Duke Ashillean’s Contractual Marriage - Chapter 16

 

Louismond was trembling throughout his audience with the Emperor. 

 

The Emperor looked down at the terrified Louismond. She didn’t reproach him for daring to raise his head without having permission, but that was it; she wasn’t particularly interested in Louismond. Even when Count Graham told her that he was offering Louismond to her, it entered her one ear and went out the other ear. 

 

The despondent Count Graham dragged the frozen Louismond outside after their brief audience with the Emperor. Even after that, Count Graham still insisted and continued to pressure Louismond to seduce the Emperor. He was even planning on throwing him to the Emperor’s bedroom. Louismond resisted desperately; he even declared that he would rather starve to death, and then he endured a couple of months without stepping outside of his room. 

 

That was a big problem.

 

Louismond was from the House of Scholars, and the Emperor had ordered that the scholars from the House of Scholars be appointed as Imperial Court Officials. However, Louismond didn’t go to court for two months. This was an act of disobeying the Emperor’s orders equal to treason. Count Graham yielded in the end. Only then did Louismond come out of the door after Count Graham swore that he would never insist on pushing him inside the Emperor’s bedroom. 

 

As he had sworn, Count Graham didn’t force Louismond to seduce the Emperor any longer and instead, he was now pushing him to marry Marquis Odill’s daughter. Louismond knew what that marriage meant, because he was no longer the ignorant and illiterate Louismond. 

 

‘Are you planning on making me the Emperor if you can’t make me the Emperor’s husband?’

 

That was a treason – a treason different from Louismond not going to work in the Imperial Palace. 

 

‘… This life is also apparently ruined as well.’

 

Louismond was stunned. In the midst of this, he wanted to strangle Count Graham by his neck and ask him a question, ‘The Emperor couldn’t possibly not know this!’

 

Louismond recalled the Emperor’s eyes he had seen with his audience with her. Those were eyes that looked at him as if she was looking at a food she didn’t want to eat. Even Lisana, who looked at him while blushing, didn’t even catch his eyes. He had only one thought in mind: ‘I must run away.’

 

It was a thought he always had for his past seven lives, but he always failed. 

 

The Emperor was an unprecedented genius in history. It hasn’t been that long since she killed the tyrant, but she had already established an empire and stabilized the governing system. Just how hard it was to run away from her empire, Louismond experienced enough in his previous seven lives. 

 

‘At least I have to get out of this den of the rebels. But how?’

 

The situation was highly unfavorable with Louismond, even if he changed his goal from ‘running from the empire’ to ‘getting out of this den of the rebels’. 

 

Louismond was trying to pull apart from Count Graham not because of his love for his family, but to survive. However, the Count didn’t even pretend to listen to him and instead, he scolded Louismond for being an ignorant coward. 

 

It was crazy and maddening. Louismond was driven into a corner eventually. 

 

“That’s right, marriage. It’s marriage!”

 

He chose a method he would never think of choosing if he wasn’t crazy. His thoughts jumped there when people around him started to sing wedding songs. 

 

“But with whom?”

 

Half insane, Louismond weighed the terms of his bride-to-be – a person who should be highly favored by the Emperor, an unmarried woman who can get him out from Count Graham and Marquis Odill who shouts ‘Long live to Louismond’s reinstatement’, and as an additional bonus, she had to be strong enough to protect his neck from Duke Feltharg and Dominent. 

 

He wondered if there was such a person that could exist in this empire, but there was one much to his surprise. It was one of the three Dukes supporting the Empire, and the older sister of the Emperor, the highest-ranking aristocrat who ruled the northern part of the country trusted by the Emperor, and was given independent military command – Duke Ashillean. 

 

He would have been able to realize how absurd it was if he had just calmed himself down just a little and took time to think about it. Marrying the older sister of the Emperor who killed the tyrant? 

 

But being driven into the corner, Louismond had no room to make such a rational decision. So, after persistently chasing after Rubiana, he had to scream at her like this. 

 

“Pl-please marry me!”

 

“What?”

 

“No, marriage – let’s get married. Do it with me – that marriage!”

 

Please.

 

4. Reason for marriage

 

She received a proposal from a man with a dazzlingly beautiful appearance – a heartbreaking, mournful and desperate one. It’s probably polite to show that she was moved, surprised, or at least embarrassed. 

 

Rubiana wasn’t particularly embarrassed, surprised, nor moved. She didn’t even get surprised nor glared at him for this very random act. She just looked down at her arm held by the trembling Louismond. He was grabbing her. For Rubiana, this was more shocking than his random proposal. 

 

‘I didn’t feel like I wanted to be vigilant at all.’ 

 

That being said, Louismond should be the strongest assassin, or aggressive that was inferior to that of a rabbit and squirrel. In any case, he seems to be the latter. How could there be a human who wasn’t even as good as a rabbit or squirrel? 

 

‘Interesting.’

