I Ended Up Snatching a Marriage With the Male Lead! - Chapter 94

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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 ended up in a Shotgun Marriage with the male lead.
Chapter 94

“Even something trivial will do—if anything troubles you, come straight to me and tell me at once.”
At his words, Emilia blinked.
Kaiden, displeased by her reaction, added further.
“Don’t let me hear about my wife from anyone else.”
…….
When Emilia didn’t answer, Kaiden cupped her cheek in his palm.
Caught off guard by his touch, her eyes widened.
“No answer?”
He pressed for a reply just as he had that day in the Park.
But unlike then, there was no boy now rushing up to ask for his ball back.
Moreover, with his hand holding her cheek, she couldn’t even look away.
His long fingers brushed the tip of her ear.
Emilia caught her breath, gripping her skirts tightly as she spoke in a small voice.
“……I will.”
Satisfied with that alone, Kaiden calmly withdrew his hand and straightened, as though the matter were settled.
“Let’s return to the Mansion at once. Ivan will be waiting.”
With that, Kaiden turned and left the Barracks.
Shortly after, the servants who had been outside came in and gathered their things.
“Oh my, Emilia!”
Just then, Laura spotted her and rushed over with exaggerated concern.
“Good heavens, you’ve been out in the sun far too long!”
“Hmm?”
At Emilia’s puzzled expression, Laura spoke in a troubled tone.
“Your face is flushed!”
“Oh, no, that’s not—that’s not what it is…….”
Emilia stumbled over her words and quickly shook her head.
“I’m fine, so don’t worry about it.”
Though Laura looked somewhat unconvinced, she nodded and gathered the luggage with the others.
Emilia recalled her conversation with Kaiden and pouted slightly.
‘I’m not a child, for heaven’s sake.’
What on earth was that absurd promise? She’d answered in flustered confusion without thinking.
She shook her head as if to shake off that strange sensation from moments before.
‘Well, it’s not as though anything will come of it anyway.’
She decided not to think about it further.
Unaware that her mind would soon change on the matter.

* * *

“Nngh, ahh……argh!”
Cedric cried out in pain and jolted upright in bed.
“Hah…….”
He gritted his teeth, recalling the day of the Hunting Tournament.
‘Has that madman lost his mind entirely?!’
It had been nearly two weeks since the tournament ended, yet Cedric could not shake the horrific memory of that day.
The sensation of bone-deep cracking, his hand bones splintering.
And that man’s expression as he looked down at him, coolly, after plunging him into the swamp.
Worse still, the man’s face had remained impassive, as though he felt no satisfaction in the act at all.
Yes—as if he were merely doing what was obviously necessary.
For Cedric, that was the greater terror.
That face which would remain unmoved no matter how desperately he begged for his life.
Cedric trembled at the memory of the Duke’s gaze.
‘Damn it.’
He rummaged through a drawer with his one sound hand, searching for painkillers.
Then a Medicine Bottle he’d never seen before caught his eye.
‘What is this?’
Cedric lifted the elegant Medicine Bottle with trembling fingers.
As he examined it closely—
“Ce-Cedric!”
Reina approached him with alarm, calling out urgently.
Cedric turned to her with an accusatory look. “What is this?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
She hastily hid the bottle and shook her head.
“Nothing? Then where did it come from?”
“That…….”
Reina hesitated, then finally spoke.
“It’s something I obtained on the day of the Hunting Tournament.”
“What?”
“……From the physician there.”
But Cedric didn’t believe her.
No such establishment would dispense medicine in an expensive bottle like that.
He fixed her with a suspicious stare. “Tell me straight, Reina.”
“…….”
Cedric studied Reina as she clamped her mouth shut.
Now that he thought about it, her complexion had been suspiciously good these days.
Could she have stolen money without his permission?
Cedric’s jaw clenched. Here he was suffering because of her lie, and at the tournament he’d even been beaten senseless.
His shattered hand kept him from going out to work, so he couldn’t even report to the Imperial Palace.
As a result, he’d been spending more than he earned these days.
‘And she buys herself fine medicine?’
It infuriated him beyond measure.
“Hand it over, now!”
Cedric snatched the bottle that Reina had hidden behind her back, his eyes blazing.
Then something caught his eye, and his expression froze.
“What……is this?”
It was a small crest engraved into the bottle.
‘This is……!’
No matter how he looked at it, it was unmistakably the seal of House Valen.
Cedric’s face hardened as he demanded of Reina, “What is this?!”
But Reina only lowered her gaze and remained silent.
Her silence sparked a suspicion in Cedric.
“Don’t tell me……you received this from the Duke?”
“What……?”
Reina momentarily didn’t understand what he was saying and repeated his words back to him.
“Did the Duke hand this to you, telling you to poison me or something?!”
Cedric shouted, his voice rising in panic.
At that, Reina quickly shook her head.
“It’s not like that! It was just……a woman named Emilia who gave it to me.”
“Emilia?”
“Yes……. She said my condition looked far too poor…….”
But Cedric only grew angrier at Reina.
“Are you insane?! Why would she give you medicine out of kindness! She’s definitely hidden something in there!”
“No, that’s not it…….”
Reina forced herself to speak, denying his accusation.
But Cedric only laughed at her bitterly.
“Don’t make me laugh. What do you know about her? No one knows that woman better than I do.”
He clicked his tongue at her, shaking his head as he looked down at her. “You nearly got yourself killed. If I hadn’t found this…….”
Just then, a knock sounded at the door from outside.
Startled, Cedric flinched. He quickly signaled Reina to be quiet with a sharp look.
‘The innkeeper?’
Cedric stared at the door, his expression darkening. The room’s rent was overdue by quite some time.
Again came a harsh, rapid knocking—knock knock knock.
Cedric held his breath.
But the words called from outside struck him as odd.
“Is Romanse Youngshik present?”
“What…….”
The innkeeper would never look for him this way. Besides, the innkeeper here wasn’t even a young man.
‘Could it be……the Duke’s man?!’
Still reeling from that day’s trauma, Cedric had begun connecting everything back to the Duke.
Insane—just how much blood did he want to drain from people?!
Wasn’t what he did to him at the tournament enough?
But then, from outside the door came unexpected words.
“I come from the Imperial Court.”
Cedric’s eyes went wide.
‘The Imperial Court? Not the Imperial Palace?’
Why?
His heart began racing with anxiety.
Yet knowing that the visitor represented the Imperial Court, he could not keep the man waiting any longer.
At last, Cedric forced his reluctant feet to move, dragging himself toward the door.
He opened it cautiously.
Before him stood a stiff-faced man dressed in the livery of an Imperial Court official.
“I……what brings you here……?”
“Her Majesty the Empress seeks your presence.”

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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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