I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 3

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

Chapter 3

Prince Arpard was a man who went mad from a hereditary mental illness passed down through the imperial family, dying after repeatedly clashing with his father.
I had once witnessed the sea of blood he created when he became a deranged murderer.
‘I nearly died by his hands back then.’
Yet only he, possessing legitimate succession rights, could stand against Ludwig, who had the Emperor’s favor backing him.
Moreover, I possessed crucial information obtained in my third life.
Though I had endured terrible suffering to acquire it.
‘I know the method to prevent Prince Arpard from going mad.’
But I couldn’t rush out immediately to find the Prince.
‘People will arrive soon.’
Two of them, at different times.
This moment—I was experiencing it for the fourth time now.
Moreover, it was happening immediately after my regression. I had no choice but to remember it vividly.
I remembered especially well what would unfold from tonight until the wedding.
I threw open every window and door.
And when the first person I was waiting for entered my room, after a considerable moment….
I screamed loud enough to resound throughout the entire estate.
“Ahhhhhhh!!!”
Loud enough that anyone with functioning ears would hear it.
So that everyone would have no choice but to rush to my room.

* * *

The familiar man’s voice trembled with bewilderment, as though hearing something utterly foreign.
“What on earth are you suddenly—”
Irritation and fury surged forth, drowning out every other emotion.
“You don’t want to wear the wedding dress? What kind of nonsense is this?! Do you understand the wedding is tomorrow?”
Not a shred of concern for me, who was now weeping uncontrollably, flickered across his face.
‘So it’s true—nothing but lies and pretense whenever he’s before me.’
I shifted only my eyes toward the source of the voice.
Standing there was a handsome man with refined features, though not quite as striking as Prince Arpard.
Dull ash-gray hair, and reddish-brown eyes that in my first life I had deemed beautiful.
My husband across all three lives—the man who used me and discarded me, my enemy.
Ludwig Kielrn, the Grand Duke.
The current Emperor’s nephew and Prince Arpard’s rival.
Now my fiancé, and come tomorrow morning, the man who would become my husband after the wedding ceremony.
He erupted in anger toward me.
“You confirmed this dress multiple times and said it was perfect! Now you can’t wear it? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
He gestured accusingly between the wedding dress and me.
‘Ah, that furious expression and blaming tone—how familiar.’
I had witnessed it countless times in my previous lives.
I continued my performance with dedication.
I squeezed out tears and let out pitiful sobs.
“I-I’m sorry, Ludwig. I should have checked more carefully.”
“You should have verified it properly from the start. Why today—”
“My dress was made incorrectly.”
“…What?”
Ludwig’s hand, which had been brushing through his hair with irritation, froze.
I deliberately wept louder.
Sob, sob!
Even to my own ears, my sorrowful cries filled the entire room.
“I checked it carefully, and Evangeline looked it over with me too, but the wedding dress—the most important part—was made wrong! What do I do…?”
I could see Ludwig’s eyes flicker with subtle trembling.
And I deliberately repeated “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” like a madwoman.
Like a bride panicking over a ruined wedding.
Ludwig, who had been quick to blame me, instead fell silent.
There must be something bothering him about the wedding dress.
Then, a sweet woman’s voice tickled my ears.
“What’s the matter, brother? Sister-in-law? You two are fighting the day before the wedding—what will happen?”
A voice I knew well.

“Goodbye, original heroine.”

