IHTMP 11

I’ll Change My Husband First with an Abduction Marriage- Chapter : 11

With the bride gone, there was no way the wedding could possibly be carried out properly.

Ludwig had to suffer the humiliation of having his bride stolen right before the temple altar and canceling the wedding, while the guests hurried to spread the shocking news throughout the imperial capital.
* * *
In my first regression, I also recalled memories from my previous life.

Memories of when I lived as an ordinary woman in another world—Korea.

Back then, there was a cliché I’d seen in morning dramas.

An old boyfriend who takes the bride’s hand and runs away on the wedding’s virgin road!

I hadn’t been conscious of it, but this time, I’d carried it out myself.

Of course, last time I ran away with Sir Beltein, but it wasn’t during the wedding.

It was a desperate escape the night before.

If you think about it that way, this time I truly had a ‘dramatic’ experience.

If someone asked how it felt?

My answer would be one.
“…Save me!”
In other words, it could also be expressed like this.
“Please put me down!”
This time, isn’t it a line that suits a bride in the middle of being abducted?

But I didn’t have the leisure to indulge in such silly thoughts for long.

Arpad laughed as if he couldn’t bear how refreshing it felt.
“Not yet!

I can’t let you go until we reach somewhere safe!”
I shouted, sobbing.
“We already left the imperial capital ages ago!”
I struggled with my whole body, but Arpad didn’t budge, with his tremendous strength and sense of balance.
“You never know when we’ll be pursued!”
No, I know that’s true.

But, but!

Dagdak dagdak!

The strong, fast horse didn’t stop running.

And every time the sound of hooves rang out, the world shook hard once.

Shake shake shake shake…….

Besides, I wasn’t simply riding on the horse—I was seated on Arpad’s lap.

The height was higher, so my stomach swayed even more!

In the end, pride and everything else aside, I had no choice but to shout honestly.
“…I think I’m going to throw up!”
“……!”
Apparently even the mad Crown Prince didn’t like that, because the horse that felt like it would keep shaking until I died came to a stop.
“Are you alright?”
With Arpad’s suddenly cautious voice and touch, I was finally able to set my feet on the ground.

But the moment my feet touched down, I collapsed right there.
“Uuugh!”
It feels like the ground is shaking, too!

It was like a monstrous hangover, something I’d scarcely experienced even when I lived as a Korean.

While I lay facedown on the ground, astonishingly, the mad Crown Prince patted my back and said,
“Are your eyes fine?”
“They’re not fine.

Even just sitting still, it feels like I’m swaying.”
“So they’re fine.”
He took my shoulders and slowly lifted me up.
(From this, you could tell he, too, was afraid of confirming what I’d eaten yesterday.)
Where his pale, pretty, but rough fingers pointed, I could see a small white castle.
“That’s our destination.”
At his words, that small, modest castle looked like somewhere far more luxurious and comfortable than the Imperial Palace.

And so, after riding for three days and nights, we arrived at a detached palace quite far from the capital.
* * *
I entered the castle looking like a wad of tissue that had been crumpled at random and then rolled around in the dirt.

If Arpad hadn’t supported me, I wouldn’t even have been able to walk properly.

At last reaching our destination, I cried out as if I wanted to shout ‘manse!’ three times.
“Finally, I can wash up.

Where’s the bed?”
Then Arpad, who was supporting me, said something ridiculous.
“My bride is so proactive, it’s a little embarrassing.”
Turning my head in disbelief, I saw a deeply unfair sight.

Maybe he’d matched me on purpose, but Arpad had arrived dressed in white ceremonial clothes, and he was so annoyingly clean and spotless.
‘Someone turned into crumpled tissue!

How unfair!’
Looking at that man’s irritating face, still glittering, I replied weakly.
“I really… can’t… joke… or get angry… anymore… so please, just let it go.”
That was the truth.

Three days of horseback riding in the body of a noble young lady who’d never trained for anything was an extreme experience.

It made me realize all over again how much Sir Beltein must have moved while worrying about me when he fled with me last time.

Ah, was that why we got caught so quickly?

I’d realized the painfully clear reason for my past failure, but right now, there was something several times more important than that.
“I… need… to… rest….”
As my eyes started to close in a daze, Arpad stopped me.
“……!”
But the method made me gape.

If he’d slapped me, I wouldn’t have been this shocked.

He kissed my cheek.

A sweet scent brushed the tip of my nose.

And I was wide awake.

I literally sprang up.

It was a vivid movement, like a mackerel thrown onto ice.

So much so that even Arpad couldn’t keep hold of me.
“Th-This… what is this?! What are you doing?!”
Then Arpad smiled, his eyes curving like a bow.
“A light kiss to wake up our sleepy princess?”
“……!”
While I stood there, stunned enough to faint on my feet,

Arpad dragged me along into the castle.

Though it wasn’t a large castle, there was a small chapel inside.

And there, an elderly priest was waiting for us.
“So you really have come, Your Highness.”
The priest looked between me and Arpad with a flustered expression.

