I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 33

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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 33

Butler Polman was taken aback.
‘Why has Miss Hillia suddenly appeared? Could she be upset that I sent the palace maid back yesterday without permission?’
He immediately dismissed the thought as irrational.
‘No, that can’t be it. Miss Hillia wouldn’t be capable of such a thing…!’
Though he had been appointed butler through Ludwig’s recommendation, he had served at Delphin since before Hillia was born.
Naturally, he knew her temperament well.
Of course, he had no idea that her true self had been completely transformed through three cycles of regression, experiencing every hardship imaginable.
The Miss Hillia he knew was a timid, foolish girl who relied entirely on and trusted her fiancé.
The same girl who smiled innocently even when that fiancé brought his mistress into her own home.
Naturally, a subtle atmosphere of contempt toward Hillia had permeated among the retainers and servants within Delphin.
Moreover, recently, both within and outside Delphin, rumors had begun to circulate.
‘His Majesty the Emperor deeply regrets that the marriage arranged through imperial mediation fell through because of the Prince.’
‘And it’s said he intends to provide appropriate compensation, with the House of Delphin being the most likely candidate.’
Such were the rumors—naturally spread by the Empress and Evangeline.
They sought to seize the House of Delphin by any means, using Ludwig as their instrument.
The retainers and servants of Delphin, who had already accepted Ludwig as their master, found these rumors credible.
More accurately, they desperately wished them to be true.
They hoped their efforts invested in Ludwig would not prove futile.
This was why it became possible for them to refuse and send back the palace maid Hillia had personally dispatched, simply because Ludwig had blocked her.
The butler’s mind worked busily.
Why had Hillia suddenly appeared?
He began interpreting the situation in a way favorable to himself.
‘Ah! His Majesty the Emperor must have ordered the House of Delphin to be transferred to the Grand Duke Ludwig! She’s come to convey that news!’
Had Hillia heard this, she would have found it absurd.
But to him, who had devoted his loyalty solely to Ludwig and Evangeline all this time, it felt like a perfectly natural thought.
The butler straightened his attire and went out to greet Hillia.
The door opened, and Hillia entered, accompanied by a throng of sturdy men wearing black cloaks.
Perhaps it was because she stood alone against the backdrop of those dark robes.
Hillia shone like the moon hanging solitary in the night sky.
Even the butler found himself momentarily speechless, lost in wonder.
The butler knew well that Hillia was beautiful.
But in this moment, she appeared so transformed that he doubted whether this was the same person.
It was as though the most transparent crystal had been carved, and upon it, the shy petals of spring blossoms had been scattered.
Between the pure white crystal and cherry blossom petals, light scattered and created new colors.
Hillia now shone with such beauty and confidence that even these flowery descriptions felt entirely fitting.
It was as though light flowed from the depths of her being, creating the illusion of radiance.
Most notably transformed were the overwhelming presence and dignity that emanated from her.
She was beautiful, but had always seemed weak and fragile—I couldn’t fathom why she had transformed so drastically in such a short span of time.
The Chamberlain was nearly overwhelmed as he stared at Hillia.
After handing her coat to the maidservant who had come to greet her, Hillia blinked and looked at the Chamberlain.
The Chamberlain, whose gaze had been captivated as if under a spell, belatedly came to his senses and hastily concluded why Hillia had come.
“The Grand Duke is on the second floor.”
Hillia tilted her head.
“What makes you think I came to find Ludwig?”
Her voice was as cold as crushed ice.
Yet the Chamberlain failed to detect the displeasure and anger that clung to her words like thorns.
“Surely you’ve come to apologize to the Grand Duke, have you not?”
“Me? Apologize?”
“Yes, of course a delicate lady such as yourself could not have resisted, but still, you ought to have considered the Grand Duke’s feelings first.”
Without realizing it, he was reproaching Hillia.
“You robbed him of his bride before the eyes of all—there is no greater insult or tragedy for a man than that.”
The Chamberlain spoke as though Hillia had trampled upon Ludwig’s very pride.
“He calls for you every day and weeps, and without alcohol, he cannot even sleep properly!”
Butler Polman’s shoulders trembled as if he himself had been insulted.
“Heavens, even a wretch like me would lose the will to live if such a thing befell me, and yet the Grand Duke, a man of such nobility….”
The Chamberlain’s explanation continued for several more words.
Ludwig had even become afraid to appear before people’s eyes.
Acquaintances no longer visited, and only the kind Evangeline occasionally stopped by to offer comfort.
One would think, hearing this, that he was Ludwig’s chamberlain rather than Delphin’s.
The endless descriptions of how Ludwig had become a complete wreck.
The moment those words struck her eardrums and embedded themselves in her mind, Hillia could no longer suppress her expression.
So she raised her hand to cover her mouth slightly, lest her face betray her.
She simply could not contain the way her lips threatened to curve upward in a smile.
This was precisely what I had strived for across three previous cycles of regression, and what I had fought so desperately for in this life.
‘Ludwig’s pride shattered—how exhilarating!’
Of course, this alone was insufficient. I intended to strip him of everything and destroy it all.
Yet hearing those words from a third party’s lips, I could not contain the thrill of vengeance.
The ecstasy of revenge sent a tingling shock down my spine.
‘Exquisite. Fresh. Truly, the taste of revenge is supreme!’
The Chamberlain, entirely unaware of this, interpreted Hillia’s reaction as guilt.
“How sorrowful and insulting it must have been for him. You must apologize, Miss. Is that not why you’ve come?”
Hillia’s eyes began to burn with violet flames.

