My Contract Husband Demands a Divorce - Chapter 16

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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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The moment I finished speaking with Beldamin and stepped outside, Sindy, who had been sipping cocoa near the entrance, dashed over and fell into step behind me.
As we left the Coffee House and walked toward the carriage, Sindy spoke up.
“Nothing happened, right? You vanished so suddenly that I was tempted to follow you.”
“I just spotted someone I was glad to see. Were you bored waiting alone?”
“Oh, not at all! It’s been a while since I’ve had something this delicious, so I enjoyed myself. Oh! The macarons here are incredible. Master Arpeggio would love them.”
“Really? Shall I send him a box as a gift?”
“Oh. Seriously? That would be wonderful!”
Hopping with excitement, Sindy suddenly froze mid-stride.
And then,
Swoosh!
She spun around so fast she whipped up a gust of wind, her hand shooting out to seize something.
At the same instant, a muffled scream rang out.
“Ugh!”
Before I could even process what was happening, Sindy had already pinned a man far larger than herself, slamming him down against the ground.
“Miss. No, wait, Baroness! Are you alright?”
“Yes.”
I replied, clutching my racing heart.
‘What is this? A kidnapper?’
Occasionally, bold yet foolish criminals tried to abduct me to extort money from the Rootsild Family.
It seemed today was no exception.
It had been a while since anyone had attempted a kidnapping in broad daylight like this.
Let’s see his face, I thought, stepping closer as Sindy yanked the man’s hair back, forcing his head up.
Under the bright sunlight, the assailant’s face was fully revealed.
However,
“Huh?”
At my reaction, Sindy tilted her head.
“What’s wrong?”
“…Sindy, let him go. I know him.”
“People you know are always the most dangerous! This guy trailed us the moment you stepped out of the Coffee House, Baroness.”
“Well, yes, but…”
I looked down at the pinned man with an awkward smile.
Papilion’s face was flushed crimson with sheer humiliation, and he was glaring at me as if he wanted to murder me.
Despite his expression, he probably hadn’t approached to harm me.
I felt a bit bad for him.
Besides, it didn’t look like he could beat Sindy anyway.
“It’s fine. Let him go.”
Sindy didn’t lower her guard, narrowing her eyes. She kept her gaze locked on Papilion as she slowly backed away.
I extended a hand to Papilion.
“Are you alright?”
Papilion grimaced and slapped my hand away violently.
While I held back a bristling Sindy, he staggered to his feet on his own.
He brushed the dirt from his clothes with irritated, rough strokes.
His eyes remained filled with raw hostility.
“I wondered why such a noble personage was wandering about unescorted.”
As Papilion muttered, Sindy stepped forward as if to shield me. I patted Sindy’s forearm and gently pulled her back to my side.
Just then, Papilion’s voice cut through the air.
“Baroness.”
The small pouch he tossed flew through the air, tracing a gentle arc toward my feet.
Naturally, Sindy kicked it away before it could even touch me.
The pouch tumbled across the ground.
Yet Papilion, the owner of the object, didn’t seem to care.
Instead, he ground his teeth as if chewing on his own rage.
“Pass this along to your husband. Tell him to keep better track of his belongings.”
With those cryptic words, he turned on his heel and walked away.
What was that about?
As I tilted my head in confusion, I heard a sharp huff beside me.
“What is wrong with that guy? Why is he acting like that?”
The answer was probably inside that pouch.
When I reached down to pick it up, Sindy moved swiftly ahead of me.
“Let me check it first. It could be dangerous.”
I was about to nod when a sudden chill crawled up the back of my neck.
My memories and intuition clicked together like puzzle pieces.
Scheit Huniswald was Kildian’s right hand, and Papilion was Yulisian’s aide.
I didn’t know about Archduke Yulisian, but Kildian viewed his younger brother as a thorn in his side.
‘Which means…’
The memory of that stormy night flashed through my mind. That night, Scheit had collapsed in my room, drenched in someone else’s blood.
Before the residual image could fade, I snatched the pouch from Sindy’s hand and gripped it tightly.
“It’s fine, Sindy. Since it involves Scheit, it’s better if I look at it. If it seems dangerous, I’ll throw it away immediately.”
