The Villain Is Obsessed With His Fake Wife - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Sold Bride

The woman disappeared.

“Estelle?”

The man looked for the traces of the missing woman like a madman. But he didn’t get a response, which could only imply one thing.

The man clenched his fist tightly that his blood vessels spurted out.

‘It’s a lie.’

The woman abandoned him and disappeared.

The memory of the moment that seemed like a lie flashed across his head. But the man continued to wander in search of her even though he’s clearly in a mess.

The room where the woman usually stayed, the rose garden where they smile saying it was sunny, and the space just for him and her, who smiles shyly while looking at him.

‘It seems like everything remains the same.’

Now, even her life and death is unclear. At any rate, he was heartbroken at the assumption that the woman might’ve died.

The man’s handsome face hardened his expression.

‘This won’t bring my wife back.’

Even if the woman died, the remains of the body had to be captured and tied up to him. The dim madness moved on to serve one purpose.

‘Even if I don’t know exactly how you disappeared.’

If there is a way to escape, there must also be a way to catch and imprison her.

‘Estelle.’

His lovely wife with a pale pink and a touch of platinum blonde hair that shone like a spring flower, as well as her mysterious indigo-blue eyes.

‘In the end, this is what happened.’

Everything is his fault, that he had completely lost her beautiful smile.

‘But still, I can’t live without you.’

Even in the bright morning, his whole world was dark as night. The happiness she presented became the foundation for another hell.

The man’s giddy eyes turned towards the wedding ring. An elegant platinum-colored ring, studded with deep blue sapphires.

The man wanted a jewel that resembled the woman’s eyes, and the woman wanted a red jewel that resembles the man’s pupil. But in the end, the wedding ring was decided according to the man’s choice.

So this ring on his hand was the only trace left by the woman who disappeared.

The man, with his eyes closed, reverently kissed the wedding ring. Somehow, he felt that he’s connected to the woman through the ring.

The faint voice that was ringing in his ear grew louder.

‘Hello, Johann.’

I will definitely bring you back. Even if it means crushing your ankle and locking you up.

“We will continue to be together.”

The man, Johann Blanchett, opened his eyes elegantly and had a languid smile on his lips. It was the smile that the woman occasionally looked at as if possessed.

“Forever.”

* * *

Estelle was an orphan adopted by the Duke of Libertan. The reason why a humble orphan could be adopted by the prestigious Duke of Libertan was simple.

‘The death of Princess Yesella.’

The lovely Yesella has blonde hair that shines like the sun, and deep blue eyes. People devoted their souls to the angel that was born in the devilish Duke of Libertan.

So, when Yesella’s life ended due to her terminal illness, not everyone could stand her vacancy. They tried to make up for the terrible sense of loss by filling in with something similar.

It was Estelle who was chosen as the most similar girl.

When they met her in the orphanage by fate, her blue eyes reminded them of the young Yesella, and she looked lovely like a doll despite being an orphan.

Estella has won the tremendous luck of being adopted as a princess of a dukedom for ambiguous reason.

But no one knew that she wasn’t really lucky.

The Duke and Duchess of Libertan, who they thought were supportive parents, abused her after adopting her.

In the first place, the reason why they adopted her was simply because they needed a presence to remember their daughter. So whenever Estelle did something that didn’t fit her role, they would starve her for days and lock her up in a confined space.

Perhaps to hide the abuse, they barely let her go out of the mansion, appearing like she was nicely wrapped with love.

That was, until the Duke of Libertan went bankrupt.

* * *

Honestly, I knew this day would come.

‘It’s really ruined.’

I guessed it from the time they forcefully increased the size of the business, but I actually had known earlier that the Libertan Duchy would fall anytime soon.

‘Because I read it in a book.’

A few years ago, having passed out in a closet, I made a shocking discovery.

This is where the novel lies, and I am the heroine of the book.

‘How come that my life was too tough.’

According to the contents of the book, a deal like a streak of salvation was made for the Duke of Libertan, who is sitting in a pile of debt.

‘A deal to get rid of all his debts with my marriage alone.’

Apparently, the other party was the Duke of Blanchett, who was the family’s enemy, but it’s a very common business to sell a spare daughter anyway. So, after being married to the Duke of Blanchett, she eventually felt betrayed because she had an unrequited love for her villainous husband without knowing that she was just a fake wife that was sold to him. She ran away with the male lead afterwards, but ended up being brutally killed.

