I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 75

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

Chapter 75

“What are you doing all of a sudden? Don’t you realize this is a critical moment?”
I lowered my voice as I spoke. I couldn’t let anyone see us quarreling.
“That’s exactly why I stepped in—because the timing is critical.”
Arpard chuckled deeply, his voice resonating from the back of his throat as he whispered near my ear.
“I’m a madman of a husband who can never overlook tears streaming down my wife’s face.”
In other words, this was his way of saying it was all an act.
I lowered my voice and reproached him.
“How long exactly are you planning to use this as leverage later?”
At that, Arpard’s expression became subtle.
“What do you mean?”
I tilted my head. Wasn’t it obvious?
“You kill or banish the servant you suspect of being a spy, then insist to me that you did it because you couldn’t stand them approaching your wife?”
“….”
“Or perhaps you’ll use it as an excuse when punishing some hostile faction’s noble, claiming they got close to me?”
Now wrinkles formed on Arpard’s smooth brow.
Every time Arpard frowned, three wrinkles appeared in the exact same spot between his brows.
Without thinking, I touched the wrinkles that remained in the familiar place and murmured.
“If you keep doing that, you’ll get wrinkles on that handsome face. You should smooth them out.”
As the tip of my fingernail touched his porcelain-like skin, the wrinkles smoothed away cleanly.
And Arpard’s crimson eyes widened like glass beads.
He stared at me as if he could pierce through me with his gaze, then grumbled.
“I honestly can’t tell if you’re doing this intentionally or not.”
“…What do you mean?”
“You seem to believe that if you wound someone and immediately apply medicine, it won’t hurt.”
What accusation is this now?
What did I do?
I felt both bewildered and wronged.
I was the one appealing to my status as a victim—not acting like one—so why was he acting as if he were the wounded one?
I felt the urge to pierce Arpard with a sharp glare.
‘Is this man just being difficult because something displeases him? Or is he testing me again….’
Perhaps my expression was entirely readable, for Arpard smiled softly.
When he smiled like that, I could never trust him.
“Do you know? You think and doubt far too much.”
“Why is that?”
“Because you think so much, you keep twisting others’ actions and words in every direction. Especially mine.”
There seemed to be an emotion in his voice that truly didn’t suit him at all… or was it my imagination?
Something like grievance or sorrow.
No way.
That can’t be.
That’s absurd!
‘If that were true… it would mean this man actually likes me….’
Then Arpard whispered softly against my ear.
“Don’t I look like a pitiful husband who, grieved at not receiving enough attention, is being petulant about monopolizing his wife?”
“…I already know that’s not the case, so you don’t need to be sarcastic about it.”
“….”
At that, Arpard’s eyebrows twitched.
A small sigh brushed against my ear.
“What am I to do with my baby squirrel being so dense?”
At the words “baby squirrel,” the ticklish and ambiguous whirlwind of emotions vanished in an instant.
Only shame remained in its place.
“…Can’t you do something about that baby squirrel thing?!”
This is 100% sincere.
Even though my purpose is to infuriate the Empress and Evangeline, or to show off how well we get along to those around us.
Still, it’s just… too much.
“Don’t you find it cringeworthy when you say it yourself?”
At that, Arpard looked slightly surprised and shook his head.
“I don’t.”
“Surely….”
He’s quite the liar.
“I’m serious. I genuinely mean it.”
“There’s no way you’d genuinely say baby squirrel!”
“Why not?”
He tilted his head, then continued his explanation against my ear.
“You’re so small.”
Arpard tightened his arm around my waist and lifted me slightly. My feet left the ground. Eek!
“And so light.”
I think that’s just because you’re large and strong.
“And the way you’re always putting something in that small mouth of yours and munching away is adorable.”
“…!”
That was… dangerous.
My face flushed without my realizing it.
The sensation of his fingers gently stroking the inside of my hair, while his other hand held the back of my head, was scorching.
“And when I first saw this fluffy hair of yours, I thought it looked like a squirrel’s tail and wanted to touch it.”
“Most people wouldn’t think that when they see my hair… would they?”
Isn’t that a stretch?
“I’m not most people.”
“….”
Ah, yes. That’s true. How could I not know?

