I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 43

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

Chapter 43

The documents I gave to Yulken were straightforward.
Nothing more than a list of names.
But I believed that Yulken, Arpard’s trusted aide and a capable intelligence officer, would understand the significance of those names.
‘And my prediction was spot on.’
The moment Yulken saw the documents, he recognized that every name listed was a spy the Empress had planted within the Prince’s Palace.
Some of them were likely already identified and being used by Yulken.
Others he might be suspicious of.
‘But there would certainly be those he hasn’t grasped at all yet.’
And those I’d identified as potential spies were likely the ones the Empress had invested the most effort in placing.
In other words, the most significant ones.
Naturally, my source was my memories from before the regression, so the credibility was absolute.
From Yulken’s perspective, I’d suddenly handed him a pumpkin patch—no, an entire field of pumpkins.
He was a man who believed in meritocracy so thoroughly that he wouldn’t stop his sharp tongue even as his head was about to roll.
The way to win over such a type was simple.
‘Show competence.’
And with this single document, I had proven my worth.
Just as I expected, Yulken’s face brightened the moment he saw the papers.

“Of course, Your Highness!”

He was staring at the documents with such intensity, like a fox eyeing a bunch of sweet grapes, practically drooling.
I heard him muttering unconsciously.
“If this list is accurate, I finally understand the connection between the author and the creditor. Through this maid here, those bastards… then spreading counter-intelligence becomes several times easier….”
Yulken was so delighted that he seemed to have lost his soul entirely to the documents.
He had summoned me so hastily without even bothering to read my expression.
I snapped my fingers to draw his attention back.
Snap!
Only then did Yulken come to his senses and look at me.
“…What is it, Your Highness?”
I was holding out my right hand in front of him, palm open.
For some reason, he was looking at me with the same vacant expression he’d had while staring at the documents moments before.
A flush had even risen to both his cheeks.
It seemed like he was expecting something—but surely that was just my imagination?
‘Yulken isn’t that kind of character, after all.’
I smiled brightly and licked my lips.
Yulken’s hazy gaze landed on my lips.
But the moment he understood what I was pointing out, Yulken looked as shocked as if cold water had been dumped over him.
“Hand it over.”
“Hand… it over? …Wait!”
I delivered the finishing blow.
“Give me one million Castels.”
“…!”
The enchanted expression on Yulken’s face drained away, replaced by pure terror.
He clutched the documents protectively and began trembling.
“Surely you weren’t actually planning to take one million Castels from me?”
I tilted my head. My tone had shifted quite naturally, but neither Yulken nor I bothered to acknowledge or point it out.
“If I had lost, wouldn’t you have taken one million Castels from me?”
“Of course I would have!”
“Then I’m taking it too.”
Yulken collapsed pathetically to the side. Or rather, he pretended to.
“That’s… that’s my entire month’s salary!”
I extended a hand of salvation to the man who looked ready to cry.
“Don’t worry. Felix Yulken. I’m not that cruel.”
Hope bloomed across Yulken’s face.
“Th-thank goodness, Your Highness!”
I spoke with great benevolence.
“Three months in installments.”
“…Pardon?”
“And out of great mercy, I won’t charge interest. I’m not a loan shark, after all.”
Yulken hung his head in defeat.
“You’re extracting the liver from a flea.”
This world had many proverbs similar to those from Korea.
Perhaps it was because the original work was a Korean web novel.
In any case, I corrected the mistaken saying.
“It’s not a flea’s liver—it would be a fox’s liver.”
Yulken was completely sunk.