‘I can’t die like that.’

In the meantime, running away from the Duke of Libertan has been unsuccessful, so there is only one way.

‘Build trust then run away.’

Fortunately, unlike the original story where I don’t even know that the villain was an enemy of Duke of Libertan, this time I know even a little of his background.

At that moment, the butler suddenly opened the door and entered.

“Lady, the master is calling you.”

The long-awaited day has come.

The day I’ll be sold for marriage to the villain.

* * *

I quietly closed my eyes.

It was because the villain, who made me wear an eyepatch, was taking me by carriage with strict secrecy.

‘It’s the same as the original so far.’

The Duke of Libertan, who suddenly called me, gave me the words I wanted.

‘Now it’s your turn to repay the love you received from this family on behalf of Yesella.’

‘If you are a human being who knows grace, you will know what you are going to do.’

The moving wagon stopped. The moment I heard the sound of someone’s footsteps, the eyepatch that was covering my eyes was loosened.

Because I had been wearing an eye patch for a long time, my eyesight did not return immediately.

As I quietly blinked my eyes, my surroundings slowly caught my eye.

There was a man right in front of him. A breathtakingly handsome man.

His black hair, elegant and beautiful features like aristocrats, and especially his blood-red eyes shone exceptionally.

Johann Blanchett.

The best groom of the empire who reestablished the fallen duke family at a young age and became its new owner.

Unlike the beautiful face, which coexists with drowsiness and neatness, the body, which seems to be tightly woven with muscles, made people tense just by looking at it.

“Hello, madam.”

As he smiled softly, a deep dimple pierced his left cheek. And when his cool face smiled, he became as fresh as a little boy.

“It’s your first time watching it like this, right?”

“……”

“Wasn’t it scary on your way here?”

The drowsy voice sounded like he was genuinely worried about me. My heart was pounding unknowingly at the beautiful exterior.

He’s really a bad guy in many ways.

‘It’s all fake. Calm down.’

This handsome man’s purpose is to play with me until his grudge was undone, and then ruin me completely.

‘You can never run away.’

‘Because like me, your whole family must suffer to the end of hell.’

Recalling the man’s revenge that I had read in the original story, I was able to escape the shock of seeing a handsome man.

But the man’s actions did not stop there. The man’s hand in a black gloves covered my hand within.

His large hands were big enough to cover mine. But her body tensed up with the sudden contact, then using a soft voice, he whispered in her ear.

“Is my wife afraid of me?”

At first, Estelle was mesmerized by her husband’s appearance, but when she heard this, she became terrified and eventually cried.

‘I understand.’

Even though he’s whispering sweetly, she can feel a sense of intimidation. It seemed that she would be pressed down by the pressure, as if she was in front of a menacing beast.

“No, I’m not scared.”

I can’t make it obvious.

His red eyes are strangely narrowing, and he is observing the reaction that ‘Estelle’ will show.

‘What does this villain wants?’

I remembered myself thinking of the villain.

Estelle is an orphan adopted in place of Princess Libertan, who died at a young age from an incurable disease.

A blessed adoptee who grew up happily and favorably with his enemy, the Duke of Libertan.

She was actually abused, but no one knew about it.

I slowly grabbed the man’s hand and smiled.

“I was just surprised to meet you for the first time.”

“Hmm?”

“Is it strange for a wife to be afraid of her husband whom she met for the first time?”

“Was it?”

The man who was watching me raised the corner of his lips and smiled.

“There were a lot of people who got scared as soon as they saw me. In fact, the conditions are enough for my wife to be scared too.”

“Why?”

At first glance, my reflection over the man’s red eyes seemed harmless.

“My wife was abandoned by her family and was sold to me.”

The man slowly added more.

“It’s also because of money.”

He smiled at me with eerie red eyes like a beast looking at its prey.

It felt as if the man’s breath had spread through the nape of her neck. Her hair was standing up and she got goosebumps.

“Doesn’t my wife feel betrayed by her parents?”

* * *

Johann looked at his new wife.

Estelle Libertan.

She was merely a target for revenge.

To be honest, Estelle, who is not Libertan’s real daughter, has not committed any crimes. But she is the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Libertan, whom they cherish as if she was their own.

That alone made her an important chess piece in this great revenge.

“Hello, madam.”

Creamy, soft pink platinum blonde hair, and adorable features like a painstakingly well-made doll.

And her slightly terrified reaction was just as he had hoped.

