Chapter 15

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 15

Chapter Title: Unfading Irritation

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From Arpad's perspective, it was only natural.

He had been the only knight to step forward in front of the crown prince, who had caused such a ruckus during the wedding procession.

'Not so much out of overflowing loyalty, but more like a man so blinded by love that he disregarded even the crime of treason.'

Moreover, Hilia's attitude of going out of her way to protect that man grated on him.

"Yes. Therefore, the knight's sin is naturally mine as his master. Please punish me instead."

"No! Drawing the sword was entirely my own decision. The Duchess bears no fault!"

The sight of them shielding each other was almost heartwarming.

And the ever-calculating Hilia was willing to rack up yet another debt just to save him.

In truth, Arpad had every reason to be delighted.

It was a weakness this inscrutable woman—whose very abilities defied measurement—had revealed of her own accord.

'I should be thrilled and scheming how to exploit it...'

But.

Arpad voiced the doubt that surfaced in his mind.

"Why does it bother me so? Why does it grate?"

But she was in no state to answer his question.

She had fallen asleep beside him, out cold like she'd fainted.

She must have been utterly exhausted.

He had deliberately shown no mercy to the stamina of a frail woman, pushing their mount relentlessly.

Yet Hilia hadn't uttered a single complaint the whole time.

'Ah, well... nearing the castle at the end, she did say she felt like vomiting.'

Her face had gone deathly pale as she dismounted, nearly collapsing on the spot.

That expression had been oddly amusing and endearing, Arpad thought—an uncharacteristic notion for him.

But the faint smile that tugged at his lips soon vanished.

'One thing's for sure: it's not the mental fortitude of some sheltered noble lady raised in a greenhouse.'

A bride with not a single unsuspicious thing about her.

This point stood out especially.

'Her upbringing holds nothing remarkable.'

Time had been short, but Arpad had looked into Hilia Delphin as best he could.

The results? Nothing noteworthy at all.

No environment that would forge such iron will, no records of any extraordinary feats.

As if she'd been swapped out for a completely different person overnight.

Especially during that mad bride abduction affair—when Arpad had pressed a blade to her throat—Hilia hadn't so much as twitched an eyebrow.

'Even a battle-hardened knight would struggle with that.'

A woman suspicious in every conceivable way. He needed to stay vigilant.

Thus, if that knight truly was her weakness, Arpad should be overjoyed.

Reason dictated as much.

But Arpad's emotions told a different story.

"It still displeases me. The irritation hasn't faded a bit."

Arpad concluded as much while watching the morning sun rise.

Gazing down at his wife, who slumbered deeply with soft, rhythmic breaths, he grumbled under his breath.

"On our wedding night, worrying about another man's welfare right in front of your groom. Isn't that a bit much, my dear?"

Of course, the blissfully oblivious Hilia, lost in sleep, couldn't respond.

Arpad watched her for a moment longer before lying down close beside her.

If only to observe this baffling, intriguing woman from even nearer.

"Well, she's in my grasp now. I can keep watching as long as it takes."

He was a patient man. Especially when it came to things firmly within his control.

Ludwig couldn't hold back and spat a curse.

"Damn it!"

It was already the fourth day. Four days since the wedding, when he'd watched helplessly as his bride was stolen away.

'The whole kingdom—no, the entire continent—knows I'm a laughingstock!'

Yet the Emperor had said nothing out of the ordinary.

No sign of the vanished crown prince or his bride—not even a single hair.

The longer the disappearance dragged on, the deeper Ludwig's fantasies plunged.

What was Arpad doing with her?

Why had he abducted her?

Where had they gone?

What were they doing right now?

His worries and delusions fed into one another endlessly.

By the fourth day, they had ballooned beyond endurance.

Ludwig's chest burned like it was being charred away, impossible to bear.

He'd always seen her as his by right. Yet now that she'd been taken, even these thoughts haunted him.

'If I'd known, I'd have consummated our first night ages ago!'

Memories of Hilia's soft pink hair and her glossy cheeks stood out vividly.

Her gentle expression, always yielding to his stubbornness.

Why did every little detail ache with longing and regret now?

She'd been so naively foolish he'd mocked her for it.

He'd doused it with water, but the fire blackening Ludwig's heart refused to die.

Unable to contain himself, he bellowed.

"Any word on Hilia?!"

