My Contract Husband Demands a Divorce - Chapter 71

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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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Kildian readied his crossbow and headed toward the Hunter’s Shelter.
Saidel was already waiting there, standing beside a single horse and eight hunting hounds.
A moment later, a carriage emblazoned with the seal of the Huniswald Clan pulled into the clearing.
Scheit stepped out first, followed by Amarynthis.
The moment Kildian saw her, his brow furrowed in a deep scowl.
“An uninvited guest has arrived.”
“I was bored staying in the mansion alone, so I tagged along. I hope I’m not intruding?”
Kildian didn’t bother to answer.
Instead, his murderous gaze shifted directly toward Scheit.
When Scheit lowered his head, Amarynthis whispered something to him.
Watching the two of them made Kildian’s stomach twist with irritation all over again.
“If you knew what role your husband plays at the Hunter’s Shelter, you wouldn’t find being here very amusing.”
His lips curled into a mocking sneer as he spat out the words.
“And what role is that?”
Kildian stared at Scheit.
At first, he had assumed the changes in Scheit were entirely due to his own orders.
After all, he had instructed the man to dress up nicely and seduce Amarynthis.
Yet seeing how natural the look seemed on him now planted a seed of doubt. He wondered if this was the true Scheit Huniswald.
“Scheit, why don’t you tell her yourself? Go on, explain to your wife exactly what role you used to play.”
“I… mostly acted as a hound. I would hunt whatever my… Master pointed out, or I would skin the game.”
It meant he had served as nothing more than a dog and a servant.
His description was entirely accurate.
Though his stuttering manner of speech had improved slightly compared to the past, the core of it remained unchanged.
So did his slouched, subservient posture.
Yet when Kildian had seen him at the Flower Show yesterday, the man had undoubtedly appeared neat and dignified.
Was that side of him merely an act?
Kildian frowned heavily as he wiped down his crossbow.
“Doing the same old thing all the time gets tedious. …Saidel.”
The moment he called the name, Saidel stepped forward from behind him, grinning with a fox-like smile as he led a horse over.
“Baroness, this is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of greeting you.”
“Cut the useless chatter.”
“Whoops, right away. Of course, Your Highness.”
Saidel bowed deferentially and handed the reins of the horse over to Scheit.
As Scheit took the reins, he subtly raised his gaze.
Kildian’s brow twitched.
That look in his eyes. While his gestures and speech pattern were similar to before, that fleeting look was strangely grating.
“Today, you are the prey, Scheit Huniswald.”
“What did you say?”
Startled, Amarynthis quickly linked her arm through Scheit’s.
“What is the meaning of this? Scheit is the prey?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. He runs, and my hounds hunt him down.”
“You must be joking.”
“Does this look like a joke to you?”
“Let’s go, Shan. There’s no reason for us to stay here any longer!”
Amarynthis tugged hard on Scheit’s arm.
However, it was the nickname she used to call him that truly grated on Kildian’s ears.
“Shan?”
Kildian raised his crossbow.
The moment the sharp arrowhead pointed directly at Scheit’s forehead, both of them froze in their tracks.
“Scheit Huniswald. Who is your master?”
“…It is Prince Kildian.”
“Then you know exactly what you need to do. I’ve even been generous enough to provide you with a horse.”
Amarynthis shook her head, locking her eyes with his.
But Scheit gently pulled his hand free from her grasp.
“I will be back shortly.”
“No, Shan! Don’t do this.”
As Scheit mounted the horse, Amarynthis’s face turned deathly pale.
By all accounts, Kildian should have felt a sense of triumph, yet his insides only churned with a strange, festering irritation.
“Ten minutes. I will give you a ten-minute head start to flee. If you can avoid being caught for an hour, I will let you go for today.”
Scheit spurred the horse forward.
The hooves kicked up the dirt violently as his retreating figure vanished into the dense woods.
Beside them, Saidel was checking the time.
Amarynthis could only stomp her feet in sheer helplessness.
No matter how fast he rode, there seemed to be no way to evade eight trained hunting hounds.
Even so, she couldn’t call anyone else for help right now.
The ticking of Saidel’s pocket watch echoed through the air like a funeral dirge.
Brimming with tears and utterly at a loss, Amarynthis suddenly marched right up to Saidel.
“Baroness? Approaching me so aggressively makes my heart flutter a little bit……”
While Saidel rambled on with his nonsense, Amarynthis snatched the pocket watch straight out of his hand.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she slammed it onto the ground and crushed it beneath the heel of her shoe.
