Chapter 10

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 10

Chapter Title: The Successful Abduction

-----------------------------------------------------------------

You're saying you'll let me live, then.

I let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

"Got it. We'll go with that."

Arpad's face twisted back into that subtle expression from moments ago.

He looked somehow displeased.

Like a fishbone was stuck in his throat.

'What's that about? Why the long face?'

Reading the mind of a mad crown prince was beyond me.

How could a sane person ever understand a lunatic's thought process?

But there were more pressing matters.

'No time to waste!'

After the clash between Arpad and Sir Beltein, our conversation had eaten up more time than expected.

If Ludwig heard the news and came rushing over now, we'd be in deep trouble.

I poked Arpad in the side.

His eyes widened in surprise as he looked down at me, and I whispered,

"Hurry up! Aren't we doing the bride abduction?"

"Of course we are."

Thank goodness.

At the same time, I choked back fake sobs and shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Why are you doing this? Please let me go, Your Highness! I'm supposed to get married today!"

I heard Arpad stifle a hollow laugh.

He asked in a low voice,

"So I'm definitely playing the villain here."

"Naturally. That's what I hired you for, isn't it?"

I knew exactly what happened to a bride who ran off with another man on her wedding day.

'That's precisely why I chose the bride abduction route.'

In my past life, I'd already experienced it firsthand—trying to flee with Sir Beltein to avoid marriage, only to get caught. I'd seen how a woman who escaped with another man was treated.

That's why I'd opted for the bride abduction.

'Whether it fails or succeeds, I need to protect my reputation afterward.'

Coldly speaking, it meant sacrificing Arpad's reputation to preserve mine.

'But saving his life and putting him on the throne more than makes up for it!'

Plus, Arpad was already infamous as the mad crown prince.

Unlike me, he had no reputation worth protecting.

"Come on, let's go already!"

At my urging, Arpad chuckled softly.

He glanced around ostentatiously, then bellowed,

His acting mirrored my earlier pleas for release.

"Hmph. My bride has been sullied."

Are you insane?!

'He's not about to expose that I put him up to the abduction, is he?'

Thankfully, my fears were quickly dispelled.

It came after the knight captain's scream-like question.

"Your bride, Your Highness? What do you mean by that?!"

Arpad replied with utmost arrogance.

"She's too good for a worm like Ludwig."

Right on. Spot on. Even if this mad crown prince's mouth was crooked, he sure knew how to talk.

I nodded inwardly.

"So I'll take her. For the insult of her veil being lifted, the price will be me becoming her groom, no?"

It was utter madness.

"You can't!"

"Stop him!"

"Inform Grand Duke Ludwig at once!"

As the knights belatedly moved to block Arpad, the mad crown prince answered their futile struggles with his crossbow once more.

Thwack! Thud!

The bolts whistled viciously, slipping into gaps in their armor.

Screams erupted in a cacophony.

In an instant, he'd rendered four more knights combat-ineffective. Then Arpad declared leisurely,

"Tell Ludwig there's no reason to wait at the temple anymore. He can slink home."

"Y-Your Highness!"

With that, Arpad scooped me up and spurred his horse into a gallop.

And I stayed true to my role as the abducted bride to the very end.

Tears streaming, screaming in feigned terror.

"Please let me go, Your Highness! Aaaah!"

Of course, I made zero effort to actually escape his arms.

'Yes! Success!'

Clop! Clop!

Ironically, the horse's hooves rang out cheerfully.

Anyone who tried to block the path was sent flying by the fierce stallion's kicks or the crown prince's crossbow barrage.

"Kyaaah!!!"

A frail woman's scream trailed off into the distance.

"Your Highness! You can't!"

"Stop!"

"Heavens! How could this...!"

In the end, Ludwig's knights could only watch wide-eyed as today's bride was kidnapped by the crown prince.

The knight captain wailed, his face contorted.

"The bride! The bride has been abducted!"

It would be hours later before word spread that this was the first bride abduction in some three hundred years.

In imperial history, the only bride abduction—and the only one recognized—had occurred three hundred years prior.

It coincided with the founding of the empire.

The empire's very origin was a rampaging dragon abducting a princess from her wedding procession. Naturally.

The dragon's bloodline from that union had been passed down through the imperial family ever since.

Now, the crown prince—known to carry the strongest dragon blood of that era—had abducted a bride on her wedding day.

'A perfect reenactment of the founding emperor's legend!'

For the imperial family to deny it would be to undermine their own legitimacy from the roots.

'They absolutely can't deny it.'

Even for the sake of their own legitimacy, rejecting this bride abduction would be impossible.

That was exactly what I'd aimed for.

Truth be told, I hadn't come up with it alone.

I'd seen a similar case before regressing.

'Ludwig and Evangeline's marriage happened the exact same way.'

It was after I'd been framed for adultery and attempted murder, branded a criminal, and divorced.

Arpad was already dead by then, and Ludwig had naturally taken the crown prince's seat.

The two who'd ousted me staged a grand theater: a bride abduction.

To bolster Ludwig's shaky legitimacy and turn their wedding into the event of the century.

They'd exploited the founding emperor's legend.

After all that cursed drama, they finally wed.

And it caused quite the stir among the public.

'It was incredibly effective at boosting their fame and popularity.'

This time, I was just turning the tables on them.

I grinned from within Arpad's embrace.

'Ah, it's such a shame I can't see Ludwig's twisted face right now!'

Bam!!

The angel statue adorning the temple altar shattered into pieces.

The priests cried out in horror.

"Grand Duke!"

"What outrageous behavior is this?!"

"Such blasphemy!"

Normally, Ludwig would never make such a blunder.

But not today.

The shocking news had reached him while he waited for the tardy bride.

"The bride was stolen? Bride abduction?! What the hell is this nonsense?!"

Ludwig's scream-like wail alerted even the guests to the crisis.

"Did I hear that right? The bride was abducted?"

"But who has the guts to pull something like that?"

"The groom is Grand Duke Ludwig, and the emperor himself arranged the match..."

Shocked murmurs rippled outward.

Thud!

The knight who failed to protect the bride and delivered the news was struck by his lord and tumbled across the virgin road.

"Guh! Forgive me, my lord...!"

Even those appalled by Ludwig's disgrace frowned.

While losing one's bride to abduction warranted fury, assaulting a vassal in public over it wouldn't look good.

Evangeline Ruth, attending as a guest, quickly read the room.

She rushed to Ludwig's side.

"Brother! Calm down!"

She leaned in close, whispering just for him.

"Stop it! Do you know how many eyes are on you? Get a grip."

"Ah..."

Only then did Ludwig barely regain his senses.

'Nothing's gone smoothly since last night—especially not today!'

This morning's hysteria from Hilia had already earned him a warning from the emperor, piling on the stress.

Then came news of the bride abduction, snapping his reason entirely.

He roughly composed himself.

"...Sorry. I lost my head."

"Kill me, my lord."

The knight, still prostrated, knew Ludwig's true nature well.

He'd served at the grand ducal estate from the start.

He knew this apology wasn't sincere.

'Once we're back at the estate, I'm done for!'

But he had his own defense. Who could have stopped the abductor?

The knight pleaded,

"But my lord, the one who abducted Duchess Delphin was none other than Crown Prince Arpad himself! We couldn't possibly..."

Ludwig spat out a mix of rage and shock.

"What?!"

Beside him, Evangeline paled and staggered.

"B-Brother?"

That "brother" carried a subtly different nuance from how she usually addressed him.

But no one noticed.