I’ll Change My Husband First with an Abduction Marriage – Chapter : 10
So he’s saying he’ll spare him.
I let out a sigh of relief and nodded.
“Alright.
Let’s call it that.”
Then, Arpad again made that same subtle expression from before.
An expression that somehow looked displeased.
He looked like a fishbone was stuck in his throat.
‘What is it?
Why is he like that?’
Reading the insides of a mad Crown Prince is impossible.
How could a sane person understand the way a mad person thinks.
There was something more important than that.
‘We don’t have time for this!’
After the conflict between Arpad and Sir Beltein, and then talking with me, we’d wasted more time than expected.
If Ludwig heard the news and came rushing over, it would be a disaster.
I poked Arpad in the side.
And, looking up with wide, startled eyes, I whispered,
“Hurry!
Aren’t you going to do it, the abduction marriage?”
“No.
I will.”
Thank goodness.
At the same time, I cried out tearfully so that everyone could hear.
“Why are you doing this?
Please let me go, Your Highness!
I’m supposed to hold my wedding ceremony today!”
I heard Arpad swallow a hollow laugh, “Huh.”
In a low voice, he asked,
“So I’m definitely playing the villain, then.”
“Of course.
That was the commission from the start, wasn’t it?”
Because I know far too well what happens when a woman about to be married runs away with another man.
‘That’s why I chose abduction marriage.’
In my past life, when I ran away with Sir Beltein to avoid the marriage and was caught, I already experienced how a woman treated as having fled with another man is handled.
That is why I deliberately chose the method of abduction marriage.
‘If it fails, or even if it succeeds, I have to protect my reputation afterward.’
Coldly speaking, I’m sacrificing Arpad’s reputation to protect mine, but,
‘Saving my life and putting you on the throne is more than enough!’
Besides, Arpad was already famous as the mad Crown Prince even now.
Unlike me, he has no reputation he must protect.
“Hurry up, I’m telling you?”
At my urging, Arpad let out a small laugh.
Then he looked around as if to show off to the surroundings, and cried out loudly.
It was acting similar to when I begged him to let me go just a moment ago.
“Hm, my bride seems impatient.”
Are you insane?!
‘Don’t tell me he’s going to reveal right here that I paid for the abduction marriage?’
Fortunately, my suspicion was soon dispelled.
It was after a question like a scream from the captain of the knights.
“Your Highness’s bride?
What do you mean all of a sudden?!”
Arpad answered with utmost arrogance.
“She’s too good for a man like Ludwig.”
Yes, yes.
That’s right.
Even if the mad Crown Prince’s mouth is crooked, he still speaks properly.
I nodded to myself.
“So I’ll take her.
As for the price for the insult of removing the veil, wouldn’t it be settled if I become the groom?”
It was truly mad nonsense.
“No!”
“Stop him!”
“Go tell His Grace the Grand Duke, quickly!”
Just as the knights, belatedly, tried to stop Arpad, the mad Crown Prince once again answered their struggle with his crossbow.
Thud!
Thud-thud!
With rough sounds, the bolts flew and dug into the gaps in their armor.
Aagh!
Aahk!
And other varied screams rang out.
After turning four more knights into combat-incompetent wrecks in an instant, Arpad declared in a leisurely tone:
“Tell Ludwig.
There’s no reason to wait at the temple any longer, so he should go back on his own.”
“Y-Your Highness!”
Just like that, Arpad began spurring the horse into a run with me in his arms.
And I remained faithful to the role of the bride being abducted until the very end.
To the act of crying and screaming.
“Please let me go, Your Highness!
Aaahhh!”
Naturally, I did not make even a fingernail’s worth of effort to escape from Arpad’s arms.
‘Yes!
Success!’
* * *
Dagdak!
Dagdak!
Ironically cheerful hoofbeats rang out.
Those who tried to block the way all fell under the savage horse’s kicks and the Crown Prince’s crossbow barrage.
“Kyaaaah!!!”
A frail woman’s scream trailed long as it faded into the distance.
“Your Highness!
You mustn’t!”
“Stop!”
“My goodness!
How could this happen……!”
In the end, Ludwig’s knights could do nothing but watch, wide-eyed, as today’s bride was kidnapped by the Crown Prince.
The knight captain screamed with a contorted face.
“The bride—the bride has been kidnapped!”