 

Rubiana scrutinized Louismond up and down again. She was wondering how weak he was, but he doesn’t seem that feeble. He was tall enough to have her looked up and thin, but he had a firm body build and thick bones. 

 

‘He’ll be useful if he eats well, sleeps well, and trains well.’ 

 

Anyway, he was a strange man. It was only then that Rubiana saw how Louismond was earnestly looking at her. 

 

“Oh, what did you just say?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“No, I think I heard it wrong.”

 

Rubiana scratched the back of her head. It was because she was embarrassed, but he seemed to be different from those people she was accustomed to their vile gossip about her. 

 

‘I’ll pretend I didn’t hear your nonsense. I’ll pierce this part of your head with an arrow if you say that nonsense again. I could also stab you with a knife.’ 

 

Louismond doesn’t seem to be different. 

 

“Th-that….”

 

The frightened and hesitant figure of Louismond did not look like a man proposing to a woman.

 

‘Well then.’

 

Does he want to marry me? I must have heard him wrong. 

 

“No, you don’t have to tell me if you’re in trouble. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”

 

I don’t know what he was saying, but I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it since I think it will be troublesome. Rubiana didn’t force the hesitant Louismond to answer. 

 

“Excuse myself. As I said to Marquis Odill’s Young Lady earlier, please contact Duke Feltharg if you have any complaints regarding me.”

 

She was about to walk away after saying that, but Louismond didn’t let go of her arm. His grip was quite strong. He wasn’t aggressive, but he was strong. His grip was interesting.  

 

“Pl-please don’t go. You haven’t answered my proposal yet.”

 

“What am I supposed to answer?”

 

Again, he asked Rubiana for her answer on his ‘proposal’. 

 

“I’m talking about marriage. Just now, I just proposed to the Duke.”

 

“What did you say you did?”

 

“…?”

 

“A marriage proposal – a proposal!”

 

“…!”

 

Rubiana’s face was wrinkled. It’s just that, she didn’t realize it when she heard some nonsense. 

 

Louismond arbitrarily interpreted that Rubiana was angry, and then continued with haste. 

 

“I understand, you must have been surprised. And that you’re also flustered.”

 

“Yes, well. That….”

 

… would be right, is what she was to answer, but he never gave her a chance to speak. 

 

“I don’t know if you know me, but regardless of whether you know me or not, you might be wondering what was wrong with me. Yes, I also don’t know why I am doing this.” 

 

“Excuse me….”

 

“No, I knew, that’s why I was doing this. I don’t want any more than this.” 

 

“So, what….”

 

“Just three years. Please stay married to me for only three years.”

 

“What…?”

 

“After that, I will gladly sign the divorce papers – no, it would be better if we at least sign a contract even before the marriage. After all, isn’t the Duke looking for someone to marry now? Because of the ‘blood oath’ you made to God?”

 

“…!”

 

Rubiana’s eyes changed in an instant. 

 

“Wait. Wait a minute….”

 

She hastily stopped Louismond, but he didn’t – no, he couldn’t. 

 

“But aren’t you worried that a marriage partner wouldn’t appear so easily? I can assure you that your trouble will continue. It can’t be easy to find a marriage partner, so please accept me.”

 

His long and reckless proposal that poured out without taking a single breath was finally over. Huff, huff, Louismond grabbed his chest and took a deep breath. 

 

Even if there was no water, his expression was like he wants to be patted on his shoulder, be praised for his hard work and be handed a glass of water, but Rubiana isn’t having it. 

 

“How do you know that I made a ‘blood oath’ to God?”

 

A cold voice cut off in the middle of his harsh breaths. 

 

Blood oath.

 

It was something that only Callena, Rubiana, and the monk who were present knew. Rubiana herself had never spoken it to anyone, and neither did Callena. Then all that’s left was the monk. 

 

The monk who followed to record Callena’s achievements was deaf and mute.  He was an honest man who swore allegiance to Callena, so there was no way he would walk around and gossip. 

 

‘Then who?’

 

Rubiana’s green eyes turned cold.

 

It didn’t matter that the blood oath was made public. However, that is very relevant information about the Emperor that the tyrant’s illegitimate son even knew about. 

 

The surrounding air became heavy. Louismond felt that tingling pain crawling on his skin – a feeling he had experienced several times before his head was decapitated. 

 

‘Oh, no one knows it now?’

 

He thought that he would apologize for knowing it late, but he couldn’t think of any other excuse. 

 

“Ah, that….”

 

“….”

  

 

Rubiana’s eyes looking at Louismond became even colder. Unable to see that, Louismond grinned at her – a desperate business smile. 

 

“It’s a s-secret.”

 

I couldn’t give my dog ​​my habit, and when the situation became urgent, the skills I used often in my first life came out. If you do this, everyone seems to have no choice but to move on.

 

Shing, Rubiana immediately drew her sword and aimed it at Louismond’s neck. 

 

“…!”

 

“That secret, I will find it out for you after I cut off your head.”

 

The voice that reached his ear was colder than the sword that was aiming at his neck.