Only then did I feel my sleep vanish completely.
“It can’t end with just an abduction.

You mustn’t forget to sign the marriage contract immediately and even receive notarization from the temple!”
My blackmail… no, my commission—Arpad remembered it precisely and followed it.

Arpad knelt before the priest first and demanded,
“Officiate the wedding between me and Lady Hylia Delphine, and serve as witness.”
This was our wedding.

I sank down and knelt beside Arpad.

At that, the priest looked even more troubled.

Looking at me, he asked,
“Isn’t Lady Delphine the bride of His Grace Grand Duke Ludwig?

And yet, do you truly consent to this marriage?”
Here, I hesitated to answer ‘yes.’

Amazingly, as if he’d read even that, Arpad answered the priest in my place.
“It’s already been three days since I abducted the bride on the day of her wedding.

Even if I return her safely as she is, will the young lady’s reputation be safe?”
“…Your Highness!”
“The path that wounds her honor the least is for her to marry me.”
The priest couldn’t deny Arpad’s words.
“And haven’t you already sworn to me?

That you’d do anything to repay the grace you received from my mother.”
In the end, he couldn’t hold out any longer.

The priest officiated a wedding between me and Arpad—very brief, but still a wedding.

We exchanged vows before the Lord God and the Mother Goddess.

We signed our names on the pledge. (At that time, my fingers were trembling, so I had to press hard to sign.)
And we even received blessing words as we were anointed with holy oil over our heads.
“With this, the two of you have been reborn as husband and wife under the care of the Lord God and the Mother Goddess.”
Only then did I finally let out a sigh of relief.

The rights concerning marriage and its recognition belonged solely to the temple.

Not even the Emperor, or even a dragon, could infringe upon it.

While I was relaxing, an utterly unexpected sentence dropped over my head.
“Then now, the two of you shall share the vow kiss.”
“……!”
Startled, I glanced to the side.

There was a man with an unreadable smile—him, who had now become my husband.

Arpad very naturally brought his face close.

Normally, I would have recoiled in surprise, but right now, I couldn’t.
‘This is… just part of the wedding procedure!’
I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the deed(?).

Was it because my vision was blocked?

It felt like my other senses grew sharper.

My heartbeat sounded like it was pounding madly.

It was as if someone were beating a drum right beside my ears.
‘Should I just open my eyes?’
But if I did that, it felt like the mood would become even stranger.

After what felt like a long wait, I received the vow kiss.

Unexpectedly, his lips were soft and pliant, and the motion that wrapped around my lips was far gentler than I’d expected.

It was completely different from the vow kisses I’d experienced with Ludwig so many times.

His kisses would soon become tenacious and fierce, like he was about to devour me.

As if he meant to steal every last bit of my breath.
“…Mmph!”
So much so that not only I, but even the priest, was startled.

Until the priest, unable to endure his reddening face, turned his head away.

Only when I was right on the verge of losing my breath did Arpad finally let me go.
“…Haa!

The priest is here, so please restrain yourself.”
I lightly reproached him, pretending to be a bashful new bride.

But inside, it was different.
‘Are you trying to kill someone by suffocating them?’
Even as he received my accusing glare, Arpad was staring at me with an uncanny intensity.

As if he were possessed by something.

A chill crept down my spine.
‘What is it?

Could it be… already…….’
But my thoughts couldn’t deepen further.

Because the wedding procedure still wasn’t over.
* * *
Arpad was sensitive to situations where he couldn’t control himself.

It was only natural, since he’d had several omens of madness in childhood, and had even experienced minor rampages.

But the kiss just now had been far too strange.

At first, it was merely an act required by the wedding procedure.

Yet when their lips actually met, Arpad momentarily lost all reason completely.

He desired her like a thirsty beast finding a spring in the desert.

And the deeper the kiss became, the longer it lasted, the stranger the sensation he felt.

The beast inside his body, always sharp and unpleasantly writhing, suddenly becoming docile.

A satisfaction and joy he had never felt before in his life.
‘I’ve never felt anything like this even during the omens of madness.’
With an even more suspicious expression, Arpad stared at the woman who had just become his wife.
* * *
“Your Majesty!

Please, please, relieve this injustice!”
For nearly three days now, Ludwig had been protesting right near the Emperor’s bedchamber.

There was no one in the palace who didn’t know why.

More precisely, there was no one in the imperial capital who didn’t know this rumor.
‘Because it was a kidnapping incident that happened openly on the boulevard right in front of the Imperial Palace.’
Feeling humiliated all over again as rage surged up, Ludwig bit his lips once more.

Blood began to flow again from his lips, ruined over the past three days.

He deliberately didn’t wipe it, so the eyes around him could see it.
“When I think of the pain my wife must be suffering right now, I can’t eat or sleep!

Please, Your Majesty!”
Hearing his nephew’s screams from outside, the Emperor was deep in thought.

What pulled the Emperor’s attention back to reality wasn’t Ludwig’s shouting outside, but the woman sitting across from him.

Empress Isabelle.
“Your Majesty.

How do you intend to handle this matter?