I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 10

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 10

So he was saying he’d spare my life after all.
I exhaled in relief and nodded.
“Understood. Let’s go with that then.”
At my words, Arpard’s expression shifted back to that subtle, peculiar look from moments before.
It was an expression that seemed somehow displeased.
It looked exactly as if a fishbone were lodged in his throat.
‘What’s wrong? Why does he look like that?’
Reading the true intentions of a mad Crown Prince was indeed impossible.
How could a sane person ever understand the thought process of a madman?
But there was something far more pressing.
‘I don’t have time for this!’
Following the conflict between Arpard and Count Beltane, my conversation with him had eaten up more time than expected.
If Ludwig heard the news and came rushing over, it would be a disaster.
I jabbed Arpard in the ribs.
He looked down at me with eyes widened in surprise, and I whispered urgently.
“Hurry! You’re not backing out of the abduction, are you?”
“No. I’ll do it.”
Thank goodness.
At the same moment, I began to whimper and cried out loudly enough for everyone around to hear.
“Why are you doing this? Please, Your Highness, let me go! I’m supposed to have my wedding today!”
I heard Arpard swallow a hollow laugh.
He asked in a low voice.
“So I’m definitely playing the villain here.”
“Of course. That was the whole point of this request, wasn’t it?”
I knew all too well what happened when a woman about to be married caught another man’s eye and fled with him.
‘The reason I specifically chose the abduction method was precisely because of that.’
In my past life, when I fled with Count Beltane to avoid marriage and was caught, I’d already experienced how a woman who ran away with another man was treated.
That’s why I chose the abduction method this time.
‘Whether I fail or succeed, I need to protect my reputation afterward.’
To be coldly honest, I was sacrificing Arpard’s reputation to protect my own,
‘but saving his life and putting him on the throne should be compensation enough!’
Besides, Arpard was already famous as a mad Crown Prince.
Unlike me, there was no reputation he particularly needed to protect.
“Now come on, let’s go!”
At my urging, Arpard burst out laughing.
Then he looked around dramatically before raising his voice and shouting.
It was similar acting to when I’d been pleading with him to let me go moments earlier.
“Hmm, it seems my bride has suffered quite the ordeal.”
Have you lost your mind?!
‘Surely he’s not about to expose that I orchestrated the abduction here?’
Fortunately, my suspicion was quickly dispelled.
It came after the Knight Commander’s cry of protest and his question.
“Your Majesty’s bride? What are you suddenly saying?!”
Arpard responded with utter arrogance.
“She’s wasted on a fool like Ludwig.”
Right, right. Those are fair words. Even if that mad Crown Prince’s mouth is twisted, at least he speaks sense.
I nodded inwardly.
“So I’ll take her instead. As compensation for the insult of unveiling her veil, wouldn’t it be fitting if I became the groom?”
It was absolute madness.
“That’s not permitted!”
“Stop him!”
“Inform the Grand Duke at once!”
Just as the Knights moved to block Arpard, the mad Crown Prince answered their desperate struggle with his crossbow once more.
Thwack! Twang!
The bolts flew with harsh sounds, piercing through the gaps in their armor.
Screams of agony erupted in varied pitches.
After rendering four more Knights combat-ineffective in an instant, Arpard declared with leisurely confidence.
“Tell Ludwig there’s no reason to wait at the Temple anymore. He should go back on his own.”
“Y-Your Majesty!”
With that, Arpard galloped away on horseback, cradling me in his arms.
And I remained faithful to my role as the abducted bride until the very end.
Performing tears and screams with all my might.
“Please release me, Your Majesty! Aaaah!”
Of course, I made not the slightest effort to escape from Arpard’s embrace.
‘Yes! Success!’

* * *

Clop, clop, clop!
Ironically, the cheerful sound of hoofbeats echoed through the air.
Those who had tried to block the path were all knocked aside by the fierce kicks of the horse and a barrage of crossbow bolts from the Crown Prince.
“Kyaaahhh!!!”
A delicate woman’s scream trailed off into the distance.
“Your Highness! This cannot be!”
“Stop!”
“Good heavens! How could this possibly happen…!”
In the end, Ludwig’s knights could only watch helplessly as the bride of the day was abducted by the Crown Prince.
The captain of the knight order cried out with a contorted face.
“The bride—the bride has been abducted!”
It would be several hours before the truth emerged that this was a bride-theft marriage conducted for the first time in approximately three hundred years.