"We're terribly sorry. We've been searching high and low, but...!"

Ironically, the place where Ludwig stood was the Delphin ducal residence.

And the butler prostrated before him in abject apology was the Delphin household's own.

The Kielern grand ducal estate was far smaller and less opulent than the Delphin mansion, where he'd been living for nearly three years now.

In that time, Ludwig had seized complete control of the place.

"What about the palace?"

"...No word there either."

"Damn it!!"

With another curse, Ludwig hurled the glass from his hand.

Crash!

The crystal shattered into pieces, and the ducal maids cleaned up with practiced familiarity.

After raging alone, Ludwig headed to the basement prison.

To take out his fury on the one knight locked away there.

The basement door swung open. Seeing the man collapsed in a pitiful state, Ludwig unleashed his rage once more.

"You! Because you failed to protect the bride properly, I've been humiliated like this!!"

Ludwig stomped wildly on Sir Beltein's back.

The impact roused Sir Beltein from unconsciousness. In a voice fading to a rasp, he asked,

"The young... lady...?"

"How the hell should I know?! You handed her right over to Arpad...!!"

He kicked at Sir Beltein's arms and legs.

After Hilia's abduction, amid Ludwig's towering fury, Sir Beltein had been the first—and only one—to step up and beg for punishment.

The other knights had busied themselves with excuses.

Both Ludwig's own knights and the Delphin family's.

"We had no choice!"

"His Highness the Crown Prince's madness is infamous, isn't it?"

"We couldn't draw our swords against Prince Arpad!"

That didn't mean they'd escaped punishment.

Nor Ludwig's wrath.

But his fiercest anger had always turned on Sir Beltein, who had branded himself the sinner.

"A failure to protect my lord leaves me no words to speak."

Battered as he was, he'd marched straight to the basement prison that very day, becoming Ludwig's personal outlet.

The result? He was a total wreck now.

Ludwig rampaged like a monkey with only one phrase in its vocabulary.

"Die! Die! Die!! Never liked you from the start! Playing the proper knight so well!"

He'd stormed out earlier, snatched a sword from a patrolling guard knight, and charged back in.

A shrill woman's voice echoed through the basement.

"Ludwig!!"

Normally, Ludwig would have whirled around with a smile at that voice.

But not today.

"Go home."

No matter how beloved his lover, he had no mental bandwidth to spare for her now.

Especially with the lingering grudge from their fight over the wedding dress the day before the ceremony.

'And... I'd told her not to come to the wedding, but she'd shown up anyway...'

In that cream-colored, eye-catching dress, no less.

Surely, the one who'd ruined the wedding dress had been a servant in Evangeline's pay.

They'd argued that day, but he'd chalked it up to her jealousy in the end.

As she'd said, claiming the Delphin dukedom was what she wanted too.

But was it really?

The dress sabotage had felt off and ominous from the start.

Perhaps the true culprit behind wrecking his wedding—and turning him into a joke—was...

"Ludwig."

Evangeline called again, as if to snap him from his delusions.

The man still didn't turn.

"I said go! I don't have the spare energy for you right now!"

Finally losing his temper and venting fully, Ludwig heard words from behind that he absolutely couldn't ignore.

"I have news. Brother Arpad is heading to the capital with that woman."

"What?!"

Ludwig whipped his head around.

His eyes gleamed with dangerous light. Evangeline sighed inwardly at the sight.

'To think this is the original story's male lead...'

She nearly clicked her tongue.

But she kept her true feelings hidden.

Playing the part of the sweet, wise lover, she whispered to him.

"Mother's informants brought this. Which route they're on, how far they've come."

"Yes! Hand it over!"

Ludwig practically snatched the note from her grasp.

Evangeline masked her displeasure at his rough handling with expert poise.

And she egged him on.

"Mother's even lent you some of her personal knights. You need to hurry and take Hilia back, right?"

For her sake as well.

With a cold expression, Evangeline watched Ludwig storm out in a blaze of fury, lost in thought for a moment.

'But the original story had nothing like this. Is it a butterfly effect from all my meddling?'

Even if so, it didn't matter.

She intended to seize everything anyway.

She was like a test-taker with all the answers in hand.

No way she'd lose.

Descending from a fairly high hill, Arpad and Hilia sat together astride their horse, gazing into the distance.

"The capital's already in sight."

The true battlefield, where the real fight would begin, awaited them.