The Contract Marriage for Attilenta's Revenge - Chapter 64

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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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Atilenta’s Contract Marriage for Revenge — Episode 064
“I’ll be watching you.”
Henrik spoke softly, affection evident in his tone, yet there was nothing awkward about it — as if such tenderness came naturally to him, or perhaps he had always been this way.
Dancing in the beautiful banquet hall, to the music, surrounded by sweet fragrance.
Henrik, whom every daughter of the Bwendofska Noble House yearned for, was revealing his true heart only to me, and considering how much softer he had become compared to before, I ought to have felt my own spirits lift — yet they didn’t.
But my heart was far from at ease. The reason remained the same as always.
Even if Henrik and I were getting along well these days, that alone didn’t resolve everything.
I whispered back to him in kind.
“I am gazing upon Your Highness with the same regard.”
He led me skillfully through several dances, never once losing the rhythm or his hold on me.
When we returned to our seats, we sat pressed close together, as newlyweds reluctant to be parted always do.
“I hope you’ll eat your fill,” Henrik said.
He pushed a generous plate toward me, laden with well-cooked meat and vegetables, urging me to eat. Though I had no appetite, I made an effort to comply.
After the meal, more lively music began, and dancing resumed. I mingled appropriately with members of the royal family and the nobility, yet I never left Henrik’s side for even a moment.
The banquet stretched on, and sunset soon began to glow through the windows. The atmosphere showed no signs of waning.
Before long, Barsha had settled beside me, raising her wine glass. I too sipped at the wine she offered, content to seem a leisurely noblewoman enjoying the music.
Then Barsha leaned close and whispered in a voice so low it was barely audible.
“Your Highness. The truth is, I’m planning to call off the betrothal.”
What?
I nearly raised my voice in shock, but caught myself, conscious of those around us, and only tilted my head toward her.
“Wasn’t the House of Opole politically advantageous? And you and Vinnicha have been together for such a long time……”
Barsha, who always carried a cat in her lap like a treasured possession and was stroking it now, offered an unguarded smile.
“Your Highness, you’re said to rarely complain of pain.”
In that moment, I couldn’t bring myself to react to her smile.
“I do complain, actually.”
She had seemed shy about her curiosity regarding her betrothed’s heart, yet now Barsha appeared remarkably serene for someone breaking such an old promise.
“Because it’s a position I’m permitted to take.”
My heart sank like a stone.
What have I done?
I had deliberately uncovered the secret that Lord Krakup had been hiding, and in doing so, had moved Barsha’s heart. The choice was hers to make, but the fact remained that I had provided the catalyst.
I should have answered according to royal protocol, measured and proper, but my lips would not cooperate.
It seemed I had been greatly mistaken all along.
To be precise, when I first searched the Mirror for Henrik, seeking my revenge, Barsha had not appeared in it.
In the end, she was a person entirely unrelated to my revenge.
So why, Atilenta?
Why did you break apart two people who had pledged themselves to one another?
It should have been simple — just answer one private request from Henrik. But now, only now, did I realize how senseless what I had done truly was.
Cold sweat beaded on my palms.
“I understand…… Your Highness.”
I managed to maintain my composure, but I could see Henrik’s expression shifting subtly as he watched me.
Yet no amount of composure could contain the tempest that was shaking my mind.
When Henrik asked me to help Barsha and use Magic, had he wished for his sister’s betrothal to shatter?
I could be certain of one thing.
No. He could never have wanted such a thing.
Neither would I. Not for a single moment.
After that, I have no clear memory of how the banquet unfolded. There was no disturbance, and I sensed instinctively that it had been uneventful and successful — nothing more.
I maintained my composure until we entered Henrik’s quarters. Once the eyes of outsiders were gone, once we had safely withdrawn inside, and once the servants had retreated, I hurried to the washroom.
“Ugh……”
The nausea surged up and I could hold it back no longer. I brought up everything, though I had eaten very little.
“Hgh……”
“Atilenta.”
Henrik, who had followed me, reached out his hand, but I, crouched where I was, quickly shook my head.
“Your Highness, I’m not fit for you to see me like this……”
Still, Henrik took a step forward.
“At least let me rub your back.”
Rather than refuse further, I quickly rinsed my mouth with cold water and stood up.
“It’s fine, I’m better now……”
Dragging my body, which hung limp as if soaked through by rain, to the bedchamber, Henrik moved toward me as if to embrace me at once.
“…… Please, sit.”
I wetted my gritty mouth with my tongue and spoke in a hoarse voice.
“How can you say such a thing? You’re not well.”
I drew in a sharp breath, as though my heart had plummeted straight through the floor.
His face bore genuine concern—furrowed brows, a mouth drawn tight without a hint of a smile, and gentle fingers patting my shoulder.
In that moment, I understood.
Here, in this foreign land, Henrik was the only person I could face with honesty. The only one.
Even though I could never claim to love him truly, or to trust him completely.
Even knowing myself that our feelings were not the same—and knowing, I’m certain, that he understood this just as well.
I had never spoken such common words to him, never expressed affection the way he did to me.
Yet for all that, there was only him by my side in this diminished, ruined state of mine.
Tears spilled down without warning. Even after purging everything, something vile still lingered, threatening to rise again.
“Ah… ahh…….”
My legs gave way beneath me, and I sank down. Henrik slowly drew me into his arms.
“Atilenta…….”
I could no longer deceive him. I could not tell another lie.
Not when I was already hiding the most crucial thing.
“Your Majesty, I… I did the same thing with Selena that… what was done to me… Barsha, she… she had a betrothed from long ago…….”
With tears flowing like a spring that would not run dry, I made no attempt to wipe them away—and the words tumbled out of my mouth at last.
“If I had not used Magic… if I had refused the princess’s words… ahh… but I didn’t…….”
“So that was what you were thinking, Atilenta.”
Henrik’s hand, burning hot against my skin, carefully brushed away the moisture on my cheeks.
“Barsha and that girl are different people. And you and Barsha are different as well.”
I wished I could become a merciless woman instead, willing to do anything for my own ends.
“You cannot change the choice she made. No one can—not even a god.”
The thought that I had done something akin to the very event that set her on that path made my emotions surge violently.
“Even Bwendia herself could not have changed the heart of the one who served her.”
Perhaps this weakness had emerged precisely because Henrik had kept shaking me, these past days.
Or perhaps this was simply my nature.
I recited silently to myself like an incantation.
……I tried not to believe. No, no—I do not believe.
“……For the rest of my life, I will doubt you, Your Majesty. Even if you always treat me with such tenderness, whether those around us are watching or not.”

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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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