A curse nearly escaped my lips. My entire body trembled like an aspen leaf. Thank goodness I was pretending to cry.
‘Damn it all!’
While I wept openly, the owner of that honeyed voice had already drawn close to Ludwig’s side.
I stole a glimpse of that repugnant figure through the gaps between my fingers.
“I’m not sure what happened, but please forgive my older sister, brother.”
Words that subtly assumed and condemned me as the one at fault.
Evangeline—or rather, the possessor whose true name I didn’t know—stood there.
She twisted her honey-blonde hair in ringlets and smiled radiantly.
Even with me, his fiancée, standing right there, she gently caressed Ludwig’s shoulders to soothe his anger.
“It’s natural for a bride to be anxious and make mistakes before the wedding, after all. A magnanimous brother like you should understand and embrace her.”
No one would mistake this for behavior appropriate toward another woman’s man.
Moreover, it was absolutely unbecoming for someone who called him “brother” and me “older sister” to act this way.
Though she was called the flower of high society, she was merely the daughter of a marquis—yet the reason she could call the royal Ludwig “brother” was simple.
‘She was the daughter of the current empress’s former husband.’
Under normal circumstances, there would have been much opposition, but the current empress had once served as the previous empress’s lady-in-waiting.
Moreover, she had been appointed as the Crown Prince’s governess by the previous empress herself.
Because of this, the Emperor took her as empress so she could care for his son.
Of course, the Emperor couldn’t have known that this empress would drive a wedge between him and his son.
In any case, because of this, Evangeline, the empress’s daughter, received treatment nearly equal to that of royalty.
Having grown up together since childhood, she even spoke of herself as practically Ludwig’s cousin.
Using that as justification, she had taken to calling Ludwig “brother” first, and me “older sister.”
Knowing what those two truly were to each other, their behavior to me was….
‘…revolting.’
She called him brother as if they were cousins, yet ultimately they shared no blood, so she saw no harm in his infidelity.
‘Perhaps she thought it didn’t matter since she was a possessor.’
Either way, it was none of my concern.
Looking at those clingy hands, it seemed those two would become deeply entangled again—or perhaps they already were.
But Ludwig, who would normally gaze at her with honeyed eyes and flirt shamelessly even in front of me, now hesitated slightly before addressing his lover.
“…Evangeline. This is between the two of us. You should leave.”
Evangeline’s expression hardened.
She was flustered and displeased that Ludwig wouldn’t side with her in front of me.
Because until now, he always had.
Evangeline continued speaking in that saccharine tone.
“I’m hurt, brother. We’re not strangers, after all.”
This time, her hand subtly traced up the nape of Ludwig’s neck.
‘May that brother freeze to death.’
Involuntarily, my jaw clenched so hard I tasted blood on my lips.
‘This time, I’ll throw both of them into the garbage heap and dispose of them together.’
Deliberately relaxing my jaw, I cried out to Evangeline with sorrowful whimpers.
“What should I do, Eva?”
“Yes, yes?!”
Evangeline couldn’t hide her shock at my sudden shift to casual speech.
Even though she’d always told me to speak comfortably, I had made an effort to maintain propriety.
What could I do? I was panicking right now. Besides, you were the one who asked me to call you that way from the beginning.
At the same time, I successfully managed to collapse toward Ludwig.
“Hilia!!”
Only then did Ludwig notice my condition and reach out to support me.
Thanks to that, Evangeline, who had been left in the lurch, momentarily lost control of her expression.
In that moment, I launched my decisive counterattack.
I burrowed pitifully into Ludwig’s embrace and cried out.
“That dress was made incorrectly! I can’t possibly stand before the altar tomorrow wearing something like that!”
“Huh? What are you suddenly talking about?”
Ignoring Evangeline’s bewildered question.
I looked up at Ludwig with eyes glistening with tears.
Since I hadn’t yet suffered through the ordeal caused by this adulterous pair, I was maintaining the best appearance of my life.
In other words, it was the time when I was known as the most beautiful woman on the continent.
Everyone weakens before a beautiful woman’s tears.
Even if it’s in front of his mistress.
I could see Evangeline failing to fully conceal her jealousy and sense of defeat.
I pretended not to notice and focused only on Ludwig.
And I dropped the bombshell.
“Someone else’s initials are embroidered on the wedding dress! How am I supposed to wear that tomorrow!”
“That, that is…!”
I watched as both Ludwig’s and Evangeline’s faces turned pale simultaneously.
With the eyes of a hawk, I observed several of the servants and maids attending to Evangeline and Ludwig flinch as well.
‘So even the hired help knew about this.’
Moreover, among my own handmaidens, there were those who reacted to these words.
I committed all their faces to memory.
After a brief awkward silence, Ludwig forced out words.
“You must have seen it wrong!”
I abruptly pushed Ludwig away and rushed toward the wedding dress.
Then I flipped the hem of the dress and pointed at it.
“Look here! L and E are embroidered right there!”
“….”
“Since you didn’t particularly like it, I wanted to embroider our initials, but this is what’s happened.”
I had wanted to embroider Ludwig’s initials and mine. Back then, I was living in a pink flower garden.
But Ludwig objected, saying he didn’t like the idea of engraving our initials since he would pass the dress down to our descendants later.
Yet he secretly embroidered his own name and Evangeline’s instead.
Ludwig tried to brush it off with a pathetic excuse.
“The embroiderer must have made a mistake.”
“This is absurd! Do you have any idea how difficult embroidery is, how much time it takes? This would be impossible unless someone did it deliberately. That’s right! This is sabotage!”
Evangeline’s shoulders trembled as though struck by a whip.
“I’m frightened, Ludwig! Who could have done something so wicked?”
“You’re reading too much into this, sister. The dress could have been switched with another one….”
“All the dress tailoring was done at Delphin Estate. You watched over it and supervised it yourself, Evangeline!”
After deliberately enunciating Evangeline’s name with precision, I burrowed deeper into Ludwig’s embrace, suppressing my revulsion.
I explained kindly enough for everyone in the room to hear.
“Ludwig, could someone be trying to sabotage our wedding? I have a feeling there’s a woman very close by who hates me and wants to take you away from me.”
“…!”
Though I pretended otherwise, I could feel Ludwig flinch.
‘Yes. There is such a person nearby. To be precise, right in front of us.’
And I could be certain that Ludwig and Evangeline were now exchanging panicked glances with each other.
Roughly.
‘That’s why I said not to embroider the dress in the first place!’
‘But brother said it was fine!’
They were probably exchanging looks along those lines.
Even before revealing that I was a transmigrator, Evangeline had always acted as though everything of mine was naturally hers.
I had even heard such words from her.