* * *

By the time I confronted the chamberlain, the Black Mercenary Corps had already surrounded the entire manor on my orders.
Butler Polman, who arrived belatedly with his characteristic shuffle, remained unaware that the manor had been subdued.
Perhaps because of this, he began spouting nothing but absurdities before me.
Nonsense about apologizing to Ludwig and the like.
I stared at him intently, then issued a command to the mercenaries standing beside me.
“Kneel.”
“…?”
The mercenary executed my order faster than Polman could comprehend my meaning.
Crack!
Struck behind the knees, Polman collapsed like a trampled frog.
“Ugh!”
Polman looked up at me with eyes full of bewilderment.
“What—what is the meaning of this, Miss?!”
I had not failed to anticipate the chamberlain’s insolence.
He was Ludwig’s and Evangeline’s lapdog, after all.
Before my regression, I could not count how many times he had dismissed me, mocked me, and tormented me.

“We provide you with ample meals, do we not? Eat any more and you shall become a pig. You must follow even half of Miss Evangeline’s example if you wish to reclaim the Grand Duke’s affection. I am merely assisting you, madam.”
“Your clothes and jewelry have gone missing? Surely the kind and lovely Miss Evangeline would never steal them? You must be mistaken, madam.”

And I had attempted to poison Evangeline out of jealousy.
He had even testified that I had committed adultery and attempted to murder Ludwig.
He was a man who had contributed to my death before the regression.

“I have served House Delphin since my predecessor’s time, and I witnessed it myself. That woman is a vicious criminal!”

And nothing I had endured from this man—no insult, no betrayal—infuriated me as much as the words I had just heard.
‘Apologize to Ludwig?’
The moment those words left his mouth, his fate was already sealed.
I walked forward slowly and stood before Polmen.
Then I asked.
“Do you understand what you’ve done wrong?”
“Wrong, my lady?”
He appeared genuinely bewildered.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
“And who are these men? They don’t appear to be knights… What is this! Release me! You wretches! How dare you lay hands on the chamberlain of House Delphin, myself…!”
Polmen thrashed about, attempting to break free from the mercenaries’ grip, but it was futile.
“Where are the knights! Where are the knights?! Why didn’t they stop these men…?”
I sneered at Polmen.
“You’re angry that the knights of House Delphin didn’t block my path?”
“…!”
Polmen seemed to realize belatedly how absurd his words were.
But what was truly astonishing and ridiculous was that several knights had actually attempted resistance.
Even as I stood before them.

