I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 6

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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 6

At the same time, I tensed every nerve in my body, observing his reaction carefully.
How he would respond to my blood.
But Arpard was merely startled that I had thrown myself into danger, risking my own death.
He showed no reaction to the blood itself.
‘Thank goodness. It’s not time yet.’
I could confirm anew that Prince Arpard had not yet succumbed to true madness.
The Crown Prince, who could not possibly know the reason or conclusion behind my observations, simply stared at me in bewilderment.
“I’ve never heard that mental illness runs in House of Delphin.”
“Our family is merely a bloodline of insignificant humans, so we suffer from no such affliction.”
That was what I had essentially said.
‘Unlike your family, we don’t have a hereditary madness that overwhelms us because we can’t overcome the blood of dragons.’
It was a direct slap across the Crown Prince’s face.
‘Well, what did he expect? He drew his blade on me first.’
Besides, Arpard had already proven through his actions.
‘He didn’t truly intend to kill me with that sword.’
Otherwise, he would have simply let me throw myself onto the blade and perish.
But he stopped me.
At the very least, it meant he was curious about why I was doing this.
‘And it also means my proposal tempted him somewhat.’
Arpard furrowed his brow for a moment.
Remarkably, even the inhumanly beautiful man’s face remained sculptural despite his crude use of facial muscles.
Life must be so easy for him.
Ah, but no. I died three times from madness, after all.
“So then, confident and courageous lady of Delphin. How exactly can you prevent this mad Crown Prince from losing his mind?”
He seems aware that he is mad.
Surprisingly, he has good self-awareness?
“No one has ever cured the madness that runs through the imperial family. If you tell me that method, I will spare your life.”
“Just by word of mouth?”
The Crown Prince fell silent.
I laughed brightly.
“If I told you the entire method right now, you’d kill me, wouldn’t you?”
“….”
Hey, why aren’t you denying it?
Were you really planning to kill me?
Chills ran down my spine, but I pretended otherwise as best I could.
Arpard voiced a more overt threat.
That itself was proof that he was somewhat cornered.
“…I could just kidnap you like this, lock you away somewhere no one knows, and torture you until you talk.”
“Ah, after you’ve had everyone monitored and blocked from traveling between House of Delphin and the Imperial Palace?”
When I spoke the words he was about to say, Arpard’s handsome face twisted strangely.
‘Could he really not have anticipated even this much of a reaction?’
I responded with a bright smile.
“Your Highness, there isn’t just one route through which your secrets could be revealed. Some of that information would certainly reach The Empress’s Family.”
The Empress, my stepmother, was the Crown Prince’s greatest rival.
Naturally, if information about the mercenary king reached the Empress, it would be absolutely fatal to the Crown Prince.
Arpard’s handsome face crumpled completely.
He leaned his face so close that our noses nearly touched.
His breath brushed against my skin, and I could hear the pounding of his heartbeat.
Being this close to such an artistically beautiful man would naturally make anyone’s heart flutter, but….
‘Flutter? More like my heart’s racing because I don’t know when my head might fly off.’
After studying me for a long moment in silence, Arpard finally spoke, as if surrendering.
“You’re a strange woman.”
“I’m just an ordinary woman.”
“Ordinary women don’t know my secret identity and threaten to expose it to the Emperor.”
“….”
“And they don’t sneak into the Underground Crypt alone on the night an ominous crimson moon rises. How did you know I was here?”
The crimson moon earned its ominous reputation partly because members of the imperial family who inherited the hereditary blood curse often went mad and died during this period.
“Let’s just say I knew.”
“So you have no intention of telling me.”
I laughed quietly. Why would I reveal all my cards from the beginning?
Besides, Arpard probably didn’t expect me to anyway.
“But how can I trust your words? If I follow your threats and get deceived, the danger becomes too great.”
After all, I was already in a precarious position, treated like a bomb that could detonate at any moment.
If word spread that the Crown Prince had abducted his cousin’s bride, everyone would think the same thing.
‘The Crown Prince has finally gone mad!’
So it seemed this was that timing.
‘I’ve only wielded the whip, so I need to offer one proper carrot.’
That way, I could increase the credibility of my words.
I tried to speak as calmly as possible.
“If you release me just for a moment, I’ll give you an advance payment on the commission first.”
“What?”
“I’m not asking you to let me escape.”
I wiggled the fingers of my right hand, which he held firmly in his grip.
“I’m asking you to let me move just one hand.”
“….”
He stared at me with an expression of unbearable suspicion, but eventually nodded.
The hand that had gripped my wrist so tightly, preventing any movement, finally released.
I withdrew a small velvet pouch from my breast and extended it toward Arpard.
“This is an advance payment from me. Mercenaries don’t move without upfront compensation, after all, do they?”
Arpard tore open the pouch, his brow still furrowed.
Something glimmering tumbled out.
Perhaps his reflexes were sharp from his years as a warrior, for he caught the jewel mid-air.
A large azure pearl suspended from the center of a gleaming silver chain, cradled between his pale fingers.
Upon seeing it, Arpard’s crimson eyes widened considerably.
I smiled with quiet conviction and spoke the jewel’s name.
“Agrippina’s Tear. It is one of the five blessed jewels Your Highness seeks. Surely this qualifies as sufficient advance payment?”
Agrippina is the name of the sea goddess. Thus, the epithet attached to this pearl is the goddess’s tear.
It is one of the renowned jewels said to have received divine blessing.
‘And it is one of the family heirlooms I inherited from my mother’s side.’
Besides, once I married Ludwig, it would be among the countless treasures Evangeline would seize from me.
Yet our Crown Prince and mercenary king was not so easily swayed.
He smiled crookedly and countered.
“Certainly it is a precious jewel, but do you truly believe I, the Crown Prince, would move for a mere bauble like this?”
His act of feigning disinterest, despite searching so desperately for it, was remarkably convincing.
I laughed brightly and pointed out his contradiction.
“As I said before, I know that Your Highness seeks all five of the great blessed jewels, including this one. And I have just placed one of them in your hands.”
Those handsome brows twitched upward again.
I could guess what he was thinking.
‘How does he know such information? Have I placed a spy beside him? Yet even the Emperor does not know of this….’
I delivered the finishing blow.
“The advance I speak of is not merely the pearl. There is additional information included.”
Wariness and curiosity reached their peak in Arpard’s eyes.
I shook my head and declared as sharply as a blade.
“It will be useless.”
“What?”
“This pearl, nor any blessed jewel or divine artifact—none of it will avail.”
“…!”
“The information that such things cannot weaken or eliminate Your Highness’s madness—that is my advance payment.”
I laughed while driving home this cruel truth.
In that instant, the man’s expression froze like a mask.
And then.
“Gah!”
Clang!
I heard the sound of Arpard’s blade clattering to the floor a moment too late.
His hand had already seized my throat before that.
It was entirely different from when he had lifted me by the nape moments before.
He was now choking me with genuine murderous intent.
He carved a blood-stained, wolfish smile across his lips.
“How bold of you to provoke me with advance payment as your opening move.”
“Gasp!”
“Then I’m curious—how exactly do you plan to settle the balance?”
“I told you, Your Highness! To keep you from going mad—gasp! Ease your grip! I can’t… breathe!”
Surprisingly, the pressure from the hand strangling my throat loosened slightly.
This allowed me to speak more freely.
“Cough, cough! Ah, I’ll ensure Your Highness doesn’t descend into madness and becomes Emperor instead.”
“Explain this method properly. If you’re merely spouting delusions to coerce me into something politically akin to suicide, I won’t tolerate it.”
If the Crown Prince—already suspected of hereditary madness—were to abduct his cousin’s bride, everyone would believe he truly had lost his mind.
If that constituted political suicide, then so be it.
But I couldn’t reveal everything he demanded.
‘How could I explain that I know everything from three cycles of regression? He wouldn’t just strangle me—he’d actually kill me.’
I shifted from being a court lady before the Crown Prince to a client standing before a mercenary.
“You’ll learn that after you accept the commission, Mercenary King Gerald.”
“…Are you demanding payment?”
“Yes. I’ve already given you the advance. Now your choice is simply whether to accept the commission or refuse it.”
“…And if I refuse, you’ll expose my identity?”
“Exactly.”
It was a fair observation.
I responded with a cheerful wink.
“That’s all part of the commission terms.”
Arpard’s expression suddenly looked exhausted.
For some reason, he seemed as though he’d been tormented by me for ages, which was strange.
‘I haven’t done anything to him! And he’s the one strangling me right now!’
“So after I abduct you tomorrow, I’ll naturally come to understand all this?”
“Yes.”
“This is maddening.”
Arpard ran a hand over his face.
To any observer, it would appear that he—the one doing the strangling—was cornered, not I.
‘But there’s no choice! Only an abduction, and specifically one carried out by the imperial direct line themselves, can stop my marriage!’
I knew this truth intimately, carved into my bones through three cycles of regression.
So I drove the wedge deeper into the wavering Arpard.
“I can prevent Your Highness from descending into madness. I swear this is the truth.”
“A swear? A swear to what?”
Arpard asked mockingly, dismissing such notions as oaths and trust.
So he would never be convinced by mere promises or vows that others spoke of.
That’s why I reached out my hand, placing my fingers upon the sacred artifact I had given as advance payment.
I recited the Sacred Word.
In response, the sacred power of the artifact shimmered and leaked forth.
A flicker of surprise crossed Arpard’s eyes.
“…!”
This was a rudimentary skill I had learned during one of my three lives, when I spent time as a monk.

