IHTMP 06

I’ll Change My Husband First with an Abduction Marriage – Chapter : 06

At the same time, I sharpened every nerve in my body as I watched his reaction.

How he would react to my blood.

But Arpad was only startled that I’d thrown myself in even though I might die.

He didn’t react to the blood itself.
‘Thank goodness.

It means it’s not time yet.’
Once again, I could confirm that Arpad wasn’t yet swept up in true madness.

The Crown Prince, who had no way of knowing the reason for my observation or my conclusion, merely looked at me as if I were absurd.
“I’d never heard that madness is hereditary in the Delphine ducal family.”
“Our house is the bloodline of insignificant humans, so there’s no such thing.”
In other words, what I was saying was this:
‘Our house doesn’t have a hereditary disease like yours, where you go mad because you can’t endure dragon blood.’
It was a slap across the Crown Prince’s cheek.
‘Well, what are you going to do about it.

You’re the one who pulled a sword on me first.’
Besides, Arpad had already proven it through his actions.
‘He didn’t really draw his sword because he meant to kill me.’
If he had, he would’ve just let me do it whether I threw myself onto the blade and died or not.

But he stopped me.

At the very least, it meant he was curious about why I was doing this.
‘And it also means my offer tempted him, even if only a little.’
Arpad furrowed his brow for a moment.

Amazingly, that inhumanly handsome face looked like a sculpture even when he used his facial muscles like that.

Life must be so easy.

Ah, no.

He went mad and died three times.
“Fine.

So, confident and courageous young lady.

How are you going to keep this crazy Crown Prince from going crazy?”
It seems he’s aware that he’s a madman.

Unexpectedly, is his self-objectivity good?
“The madness that runs in the imperial family can’t be cured by anyone.

If you tell me the method, I’ll spare your life.”
“Just like that, for free?”
The Crown Prince was left speechless.

I smiled brightly.
“If I tell you the whole method right now, you’ll kill me, won’t you?”
“…….”
Hey, why aren’t you denying it?

Were you really going to kill me?

A shiver ran down my spine, but I did my best to pretend otherwise.

Arpad put more blatant threats into words.

That in itself was proof that he was being driven into a corner.
“…If I kidnap you like this, lock you up somewhere no one knows, and torture you, you’ll open your mouth eventually.”
“Ah, after you monitor and block everyone going from the Delphine ducal estate to the Imperial Palace?”
When I said what he was going to say for him, Arpad’s handsome face twisted strangely.
‘Don’t tell me he didn’t even expect this much of a reaction.’
I replied with a bright smile.
“There isn’t only one route for spreading Your Highness’s secret.

Among them, there are some that will be sent to Her Majesty the Empress’s family.”
The Empress, his stepmother, is the Crown Prince’s greatest enemy.

Naturally, having information about the Mercenary King pass to the Empress could only be fatal to the Crown Prince.

Arpad’s handsome face contorted violently.

He brought his face in close enough that the tips of our noses could touch.

Close enough that his breath brushed my skin, close enough that I could hear the sound of his heart pounding.

If you’re this close to a work-of-art handsome man, it’s only natural to feel your heart flutter, but…….
‘Flutter, my ass.

My heart is pounding because I don’t know when my neck might fly off.’
After drawing it out for a long while, staring me down as if to tear me apart, the words Arpad finally produced as though surrendering were these:
“You’re a strange woman.”
“I’m just an ordinary woman.”
“An ordinary woman doesn’t know my secret identity and threaten to tell the Emperor.”
“…….”
“And she doesn’t sneak alone into an underground graveyard on a night when the ominous Crimson Moon has risen, either.

How did you know I was here?”
One reason the Crimson Moon was called ominous was because many royals who inherited dragon blood went mad and died during this period.
“Just take it as me saying I know, okay?”
“You have no intention of telling me.”
I grinned.

How could I bare all my capital from the start?

In fact, Arpad likely wasn’t expecting that either.
“But how can I trust your words?

If I follow your threat and get deceived, the risk is too great.”
Well, it’s not like that isn’t true.

He’s already in a precarious position, treated like a bomb that might explode at any moment.

If it’s said that he abducted his perfectly sane younger cousin’s bride, everyone will think this.
‘The Crown Prince has finally gone mad!’
So, it seems this is the timing.
‘All I did was swing the whip, so I have to give him one proper carrot.’
Only then can I raise the credibility of what I’m saying.

I tried my best to speak as calmly as possible.
“If you let me go for just a moment, I’ll give you one down payment for the commission first.”
“What?”
“I’m not asking you to let me run away.”
I wiggled the tips of my right hand, which he was gripping firmly.
“I’m asking you to let me move just one hand.”
“…….”
He glared at me with an expression like he couldn’t bear how suspicious I was, but in the end he nodded.

The hand that had been gripping my wrist tightly so I couldn’t move at all withdrew.

From inside my clothes, I took out a small velvet pouch and held it out to Arpad.
“This is the down payment I’m giving you.

Normally, mercenaries don’t move without an advance, right?”
Arpad tore open the pouch, still frowning.

Then something sparkling dropped out with a soft thud.

Perhaps because he’s a martial man with good reflexes, he snatched the jewel out of the air.

A large blue pearl hanging at the center of a silver chain that shone between his pale fingers.

Seeing it, Arpad’s red eyes widened.

Wearing a triumphant smile, I spoke the jewel’s name.
“Agrippina’s Tear.

It’s one of the five blessed jewels you’ve been searching for.

Wouldn’t this be a sufficient down payment?”
Agrippina is the name of the sea goddess.

In other words, the nickname attached to that pearl is the goddess’s tear.

One of the famous jewels said to have received a god’s blessing.
‘And one of the heirlooms from my mother’s side that I inherited.’
And anyway, once I married Ludwig, it was one of countless valuables that would be stolen by Evangeline.

