I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 22

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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 22

The Dragon’s Blessing?
As if such a thing could exist.
Of course, it was a fabrication I had invented to persuade The Emperor and create justification.
But I harbored no anxiety whatsoever.
Because woven into my words before The Emperor was a crucial thread of truth.
‘I can save Arpard from madness. This is genuine.’
So I spoke with absolute confidence!
The gazes of The Emperor and Arpard upon me burned with such intensity they seemed ready to incinerate.
For a considerable time, the Audience Chamber fell silent as a tomb.
“….”
“….”
It was The Emperor who finally shattered the prolonged silence.
He posed his question in a low voice.
“…Are you asking me to believe that?”
“I have not spoken falsehood, Your Majesty.”
Naturally, I remembered to wet my lips skillfully.
The Emperor clicked his tongue.
“Could you swear a sacred oath through divine language, in the presence of a priest or oracle, that this is truth? Wagering your very life?”
Of course I could not. It was an outright lie.
But I answered without the slightest hesitation.
“There is no need for such measures. Arctanus himself has made me a promise.”
“A promise?”
“Yes. He said he would show me direct proof himself.”
The Emperor’s expression, which had resembled that of one observing a liar, clouded with confusion.
My words were delivered with such unwavering confidence that he seemed uncertain whether they were genuine or false.
“…What proof?”
Excellent. The moment those words left The Emperor’s lips, I had already achieved more than half my objective.
I pressed forward with one additional demand, speaking with serene audacity.
“Precisely one month and seven days hence, grant me the Artanus Hall for the wedding reception of Prince Arpard and myself.”
“…What?”
The Emperor, utterly flabbergasted, asked again.
“The Artanus Hall? Do you understand what that place is?”
“Surely no citizen of The Empire could be ignorant of it. It is the hall where Your Majesty’s coronation was held.”
To be more precise, the Artanus Hall was used solely for The Emperor’s coronation ceremony.
Judging by the fact that it bore the name of the progenitor Dragon, it was also the most important and magnificent hall in existence.
To demand that such a place be granted for a wedding reception, even for the Crown Prince?
It was an absurdity.
‘But three regressions? That doesn’t make sense.’
And without that level of proof, it would be difficult to publicly announce to the Emperor that he had approved this marriage.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason—the performance I planned to display at the banquet required that hall as the ideal venue.
‘Other locations could work, but that hall carries the greatest symbolism and significance.’
Cold sweat dampened my clenched fists.
Yet I couldn’t let my expression or demeanor reveal this tension.
I kept my eyebrows perfectly still, as if every word I’d spoken was absolute truth.
After a long silence, the Emperor gazed down at me before gesturing with his hand.
“Come closer.”
I hadn’t anticipated this—I nearly stumbled.
Fortunately, I maintained my composure and slowly ascended the steps of the Throne, standing directly before the Emperor.
Then I felt a powerful magical force envelop both the Emperor and me.
“What is this…?”
“A light barrier. It merely prevents sound from leaking outside.”
Ah, so he intended to have a conversation Arpard couldn’t hear.
Noticing this, I saw Arpard below cross his arms in displeasure.
Then the Emperor’s troubled voice reached my ears.
“What are you truly thinking?”
“I harbor no ulterior motives. I merely act according to the will of the great Dragon, as I have stated.”
“….”
The Emperor’s crimson eyes, bearing the blood of his lineage, were identical to his son’s.
They burned with suspicion and distrust.
“Do you truly believe I would accept such words?”
“Whether you believe me or not, the outcome remains unchanged.”
The crucial point—that I could prevent Arpard’s madness—was something I couldn’t voice.
Because of that, my voice overflowed with confidence.
Sensing this, the Emperor’s expression grew even more bewildered.
Within the Emperor’s crimson eyes, wavering with exhaustion, anxiety, and suspicion, I recognized one incongruous emotion.
‘…Hope.’
I understood that the Emperor desperately wanted to grasp hope.
Because I knew his true heart.

“In the end, I never once played the role of a proper father to that child.”

I remembered the expression on The Emperor’s face when he spoke those regretful words.
Because of that memory, I could say this. I pointed out The Emperor’s true feelings, which no one else had ever discerned.
“Your Majesty. You cherish and love Prince Arpard as your one and only son more than anyone else, do you not?”
The Emperor’s eyes widened in shock.
“…What are you suddenly saying?”
The Emperor’s voice feigned composure, yet could not hide its trembling.
It was the reaction of someone caught off guard, struck at their most vulnerable point.
I asked softly with a gentle smile.
“I know well that Your Majesty truly wishes to save your son more than anyone else.”
Because I remember his cry, as if coughing up blood.

“What father in this world would wish to kill his one and only son!”

I dared to reach out my hand.
Gently grasping The Emperor’s weathered hand, scarred from countless wounds, I looked up at him and smiled.
“Grant me just one opportunity. Then I will prove to you that I can save your precious son.”

* * *

Emperor Walter Istrid found himself at a loss for words.
His most intimate secret, never revealed since his wife’s death, was being laid bare.
And by a young woman he had never truly conversed with before.
Her slender, delicate hand held his weathered one.
Hillia smiled brightly.
It was a smile reminiscent of sunlight breaking through dark clouds.
A smile that reminded him of his dead wife. And for the first time in so long, he returned not as The Emperor, but simply as a human being.
As Walter Istrid, a single human being.
For the first time since his wife’s death thirteen years ago, he dared to hope.
His wife’s final words replayed vividly in his mind once more.

