I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 38

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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 38

What did Arpard do while watching this?
Naturally, he played along perfectly, matching my rhythm with enthusiasm.

“I’m concerned that our master is far too merciful. To forgive him so easily…”
“A criminal deserving of decapitation, yet at least that tongue of his might prove useful once more.”
“Truly wise, my lord.”

I’ll wager that my threats were far more effective thanks to Arpard witnessing the servant’s blood.
That said, I had no reason whatsoever to be grateful to Arpard.
‘Right now, he’s not the Prince—he’s a mercenary.’
He was simply doing what his employer—me—required of him.
Yes, that’s all it was.

* * *

Arpard tilted his head curiously before asking again.
“I’m asking purely out of curiosity. A magical artifact capable of cursing someone’s tongue to be severed? Is that truly real?”
He appeared puzzled.
“And a curse with such specific conditional parameters at that… it shouldn’t be an easy feat.”
Arpard’s gaze was fixed on the crystal bird figurine resting atop the desk in my study.
I drew my lips upward in a smirk.
“Of course it is…”
“Of course?”
I deliberately prolonged my response, allowing Arpard’s curiosity to ripen further.
Then I answered with confidence.
“…A complete and utter lie.”
At that, a subtle glimmer of admiration flickered across Arpard’s eyes, and simultaneously, his interest surged visibly.
I held the crystal bird aloft and chanted the activation incantation.
The crystal bird began to shimmer, its wings fluttering delicately.
It was utterly adorable.
To elaborate, when the bird’s wings had fluttered inside the servant’s mouth earlier, he’d been seized with even greater terror.
“It’s merely a trinket. Speak the activation word, and it simply glows and flutters its wings.”
After displaying the white light blinking beautifully, I altered the incantation.
The glass bird’s color shifted continuously.
Blue, yellow, orange, purple, and finally, red.
Earlier, I deliberately used an incantation that produced a red light. I cranked the intensity to maximum as well.
‘That way, it would look as threatening as possible.’
So he’d mistake it for a genuine, dangerous magical artifact rather than a child’s toy.
In other words…
‘I committed fraud.’
No, in this case, “implementing justice” would be the more accurate description.
Ludwig, that reckless fool, had been holed up in my ex-fiancé’s residence, dead drunk.
All this time, he’d been systematically siphoning off House Delphin’s assets and lands.
Exposing that was justice incarnate.
I chuckled softly and stroked the crystal bird’s head.
“This was the last gift Mother gave me. It was my favorite toy when I was little.”
For a toy, it was indeed an extraordinarily precious object.
Which was precisely why it had been displayed on the wall.
Arpard was stroking his chin with long fingers, his eyes gleaming.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
My words came out sharp, probably because my current situation wasn’t ideal.
“Are you disappointed that I’m a con artist who’d even use Mother’s keepsakes to threaten someone?”
Arpard shook his head readily.
“No, I was rather impressed.”
It was a decidedly positive response.
Delight and affection dripped from it so heavily that I was actually taken aback.
“If we’re being technical about it, I’m already an accomplice in your scheme, having used the Late Empress’s belongings alongside you.”
Ah, that’s right.
‘The clothes and jewelry I borrowed when I went to meet the Emperor were the Late Empress’s.’
What followed was something I genuinely hadn’t anticipated. The shock hit me like a blow to the back of my head.
“And I suspect your mother would actually be pleased.”
“…Pardon?”
“What does the method matter? If you used it to your advantage, she’d be delighted, I’m sure.”
Honestly, it was sophistry.
Mother was already gone, so I couldn’t know what she’d want.
But Arpard’s words, foolishly enough, provided considerable comfort.
Enough that I momentarily forgot to hide my expression and simply looked at him.
And then his subsequent mutter shattered my emotional moment entirely.
“Since it was you who blackmailed me, I’ll have to devour that scoundrel down to the bone so I won’t feel wronged about being coerced into marriage with you.”
“Hearing you say that, one would think you’d been abducted into marriage.”
“Isn’t that exactly what happened?”
…What is this man saying? Is he actually insane?

* * *

The Delphin Estate was turned upside down overnight.
And the people around it learned of this early in the morning.
Around dawn, Belma Street—where the capital residences of the Imperial Capital’s influential nobles were gathered—bustled with activity from the early hours.
It was the time when employees of each manor were arriving for work or beginning their duties.
Thanks to this, there were plenty of witnesses to the spectacle that unfolded in front of the Delphin Estate that morning.
“Move, move out of the way―!”
Ludwig, who had drunk so much that even as dawn broke his tongue remained slurred and twisted.
He shrieked and lunged at a mercenary dressed in shabby clothes.
The mercenary stood firm like an immovable wall, blocking his path.
“You cannot enter.”
Simply by standing his ground, Ludwig collapsed without resistance.
The sight of him tumbling across the ground like a tattered rag was quite amusing.
At first, the onlookers found it entertaining and gathered to watch, then gasped in shock.
“Wait, that drunk fool… isn’t that Ludwig, the Grand Duke?”
“Oh, it really is!”
Since Ludwig had practically been living at the Delphin Estate, many people recognized his face.
They were bewildered by this unexpected turn of events, yet their curiosity made them open their eyes wide and perk up their ears.
“That traitor bastard!”
While filtering out traitors among the employees and gathering and reviewing statements, Ludwig was locked in a small room.
Hillia gave this order.

