I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 15

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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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Chapter 15

From Prince Arpard’s perspective, it was only natural.
After all, he was the only Knight who had stepped forward before the Crown Prince, who had caused a disturbance during the wedding procession.
‘Rather than a Knight overflowing with loyalty, it makes more sense that he’s a man blinded by love to the point of disregarding treason itself.’
Moreover, Hillia’s unusually protective attitude toward him was grating on my nerves.

“Yes. Therefore, the Knight’s crime is naturally my crime as his master. Please hold me accountable.”
“No! I drew the blade entirely of my own will. The Lady bears no fault!”

The sight of them shielding each other was almost moving.
Moreover, this sharp-minded Hillia, who was certainly calculating, was willing to incur another debt just to save his life.
In truth, I should have been delighted.
This woman, whose inner workings I cannot fathom and whose abilities are immeasurable, had voluntarily revealed a weakness to me.
‘I should be rejoicing while scheming how to exploit it….’
And yet.
I voiced the doubt that had surfaced in my mind.
“Why does that feel so uncomfortable and irritating?”
But she was in no state to answer my question.
She was sleeping beside me now, as though unconscious.
She must have been exhausted beyond measure.
I had deliberately driven the horse without any consideration for the frail woman’s stamina.
Yet throughout the journey, Hillia had not uttered a single complaint.
‘Ah, wait. Near the castle at the end, she did say she felt like she might be sick.’
She had leaped down with a pale face and nearly collapsed.
At that moment, her expression had been quite amusing and endearing, I thought—an uncharacteristic notion for me.
But the smile that had appeared on my lips soon faded.
‘What’s certain is that this is absolutely not the mental fortitude of a noblewoman raised in a greenhouse.’
The bride has nothing suspicious about her, yet.
This aspect was particularly striking.
‘Her background shows nothing unusual whatsoever.’
Though time was short, I conducted my own investigation into Hillia Delphin.
As a result, there was not a single piece of noteworthy information.
It was not an environment that would cultivate such remarkable mental strength, nor had she ever demonstrated any inexplicable abilities.
It was as though a person had been entirely replaced in the span of a single night.
Particularly during that insane situation when the abduction marriage request had occurred, I had held a blade to this woman’s throat. Yet Hillia had not even batted an eyelash.
‘Even a trained Knight would find that difficult.’
She was a woman suspicious in every conceivable way. I needed to remain vigilant.
So truly, if that Knight was indeed this woman’s weakness, I should have been pleased and satisfied.
That was what reason was telling him.
But Arpard’s emotions spoke a different language.
“Still displeasing. This irritation refuses to fade.”
Arpard watched the morning sun rise and came to that conclusion.
He clicked his tongue softly, muttering quietly as he gazed down at his wife sleeping deeply.
“Besides, a bride worrying about another man’s wellbeing on the wedding night, right in front of her groom? Isn’t that a bit much, my dear?”
Of course, Hillia, blissfully unaware of the world, could not answer.
Arpard watched for a moment, then lay down close beside her.
To observe this incomprehensible and fascinating woman more closely.
“Well, in any case, since she’s in my hands, I’ll simply continue watching.”
He was a patient man. Especially when it came to what lay within his grasp.

* * *

Ludwig could bear it no longer and spat out a curse.
“Damn it!”
It was already the fourth day. Four days since the wedding, when he watched with open eyes as his bride was stolen from him.
‘I’ve become a laughingstock across the entire nation—no, across the entire continent!’
Yet the Emperor had nothing to say about it.
The vanished Crown Prince and bride had not shown a single hair.
The longer their disappearance stretched on, the deeper Ludwig’s delusions grew.
What had Arpard done with the bride?
Why had he abducted her?
Where had they gone?
What were they doing now?
Worries and fantasies chained one after another.
By the fourth day, they had swollen to a point he could barely endure.
Ludwig felt as though his chest was burning, and he could not bear it.
He had always considered her his woman as a matter of course. But now that she had been taken from him, such thoughts tormented him.
‘If I had known this would happen, I would have consummated the marriage long ago!’
The soft pink hair of Hillia that remained in his memory, and her lustrous cheeks, haunted him especially.
The gentle, obedient expression she always wore when yielding to his stubbornness.
Why did each of these details pierce him so deeply with longing and regret?
She was a woman he had dismissed and mocked for her naive and foolish nature.
He drank water, but the fire consuming his chest would not be extinguished.
He could not restrain himself and cried out.
“Is there still no word of Hillia?!”
“My apologies. We are searching everywhere, but…!”
Ironically, Ludwig stood within the Delphin Mansion itself.
And the butler prostrating before him in reverence was also a servant of House Delphin.
Since the Delphin Mansion was far grander and more luxurious than the Grand Duke’s residence, he had been living here for nearly three years now.
During that time, Ludwig had seized complete control of the estate.
“What of the Imperial Palace?”
“…There has been no contact whatsoever, my lord.”
“Damn it!!”
Cursing again, Ludwig hurled the glass he held across the room.
Crash!
The crystal shattered into fragments, and the mansion’s servants cleaned the room with practiced efficiency.
Alone with his fury, Ludwig made his way toward the underground prison beneath the estate.
He intended to vent his rage upon the knight imprisoned there.
As the basement door opened, Ludwig unleashed his wrath anew upon the battered man sprawled within.
“You! Because you failed to protect the bride properly, I am forced to endure such humiliation!!”
Ludwig trampled Count Beltane’s back mercilessly.
Jolted awake by the impact, Count Beltane asked in a fading voice.
“The young lady…where is she…?”
“How should I know?! You delivered her to Prince Arpard yourself…!!”
He kicked at Count Beltane’s limbs.
After Hillia’s abduction, Count Beltane alone had been the first to step forward before the enraged Ludwig, and he alone had confessed his guilt willingly.
The other knights had been busy making excuses.
Both Ludwig’s own knights and those of House Delphin.

