I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 85

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

Chapter 85

Arpard had called Count Beltane aside separately?
When I expressed my confusion, Anny reassured me.
“He said there was something to discuss regarding the Empress’s security arrangements.”
Under normal circumstances, I would have worried first.
I would have wondered if this man was up to something again, trying to torment Count Beltane.
But remembering Arpard’s wounded expression from yesterday, I felt ashamed to suspect him.
I was somewhat anxious, but…
‘There are eyes watching around us, and surely Arpard wouldn’t actually devour Count Beltane.’
I tried to ease my mind with such thoughts while finishing off the soup and medicine entirely.

* * *

To put it bluntly, my decision to trust Arpard’s character was betrayed.
He was glaring at Count Beltane, who had come to his office, with eyes sharp as blades.
This had been the situation ever since he was summoned.
“….”
Count Beltane asked for the third time.
“What brings you to summon me, Your Highness?”
“….”
Yet Arpard’s crimson eyes still burned as he glared at Count Beltane.
An ordinary person would have trembled with fear and collapsed to the ground.
But Count Beltane was the strongest knight within House of Delphin.
Among the Imperial Knight Order stationed at the Prince’s Palace, he was counted among the most skilled.
Though tense and uncomfortable, he was far from the sort to feel terror merely because Arpard was displeased.
Because of this, Count Beltane gathered his courage and spoke what amounted to a final ultimatum.
“If there is no further command or inquiry for me, might I take my leave?”
For the first time since summoning Count Beltane, words came from Arpard’s lips.
“Because you need to stand by Hillia’s side?”
“…?”
The content itself was nothing special, but his tone was extremely strange.
It seemed as though anger, murderous intent, and jealousy were crystallizing in every single word.
Count Beltane was momentarily startled.
‘Jealousy? That can’t be.’
He knew Arpard and Hillia as a couple with a strong bond.
There was no reason for him to feel jealous of a mere knight like himself.
As Count Beltane’s thoughts reached this point, he felt a faint sting in his chest, as if pricked by a needle.
And then it came back to him.
Hillia’s scream when she was taken in a forced marriage by Arpard.
And the emotions he felt when he later saw Hillia at the Prince’s Palace, making no effort to hide her affection for Arpard in an almost embarrassing manner.
Surely at that moment, he should have been reassured.
His master was not unhappy but happy—wasn’t that something to celebrate?
And yet… as Count Beltane gazed upon Hillia’s flower-like smile, he could not deny the bitterness that gnawed at him.
The principled man did not understand what this emotion was exactly.
This rigid man had believed with absolute certainty that he, a mere knight, could never feel jealousy toward Arpard, who had monopolized Hillia’s affection.
But what was the reality?
Arpard was consumed by a fierce jealousy he had never experienced before in his life.
When Hillia, asleep last night, had spoken Count Beltane’s name while shedding tears.
His mind had gone completely blank.

“Count Beltane….”

Even if it had ended with just those words of sleep-talk, his insides would have twisted.
But it did not end there.

“…You can’t die, Count Beltane… I have to protect you… What do I do….”

Hillia wept most pitifully.
As he wiped away those tears, Arpard had to endure an impulse all night long that made his mind go numb.

‘Should I kill him?’

And that conflict continued even now.
‘Should I kill him after all? There are plenty of ways to make it look like an accident or mistake.’
But Arpard couldn’t bring himself to act on that intense desire.
After deliberating endlessly, I summoned Count Beltane and placed him before me, yet I couldn’t kill him or even express my anger.
I couldn’t voice this question that had risen all the way to my throat.
‘What exactly is his relationship with Hillia?’
Until now, calling Count Beltane Hillia’s “lover” had been half a joke.
I had misunderstood at first, but when Hillia denied it so vehemently, I knew it was true.
Later, when I had her background investigated, I secretly confirmed there was no romantic connection between her and Count Beltane, and felt relieved.
‘So she was devoted solely to her fiancé.’
Of course, this fact was also displeasing.
Regardless of the past, Hillia clearly despised Ludwig now.
She hated him more than filthy vermin or rats in the sewers.
But Count Beltane is different.
He tried to confirm her safety before entering the Imperial Palace.
The moment he arrived, he rushed to rescue her. (The fact that he also checked on Anny’s wellbeing at that time had already slipped from Arpard’s mind.)
Moreover, this man even swore a knight’s oath to her.
Every single thing about it irritated me and twisted my insides.
Arpard realized his current state was deeply abnormal.
‘Why am I like this?’
This hesitation didn’t suit me.
If I summoned Count Beltane to hear his answer….
I could simply dispose of him.
That would be like me.
But.
‘…I can’t do it.’
There was certainly no affection for Count Beltane, nor any thought that it would be a waste to kill him.
There was only one concern.
‘If I kill him, she’ll surely cry.’
Even if he died from illness or accident, she would grieve and weep.
I had no confidence I could bear to see that.
Watching her cry so hard in her sleep yesterday had made me feel like I was going mad with anxiety….
Now she had only just begun to show me soft smiles and gentle gazes.
If I did such a thing, those eyes that had been like spring water melting in warmth would freeze over like glaciers in the depths of winter.
Just imagining it made my heart feel as though it were sinking.
But I couldn’t ignore the fact that Count Beltane’s name had come from Hillia’s sleep-talk.
It would certainly haunt my thoughts at every moment.
The reason I couldn’t ask and confirm was because I didn’t know what answer would come back.
If by any chance the answer was that they were lovers or in an affair… it was terrifying even to imagine.
For the first time in his life, Arpard’s mind was swirling with emotions he had never experienced before, spinning like a maelstrom.
In the end, Arpard—acting entirely out of character—threw out a single statement.
“…Hillia’s husband is me.”
“…?”
Count Beltane nodded, though bewildered.
“Yes, that is… correct.”
It was an obvious fact.
Yet even as he answered, Count Beltane couldn’t understand why the phrase “Hillia’s husband” seemed to echo so persistently in his ears.
Or why he felt such a sudden melancholy.
Arpard, meanwhile, seemed somewhat relieved.
“Now that you understand, you may take your leave.”
“…? I shall obey your command.”
It had been merely one hour and thirty minutes since Arpard had summoned Count Beltane.

And Yulken, who bore the title of the Prince’s secretary, had endured nothing but torment—forced to witness the awkward, strained confrontation between the two men for the entire hour and thirty minutes.
Amid the exchange of silences that clashed like sword and shield, he had to restrain himself from crying out.
‘Just say it! Why can’t you speak! Ask him directly—do you harbor affection for my wife? Then he would simply answer yes, and that would be that!’
To the eyes of a third party, it was painfully obvious, yet the two men—so similar in their emotional ineptitude—remained oblivious.
Thus, Yulken’s frustration continued to build in solitude.
The first thing Arpard had said was “Hillia’s husband is me.”
Yulken, who had been drinking cold water to suppress his exasperation, nearly spat it out.
That single statement, followed by Arpard’s subtle yet unmistakable satisfaction, was utterly absurd.
Count Beltane’s dejected expression was even more ridiculous.
After withdrawing alongside Count Beltane,
Yulken stepped into the waiting room and slapped the sofa repeatedly, laughing silently like a madman.
“Pfft! Hehehehe!”
What could he do? Our sinful Empress was truly something.
He immediately contradicted his earlier thought about dying from frustration.
‘This is hilarious!’
To provide such an entertaining spectacle for a struggling secretary—truly, the Empress was the greatest.
Of course, the loss of one million Castels still stung.

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