Chapter 11

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 11

Chapter Title: Abducted Bride's Secret Vows

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With the bride vanished, there was no way the wedding could proceed as planned.

Ludwig had endured the humiliation of having his bride snatched away right before the temple altar, forcing the ceremony to be canceled, while the guests scrambled to spread the shocking news throughout the capital.

In my first regression, I recalled memories of my previous life as well.

Memories of living as an ordinary woman in another world, Korea.

One cliché from a morning drama I'd watched back then was this: the ex-lover grabbing the bride's hand on the virgin road during the wedding and running off with her!

I hadn't planned it consciously, but this time, I'd executed it myself.

Of course, I'd escaped with Sir Beltein last time too, but not mid-ceremony. It had been a desperate flight the night before.

By that measure, this was my first truly dramatic experience.

What would I say if someone asked for my thoughts?

My answer was simple.

"...Save me!"

It could also be put like this.

"Please put me down!"

Pretty fitting for a bride in the midst of being abducted, right?

But I had no time for such idle thoughts.

Arpad laughed as if he couldn't bear how exhilarating it all was.

"Not yet! I can't let you go until we're somewhere safe!"

I cried out in protest.

"We've already left the capital ages ago!"

No matter how much I thrashed about, Arpad didn't budge, his immense strength and balance holding firm.

"We don't know when pursuit might catch up!"

No, I knew he was right.

But, but!

Clop-clop-clop!

The powerful, swift horse kept galloping without pause.

Each hoofbeat made the world shake violently.

Shake, shake, shake...

And I wasn't just riding the horse—I was perched on Arpad's lap.

Being higher up doubled the jolting!

In the end, I cast aside all pride and yelled honestly.

"...I'm gonna puke!"

"...!"

Even the mad Crown Prince couldn't ignore that. The horse that had seemed ready to shake me to death finally slowed to a stop.

"You alright?"

With Arpad's now-cautious voice and touch, I was finally able to dismount to solid ground.

But the moment my feet touched down, I collapsed.

"Urp!"

Even the ground felt like it was shaking!

It was like the worst hangover I'd never even experienced back in my Korean life.

While I lay sprawled on the dirt, surprisingly, the mad Crown Prince patted my back and asked,

"Can you see straight?"

"No. Everything's still spinning even when I'm just lying here."

"Sounds fine to me."

He grabbed my shoulders and slowly lifted me up.

(At that moment, I realized he was afraid to check if I'd actually vomited on him from yesterday's meal.)

A slender finger—pale and pretty, yet rough—pointed to a small white castle in the distance.

"That's our destination."

His words made that modest little castle look more luxurious and comfortable than the imperial palace itself.

And so, after three straight days and nights of hard riding, we arrived at a remote villa far from the capital.

I entered the castle looking like a crumpled tissue ball that had been rolled in the dirt.

If Arpad hadn't supported me, I probably couldn't have walked at all.

Finally at our destination, I felt like shouting three cheers.

"I can finally wash up. Where's the bed?"

Arpad, who had been holding me up, spouted nonsense.

"My bride is being too forward. It's a bit embarrassing."

I turned my head in disbelief, only to face a blatantly unfair sight.

Arpad, dressed in pristine white ceremonial robes that matched mine perfectly, was annoyingly spotless and radiant.

Some of us look like crumpled trash! Not fair!

Staring at his still-glistening, infuriatingly handsome face, I mumbled limply.

"I can't... even joke around... or get mad... anymore, so cut me some slack."

This was the honest truth.

For an untrained noble lady's body, three days of horseback riding had been an extreme ordeal.

It suddenly made sense how much Sir Beltein must have worried about me during our escape in my previous life, going easy on the pace.

Ah, was that why we got caught so quickly?

I realized the painful reason for my past life's failure, but right now, something even more important loomed.

"I need... to rest..."

As my eyes began to droop, Arpad stopped me.

"...!"

But his method shocked me awake.

If he'd just slapped my cheek, I wouldn't have been this startled.

Smack.

He kissed my cheek. A sweet fragrance brushed my nose.

I jolted fully awake.

I practically leaped back—like a mackerel tossed on ice, vivid and flailing.

Enough to slip from even Arpad's grasp.

"Wh-what... what do you think you're doing?!"

Arpad curved his eyes into playful arches and smiled.

"A light kiss to wake the sleepy princess?"

"...!"

While I stood there stunned, on the verge of fainting,

Arpad dragged me into the castle by the hand.