* * *

In the history of the Empire, a bride-theft marriage had been conducted and recognized approximately three hundred years prior.
It coincided with the founding of the Empire itself.
The very catalyst for the Empire’s establishment was the incident where a ferocious dragon abducted a princess through bride-theft at a wedding procession—naturally so.
The dragon’s bloodline born from that union was precisely what had been passed down through the Empire to this day.
Yet now, the Crown Prince, known to carry the strongest dragon bloodline of his generation, had abducted the bride on his own wedding day.
‘Truly, a reenactment of the founding myth of the first Emperor!’
For the Imperial Court to deny this would be to deny its own legitimacy from the very foundation.
‘They absolutely cannot deny it.’
Due to the very question of legitimacy, it was impossible to deny this bride-theft.
This was precisely what I had aimed for.
In truth, I had not conceived this idea alone.
I had already witnessed a similar case before my regression.
‘It was none other than Ludwig and Evangeline’s marriage that unfolded in precisely this manner.’
This occurred after I was falsely accused of infidelity and attempted murder, became a criminal, and was divorced.
By that time, Arpard was already dead, and Ludwig naturally seized the position of Crown Prince.
The two who had driven me out staged an unprecedented theatrical performance—a bride-theft marriage.
To fill Ludwig’s insufficient legitimacy, and to transform their wedding into an event of the century.
They exploited the founding myth of the first Emperor.
After all their scheming and machinations, the two held their wedding ceremony.
Among the masses, this incident created quite a significant sensation.
‘It was remarkably effective in raising their recognition and popularity.’
This time, I merely intend to turn it against them.
I smiled faintly within Arpard’s embrace.
‘Ah, I really wish I could have seen Ludwig’s face contort in person!’

* * *

CRASH!!
The angelic statue that adorned the Temple’s altar shattered into pieces.
The priests cried out in alarm.
“Your Grace, the Grand Duke!”
“What manner of barbarous conduct is this?!”
“Such sacrilege!”
Under normal circumstances, Ludwig would never have made such a mistake.
But this moment was different.
News so shocking had reached him as he waited for the tardy bride—news that shattered his composure entirely.
“The bride was abducted? A bride-theft?! What in the blazes are you babbling about?!”
Ludwig, the Grand Duke’s scream-like shriek ensured that even the guests now understood the catastrophe unfolding.
“Did I hear that correctly? The bride was abducted?”
“But who could possibly be bold enough to commit such an act?”
“The Grand Duke is the groom, and it was The Emperor himself who arranged this match….”
Shock rippled outward in all directions, setting the entire gathering ablaze with whispers.
SMACK!
The Knight who had failed to protect the bride and delivered this shocking news was struck by his lord and sent tumbling across the Virgin Road.
“Ugh! My apologies, Your Grace…!”
Even those who had been aghast at Ludwig, the Grand Duke’s outburst, now frowned in disapproval.
While losing the bride was certainly cause for anger, striking down a retainer in public was hardly a sight that would garner sympathy.
Evangeline, who had attended as one of the guests, quickly grasped the shifting atmosphere around them.
And she immediately rushed toward Ludwig.
“Brother! Compose yourself!”
She drew close and spoke in a voice only he could hear.
“Stop this! Do you see how many eyes are upon you? Come to your senses.”
“Ah….”
Only then did Ludwig barely grasp hold of his reason.
‘Nothing has gone smoothly since last night until now…!’
Especially this morning—the stress from receiving a warning from The Emperor due to Hillia’s hysteria weighed heavily upon him.
And when he heard that the bride had been abducted, his reason snapped completely.
He managed to salvage the situation, however crudely.
“…My apologies. I lost my composure.”
“Please, end my life, Your Grace.”
The Knight, still prostrate on the ground, knew Ludwig’s true nature well.
He was a knight who had served at the Grand Duke’s residence since long ago.
I knew all too well that Ludwig’s apology was anything but sincere.
‘If I return to the Grand Duke’s residence, I’m finished!’
Yet he had something to say. Who in blazes was supposed to stop the man who had abducted the bride?!
The knight cried out in desperation.
“But Your Grace, the Grand Duke. The one who abducted Princess Delphin is none other than His Highness the Crown Prince! We have no way to…”
Ludwig’s face twisted with shock tangled with fury.
“What did you say?!”
Beside him, Evangeline staggered, her face draining of all color.
“O-older brother?”
The way she had just addressed him as “older brother” carried a subtly different tone than when she usually called him that.
But no one present noticed this distinction.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————