That this was an abduction marriage carried out for the first time in about three hundred years would be revealed a few hours later.
* * *
In the empire’s history, the last time an abduction marriage occurred and was recognized was about three hundred years ago.
It coincided with the time the empire was founded.
That was only natural, because the very catalyst for the empire’s founding was an event in which a ferocious dragon carried out an abduction marriage, abducting a princess from a wedding procession.
The dragon’s bloodline born from that marriage is precisely what has been passed down to the imperial family to this day.
And then, the Crown Prince—said to have inherited the dragon blood most strongly in the current era—abducted a bride on her wedding day.
‘It’s literally a reenactment of the founding myth of the first Emperor!’
For the imperial family to deny this would be to deny its own legitimacy from the root.
‘They absolutely can’t deny it.’
Even for the sake of their legitimacy issue, it would be difficult to deny this abduction marriage.
That was exactly what I was aiming for.
In truth, I didn’t come up with this alone.
Because I had already seen a similar case before my regression.
‘It was… Ludwig and Evangeline’s marriage, done that way.’
It was after I was divorced, branded a criminal under false charges of adultery and attempted murder.
By then, Arpad had already died, and as if it were only natural, Ludwig took the position of Crown Prince.
After driving me out, the two of them put on the performance of the century—and that performance was abduction marriage.
To make up for Ludwig’s lacking legitimacy, and to make their wedding the event of the century.
They used the founding myth of the first Emperor.
After making such a damned spectacle, the two of them held their wedding.
And among the public, that incident made quite a big stir.
‘It was very effective at raising their recognition and popularity.’
This time, I’m only going to use that against them.
I grinned in Arpad’s arms.
‘Ah, it’s such a shame I can’t see Ludwig’s face twisting in person!’
* * *
Bam!!
The angel statue adorning the temple altar shattered to pieces.
The priests cried out in shock.
“Your Grace the Grand Duke!”
“What is this outrageous conduct?!”
“This sacrilege!”
Normally, Ludwig would never have made such a mistake.
But now it was different.
Because the delay of the bride who was to arrive had been followed by news so shocking that it reached him.
“The bride was stolen?
An abduction marriage?!
What the hell kind of bullshit is that!!”
With a scream-like howl from Grand Duke Ludwig, even the guests learned of the situation.
“Did I hear that right?
You’re saying the bride was abducted?”
“But who in the world has the guts to do something like that?”
“His Grace the Grand Duke is the groom, and the match was arranged by His Majesty the Emperor…….”
Shock spread with a murmur in all directions.
The knight who had failed to protect the bride and delivered the shocking news was struck by his lord and rolled along the virgin road.
“Kuhk!
I’m sor, ry……!”
Even those who had been shocked by the Grand Duke’s disgrace frowned.
Although it is natural to be angry at having one’s bride stolen, there is no way it would look good to assault a retainer in public for that reason.
Evangeline, who had attended as one of the guests, quickly grasped the atmosphere around them.
And immediately ran to Ludwig.
“Brother!
Calm down!”
Coming close, she spoke softly so only Ludwig could hear.
“Stop it!
Do you know how many eyes are watching?
Get a hold of yourself.”
“Ah…….”
Only then did Ludwig barely regain his reason.
‘Nothing has gone smoothly from last night to today as it is……!’
Especially this morning, the stress of being warned by the Emperor because of Hylia’s hysteria had been great.
And then, upon hearing that the bride had been abducted, his reason had completely snapped.
He roughly settled the situation.
“…I’m sorry.
I got too worked up.”
“Please kill me.
Your Grace.”
The knight who was still prostrate knew Ludwig’s true nature well.
Because he was a knight who had stayed by his side since the grand ducal residence.
He could not help but know that Ludwig’s apology right now was never sincere.
‘When we return to the grand ducal residence, I’m finished!’
But he had something to say, too.
How in the world was anyone supposed to stop ‘that man’ who had abducted the bride!
The knight cried out as if pleading his case.
“However, Your Grace.
The one who abducted Lady Delphine is none other than His Highness the Crown Prince!
There was absolutely nothing we could do……!”
Grand Duke Ludwig spat out shock mixed with rage.
“What did you say?!”
Beside him, Evangeline staggered with a face drained white.
“B-Brother did?”
That “Brother” she had just spoken carried a subtly different nuance from when she referred to Ludwig.
But no one noticed even that.
