I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 87

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

Chapter 87

Evangeline shook her head vigorously.
‘No, that can’t be right. If I wasn’t destined to be the heroine, why would I have possessed this body in the first place?’
She tried desperately to console herself.
But the person beside her offered no such comfort.
“What’s going on, Eva? Your reputation has hit rock bottom!”
The one spouting words she didn’t want to hear was a man who was practically buried alive.
“You promised to help me at the banquet and made such a big show of it, so I waited in the Empress’ Palace. But in the end, you abandoned me and fled to the Roux Mansion. Do you have any idea how humiliating that was?”
Of course, it was Ludwig standing beside Evangeline now.
He had arrived at the Roux Mansion in an almost catatonic state not long ago, but now he had recovered to a reasonably presentable condition.
It was thanks to Evangeline’s skillful persuasion—she had promised to restore the Delphin Duchy to him, even if she couldn’t secure the throne.
I had accepted his regained confidence and vitality as inevitable.
But as his strength returned, his vicious habits resurfaced without fail.
‘His habit of blaming others when things go wrong and trampling them down hasn’t changed. He was always crueler to the weak, always eager to crush anyone who showed vulnerability.’
I never thought he would turn that attitude toward me.
Until now, Ludwig had only ever treated Hillia that way.
What this meant was clear.
‘He thinks I’ve fallen that far.’
A bitter sense of humiliation chilled the blood in my veins.
While Evangeline grappled with this reality and grew despondent,
Ludwig interpreted her silence differently.
He thought she had no excuse because it was the truth, and so she had shrunk back.
As a result, Ludwig’s confidence swelled even more.
“You were so bold with me back then, weren’t you? Saying Hillia was nothing special. That you could give yourself to me, right? What happened, Eva?”
“….”
“Besides… I saw her too, from a distance. Hillia that day.”
Evangeline lifted her eyes and looked up at Ludwig.
Lost in his memories, gazing toward the Imperial Palace, Ludwig failed to sense the killing intent radiating from Evangeline.
“She was truly beautiful.”
The dragon’s eclipse had been visible from almost everywhere around the Imperial Capital.
Naturally, Ludwig had also rushed out in shock and witnessed Hillia.
He forgot his own predicament and the purpose of his secret hiding in the Empress’ Palace.
He was simply mesmerized by Hillia’s overwhelming beauty before his eyes.
The Milky Way embroidered across the night sky sparkled with her at its center.
Between Hillia’s pink hair, a tiara of moon and stars gleamed brilliantly.
It wasn’t merely the beauty of the tiara that suited Hillia.
Its value and meaning aligned perfectly with her as well.
‘Yes. No woman seemed more suited to be the Empress than Hillia.’
Ludwig stared at her in a daze, his eyes unblinking, before he unconsciously reached out his hand.
The moment I saw Arpard pull her into his embrace, I had to grit my teeth.
‘Again, I’ve been robbed again!’
Though Ludwig had never truly loved her, losing Hillia felt devastatingly precious and unbearable.
Especially now that he understood just how valuable a jewel was once it had been in his grasp and then stolen away.
He began comparing the two women in the opposite way from before.
‘Looking back now, I can’t fathom why I was so blinded by Evangeline. She’s not even as beautiful as Hillia.’
Ludwig convinced himself that he had been bewitched by something.
The value of the Roux Mansion and the Delphin Duchy were incomparable.
The only advantage Evangeline held over Hillia was having the Empress as her backing.
‘And that Empress is now stripped of her authority and confined to her pension.’
All because of her failed attempt to harm Hillia.
Suddenly, rage surged through Ludwig’s chest.
He glared at Evangeline with bitter resentment.
‘If it weren’t for this woman, Hillia would be my wife right now. Then it would be me, not Arpard, who possessed the woman blessed by the dragon.’
Naturally, the position of Crown Prince would have fallen into his hands as well.
Ludwig stared at Evangeline with contemptuous eyes and spoke.
This time, he made no effort to restrain or measure his words.
“You’re no longer the flower of high society—you’re a laughingstock. Everyone mocks you. If only you hadn’t seduced me in the first place…!”
Evangeline didn’t hold back and struck back.
“Why? Do you really think Hillia would be in your arms if that were the case?”
“Of course she would! She was my fiancée! She was mine!”
“Even so, you would have lost her to the Crown Prince on the wedding day anyway.”
“…!”
Ludwig’s expression twisted.
Evangeline, who had struck the blow, felt neither satisfaction nor joy.
Because her own words had wounded her as well.
‘That’s right. No matter what I or Ludwig did, we couldn’t have stopped Arpard from abducting Hillia.’
No matter how much she schemed, there was no preventing the two of them from being bound together.
Ludwig, who had paused for a moment, suddenly began screaming at the top of his lungs.
“It’s all that knight’s fault!!”
“A knight?”
“Yes! That arrogant knight from the Delphin family—what’s his name! That bastard was so presumptuous!”
“…Count Beltane?”
“Yes, that’s him!”
Hearing Ludwig’s words, Evangeline’s memory stirred.
Most of the retainers and servants of Delphin were under her control.
But there was one person to whom that didn’t apply—Count Beltane was the prime example.
‘That’s right, I remember now. Come to think of it… that man was guarding Artanus Hall.’
Evangeline asked, puzzled.
“Now that I think about it, that Knight is staying in the Imperial Palace, isn’t he?”
“That’s right! Hillia came rushing over and brought him there.”
A spark of interest flickered in Evangeline’s eyes.
“She went there herself to bring him?”
As my mind churned through the implications, Ludwig’s complaints continued unabated.
“That bastard! His eyes have been corrupted from the start! He’s always been looking at Hillia with displeasure!”
A brilliant idea struck Evangeline like a bolt of lightning through her mind.
‘That’s it!’
At the banquet in Artanus Hall, Hillia and Arpard had appeared as an affectionate couple overflowing with love.
Enough to burn Evangeline’s heart pitch black with envy.
‘…But no one knows the future.’
To her original plan of using only Ludwig, Evangeline added one more stratagem.

