I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 16

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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 16

Chapter 3. A First for the Crown Prince’s Bride

Ludwig led the Imperial Knight Order, intoxicated with exhilaration.
For a mere cadet branch member like himself to command the Imperial Knight Order at the vanguard was symbolically significant in every way.
It felt as though I had become a true crown prince.
Moreover, I was now pursuing the man and woman who had driven me to madness for the entire past week.
‘This time, I absolutely will not let you off easy, Arpard!’
He harbored profound inferiority toward his cousin, a man superior in every regard.
Yet that very cousin had stolen his bride on the wedding day itself.
This was more than sufficient to shatter Ludwig’s lofty yet fragile pride.
Now, leading the most elite knights at my back, this was an excellent opportunity to heal my wounded self-esteem.
‘This time, I am the innocent victim! Arpard has nothing to say even if I kill him with my own hands!’
Brimming with inferiority and murderous intent, he pursued the information Evangeline had brought.
After riding for some time, he finally spotted a long plume of dust trailing in the distance.
Arpard’s party was brazenly traversing the main road through the Artanua Plains, the continent’s greatest granary.
And at a leisurely pace, no less.
They looked less like the entourage of a scoundrel who had abducted a bride, and more like a confident wedding procession.
Ludwig drove his horse forward at the head of the knight order.
Naturally, he did not follow the winding road as it curved. That would have been a waste of time.
Thud-thud-thud—!!
Hooves trampled through the wheat fields of the Artanua Plains, where shoots had only just begun to sprout.
Wherever Ludwig’s knight order passed, the land became utterly devastated.
Yet neither Ludwig nor any of the knights seemed to care.
Before long, Ludwig was able to catch up with Hillia’s party.
The meager escort force of a few carriages could not withstand the Imperial Knight Order.
The Imperial Knight Order blocked the path of the white carriage bearing the imperial crest.
Unable to do otherwise, the carriage came to a halt. Ludwig approached it, drew his sword, and yanked the carriage door open.
“Caught you, Hillia—!”
Ludwig’s eyes widened in shock.

* * *

Sitting across from her mother in the Empress’s Palace, Evangeline gnawed at her lips, anxiety and unease gnawing at her composure.
‘Will Ludwig manage this?’
She understood well why she was anxious.
This situation had never occurred in the ‘original work’.
Arpard and Hillia were characters with almost no points of intersection.
‘An abduction marriage, of all things!’
Hillia was supposed to marry Ludwig, surrender everything of House of Delphin to him, and die.
If things continued this way, Ludwig inheriting House of Delphin would become impossible.
And her obtaining Ludwig and seizing everything would also become impossible.
Her carefully laid plans, built upon the original work, had been thrown into complete disarray!
‘And why, of all people, does it have to be Arpard?’
Before possessing this body, when she had skimmed through the original work in passing, cursed it, and forgotten about it, she had given little thought to the character Arpard.
Despite his sparse appearances, most readers had been furious that he wasn’t the male protagonist.
But he was merely a character in a novel, after all. She had paid him no special attention—a character who was neither the male lead nor even a secondary male lead, just someone destined to die.
‘Besides, I was reading it while complaining about why both the female and male leads had so little charm….’
Hillia, the female protagonist who was obedient and could do nothing but cry, naturally displeased her.
The male protagonist Ludwig held little appeal either.
Readers clung to the keyword “regret story” and persisted in wanting to see the male lead suffer regret, but she was not among them.
Even when reading the novel thoughtlessly, out of habit.
And even when she unexpectedly found herself possessing a body within that very novel, she had not realized it.
‘Arpard….’
The man called Arpard, whom she had now seen with her own eyes in this world, heard his voice with her own ears, and caught his scent….
Was far more captivating than she could have imagined….
Yet to her, a transmigrator, Arpard remained nothing more than a picture in a book—something she could never possess.
‘After all, he will go mad and die. Even in the original work, there were ways to slow the madness, but no way to cure it.’
Even she, a transmigrator, could not prevent Arpard from descending into madness.
Knowing that, she could not desire him.
Especially not when she knew Ludwig was the original male protagonist and would become Emperor.
And yet, despite all that….
The thought that Arpard might become someone else’s husband made her chest feel suffocatingly tight.
No—it felt as though she had swallowed burning charcoal, and her chest was being consumed from within.
Evangeline did not even notice the blood trickling from her own lips.
Only when Empress Isabel reached out to stop her did she realize.
“Stop that, Eva. You’ll ruin those pretty lips of yours.”
“…Mother. It will be alright, won’t it?”
Unlike Evangeline, the Empress remained composed.
“What are you so worried about? Both the daughter of House of Delphin and Arpard are people we must eliminate anyway.”
The Empress was utterly unruffled.
“Besides, thanks to the rumors we’ve spread all this time, the reputation of both of them is already at its worst. No one will acknowledge them as a couple. His Majesty would never permit it.”
“…Yes, Mother.”
“Don’t forget, Eva. I’ll make you the true Empress of this realm, just as I promised.”
Evangeline—or rather, the entity dwelling within her—sneered at the Empress.
‘A mere character from a book, too blind to notice her precious daughter’s soul has been replaced.’
And then, Evangeline’s unease took shape and descended upon her like a predator.
“Your Majesty! Empress! Prince Arpard and the Lady of House Delphin have entered the Palace!”
It was news neither of them had anticipated.

