I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 64

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

Chapter 64

Evangeline’s attendants, grasping the situation, moved with practiced efficiency.
They had attacked Evangeline’s enemies in this manner so often that their movements were perfectly synchronized.
“This is outrageous!”
“Surely you didn’t orchestrate this to humiliate Evangeline?”
“There’s no way a mere maid would be given such fine clothing. You deliberately meant to insult Evangeline!”
The clamor of their voices echoed loudly across the terrace, ensuring everyone within earshot heard their protests.
Meanwhile, the dragon’s eclipse was slowly coming to an end.
The draconic silhouette that had obscured the sun shifted slightly to the side before vanishing without a trace.
With it, the shadow cast upon the ground dissipated, and daylight returned once more.
Evangeline wailed loudly, her voice trembling with anguish.
“Explain yourself! Why would you do this to me? What have I possibly done wrong?”
Neither Evangeline’s performance as a victim nor her attendants’ indignant protests caused Hillia to so much as raise an eyebrow.
She merely gazed down at them with an expression of contempt, her lips curving into a smile.
Finally, Hillia spoke.
“I haven’t done anything to you, Evangeline.”
“What are you talking about? The proof is standing right there!”
Unable to contain herself, Evangeline pointed an accusatory finger at Anny, the maid standing beside Hillia.
“Why is that maid wearing the exact same dress as me?! Give me an explanation!”
“The world is full of coincidences, Miss Marquess of Luce.”
Evangeline’s shoulders stiffened.
The way Hillia addressed her had changed—from Evangeline to Miss Marquess of Luce.
‘How dare Hillia look down on me like this!’
That single change in address felt like a declaration to Evangeline.
‘I am the confident Crown Princess, while you are merely a marquess’s daughter.’
It was contempt and mockery distilled into a single phrase.
And now Hillia stood confidently beside Arpard.
Evangeline felt her insides burning with rage.
Moreover, that inexplicable phenomenon that had just occurred—the descent of what appeared to be a dragon’s eclipse.
Though she wanted to deny it, Evangeline already understood the implications.
‘If this continues, there’s no way to prevent Hillia from being recognized as the Crown Princess!’
Everyone with eyes in the vicinity of the Capital City would have witnessed that strange eclipse.
They were already spreading rumors that it was Arctanus itself, manifesting to acknowledge Hillia.
‘Even if Hillia herself doesn’t claim it, Arpard will certainly do so.’
If that narrative took hold, it wouldn’t matter if Artanus Hall stood completely empty.
Evangeline still wanted to believe.
‘Arpard must be orchestrating all of this. Hillia is merely receiving what’s being handed to her.’
If that were true, then she simply needed to make Arpard lose faith in Hillia.
By driving a wedge between them, I could shake Hillia’s position.
That was my calculation.
Or rather, that was what I desperately wanted to believe.
Which was why Evangeline was so frantic now.
‘I have to tarnish Hillia’s reputation somehow!’
So that Arpard would abandon her.
That was also why I had tried to pin my own dress conspiracy on Hillia instead.
Evangeline pleaded through streaming tears.
“It can’t be a coincidence! Do you think so too, brother? Can such a coincidence really exist?”
She held onto a glimmer of hope.
Even if Arpard had shown protective behavior toward Hillia recently.
It must be purely political in nature.
‘There’s no way Arpard could actually fall for someone like Hillia.’
Arpard was in conflict with the Empress.
He would have no choice but to distance himself from her daughter.
I tried to understand.
‘But we’ve been close since childhood. Like real siblings!’
Even though the Possessed had only inhabited Evangeline’s body in her mid-teens, the Possessed rationalized every moment Evangeline had spent with Arpard as her own.
‘The time I’ve known Hillia is on a completely different scale!’
She looked up at Arpard with hopeful eyes.
But….
‘What?’
Arpard was looking down at her with an utterly frigid gaze.
Not the way one looks at a stepsister one has been intimate with.
Not even the way one looks at a person.
The contemptuous gaze one casts upon an annoying pebble, or a repulsive insect.
Evangeline called out in a daze.
“B-brother?”
But Arpard didn’t even answer. He simply turned away.
And Evangeline saw it. How Arpard, who had just looked at her with disgust and contempt, gazed upon Hillia.
Evangeline realized for the first time that Arpard’s crimson eyes could appear so tender and gentle.