He even put an eye patch on purpose for that.

“Is my wife afraid of me?”

Especially when she is sold for money by her trusted family. It was clear that she was in a perfect state to be swayed by confusion and anxiety.

However, Estelle’s answer was a bit unusual.

“Is it strange for a wife to be afraid of her husband whom she met for the first time?” she said.

Suddenly, her terrified reaction disappeared, and she stared at him with curiosity in her bright eyes like a baby rabbit.

Those eyes strangely stimulated people’s desires.

“My wife was abandoned by her family and was sold to me.”

So Johann decided to shake it up one more time.

“It’s also because of money.”

There was a gentle ripple in Estelle’s indigo blue eyes.

“Doesn’t my wife feel betrayed by her parents?”

“The feeling of betrayal… not really.”

The woman carefully opened her mouth as she lowered her white eyelashes that looked more silvery than platinum blonde.

“I’m grateful that they adopted me, an orphan, and raised me until now.”

It’s an unexpected, yet exemplary answer.

“Now that I am past the age of having my parents to take care of me, I have to do my duty.”

“How are you going to do your duty?”

“I don’t know for sure. Nevertheless, I will do my best to help as much as I can now that we’re married.”

Now Johann realized why she could be so naive.

‘It looks like she grew up nicely as the rumors says.’

For that reason, she did not understand the situation properly, and she seem to believe that this marriage is normal.

‘Really…’

It looked good to play with.

Johann slowly reached out his hand towards her face. His fingertips strangely clasped Estelle’s cheeks and tickled her ears.

Estelle shuddered and shook her shoulder as if conscious of it.

“Are you going to do your best?”

He asked, twisting the corners of her lips.

“It wouldn’t be possible just because my wife wants it.”

“Then…”

“Then?”

Johann followed her as she tilted her head at an angle and met her gaze.

“Duke, what do you think I should do?”

The innocence felt in the answer can strangely charm people.

Suddenly, he remembered the moment he was dealing with a woman. The Duke of Libertan, who was sitting in debt and in trouble, made an offer to him.

‘She’s pretty as the rumors say, so I’m sure the Duke will like it.’

‘I don’t care even if you do whatever you want to make yourself feel better. After all, that child won’t succeed the duchy anyway.’

He sacrificed the adopted child he had raised with love.

‘You mean it doesn’t matter what happens to the daughter you love so much?’

‘……Use whatever is worth using. That child will understand if it’s for the sake of the Duke of Libertan.’

Perhaps it was a proposal they could dare to make, considering that he was not the eldest son of the Blanchett family they had killed, but rather a distant relative.

So Libertan abandoned this woman.

They couldn’t throw it away and even gave it to him directly, asking him to get rid of it.

A fake marriage with her as if she was sold and abandoned even by her family.

And as if backed up by that statement, this fake didn’t resent her family in the slightest.

That strangely devoted appearance touched the nostalgic memories, and even the thought of ridicule disappeared.

‘This is a bit strange.’

He had long waited for this moment of revenge.

Obviously, he should savor sweet revenge as much as possible, but something unpleasant kept coming out of the corner of his heart.

“I think this kind of problem is very difficult.”

Estelle nodded and smiled bashfully.

“I don’t know for sure. Nevertheless, I will do my best to help as much as I can now that we’re married.”

Maybe it’s because this woman is so naive and innocent more than he thought.

She may be because she’s abandoned by everyone and this woman reminds me of his most unhappy days.

But that was all.

There was no reason to change the plan.

Still, he intends to destroy this foolish woman in the most wretched way when he finds out about the sins of her adoptive parents.

* * *

The villain took me to the mansion’s room and disappeared.

Only after confirming that Johann closed the door and everyone had disappeared, that I managed to catch my breath.

‘I hope my answer didn’t sound weird?’

There was no sense of betrayal because I had no expectations for the Duke and Duchess of Libertan in the first place.

I was just worried that the part might look suspicious.

‘I did a good job, though.’

One more reassuring thing is that, like the original, I used the proper room.

It’s not as good as I usually use, but I thought I could sleep comfortably at night.

As soon as I sat down on the bed, a maid knocked on the door and greeted me.

She was a maid with brown hair and a calm-looking impression. But somehow it felt familiar.

“Hello, my lady. I’m Betty, who was decided to serve the madam from today. It is an honor to have you.”

‘I remembered.’

In the original story, she was a maid who betrayed me at Johann’s order.