“…Alright.”
Sindy pouted.
Stepping into the carriage, I peeked inside the pouch.
Inside was a pocket watch with cracked glass. The chain was snapped in half, and both sides were caked in dried mud.
Beneath the stains, a faint engraving caught my eye.
I reached in and gently wiped the dirt away, revealing a familiar name carved clearly into the metal.
Scheit Huniswald.
What if, that night, Scheit had attacked someone belonging to Archduke Yulisian, or perhaps even the Archduke himself?
That would explain why Papilion harbored such hostility and hatred toward me.
After all, I was Scheit’s wife. He might believe I belonged to Prince Kildian’s faction.
‘Even so, why throw this at me and leave?’
Belongings found at a scene were crucial evidence.
With this, they could easily prove that Kildian or Scheit had attempted an assassination.
If worst came to worst, it could even be used to frame someone.
To throw away such vital evidence to me—it felt as though he was intentionally discarding the proof.
…No.
Strictly speaking, it was closer to returning hard-won spoils to an enemy state.
Like a declaration of surrender.
It was an action a subordinate would never take if his master were still alive.
‘Could the person Scheit attacked actually be Archduke Yulisian himself?’
If Archduke Yulisian was dead, Papilion’s action was a submission.
A soldier who lost his king would no longer fight.
‘Which means…’
The moment my thoughts broke off, the carriage came to a halt.
I climbed out of the carriage in a daze.
I spotted Scheit sitting on a garden bench, his legs crossed as he read a book.
He looked utterly at peace.
Noticing my arrival, he looked up and offered a smile.
“You’ve returned?”
My hand tightened instinctively around the pouch. The pocket watch inside clinked softly.
Perhaps he really had killed someone.
* * *
Archduke Yulisian Kleinheits was the most prominent candidate for Crown Prince.
Whenever he traveled up to the Capital, he became the center of public attention for days on end.
Rumors even circulated about how many times he breathed in a single day.
However,
“He didn’t show up to this ballroom either?”
“Not just this one; apparently, he hasn’t been seen anywhere since the trial ended.”
“Still, whenever he was in the Capital, he would at least show his face at Imperial events.”
“Could he have already returned to the Southern Region?”
“There hasn’t been any word of that.”
“From what I gather, he hasn’t even attended the political council meetings.”
“Well, the trial was not long ago. Isn’t he just keeping a low profile?”
“I heard he’s confined to his sickbed.”
Strangely, no concrete rumors were spreading. His closest confidants were also excessively quiet.
There were no rumors of his death.
Yet, delaying the announcement of a death was a common tactic in political chess.
‘How can so few people know about his whereabouts?’
As expected, that night, Scheit must have…
Perhaps Archduke Yulisian was no longer of this world.
Or at least in a state equivalent to it.
My mind was a tangled mess.
The fact that my husband might be a murderer? It was unsettling, of course.
But my own safety mattered far more than that.
Archduke Yulisian was the Emperor’s favored successor.
He was also the core figure of the massive Emperor’s Faction.
If he were dead, the Emperor’s Faction would seek to establish someone else as the heir, rather than Kildian, who led the Noble Faction.
Then the next successor would be one of the two princesses, and the support that had been concentrated on Archduke Yulisian would fracture.
With their forces divided, it would be even harder to oppose Prince Kildian.
‘A bloodbath will surely sweep through the Imperial Family.’
Imperial power struggles were like natural disasters.
Even those unrelated to power could easily vanish without a trace just for speaking out of turn or meeting the wrong person.
So what would happen to those who were involved?
If Kildian were backed into a corner, the very first person to be cast aside would likely be…
“Your gaze is rather intense, Baroness. Why are you looking at me like that? It makes me want to get a divorce.”
It would be this man, who handled all of Kildian’s dirty work.
My husband, Scheit Huniswald.
This infuriating man, who was currently scraping at my already frayed nerves with the tip of his fingernail.
He would be the first one driven to his slaughter.
And if my luck ran out, I would be dragged down and harmed right along with him.
Because, regardless of everything else, I was his wife.

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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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