But our Crown Prince—and Mercenary King—wasn’t so easy.

He smiled crookedly and asked back,
“It’s certainly a precious jewel, but do you think I, a Crown Prince, would go blind and move over something like this?”
Even though he’d been searching for it so desperately, his act of pretending otherwise was extremely natural.

Smiling brightly, I pointed that out.
“As I already said, I know you’ve been searching for all of the five great blessed jewels, including this one.

And just now, I placed one of them into your hand.”
His handsome eyebrows jumped up again.

It was easy to tell what he was thinking.
‘How does she know information like this?

Did she plant a spy at my side?

But even the Emperor doesn’t know this…….’
There, I dealt the finishing blow.
“The advance payment I’m talking about isn’t just the pearl.

One more piece of information has been added.”
The wariness and curiosity in Arpad’s gaze peaked.

Shaking my head, I declared as if cutting with a blade.
“It’s useless.”
“What?”
“This pearl, and any other blessed jewel or holy relic, it’s useless.”
“……!”
“With things like this, you won’t be able to weaken or erase Your Highness’s madness—that information is also part of my down payment.”
I smiled as I shoved the cruel fact at him.

In that moment, the man’s expression hardened like a mask.

And then.
“Ghk!”
Clang!

A moment later, I heard the sound of Arpad’s blade, which had been held to my neck, being thrown to the floor.

Before that, Arpad’s hand was already choking my throat.

It was nothing like lifting me by the nape earlier.

He was truly gripping my windpipe with murderous intent.

He carved a blood-stained wolf’s smile onto his lips.
“To say an advance payment is words that anger me—bold.”
“Ghk!”
“Then I’m curious how you plan to pay the remainder.”
“I told you, didn’t I?

That I’ll keep Your Highness from going, ghk!

Loosen your grip a bit!

I can’t even… talk!”
Surprisingly, the strength in the hand squeezing my throat eased a little.

So I could speak a bit more comfortably.
“Cough, cough!

Haa, that I’ll make it so Your Highness becomes Emperor without going mad.”
“Explain that method properly.

If you intend to make me do something close to political suicide with nothing but empty talk.”
If the Crown Prince, already suspected of madness, abducts his cousin’s bride in an abduction marriage, everyone will think he’s truly gone mad.

If he calls that political suicide, it’s not wrong.

Still, I couldn’t pour out everything the way he wanted.
‘How am I supposed to say I know everything because I regressed three times?

It won’t just be choking—my head will really go flying.’
I returned from a young lady before the Crown Prince to a client standing before a mercenary.
“That’s something you’ll learn after you accept the commission.

Mercenary King, Gerald.”
“…Are you saying I should pay the price?”
“Yes.

I’ve already given the down payment.

Then what you have to do is choose whether or not you’ll accept the commission.”
“…Even though you’ve threatened to expose my identity if I don’t accept it?”
“Ah.”
That was, in fact, a proper point.

I replied with a cheerful wink.
“That’s all included in the commission terms, too.”
Arpad looked abruptly exhausted.

Strangely, it was the face of someone who seemed to have been tormented by me for a long time, which was odd.
‘I haven’t tormented you at all!

I’m the one being choked right now!’
“So if I abduct you in an abduction marriage tomorrow, I’ll naturally find out then, is that it?”
“Yes.”
“This is driving me crazy.”
Arpad rubbed his face dryly.

To anyone watching, it would look like he, the one doing the choking, was the one being cornered, not me, the one being choked.
‘But there’s no helping it!

If it isn’t an abduction marriage—an abduction marriage carried out directly by the imperial direct line—then I can’t stop my marriage!’
I knew that bone-deep through three regressions.

So I drove the nail in firmly for the wavering Arpad.
“I can keep His Highness Arpad from going mad.

This is, I swear, the truth.”
“A swear?

A swear on what?”
Arpad asked, scoffing at things like oaths and trust.

So he would never be persuaded by an oath or promise that others made.

That’s why I reached out.

With my finger on the holy relic I had just given as an advance payment.

And I recited Sacred Words.

In response, the relic’s divine power shimmered and seeped out.

A strange light entered Arpad’s eyes.
“……!”
This was a rudimentary skill I learned during one of the three regressions, when I lived briefly as a monk.
-Relying on the goddess’s blessing, this lowly one entreats.

Please prove the truth of these words.

When the Sacred Words ended, the divine power flowing out of Agrippina’s Tear formed into a bracelet around my wrist, then vanished.

I held out my wrist, where traces of divine power still remained, to Arpad and said:
“If I told a lie, my wrist will fly off.

I can subdue your madness.”
“…….”
A brief time passed, but my wrist was safe.
“I’ve never seen a woman bet her own wrist on discerning truth through Sacred Words.”
“Well, because you wouldn’t believe me otherwise, right?

Am I wrong?”
Arpad didn’t deny it.

Nor did he say he believed me.

But he released my throat, and he didn’t stop me from returning to the estate.
‘It means he’s grown curious about the ‘remainder’ I’ll give.’
If so, he must also have begun to feel like complying with my commission.

I desperately hoped that was the case.
‘If not… I might have to use an even worse method…….’
After returning to my room without drawing anyone’s eyes, with Sir Beltein’s help, my legs gave out and I sank down.
“Ah……,”
Belatedly, my whole body began to tremble.

When I looked at myself in the mirror, vivid red handprints were stamped on my neck.

I had plainly come back after overcoming the danger of death.
‘This is a gamble.’
But I was in a position where I couldn’t survive unless I won that gamble.

Even after washing and changing clothes and slipping into bed, I couldn’t sleep a wink.

In the end, I greeted the morning of the wedding day with my eyes wide open.