“We had no choice!”
“Is the Crown Prince’s madness not renowned?”
“We could not draw our blades before Prince Arpard!”

Yet those knights had not escaped punishment either.
They had not been spared from Ludwig’s wrath.
But the most intense fury was directed toward Count Beltane, who had named himself a criminal.

“A criminal who failed to protect his master deserves no words of excuse.”

He had been thrown into the Underground Prison that very day with his wounds still fresh, forced to become the outlet for Ludwig’s rage.
As a result, everything had descended into complete chaos.
Ludwig thrashed about like a monkey that knew only one word to say.
“Die! Die! Die!! I never liked you from the start! Pretending to be such a noble Knight!”
Unable to contain himself any longer, he had rushed outside, seized a sword from another Knight standing guard, and returned with it.
A woman’s sharp, ringing voice echoed through the underground chamber.
“Ludwig!!”
Under normal circumstances, Ludwig would have turned around with a smile the moment he heard that voice.
But now, he could not.
“Leave.”
No matter how beloved his lover was, he had no mental capacity to spare for her at this moment.
There was still lingering resentment from their quarrel the day before the wedding over the wedding dress.
‘Besides… I told her not to come to the wedding, yet she appeared anyway….’
Dressed in a cream-colored, radiant gown from who knows where.
They had quarreled that day, but I had dismissed it as Evangeline’s jealousy.
After all, acquiring House of Delphin was something Evangeline desired as well.
But was it truly sincere?
It would not be strange if there were other hidden motives.
Perhaps behind the ruin of my wedding and the mockery it had become, there was actually….
“Ludwig.”
As if to cut off his delusions, Evangeline called to him once more.
Still, the man did not turn around.
“I said leave! I don’t have the mental capacity to worry about you right now!”
Finally, unable to restrain himself any longer, Ludwig poured out his rage, and from behind his back came words he could absolutely not ignore.
“There’s news. Prince Arpard is coming to the Imperial Capital with the Woman.”
“What?!”
Ludwig’s head snapped around.
The man’s eyes gleamed dangerously. Seeing this, Evangeline sighed inwardly and muttered to herself.
‘To think this man is the male protagonist of the original work….’
She nearly clicked her tongue without realizing it.
But she did not let such thoughts show on her face.
Pretending to be an affectionate and wise lover, she whispered to Ludwig.
“Mother’s informants brought the news. Which route they’re taking, how far they’ve come by now.”
“Yes! Give it to me!”
Ludwig practically snatched the note from her hands.
At his violent reaction, Evangeline felt displeased but skillfully concealed her expression.
And she spurred him on.
“Mother has provided some of her Knights. You must hurry and reclaim Hillia, mustn’t you?”
For her sake.
Evangeline watched with a cold expression as Ludwig stamped the ground and rushed out in his fury, falling briefly into contemplation.
‘But this content wasn’t in the original story… Could this be a butterfly effect from my alterations to the source material?’
Regardless, it didn’t matter.
She would obtain everything anyway.
I was no different from someone taking an exam while holding the answer key.
There was no way I could lose.

* * *

From atop a rather high hill, Prince Arpard and I gazed out into the distance, mounted on our horses.
“The Imperial Capital is already visible.”
The battlefield where the true conflict would begin awaited us.

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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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