—Relying upon the Goddess’s blessing, I, a humble servant, humbly beseech. Prove the veracity of these words.

As the sacred incantation ended, divine power flowing from Agrippina’s tears manifested as a bracelet around my wrist before vanishing.
I thrust my wrist—still bearing the residual traces of divine power—toward Arpard and spoke.
“If I were lying, my wrist would be severed. I can suppress your madness.”
“….”
Time passed in silence, yet my wrist remained unharmed.
“I’ve never seen a woman stake her own wrist on a truth-discerning incantation before.”
“Well, you wouldn’t believe me otherwise, would you? Am I wrong?”
Arpard neither denied it nor declared his trust in me.
Yet he released my throat and did not prevent my return to the Manor.
‘He’s become curious about the “final payment” I promised him.’
If that were true, then he had begun to consider accepting my commission.
I desperately hoped that was the case.
‘Because if it isn’t… I might have to resort to even more desperate measures.’
With Count Beltane’s assistance, I returned to my room unnoticed, and my legs gave way beneath me as I collapsed.
“Ah…,”
Only then did my entire body begin to tremble.
When I caught my reflection in the mirror, vivid red handprints marked my throat.
I had undeniably survived the brink of death.
‘This is a gamble.’
Yet I was in a position where I could not survive without winning this gamble.
After washing and changing clothes, I lay in bed, but sleep would not come.
In the end, I greeted the morning of the wedding with eyes wide open.

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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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