Surviving as the Wife of the Swordsmanship Clan’s Troublemaker - Chapter 114

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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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Chapter 114

I had been about to ask for her help, but Elise beat me to it.
“Is something troubling you?”
“Yes, yes. There is. It’s something I can’t resolve on my own.”
Elise pressed herself against my stomach and nuzzled her face against me. Elise asking me for help? I hadn’t anticipated this.
“I’ll help you.”
In truth, I had no choice in the matter.
“Hehe. You agree to help just like that? I’m touched.”
“Of course I should help you.”
If I could recruit Elise, I would help with anything. Anything at all. As I nodded vigorously, her eyes glistened with emotion.
“Why? Why do you want to help me so much?”
Yet she seemed curious nonetheless.
“Because I like you, Lady Elise.”
“Why me? When have we even met?”
We’ve met plenty. I’ve read about her again and again in the books. Perhaps the in-laws didn’t know what Elise truly liked, but I knew her better than anyone.
“I take great interest in you, Lady Elise.”
“Me? Why? What do you know about me?”
“There is no one who doesn’t know of the Lady of the Cardia Family.”
“That’s…”
Elise couldn’t hide her disappointment. She seemed to dislike the title of “lady.”
“But to me, it doesn’t matter who you are, Lady Elise. Even if you were a commoner like me, I would gladly have baked you a cake.”
“Really?”
“Of course. No matter how you live or who you become, if you wish it, I will gladly cook for you.”
“Hallara. Are you an angel who fell from the heavens?”
Elise’s voice trembled with emotion. I gave a modest shrug.
“Perhaps? That’s why you must hold on tight. You never know when you’ll meet someone like me again.”
“That’s true. In all my life, you’re the first person to give me a three-tiered cake.”
She spoke in a solemn voice, sniffling softly.
It was the sort of line a male protagonist in a romance novel might say—something like “you’re the first person to slap my cheek.” I hadn’t expected to hear such words from a woman.
“Hehe. You’re adorable, Lady Elise.”
Elise was undeniably a character one couldn’t help but love. There was good reason why readers pushed her as Docheop’s match. Seeing her in person, despite her slender frame, her plump cheeks were as soft as glutinous rice cakes.
“Then, would you let me stay close to you?”
“Pardon?”
Was she suggesting I become like Junel?
“If you weren’t married, I’d propose to you myself, but unfortunately you have a husband. So, I don’t care what it takes—help me escape from my family.”
I had been deeply troubled over how to convince her to leave the family, but she extended her hand first, offering to leave of her own accord.