* * *

The two of us were whispering to each other, and those around us saw us as newlyweds lost in their own world.
“You’re truly passionate at all times, Your Highness.”
“The Prince’s possessiveness is quite remarkable, isn’t it?”
“Well, he fell in love at first sight and even conducted a marriage by abduction—what else would you expect?”
While many were bewildered, there were those who had grown so accustomed to such displays that they had achieved a state of enlightenment.
They were the palace attendants of the Prince’s Palace.
Anny, familiar with this situation, stepped forward while the two of us were murmuring to each other.
She supplemented Hillia’s testimony before the Emperor and the Grand Duchess.
“The reason I, unworthy as I am, wore this extravagant dress was because I first spoke to the Empress about it.”
She was simply stating the facts.
The Grand Duchess shifted her gaze slightly.
“Are you saying that the Empress’s opposition to Evangeline Roux’s conspiracy was not her own will?”
The Grand Duchess read Anny’s intention and offered an appropriate response.
“Yes. The merciful Empress wanted to bury the conspiracy of Evangeline Roux and Madame Fileren.”
The color drained further from the faces of Evangeline and Madame Fileren, who had been in a state of shock.
With almost no color remaining, their faces had become virtually corpse-like.
They could understand Anny’s intention.
By emphasizing Hillia’s mercy, she was making them appear even more contemptible.
“But I could not bear it, so I asked her to dress me in this gown. If those two had abandoned their attempt to slander the Empress, nothing would have happened.”
“But it came to this.”
“…Yes. Though she remains composed, I wonder how deeply wounded she truly is….”
Anny pretended to dab at her dry eyes.
It was a strategy coordinated with Hillia beforehand.
As a result, sympathy for Hillia grew even stronger among the nobles surrounding them.
“You wanted to trust her until the very end, but in the end you were betrayed.”
“You wanted to bury it, but they lied and tried to frame you instead? That’s too much.”
“Really. The contrast is striking, isn’t it?”
In proportion, the condemnation pouring down on Evangeline and Madame Fileren grew increasingly intense.
The situation reached its climax especially when the frightened Madame Fileren abandoned Evangeline and fell to her knees, begging for forgiveness.
It was because she was also accusing Evangeline.
“Please forgive me, Empress! I only did what Evangeline told me to do! I didn’t want to do this!”
Naturally, the surrounding reaction was unfavorable.
“How shameless.”
“Her audacity knows no bounds.”
Even with her face drained of color, Evangeline keenly observed the atmosphere around her.
Realizing that public opinion of Madame Fileren was deteriorating further, she closed her mouth.
“….”
In this situation, silence was the better choice.
As Madame Fileren crawled toward him on the floor, Arpard leisurely stepped aside.
“How dare this insect approach me.”
From Hillia’s position, she couldn’t see what was happening below at all.
So she misunderstood and spoke up.
“An insect? You’re saying an insect appeared? That’s impossible. How much care have I put into managing this hall! Where, where did it come from?”
Arpard chuckled softly and reassured Hillia.
“Don’t worry. I merely mistook an extraordinarily hideous human for an insect.”
“Oh. I thought you meant a real insect had actually appeared.”
Hillia relaxed and laughed comfortably.
She said nothing whatsoever about treating a person like an insect.
Madame Fileren, who had been treated like a crawling insect in an instant, felt a terrible sense of shame, but no one paid her any mind.

* * *

The atmosphere of the banquet was flowing overwhelmingly in one direction.
‘Evangeline’s status as the flower of the Central Social Circle is essentially finished.’
‘Once the rumors spread today, who would follow Evangeline?’
Those sensitive to the currents of power uniformly ignored Evangeline.
And they all tried to curry favor with Hillia.
‘Moreover, the Western Social Circle, which hadn’t followed the Empress until now, has appeared.’
‘It’s clear they’re following the Crown Princess.’
It had become a struggle between the Empress, who previously held half-hearted authority, and the Crown Princess, who was newly rising and solidifying her position.
No one was uncertain about which side to choose.
Especially since Evangeline’s reputation and image, now serving as the Empress’s proxy, had been utterly shattered.
Evangeline stood with her face drained of color, like a wallflower.
Madame Fileren, denied even the right to approach the Crown Princess, wept sorrowfully.
“It’s not my fault! I, sob! I’m not! Waaah! It was all Evangeline’s…!”
It was then that an unexpected situation unfolded.
A voice filled with bewilderment rang out from the entrance of the hall.
“Her Majesty the Empress has arrived!!”
Before those shocked could even react, the doors swung wide open.
And remarkably, Empress Isabel walked in slowly, impeccably dressed.
Upon her head gleamed a tiara that would only be worn at the Empress’s coronation ceremony.

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