“No! Do you have any idea how much that cost!”
Saidel wailed as he dropped to his knees, frantically scrambling to gather the broken components of his watch.
Since Kildian had promised a ten-minute head start, she had completely eliminated his ability to keep track of the time.
It was a petty, desperate trick, entirely unlike her usual clever self.
Kildian let out a sinister chuckle and reached into his coat. He intended to pull out the whistle used to command the hounds.
Noticing his movement, Amarynthis lunged forward to snatch the whistle away from him.
She might have successfully dealt with Saidel, but stealing something directly from Kildian was well beyond her capabilities.
Holding the arm with the whistle high above his head, Kildian looked down at Amarynthis, who was pressed flush against him.
“My, aren’t we acting incredibly desperate.”
“Why on earth are you suddenly doing this!”
“Suddenly? You’re the one who suddenly went running to your cousin to tattle on me.”
“That’s because you keep demanding the impossible from me…!”
“Even so, when someone holds your weakness, you should have obeyed submissively. You even went so far as to tell him that you’ve been giving me one billion. Your research is a mess, and your missions fail time and again. If I’m not extracting money out of you, what else could I possibly use Scheit Huniswald for?”
One billion. That was the exact price Amarynthis had offered on the day of the fire to save Scheit Huniswald’s life.
Amarynthis bit her lower lip fiercely.
“Is it money you want? I will keep giving you the one billion. All I have to do is pay you, right?”
“That much is a given. Didn’t I already tell you? If I fail to marry the Princess of Nodis Kingdom, you will have to become my wife. If Scheit Huniswald dies in an unfortunate accident today and leaves you a widow, I will gladly take you in.”
“What do you even plan to achieve by marrying me?”
“I’m going to use you as my tool. Your intellect, your silver tongue, and even your physical body—all of it.”
“Do you honestly think I would submissively follow your orders if Scheit dies? Even if I were to become your wife, what guarantee do you have that I would ever take your side?”
Kildian’s expression twisted into a dark scowl.
Amarynthis was entirely right. She was a cunning woman, exceptionally skilled at putting on an act.
If her love for Scheit Huniswald was genuine, she would bear a deep, venomous resentment toward Kildian the very moment he died.
If Amarynthis were to become an enemy operating from within, the threat she posed to Kildian would be beyond anything he could anticipate.
“Ha. This is truly absurd. Are you actually threatening me for the sake of a pathetic wretch like that?”
“You were the one who started the threats.”
“Is that so? What a tear-jerking display of devotion.”
Kildian reached out and grabbed Amarynthis roughly by the collar.
“Do you truly love him? Answer me, Amarynthis.”
Her pupils trembled slightly.
Her chest rose and fell with a slow, heavy breath, and her eyelids fluttered as her gaze drifted downward.
The long rays of the setting sun began to stain her pale cheeks with a deep crimson glow.
Yet he could tell.
The blush spreading across her face, like ink bleeding into water-soaked paper, was not caused by the twilight.
“Yes. I love him.”
It was the same answer she had given him once before.
Back then, she had responded in a clear, flat, composure-filled voice.
At the time, Kildian had believed that declaration to be a calculated move.
However, seeing her reaction now, the truth finally dawned on him. That previous answer had been a lie. Or perhaps her feelings had simply grown uncontrollably deep since then.
Her pulse was racing, her face was flushed, and her breathing sounded heavy and flustered.
Her body, entirely at a loss for how to handle its own emotions, was proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Amarynthis spoke the absolute truth.
And that very realization scraped violently against Kildian’s nerves.
“If anything happens to Shan, I won’t sit back and watch. So you make the choice. Decide whether you want to turn me into your enemy or not.”
Even though she was trembling from sheer terror, she stared straight into Kildian’s eyes without flinching.
The Amarynthis that Kildian knew was never this kind of woman.
When on earth had she changed like this?
To think that a person could be transformed so completely by something as trivial as love.
Kildian bit the inside of his cheek hard before finally dropping his arm.
The moment he did, Amarynthis lunged forward and snatched the whistle from his hand.
As she spun around, Saidel, who had been watching the spectacle in awe, quickly scrambled backward out of her way.
Amarynthis threw herself onto Kildian’s horse and galloped off at full speed in the direction Scheit had disappeared.
Kildian stood motionless for a long while, his murderous crimson eyes glaring intently at Amarynthis’s retreating back, before he finally barked out an order.
“Send Scheit Huniswald far away. I don’t want to lay eyes on his face for the foreseeable future.”

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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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