* * *

“What the—?”
Ludwig, sword drawn and eyes blazing with menace, yanked open the carriage door only to find himself bewildered.
The carriage was empty.
He cursed violently and rushed toward the coachman’s seat.
“Where’s Hillia? Where’s Arpard? Why is the carriage empty?!”
According to the information the Empress had provided, this carriage was supposed to be traveling from the northern Palace to the Imperial Palace.
Moreover, she had confirmed that both Arpard and Hillia were aboard.
Ludwig pressed his blade against the unfortunate coachman’s throat and demanded answers.
“What in blazes happened?”
The coachman trembled as he spoke.
“We separated from them long ago, in the Noel region!”
Noel lay a full day’s journey away, even at full gallop. It was too late to pursue them now. Besides, who could say where they were by this point?
The testimonies of the few other knights corroborated the same story.
This entire party had been a decoy from the start.
“Damn it!!”
And though it mattered little now that he understood, he had never possessed the means to prevent Hillia and Arpard’s entry into the Imperial Capital from the beginning.
For Arpard, guided by Hillia’s counsel, had prepared not one but multiple decoy groups.

* * *

I stood in the Imperial Palace Square, which I had left roughly a week ago.
Or rather, I gazed up at the Palace Gate while mounted on horseback alongside Arpard.
Since this place was always teeming with people, we were quickly surrounded by those who recognized us.
Whispers erupted from all directions, buzzing like a swarm of bees.
“Could that be the Crown Prince who vanished?”
“The bride from that wedding ceremony that was halted a week ago?”
“They said it was an abduction marriage, and already….”
I ignored those voices.
And I gazed up at the Palace Gate—the Gate of Glory—with a complicated expression.
This gate was the grandest entrance to the Imperial Palace, opened only for those of exceptional standing.
Only for the processions of direct imperial bloodline, and for parades honoring heroes who saved the nation.
Now, Arpard was boldly demanding the opening of the Gate of Glory while mounted beside me.
“Open the gate at once.”
The commander of the Imperial 2nd Knight Order, who guarded the Gate of Glory under the Emperor’s direct authority, appeared flustered.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince?”
“Indeed. Fortunately, your eyesight remains intact, so I need not waste my words. Open it.”
“Where on earth have you been all this time? And who is that person beside you…!”
He was breaking into a cold sweat, his composure shattered.
‘Now that I think about it, this man was one of those who aligned himself with Empress Isabel and Ludwig.’
I leaned against Arpard deliberately, making a show of it.
Through the contact of our skin, I felt a rumbling vibration, as though he were purring like a satisfied beast.
Every hair on my body stood on end from the tension, despite myself.
But I could not afford to appear awkward with him.
‘After all, we are already a married couple.’
It was necessary to prove this fact before all eyes.
So that no one could deny this marriage.
Arpard, as if to sweep away my concerns, naturally wrapped his arm around my waist.
With his head buried against my shoulder, he fixed the knight commander with a sharp gaze and spoke once more.
“Do not make me repeat myself a third time. Stand aside. How much longer will you obstruct the procession of the Crown Prince and his consort?”
The commander must have understood.
That if he continued to block the way, Arpard’s blade might very well come for his throat.
He finally stepped aside, powerless to resist.
Arpard’s magnificent white horse passed boldly through the Palace Gate and entered the Imperial Palace.
It was a procession of only two, yet unmistakably grand.

* * *

“How is it? Are you satisfied?”
“Very much so.”
At my response, Arpard laughed with genuine delight.
Even his laughter was extraordinary—the mark of a truly uncommon man.
I asked quietly.
“How much longer do you intend to keep riding through the palace?”
No one rode horses within the Imperial Palace grounds.
Members of the royal family were permitted to use carriages.
And the victor of a triumphant parade was occasionally granted the privilege of riding directly before the Emperor himself.
Neither of those circumstances applied to us now.
Yet Arpard seemed deliberately determined not to dismount, as if making a point.
“Well, until we reach the Prince’s Palace, perhaps? I need to ensure everyone sees us—and since you’re not asking me to get down, I assume you feel the same way.”
His perceptiveness was almost supernatural.
A truly infuriating man, I thought, offering nothing yet taking everything.
Then I felt an intensely burning gaze pierce through us from a corner of the Imperial Palace.
Eyes that seemed to wish they could incinerate me where I sat.
A familiar presence—and one I had anticipated.
‘Evangeline!’

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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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