was, despite his current duties as her escort knight—and she was admittedly just a princess without much standing at the moment—Lucas was the eldest son of House Ernst.
Moreover, he was remarkably handsome, and his swordmanship ranked among the finest in the Palace Guard.
‘Who on earth could it be?’
Her eyes widened as she sank deeper into thought.
“Don’t tell me it’s one of the young ladies who attended the tea party today…?”
Lucas offered no direct answer, but his silence was answer enough.
“You should have told me sooner!”
Selena reproached him, her feelings hurt.
“Your Highness?”
“If you had, I could’ve spoken well of you to the young lady.”
But Lucas spoke as if it hardly mattered.
“Well, that probably wouldn’t have helped much anyway.”
“Why? Who is she, exactly?”
At Selena’s question, Lucas fell silent for a moment before answering.
“Emilia.”
“…What?”
Selena blinked, confusion written across her face.
There had been a young lady named Emilia among the attendees today—who was it again?
‘Wait.’
Selena’s expression slowly hardened.
“You don’t mean… the Duchess of House Valen?”
Lucas merely shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly without bothering to deny it.
* * *
Returning to the Mansion that afternoon, Emilia passed her time much as she always did.
Though not quite exactly the same.
She’d regaled Laura with her impressions of her first tea party, and shared a rather late supper with Ivan.
And so the day faded, the night growing deep.
Emilia thoroughly removed the heavy makeup she’d worn.
After loosening her tired body with a bath, she changed into light sleeping clothes and lay down in bed.
Despite having made such perfect preparations for sleep.
‘I can’t fall asleep.’
No matter how much she courted slumber, her mind kept wandering to other thoughts.
Emilia tossed and turned for a while before finally casting aside her blanket.
Creak.
Having thrown a shawl over her shoulders and slipped out of her room, she found the corridors utterly silent—the servants had all long since retired.
Stepping out into the darkened Mansion, the night air struck her as quite cool.
Emilia settled onto a bench set in one corner of the Garden.
‘This strange restlessness.’
After meeting Cedric, she felt as though she’d been dragged back into reality.
As if everything since morning—dressing herself like a proper noblewoman, attending the tea party—had all been a lie.
‘And then—’
Emilia’s brow furrowed slightly.
‘Lucas went and played more jokes the whole time.’
“Once that fake marriage is over, want to see me?”
She’d hit his shoulder and told him not to say such pointless things.
But his words had set her thoughts spiraling.
Once she’d safely sent Ivan to the Hipree Kingdom, once she’d divorced Kaiden…
Of course, she’d have to leave this Mansion.
One couldn’t very well remain employed there after a divorce.
Yet now that the day loomed in her mind, the thought of leaving the Mansion left an odd hollow in her chest.
Though at first, she’d dreaded being entangled with Kaiden at all.
Perhaps she’d simply grown accustomed to life in the ducal household.
‘Or maybe I’ve grown attached…’
Emilia slipped off her slippers and drew her legs up to embrace them on the bench.
In truth, the day she’d entered into the fake marriage with Kaiden, the reason she’d gone so far as to draft a Contract wasn’t merely to prevent Kaiden from doing anything impulsive.
It was to remind herself that this fake marriage had an end.
And she’d needed to guard against the misfortune of growing fond of Kaiden.
To end things with someone once close while both parties burned with embarrassment, only to become strangers afterward—it was an acutely bitter affair.
Emilia closed her eyes and rested her head gently against her arms as she held her legs.
How long had she been breathing in the cold night air like this?
Rustle, rustle.
At the sound that broke the night’s stillness, she lifted her head—and found Kaiden standing directly before her.
“…Your Grace?”
Emilia blinked vacantly.
‘Is this a dream?’
She wondered if she’d somehow dozed off on the bench unaware. It couldn’t be real—Kaiden should be at his Territory.
Yet even after blinking several times, the figure before her remained unchanged.
“Yes.”
And he was even responding to her.
Emilia’s eyes widened, and anxiety rushed in alongside her surprise.
‘Surely not…’
Had some serious matter arisen that required him to hurry back to the Mansion at this late hour?
Emilia released her hold on her legs and asked urgently.
“Has something happened? Please don’t tell me it’s related to Ivan?”
But he didn’t answer, his expression clouded with clear displeasure.
Kaiden’s eyes remained fixed on her in silence for a moment before he finally spoke.
“…Didn’t you send me a Letter?”
“A Letter? What do you mean?”
Emilia’s blinking eyes soon lit with understanding as she grasped what he referred to.
“Ah—the one I sent saying I’d be attending Her Highness’s tea party?”
“Yes.”
Kaiden asked as if seeking confirmation.
“Was there any trouble?”
Suddenly she recalled the reaction he’d shown before leaving for his Territory.
His lack of trust in her was truly remarkable.
Already unsettled from meeting Cedric, his interrogative tone only rankled her further.
But Emilia swallowed her wounded feelings and answered lightly with a smile.
“There was no trouble.”
“Truly?”
“Truly.”
The tea party itself had concluded without incident.
“I didn’t make any mistakes, and nothing problematic occurred…”
Emilia’s words trailed off.
“That’s not what—”
Kaiden exhaled a short breath.
“I was worried.”
“…I’m sorry?”
Emilia found herself momentarily unable to process his unexpected words.
“That something might have happened to you.”
She looked up at him in a daze before speaking.
“…But as I wrote in the Letter, it wasn’t the sort of gathering where anything could happen to me.”
It was a gathering with many young ladies from influential noble families of the Capital.
The chances of anyone acting openly against her in such a public setting were virtually nonexistent.
She’d made certain to note as much in her Letter…
“I’m aware of that.”
A low, quiet voice emanated from Kaiden.
“But worry is another matter.”
His words caused something to flutter in her chest. Emilia spoke hesitantly.
“Is it possible…?”
She paused after beginning to speak.
“You came right back after receiving my Letter?”
“I did.”
Kaiden answered as if the question itself was self-evident.
“Thank you… But truly, nothing happened.”
“If nothing happened, then why are you sitting out here?”
“I beg your pardon?”
Emilia, not grasping the connection in his words, repeated the question.
“I was simply getting some air?”
At that, Kaiden spoke with a skeptical expression.
“That’s hardly ‘simply getting air’—you always sit here when your mind is troubled.”
“I… do?”
“Yes.”
There was not a trace of doubt in his answer.
Emilia’s eyes grew wide as she recalled her own habits.
Now that she thought of it, it was true.
Not only when she’d taken on the business administrator’s work and struggled with unfamiliar material, but whenever she’d hit an impasse with paperwork, she’d often spent considerable time sitting here.
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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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