* * *

My orders were carried out immediately.
Anticipating potential resistance from the Empress’ Palace, I sent Isephin and Anny along with the other maids while adding one additional instruction.

“Don’t go directly to the Empress’ Palace. Go to the Palace first and seek the Chamberlain’s assistance.”

If the Chamberlain himself, or another confidant of The Emperor, were to accompany me, the situation would change entirely.
It would no longer be merely a clash of wills between me and The Empress, but a confrontation involving The Emperor himself.
The Empress had already been outmaneuvered by The Emperor once before.
She could not afford to overreach again.
And my prediction proved accurate.
The Head Maid of the Empress’ Palace, Countess Epial, was brought before me.
Of course, she wasn’t literally bound and dragged; she walked in with composure.
But the feelings of The Empress who surrendered her maid, and the maid’s own disposition, were likely not so different.
I crossed my legs and regarded Countess Epial, whose face was rigid with tension, with a cold demeanor.
Only after the maid entered the reception room did I truly grasp how much my position had shifted.
Neither I nor the palace attendants said anything, yet the maid offered me respect of her own accord.
She knelt deeply and bowed her head.
“…!”
She was none other than The Empress’ own maid.
Had I not defeated The Empress at the banquet, she would never have lowered her head to me first.
Concealing my faint emotion, I spoke with measured calm.
“Do you understand why I summoned you?”
“…I do not, my lady.”
Her curt tone was naturally stiff—a clear refusal to yield easily to me.
I smiled gently and continued.
“First, I summoned you because I was concerned about The Empress’ health and well-being.”
“…!”
“The Emperor has forbidden me from visiting her directly, you see.”
After suffering such humiliation at the banquet and losing control of her inner palace, The Empress’ disposition could hardly be at ease.
My inquiry into her welfare in this situation could only be interpreted one way.
‘Your mistress must be beside herself with distress, isn’t she? I know everything.’

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