“No matter that the young lady is with us, against mere lowborn mercenaries…!”

Honestly, displaying such a spectacle before Arpard was deeply embarrassing.
But that was one matter, and this was another.
I issued my command coldly.

“Subdue them.”
“As you command.”

Naturally, Arpard and the elite mercenaries subdued the knights with ease.
Aside from Count Beltane, the few knights of any competence had already stood down.
Those with enough sense, despite their inferior skill, yielded of their own accord.
They had even assisted in subduing those loyal to Ludwig.

“My lady, no, Your Highness! Please give the order!”

They were annoyingly cowardly, irritating fools.
In any case, through a process far less dramatic than I’d anticipated yet still violent, all the forces guarding the exterior of the Manor had fallen into my hands.
The Chamberlain knew nothing of this.
‘That’s precisely why he could carry himself with such stiffness and insolence.’
At my command, the mercenary pressed Polman flat against the ground.
I lifted Polman’s chin with the tip of my shoe, forcing him to look up at me. His reddened face flushed with humiliation.
Polman seemed only now prepared to listen to my words. Finally.
“Everything you’ve said is wrong, every last bit of it nothing but mistakes. Polman.”
“Wh-what are you——!”
“First, your form of address was incorrect. Not ‘Miss,’ but ‘Your Highness, the Crown Princess.'”
Of course, I had not yet been officially recognized, but what I needed to establish now was the highest possible status.
Such a vulgar man would grasp his place all the faster for it.
“Second. You failed to show proper courtesy to me, the Crown Princess and mistress of this household.”
That was right. The moment Polman saw me, his first words were not even a basic greeting—he simply told me where Ludwig was.
And urged me to go apologize to him quickly.
‘Just how much have they been looking down on me?’
Even knowing this, fresh anger surged within me.
‘They really did see me as a foolish pushover.’
I had thought that with the betrothal fallen through, at least the retainers and servants would attempt to walk a tightrope between Ludwig and me.
But it seemed I had given them far too much credit.
To them, I remained nothing but the ‘foolish Miss Hillia’—easy to deceive, easy to exploit.
Such people cannot understand a changed situation until they feel it in their very skin.
Polman was perfectly suited to serve as an example.
“Third. You ignored the command I sent through my lady’s maid, forcing me to come here personally.”
My effort to speak as coldly and harshly as possible seemed to be having some effect.
Polman appeared to be grasping the situation only now.
Fear appeared on his face for the first time, replacing the humiliation and anger that had dominated it before.
“I-I made a small mistake, Miss. No, wait. Your Highness. B-but the order you gave yesterday—I believe you should have consulted with the Grand Duke, not me. What authority could I possibly have?”
I sighed.
“I didn’t expect you to abandon your position as Chamberlain before I even dismissed you.”
“What do you mean?! Dismiss me?! And abandon my position as Chamberlain?!”
I looked down at him with utter contempt, as though he were vermin.
“Can someone who seeks an outsider’s permission to handle internal affairs of House Delphin truly be called a Chamberlain?”
“Th-that is——!”
He had nothing to say.
In the first place, Ludwig had been able to wield authority in Delphin only because he was my betrothed.
Now that the marriage had fallen through, he possessed no rights whatsoever.
I left the subdued Chamberlain where he lay and commanded the mercenaries.
“Secure the interior of the Manor completely.”
And fixing the Chamberlain with a steady gaze, I issued my next command to the mercenaries.
“And go to the Chamberlain’s bedroom. Destroy all the tiles beneath the bed and bring me everything hidden there.”
Polman’s trembling eyes widened to the size of lanterns.
He had started to cry out in panic, but he bit his tongue and quickly fell silent.
“W-what! How did you…?”
The reason was simple. What I had ordered him to retrieve was the ledger containing records of all the slush funds and embezzlements Polman had been skimming away.
‘How could she possibly know about that?!’
Terror screamed from every fiber of Polman’s being.
I merely smiled coldly in response.

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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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