***

Eva, tipsy from drinking and needing fresh air, carefully opened the door to the room.
It was past midnight, so she had expected Duncan to be asleep, but contrary to her assumption, he sat rigidly in a chair, wide awake.
Duncan sat with his arms crossed, eyes closed. As Eva cautiously approached, wondering if he had fallen asleep, a heavy voice emerged from him.
“Where have you been?”
“Oh, you haven’t gone to bed?”
“How could I sleep?”
Duncan slowly opened his eyes. As Eva drew near, the scent of alcohol wafted from her, and he exhaled sharply. Noticing this, Eva covered her mouth.
“I had a drink with the Duchess of Bloodmere.”
“Did she mention that Elise isn’t feeling well? That she’ll be resting in her room from now on?”
As always, it was his way of saying he would keep Elise hidden behind the excuse of illness.
“…Yes.”
She had answered affirmatively, but she hadn’t told Francesca any such thing. Of course, even if she had, there was no guarantee Francesca would understand.
“Hmph. I wonder if she’s going through adolescence—she’s been even more defiant lately. I apologize to you. I’ve burdened you with caring for Elise, and she’s not even your biological daughter, all because I’ve been preoccupied with family matters.”
“I’m fine. Despite her grumbling, Elise calls me stepmother faithfully.”
Eva had decided to carefully understand Elise’s heart through her conversations with Francesca. Elise, too, must be struggling in this place where she had lost her mother and her freedom. That’s why Eva had hoped Duncan’s relationship with her would improve. Only then would there be progress in her own relationship with Elise.
“No. There’s no need for that anymore.”
But Eva’s carefully laid plans crumbled with a single statement from him.
“I intend to advance Elise’s marriage.”
Duncan ran his hand roughly through his hair. His eyes gleamed in the candlelight. Eva asked urgently.
“Marriage? But you said we would prepare for that once her heart opened up.”
“Does it seem like her heart will ever open? The older she gets, the more defiant she becomes!”
The sound of his fist striking the table made Eva flinch. Duncan, seeing her frightened expression, grimaced painfully.
“I apologize.”
“No, it’s fine. But finding a suitable match for Elise will require time, won’t it?”
Investigating the family and its standing would take considerable time. Duncan, more than anyone, would want a partner from a family of high honor for Elise.
Finding someone who could pass his exacting standards would take at least a month.
But.
“I already have someone in mind.”
“Really? From which family?”
“Before coming to the Western Empire, the Duke of Bresbon mentioned something to me.”
The Duke of Bresbon, like Cardia, was one of the Five Hero Families and a duke of the Northern Empire. Due to business dealings with Duncan, they met and communicated frequently despite the distance between them.
“What was it?”
“You know, the Northern Emperor’s son who was said to have died? Apparently, he didn’t actually die.”
Duncan rubbed his eyes.
“…What?”
“I’m thinking of meeting that prince myself. Besides, I hear an international summit is being held secretly in the Western Empire soon—I’ll seize that opportunity.”
Duncan’s resolve hardened. At worst, he would lose nothing. If it were the Northern Imperial Family, honor would be abundant, and Elise would have much to learn. There was no point in her marrying into a family beneath the Ducal House—with nothing but her status as a duke’s daughter, she would run wild without restraint.
‘Elise, this is all for you and our family. And it’s a situation you brought upon yourself.’

***

Northern Empire.
In the heart of the empire where bitter winds howled, the Imperial Capital emerged, its clouds so thick they seemed to touch the heavens themselves. The snow-laden spires of the capital had long since lost their original color, bleached white by the relentless winter.
Crunch, crunch.
Each footstep that pierced through the blizzard carried an undercurrent of dread. And toward the destination of those steps, two figures stood.
One was an overwhelming presence—a creature like a monster who had survived the battlefield, with an imposing physique, muscles hard as armor, rough skin carved by the blizzard, and scars that told of countless wars. The Northern Emperor, Maximus.
Yet even that beast-like figure now resembled a terrified rabbit.
“…It is my first time meeting you.”
Maximus, barely managing to speak, knelt before the being before him.
“Noble angel.”
A fallen angel wearing human form stood at the destination of that voice, adjusting his garments with meticulous care.
“I am called Johannes of Lucidpol. We meet for the first time.”
The man’s name was Johannes of Lucidpol. Centuries ago, he had allied with the Demon King to annihilate humanity, only to be imprisoned by the Five Hero Families. He was a fallen angel.
He had appeared in human form.
White hair tinged with platinum, as if a single drop of Maximus’s golden locks had been mixed in. Skin so pale it was almost translucent. Deep-set eyes revealing irises of warm brown.
Inhabiting this borrowed human body, he moved his fingertips lightly to test it.
“For a corpse’s body, this is quite serviceable.”
“…Yes.”
Maximus’s voice cracked.
Then Johannes lifted him with a gesture so light it seemed effortless, yet Maximus’s massive frame obeyed. Maximus’s face contorted as he struggled to swallow tears he could no longer hold back.
“How strange. Why do you make such an expression?”
Johannes stepped closer to him.
“Is this not the face you longed to see so desperately?”
A face that bore an uncanny resemblance to Maximus’s own in childhood. The body of his son, who had lost his life in an accident six months prior. Johannes had desecrated the prince’s tomb and claimed that body—wearing the final form Maximus had cherished most.
“Humans weep or laugh at times like these, I am told.”
At Johannes’s emotionless words, Maximus hung his head. There was no son here anymore.
Before his eyes stood only a cruel angel.

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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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