It wasn't a large castle, but it had a small chapel.

And there, an elderly priest awaited us.

"You've truly come, Your Highness."

The priest looked back and forth between me and Arpad with a troubled expression.

Only then did sleep fully flee from me.

"It can't end with just the abduction. We have to sign the marriage contract right away and get it notarized by the temple too!"

My threat... no, my request—Arpad had remembered and fulfilled it perfectly.

Arpad knelt before the priest first and demanded,

"Officiate my marriage to Duchess Hilia Delphin and bear witness."

This was our wedding.

I knelt beside Arpad, collapsing beside him.

The priest's expression grew even more distressed.

He looked at me and asked,

"Are you not Grand Duke Ludwig's bride, Duchess Delphin? Do you truly consent to this marriage?"

I hesitated to answer "yes" myself.

Surprisingly, Arpad had anticipated even this and replied to the priest on my behalf.

"It's been three days since I abducted the bride on her wedding day. Even if I returned her safely now, would her reputation survive unscathed?"

"Your Highness!"

"The path that wounds her honor the least is to marry me."

The priest couldn't refute Arpad's words.

"And have you not already sworn to me? That you'd do anything to repay the favor from my mother."

In the end, he held out no longer.

The priest officiated our marriage—brief, but complete.

We exchanged vows before the main god and mother goddess.

We signed the vow document. (My hands trembled so much I had to press hard to sign.)

We received holy oil on our heads and blessings.

"Thus, you two are reborn as a couple blessed by the main god and mother goddess."

I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The right to marriage and its recognition belonged solely to the temple.

No emperor, not even a dragon, could infringe on it.

As I relaxed, an utterly unexpected command fell from above.

"Now, exchange the vow of the kiss."

"...!"

I glanced sideways in shock.

There stood the man with his inscrutable smile—now my husband.

Arpad leaned in naturally.

On any other day, I'd have recoiled in surprise, but not now.

This is... just part of the wedding ceremony!

I squeezed my eyes shut and awaited the deed(?).

With my vision blocked, my other senses sharpened.

My heartbeat pounded wildly.

It felt like drums beating right by my ear.

Should I just open my eyes?

But that might make the mood even weirder.

After what felt like an eternity, I received the vow kiss.

Surprisingly, his lips were soft and plush, and the way they enveloped mine was far gentler than I'd imagined.

Nothing like the vow kisses with Ludwig, which I'd experienced multiple times before.

His had turned obsessive and fierce, as if to devour me whole and steal every breath.

"...Mm!"

It startled not just me, but even the priest.

Until the priest couldn't bear it and turned his flushed face away.

Only when I was on the verge of suffocating did Arpad finally release me.

"...Hah! The priest is right here—show some restraint."

I lightly scolded him, playing the embarrassed new bride.

But inwardly, it was different.

Are you trying to kill me with asphyxiation?

Even under my accusatory glare, Arpad stared at me intently, as if entranced.

Chills ran down my spine.

What is it? Don't tell me, already...?

But my thoughts couldn't deepen further. The ceremony wasn't over yet.

Arpad was sensitive to situations where he lost control of himself.

Since childhood, he'd shown signs of mania multiple times and even experienced mild rampages.

But that kiss just now had been utterly bizarre.

It had started as merely a required step in the ceremony.

Yet the moment their lips met, Arpad lost all reason in an instant.

He devoured her like a parched beast finding an oasis in the desert.

And as the kiss deepened, as it prolonged, a strange sensation washed over him.

The beast inside him, always writhing sharply and unpleasantly, suddenly grew docile.

It was a satisfaction and joy he'd never felt before.

I've never felt anything like this even during mania precursors.

Arpad eyed his new wife with even greater suspicion.

"Your Majesty! Please, I beg you—avenge this indignity!"

Ludwig had been protesting near the Emperor's bedroom for nearly three days straight.

No one in the palace was unaware of the reason.

In fact, no one in the entire capital lacked the rumor.

An open abduction right on the main boulevard before the palace.

Fresh humiliation and rage surged, and Ludwig bit his lip again.

Blood trickled from his already mangled lips over the past three days.

He deliberately left it, visible to all onlookers.

"I can't eat or sleep thinking of the pain my bride must be enduring! Please, Your Majesty!"

As his nephew's desperate cries echoed from outside, the Emperor pondered deeply.

What snapped him back to reality wasn't Ludwig's shouts, but the woman seated across from him.

Empress Isabel.

"Your Majesty. How do you intend to handle this matter?"