“It was always going to end up like this. From the beginning, Ludwig and the position of Crown Princess were mine. I was merely letting you borrow them for a while.”

I wept like the most sorrowful woman in the world, concealing my rage.
“I cannot possibly ruin our precious wedding ceremony by wearing such a filthy dress! I would rather die!”
“Hilia!”
Ludwig called out to me reproachfully.
“Our marriage was arranged by His Majesty himself. Surely you’re not thinking of defying the imperial will?”
His intention to proceed with tomorrow’s wedding ceremony through intimidation if necessary was crystal clear.
He probably thought that if I were my usual timid self, this would be enough to make me abandon any resistance.
But this time, my reaction was entirely different. Different enough to continue bewildering Ludwig.
“I refuse! You’re asking me to hold a wedding ceremony wearing a dress with another woman’s name embroidered on it. It’s as if you’re marrying that other woman instead. I absolutely will not do it!”
I did not forget to present the logic befitting a bride devastated by a ruined wedding.
It was necessary to make it appear that I was not the one trying to break the marriage first.
I knew well enough, having once been branded with the stigma of being a filthy woman.
Ludwig’s voice softened as though trying to soothe me.
“There’s nothing we can do about it. Just because of that, it doesn’t mean I’m actually marrying another woman. You are my only bride.”
Even as he spoke, he watched Evangeline’s sharp expression from the corner of his eye, never pausing.
After all, what mattered most was persuading me to go through with tomorrow’s wedding ceremony.
“Come now, be good. Hilia?”
A revolting voice.
With tears brimming in my eyes, I looked up at Ludwig, then gave him an answer through action—the exact opposite of what he desired.
Without a word, I rose to my feet and bolted toward the terrace.
“!”
I moved as though I were about to hurl myself over the edge. Of course, I harbored no such genuine intention.
This was a protest.
A desperate gambit to postpone the wedding, if at all possible.
Or, failing that, to scatter ashes upon it.
Ludwig seized me in alarm.
“What in blazes are you doing?”
“Let me go! I’d sooner throw myself from this height than marry under another woman’s name!”
His complexion had drained to ash.
Ludwig’s gaze flickered between me, Evangeline, and the wedding dress in rapid succession before his jaw clenched. He rose with the bearing of one seized by sudden resolve.
‘What is he—?’
Ludwig seized a candle from the nearby table and held it to the dress.
Gasps of horror erupted from all corners.
“Ahhh! Brother, what are you doing?!”
“Good heavens! The dress!”
The delicate gown, woven from gossamer-thin silk threads with exquisite precision, melted and ignited in an instant.
The servants scrambled to salvage the dress, but it was already beyond recovery.
Evangeline stared at Ludwig’s actions in stunned silence.
“B-Brother?”
Ludwig deliberately turned away from Evangeline and addressed me instead.
“I know not which wicked woman perpetrated this heinous act, but our wedding shall not be ruined by such treachery!”
It was plainly an attempt to placate me and salvage the ceremony at any cost.
“Fear not. The wickedness has been purged!”
I asked through trembling tears.
“B-But the wedding is tomorrow. I cannot marry without a wedding dress, Ludwig.”
I merely echoed his own words back to him.
‘If this delays the wedding, I should be delighted.’
Yet Ludwig proved far more desperate about our marriage than I had anticipated. More precisely, he was desperate about the House Delphin’s titles and fortune that hinged upon it.
“Eva! You have a dress, don’t you?”
“B-Brother…?”
“The dress you had specially tailored for tomorrow’s wedding ceremony—the one Her Majesty the Empress graciously prepared as your birthday gift this year. Surely that would serve adequately as a wedding dress, would it not?”
“….”
Only then did I comprehend.
Ludwig was speaking of a dress I knew well.
‘Now that I think of it, that gown was nearly identical in color and design to a wedding dress.’
At each of my previous weddings, Evangeline had worn that very dress to attend.
Evangeline’s face drained of all color, and she swayed momentarily. Yet no word of refusal escaped her lips.
To refuse now would be tantamount to confessing that she herself had tampered with my wedding dress.
In this fourth life, I found myself unwittingly seizing Evangeline’s dress to wear as my own.

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