“Lock him in, and give him plenty of alcohol.”

Naturally, she said this because she knew Ludwig’s drinking habits well.
Ludwig’s vice was to continue drinking once he started.
Thanks to this, she could proceed without interference until Hillia finished taking control of the Delphin Estate.
After all, Ludwig was busy swimming in bottles of liquor during that time.
And as dawn broke, Hillia gave a simple order.

“Open the door to the room and leave the entrance open.”
“You won’t throw him out directly, then?”
“It looks better if it appears he left on his own two feet.”

Drunk Ludwig staggered through the streets, searching for those who had insulted him the previous night.
Spewing curses, he eventually crawled out of the Delphin Estate’s main gate on all fours.
The moment he stepped outside, the door slammed shut behind him with a metallic clang, as if it had been waiting for this moment.
With his alcohol-addled mind, Ludwig belatedly grasped the situation and clung pathetically to the closed door.
A mercenary under Hillia’s command stood guard, preventing him from re-entering.
Ludwig’s associates who had been staying with him were handed over to the Security Force alongside the employees expelled from the Delphin Estate for embezzlement.
The statements from the employees, which Hillia had reviewed swiftly, proved just how many had been siphoning wealth from House Delphin.
And naturally, Ludwig, the Grand Duke’s inner circle stood at the center of it all.
It was hardly surprising that they had all been arrested and thrown into prison.
Because of this, no one could stop the thoroughly intoxicated Ludwig from making a drunken spectacle of himself.
Whispers began spreading in all directions.
“Wait, didn’t the Delphin Princess and the Grand Duke already break off their engagement? Wasn’t the marriage already called off?”
“That’s right. There was such an uproar over the abduction marriage.”
“But then why is the Grand Duke making such a scene in front of the Delphin Estate? Ah, is he just unable to bear his frustration?”
Those fond of spreading gossip whispered to those unfamiliar with the details.
“That can’t be it. Until yesterday, the Grand Duke was living in the Delphin Estate as if it were his own home.”
“What? Wasn’t the engagement already broken off?”
“That’s what I’m saying. There were already many who found it strange.”
“There were even rumors that His Majesty the Emperor was planning to grant House Delphin to the Grand Duke as compensation for the broken engagement, but it seems that’s not the case.”
In truth, a groom who had his bride stolen through an abduction marriage was both a laughingstock
and an object of sympathy.
So if Ludwig had conducted himself properly in this situation, he could have garnered sympathy and moved past it.
If only he had been in his right mind.
And if only he could have abandoned the pride he valued above all else in the world.
But the current Ludwig’s brain had melted from alcohol, leaving him incapable of such judgment.
He could only make a fool of himself.
“Get out of my way, you wretches!”
The gathered onlookers frowned.
“And he’s of Imperial blood, yet he shows no dignity whatsoever…”
“Honestly, it’s rather…”
As Ludwig rolled about on the ground, his clothes reduced to rags, the crowd belatedly noticed something.
“What is that smell?”
“Ugh, my nose is killing me.”
“Wait, isn’t that the smell of urine?”
“Look there, on the Grand Duke’s pants…”
The person who had pointed could not bring themselves to finish their sentence.
But everyone had already seen it.
The unbelievable disgrace committed by a member of the Imperial Family, descended from the noble dragon’s blood.
And everyone realized.
That the shameful spectacle Ludwig, the Grand Duke had just created would spread at an astonishingly rapid pace.
The Grand Duke, unaware of the situation, let out another anguished cry.
“Hillia―! She’s mine! Hillia!”
He was calling her name just as he had when he rushed toward Hillia the night before.
This would certainly be added to the rumors of Ludwig’s shameful conduct.
The information that ‘his lingering attachment to his stolen bride was overflowing pathetically’ would spread.
The retainers of Kielrn Manor, who had rushed over after hearing the news sent belatedly from Delphin, took Ludwig away, but by then everyone who needed to see had already witnessed it.

* * *

I had enjoyed a perfect view of Ludwig’s shameful display from the second-floor window.
Naturally, Arpard stood beside me, his mask removed.
I asked with confident satisfaction.
“Well, here’s your payment. I’ve created enough evidence to bury Ludwig. How is it?”
I could say this with certainty.
Even Arpard would have no choice but to be satisfied.

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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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