I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 4

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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 4

Evangeline’s dress, hastily procured from the Roux Mansion, proved far more exquisite and beautiful than I had anticipated.
It was only natural—the Empress herself had commissioned it from her personal boutique as a birthday gift for her one and only daughter.
“Fortunately, it should suffice if I simply remove the matching green shawl.”
I set aside the pale green shawl adorned with emeralds that had been designed merely for propriety’s sake.
The dress itself was a silver so pale it bordered on white.
Densely embellished with colorless gems and crystals, it sparkled like ice crystals beneath the light.
No one could mistake it for anything but a bride’s gown—certainly not a guest’s attire at someone else’s wedding.
How remarkable that Evangeline had worn something like this every time.
She truly possessed extraordinary taste.
“Yes, it should suffice with only minor alterations to the size, Your Highness.”
….
Ludwig kept his gaze fixed upon me as I tried on Evangeline’s wedding dress, his expression one of relief.
He deliberately avoided looking at Evangeline’s face, which was etched with betrayal and fury.
“Good. Tomorrow’s wedding will proceed without issue.”
“I’m so glad. Truly….”
I swallowed curses and smiled pitifully, as though relieved.
But my heart could not compare to what Evangeline felt.
Her face had darkened to a deep shade, rigid and unyielding.
I approached her with glistening eyes and took her hand.
I did so deliberately, intending to wound her further.
“Thank you so much, Eva. Thanks to you ‘yielding’ your precious dress, I’ll be able to have my wedding tomorrow without a hitch.”
!
I saw Evangeline’s lips compress.
But she quickly composed her expression.
“…I’m glad it was helpful.”
Ludwig approached with a smile and wrapped his arm around Evangeline’s shoulders.
“My dear cousin is truly so kind.”
“Isn’t she, Ludwig.”
Neither Ludwig’s praise nor my response seemed to comfort Evangeline.
The glances exchanged between them as they avoided my gaze were far from pleasant.
It was something like this.
‘Do you really have to go this far?’
‘What choice do we have? If you hadn’t insisted on embroidering your initials in the first place, none of this would have happened.’
After regarding Ludwig with resentful eyes for a moment, Evangeline excused herself first.
“I’ll return to my room now. I have much to prepare if I’m to attend both of your wedding tomorrow.”

* * *

Ludwig, who had been watching the dress alterations for a moment, awkwardly excused himself as well.
‘He’s probably going to see Evangeline.’
I felt a twinge of disappointment.
‘I really wanted to see them tear into each other more thoroughly.’
But I couldn’t afford to drag this out any longer.
I hadn’t staked everything on sabotaging the wedding through dress complaints alone.
Ludwig would inevitably try to seize my family’s assets by any means necessary.
And Evangeline would endure any humiliation to have Ludwig after she’d secured everything—she would consider the current Ludwig unnecessary. That much was certain.
I had naturally already prepared the next phase.
A far more decisive measure than the wedding dress.
Once I’d removed Evangeline from her dress, I dismissed everyone around me.
‘Because I have something I absolutely must do tonight.’
Then the door opened, and I heard a trembling voice.
“Miss, are you alright?”
Anny—the only maid who remained truly loyal to me.
She entered the room carrying a cold compress, worried that I had been crying.
Only then could I finally smile with genuine warmth.
Ludwig, Evangeline, and the hired staff who took their orders and pretended ignorance about my wedding dress—they all surrounded me.
Among them, Anny was nearly the only person who had heard about the dress and expressed genuine anger.
Even if that weren’t the case, I trusted Anny.
Because in my three previous lives, she had never once turned away from me or betrayed me.
There are two people who will definitely come to see me tonight, right after my regression.
And they have never once betrayed me.
One of them was Anny.
She was the daughter of my late wet nurse and my milk sister.
She had died countless times trying to help me, trying to save me.
Anny placed the cold compress on my swollen eyes and whispered softly.
“The wedding is tomorrow, miss. How will we manage if your face stays this puffy?”
“It’s fine…”
In my heart of hearts, I felt that if I could cancel the wedding, I might as well ruin my face.
‘But Ludwig is the kind of man who would chase me down and drag me back even if I ran away with another man and married him. I won’t harbor any hope that something this trivial would make him cancel.’
After all, Ludwig’s motivation for this marriage was to seize the territories and wealth of House Delphin, my family.
I truly regretted that my father had passed away.
No—this wasn’t the time to resent circumstances beyond my control.
Ordinary measures wouldn’t be enough to cancel the wedding.
‘Then I’ll have to create something extraordinary.’
Anny whispered softly.
“Miss, are you referring to the initials on the dress? Aren’t those the initials of the Young Lady of Roux Mansion?”
“….”
“The initials on the dress are exactly the same as that woman’s. This can’t be a coincidence.”
“….”
“That’s why I’ve told you several times that the Young Lady of Roux Mansion—that woman is suspicious.”
Anny whispered with evident satisfaction.
“I’m truly relieved that you’re beginning to suspect her now.”
“Yes. Thank you, Anny.”
I squeezed Anny’s hand firmly above my eyes, where the cool compress rested.
This time, I would never let this warmth slip away meaninglessly.