* * *

Arpard had a most unpleasant experience that day.
Ever since Hillia entered the palace, Yulken had stubbornly refused to use the honorific “Your Highness” when addressing her.
The most he would concede when Arpard pointed it out was calling her “the mistress of the ivory chamber.”
Yet after being summoned by Hillia just once, the man seemed to have transformed entirely.
“I fear I have completely fallen under Your Highness’s spell, Your Majesty.”
Arpard was rarely taken aback.
And what followed was utterly displeasing.
“I’m not certain I heard correctly. It seems I’ve heard words that should never leave your mouth.”
At that, Yulken released a long sigh.
“Shall I summon the court physician? If Your Majesty’s hearing is impaired, that would be most serious.”
“…Seeing your mouth still works, you must be the Felix Yulken I know.”
“Indeed, Your Majesty’s most capable minister and most loyal subject, Felix Yulken, at your service.”
“Both descriptions are wrong, but the Yulken who would float on his lips alone if thrown into water and chatter endlessly—that’s definitely you.”
Arpard lifted a silver paper knife and delicately trimmed the edge of a document.
“But what wind has blown through you? ‘Your Highness’? You refused even when I pressed you about it.”
Remarkably, Yulken’s eyes began to gleam.
It was truly a rare and bizarre sight.
Even Arpard couldn’t maintain his composure properly.
“That person is entirely worthy of being called ‘Your Highness’! My eyes were mere buttonholes—I simply failed to see it until now!”
Arpard’s expression twisted grotesquely.
‘He meets her once and becomes a follower? And of all people, Yulken?’
It made no sense.
‘Is she using some sort of brainwashing magic?’
He was honestly beginning to suspect something like that.
But when Yulken’s case was added to the equation, serious suspicion began to take root.
Then Yulken began to explain exactly what had happened.
“…That’s how it came to be!”
“Hillia understood a weakness even you couldn’t perceive?”
“Yes! Isn’t it remarkable? An extraordinary ability. Truly, she possesses the qualifications worthy of being the Prince’s consort—no, even the Empress!”
I immediately understood why Yulken had fallen so completely.
No one was more of an ability absolutist than Yulken.
Displaying such remarkable ability—enough to inspire not just admiration but astonishment—was sufficient to win him over.
Even I found myself surprised.
“You didn’t reveal how you found out this time either, did you?”
“Well… that’s true, but…”
The ability was so exceptional that such thoughts naturally arose.
“To possess such information, wouldn’t one have to be close to the Empress?”
In truth, I had harbored this suspicion from the very beginning.
And it was also the reason Yulken had been watching her so carefully.
Yet the very person I had always been cautious of now shook his head vehemently.
“No, that doesn’t make sense. Don’t you see? If the Empress truly had the Protagonist on her side, marrying Ludwig would be far more advantageous.”
This was a valid point. Planting a spy right beside me certainly had its merits.
But that was not more important than solidifying Ludwig’s legitimacy, which the Empress had been pushing, and establishing him as a successor to the throne.
‘Besides, she clearly promised to suppress my madness.’
And through the medicine, she proved that promise was true.
If such a method truly existed, the Empress would never have sent Hillia to my side.
She would have killed her first.
No matter how much I deliberated, the conclusion always remained the same.
‘She’s truly… a woman I cannot understand.’
Yet she brought only what I desired and what benefited me.
And she always smiled with such confidence.
‘Are you really going to say you don’t need me, even after all this?’
As if to say exactly that.
I furrowed my brow and stroked my chin.
It was a habit when lost in thought.
Beside me, Yulken chattered away without reading the mood.
Or rather, it wasn’t that he lacked perception—it was Yulken’s specialty to speak only what he wished while fully aware.
“Ah yes. The greatest thing Your Majesty has done this year is abducting the Protagonist.”
“Your evaluation flips like a pancake. Didn’t you ask if I’d gone mad?”
“That was then, and this is now. Then there was reason for it, and now there’s reason for this.”
Truly, Yulken was always the same.
“Just imagine it. The Protagonist standing beside Ludwig! Doesn’t it give you chills?”
“….”
I could not deny it.
Even I could not.
Honestly, I was relieved that I had done the right thing.
But I did not wish to agree with someone whose opinions flipped like pancakes.
So before my continued silence, Yulken dropped a bomb.
“And it seems the Protagonist is very fond of me!”
“…What?”
Arpard doubted his hearing even more now than he had moments before.
“The Protagonist looked at me with such warmth despite seeing me for the first time! She prepared refreshments so lavishly and even poured the tea herself. Even though I was discourteous, she didn’t scold me at all…!”
Creak—Arpard’s throat made a sound like a rusted wheel as it constricted.
“…Say that again.”
“The Protagonist gazed at me with such fervent eyes that I worried she might have fallen for me at first sight!”
“….”
Yulken had no idea what landmine he had just stepped on.

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