Even in her earliest memories, Arpard had regarded his surroundings with a cold gaze.
But that look—as if declaring that this person alone was different and special—she had never, not once, seen it before.
A vast despair and hopelessness threatened to consume Evangeline.
But she couldn’t surrender to it.
She couldn’t give up like this. Never!
Evangeline forgot even her tears and suddenly shrieked.
“The person involved should speak for herself!”
Then Hillia poked her head out from behind Arpard’s shoulder.
And she uttered words that completely shattered Evangeline’s reason.
“I’ve never done any such thing.”
“Then how do you prove it?”
“It’s your job to prove that I did it.”
Hillia spoke gently, as if coaxing a petulant child.
“I have no reason to. Miss Evangeline of House Luth.”
Her deliberate use of the formal title struck Evangeline as nothing short of insulting.
“I simply wanted to give dear Anny a lovely dress. I had no interest whatsoever in what you would wear.”
“You’re lying!”
“I was too busy preparing the ball to go through the trouble of copying your dress design and having my attendant wear it.”
Hillia tilted her head, then delivered the final blow.
“Aren’t you being a bit too self-conscious?”
“What, what did you just say?!”
Evangeline’s reason ignited and burned away into white-hot fury.
The moment those words ended, Hillia and Arpard turned and walked back into the hall from the terrace.
Even distant conversation was no longer possible.
Those who had been exchanging glances beside her finally spoke up.
“Shall we head back?”
“Y-yes. We can’t stay here like this….”
Then Evangeline suddenly rose to her feet.
Her eyes blazed with malice and hatred bordering on madness.
She approached the Countess of Fileren, who continued to tremble with a pallid face.
Grasping the Countess’s wrist, she dragged her into a corner. The other noblewomen gathered nearby tactfully refrained from following.
Evangeline’s whisper scraped against the Countess’s ear.
The voice was barely audible, yet saturated with rage and murderous intent.
“What is the meaning of this, Madame Fileren?”
“I, I don’t know.”
The Countess of Fileren shook her head, her face drained of color.
“You said Miss Delphin would wear that green dress. You heard it yourself. The designer from Kemel Atelier explained it….”
The Countess felt terror at the murderous glint in Evangeline’s eyes—a look she had never seen before—and her twisted expression.
She clung to Evangeline desperately.
“It wasn’t me, Miss Evangeline. I did exactly as you instructed! So…!”
Evangeline’s demonic expression seemed unwilling to soften.
Just as the Countess was about to despair, a bright smile suddenly bloomed across Evangeline’s face as if by magic.
Only then did the Countess release a sigh of relief.
But she would soon realize her relief had come far too soon.
“You’ll take responsibility.”
“I beg your pardon?!”
“You ruined everything, so you must take responsibility. You weren’t planning to simply run away, were you? After inflicting such humiliation upon me?”
“I, I only did as you instructed…!”
Evangeline seized the Countess of Fileren by the collar, trembling with fear, and spoke as if engraving her words into stone.
A lie she had improvised on the spot.
“Listen carefully to what I’m saying. You leaked my dress design to Hillia. She ordered you to do it.”
“What?!”
“Do it properly this time. If you fail, it’s truly over.”
Murderous intent overflowed from her. The Countess of Fileren found herself nodding involuntarily.
Grasping Madame Fileren’s wrist firmly, Evangeline headed toward the first-floor entrance of Artanus Hall.
Hillia and Arpard had already entered the hall.
Without following them inside, I couldn’t properly publicize the dress issue.
Of course, it would also be impossible to pin the blame on Hillia.
But at the entrance of Artanus Hall, figures blocked their path.
They were Imperial Knights belonging to the Prince’s Palace.
The spear blades they held aloft blocked the way with stern authority.
Evangeline lifted her head high and called out.
“Do you wish to attend the soirée at Artanus Hall?”
“Yes, so move aside at once!”
Then came a question she had never anticipated.
“Do you have an invitation?”
“…What?”
The invitation to Artanus Hall’s soirée that Hillia had sent far and wide—they were asking if she possessed one.
Madame Fileren had received quite a few, and one had come into Evangeline’s hands.
They had mocked Hillia and torn every last invitation to shreds.
But now, at this moment, it was needed.
“Those without an invitation cannot be admitted.”
Thud!
As if in protest, the spear shaft struck the ground with a resounding echo.

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