* * *

After gauging the time, I sent Anny back to her room.
The reason was simple.
‘There’s a second person who will visit me tonight.’
Ludwig and Evangeline, who came earlier, wouldn’t come unless I deliberately summoned them.
But there were two people who always came to my room regardless of how circumstances changed.
Anny, whom I just sent away, and….
Knock, knock.
I heard the knock, followed by a familiar voice.
“May I come in for a moment, Miss?”
“…Yes. Come in.”
The door opened, and the one who entered silently was a man with a sturdy build.
I called out his name softly.
“Count Beltane.”
He was the only knight in House Delphin who never betrayed me.
He was also the very person who had taken me and fled in the third life just before this one.

“Ludwig is trying to marry me to seize the title. Please, Count Beltane, take me and run away!”

The House of Delphin commanded the loyalty of dozens of knights.
Yet most of them served not me, the direct heir of the Delphin Family, but rather my fiancé Ludwig with greater devotion.
The reason was simple: after my father passed three years ago, the Emperor became my guardian.
And the Emperor had chosen Ludwig as my fiancé.
In essence, the Emperor had handed the House of Delphin over to his nephew.
Naturally, they had served Ludwig as their master these past three years.
Among them all, Count Beltane alone had not forgotten his loyalty to me.
He had advised me countless times.

“My lady. Grand Duke Ludwig is not a man worthy of trust.”
“And the relationship between the young lady of Roux Mansion and the Grand Duke seems far from ordinary.”

Every word he spoke was true.
Yet foolish as I was, I refused to believe Count Beltane’s warnings.
Instead, I reproached him and kept my distance.
Still, Count Beltane came to find me even the night before the wedding, attempting to persuade me.

“Grand Duke Ludwig does not desire you out of love, my lady. He seeks only the power and legitimacy of the House of Delphin. It is not too late even now. Break the engagement….”

He and Anny were my only allies in this world.
‘A grateful person who spoke words of genuine concern for my sake.’
Count Beltane remained unchanged this time as well.
He knelt before me and offered his counsel with utmost sincerity.
“My lady. I know you dislike hearing my words, yet I must speak them for your sake. Even now, I beg you to reconsider.”
….
“The fact that different initials were embroidered on the wedding dress is equally troubling. Moreover, Grand Duke Ludwig makes no public effort to find the culprit. How little regard must he have for you….”
I understood well.
I knew why Ludwig had burned the wedding dress with his own hands and why he made no earnest effort to find whoever had embroidered those other initials.
‘Because it was something he did together with his lover.’
If this truth were revealed, his own shameful secret would be exposed officially as well.
Unaware of my thoughts, Count Beltane pleaded with me with all his might.
“I implore you to reconsider, if only for your own sake above all others.”
….
Through multiple returns, this man remained unwavering in his righteousness.
Throwing his own life away to save a fragile woman in peril—and the daughter of his former lord at that….
A knight of noble virtue above all others.
And so I felt both profound gratitude and deep sorrow.
Especially… in the third life just before this one….
I shook my head slowly, remembering the terrible fate he had been forced to endure because of me.
Count Beltane seemed to interpret this as a rejection of his counsel.
“Miss!”
I knew he would comply with any request or command I gave him.
‘In my previous life, he actually took me and fled, bearing all manner of disgrace, and died miserably. Yet even then, he never resented me.’
Count Beltane’s sacrifice had not saved me from Ludwig.
It merely meant his sacrifice was meaningless.
‘This time, I won’t ask. Not for my sake, nor for his.’
I answered calmly.
“It’s already too late, Count Beltane. The wedding is tomorrow, and Ludwig will never accept a request to break the engagement.”
“Miss!”
I rose slowly. Then Count Beltane seemed to notice something odd.
“Why are you wearing outdoor attire?”
This was my bedroom, and it was the hour when I should be retiring for the night.
Yet I was dressed in traveling clothes—simple garments that even commoners might wear.
Instead of accepting Count Beltane’s request, I gave him a command.
“Count Beltane. As the sole direct heir of House Delphin and a knight of Delphin, I command you. Escort me tonight.”
“….”
Count Beltane, who had been staring at me in a daze for a moment, immediately knelt and offered the salute of a knight.
“I obey your command.”
Though this is my fourth life, I have never seen Count Beltane like this before.
I realized anew.
‘Back then, I was a girl he needed to protect, not his liege.’
But that will change now.

* * *

Count Beltane was the strongest knight in House Delphin.
Which meant I could leave the manor with him as my escort and avoid the eyes of those around us.
This held true even when he fled with me in my previous life.
‘That’s why I asked him to escort me.’
If I had tried to leave alone, I would have been discovered midway.
Count Beltane chose a secluded path and moved with me through the shadows.
It was pure chance that we passed beneath Evangeline’s bedroom terrace as we crossed the garden.
Bang—!
A loud noise rang out, and the terrace window burst open.
Then Evangeline’s furious voice echoed through the garden.
“How dare you give my dress to Hilia! Mother prepared it for me, and I’ve never even worn it except during the fitting! How could you do this to me?!”

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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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