“…Walter. Please, only this child, our son… do not let him meet the same fate as me….”

Walter Istrid knew the truth. He was The Emperor. He must think and act as The Emperor at all times and in all places.
Yet he had already lived thirteen years as nothing but The Emperor. Having killed the father within himself. It was far too painful and cruel.
These agonizing years of suspecting and restraining his one and only son, while fearing he might lose even him.
He knew this was irrational and impulsive. Yet he could not help but surrender to this impulse.

“Please… save that child for me.”

Perhaps he had been waiting for someone to push him forward all along.
Perhaps he needed an excuse.
In the end, the Emperor—no, a mere man named Walter Istrid—had no choice but to admit it.

“Grant me just one opportunity. Then I will prove to Your Majesty that I can save your precious son.”

‘Those words… they’re touching upon the very desire I have yearned for so desperately.’
It was a statement far too hopeful to refuse.
Precisely the words he had longed to hear with such intensity.
After a long silence, the Emperor lowered his barrier and delivered his answer.
“Very well. I shall open the Artanus Hall in about a month’s time. If you prove your words there, I will acknowledge this marriage.”
It was a surrender.
Hilia wore a victorious smile.

* * *

‘I did it!’
If the most difficult part of my plan’s first stage was executing the abduction marriage.
Then the second was undoubtedly persuading the Emperor.
‘Honestly, I thought the second part would be harder…’
Fortunately, I managed it.
In fact, the Emperor’s mere act of granting us the Artanus Hall would be considered as acknowledging our marriage.
And once I ‘prove’ myself there, no one will be able to raise objections.
The proof required in about a month was precisely the third stage.
‘I absolutely must succeed!’
As the tension began to ease, my legs trembled all the more.
I leaned more heavily against Arpard. He naturally supported me and asked in a low voice.
“What were you discussing with the Emperor?”
His voice was thick with displeasure and suspicion.
He seemed displeased that a barrier had been erected before his eyes and a secret conversation had taken place.
‘And yet he does the same thing, blocking our conversations with his own barrier.’
In fact, Arpard had been like this ever since we entered the Audience Chamber.
Whenever he whispered something to me.
Whenever he heard my response.
‘Father and son truly are alike in these ways.’
Of course, even if the Emperor conceals it, he loves and cherishes his son, yet the son freely invokes ‘the Emperor’ when conversing with others.
I let out a soft chuckle and replied.
“It’s a secret.”
“….”
Arpard’s smooth brow furrowed with displeasure.
“We’ll discuss this in detail once we return to the Prince’s Palace.”
Was it merely my imagination, or did that sound like a declaration of war?
In any case, we were just about to withdraw.
The Emperor issued an unexpected command.
“…Arpard, remain behind for a moment.”
“You mean me, Your Majesty?”
Arpard’s expression showed considerable surprise.
“Yes. Have your wife wait outside for now.”
“…!”
This was the same Emperor who had been calling me the “Duchess of Delphin” moments ago.
This was the first time he had referred to me as “your wife.”
‘Excellent!’
I seized the moment and gently pushed Arpard forward.
“I’ll wait obediently outside, so please go ahead and speak with him.”
I managed to walk out with confidence, forgetting all about my trembling legs.
Thud!
The doors of the Audience Chamber closed behind me.

* * *

An awkward silence settled over the Audience Chamber after we were left alone.
It had always been this way. Though we were father and son, we were rarely ever alone together.
It had been over a decade since the late Emperor last summoned him like this.
We had been a harmonious family in childhood, but….
Those memories were far too old now.
‘Does he suddenly wish to play at being father and son?’
Arpard waited for the matter at hand with a crooked smile.
And finally, The Emperor asked his son.
“Do you believe that girl’s words? Is that why you committed such a mad act as an abduction marriage?”
It seemed The Emperor did not believe the grandiose claims Hillia had made moments ago.
Then how had Hillia obtained the Artanus Hall?
Perhaps there had been some secret transaction in the conversation between them that he hadn’t heard.
Feeling a fresh wave of displeasure, Arpard answered without thinking.
“I’m not certain myself, Your Majesty.”
“…You don’t believe her, yet you committed such an absurd act?”
Arpard recalled that night when he first met Hillia.
The woman who had sought him out in the Underground Crypt with a stern expression.
The coercion and request she had hurled at him—something he could never refuse.

“I can ensure Your Highness ascends to the throne safely, without losing your mind.”

Recalling those words, Arpard let out a soft laugh and answered.
“From the moment we first met, I thought something.”
He paused deliberately to emphasize his next words.
“That perhaps, as long as I’m by this woman’s side, I might not lose my mind.”
….
“So I took a desperate gamble.”
The Emperor asked his son nothing more, posed no further questions, and simply dismissed him.
Arpard opened the door to the Audience Chamber with a slightly elated feeling.
Thinking of the woman who would be waiting quietly for him outside.
But when the door opened, the scene that greeted him was entirely unexpected.
“Arpard!”
There stood Ludwig, gripping Hillia’s wrist.

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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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