IHTMP 16

I’ll Change My Husband First with an Abduction Marriage – Chapter : 16

Ludwig was intoxicated with elation as he led the Imperial Knights.

For a mere collateral-line member like him to lead the Imperial Knights at the front was symbolic in many ways.

It made him feel as though he were the real Crown Prince.

And on top of that, he was chasing the man and woman who had driven him mad for the past week.
‘This time, I’ll never let you off, Arpad!’
He held a deep inferiority complex toward his cousin, who excelled in every way.

And yet that cousin stole his bride on the wedding day.

It was enough to shatter Ludwig’s high but glass-fragile pride.

Now, leading the elite knight order behind him, was a good chance to heal that wounded pride.
‘This time, I’m the pure victim!

Even if Arpad dies by my hand, he has nothing to say!’
Filled with inferiority and killing intent, he pursued them following the information Evangeline had brought.

After riding hard for a long time, at last he saw a long tail of dust cloud rising in the distance.

Arpad’s party, shamelessly, was traveling along the main road through the Artanua Plains, the continent’s greatest breadbasket.

And leisurely, at that.

It didn’t look like the party of a scoundrel who abducted a bride—if anything, it almost looked like a dignified wedding procession.

Ludwig urged his horse onward at the head of the knight order.

Of course, he didn’t follow the winding road as it was.

It would be a waste of time.

Dudududu—!!

Hooves trampled over the wheat fields of the Artanua Plains where shoots had just sprouted.

Where the knight order led by Ludwig passed became a complete wreck.

But neither Ludwig nor any of the knights cared.

Before long, Ludwig was able to catch up to Hylia’s party.

The small escort force guarding the few carriages couldn’t stop the Imperial Knights.

The Imperial Knights blocked the front of a white carriage bearing the royal crest.

As the carriage was forced to stop, Ludwig approached, drew his sword, and flung the carriage door open.
“Got you, Hylia……!”
Ludwig’s eyes went wide in shock.
* * *
Sitting face-to-face with her mother in the Empress’s palace, Evangeline gnawed at her lip in impatience and anxiety.
‘Will Ludwig manage it?’
She knew very well why she was anxious.
Because nothing like this had happened in the ‘original story.’

Arpad and Hylia were characters who had almost no point of contact.
‘An abduction marriage, of all things!’
Hylia was supposed to marry Ludwig, hand him everything of House Delphine, and die.

At this rate, Ludwig wouldn’t be able to inherit House Delphine.

And it would become impossible for her to take everything by taking Ludwig for herself.

Her plan, built on the original story, had been thrown badly off course!
‘And why does it have to be Arpad, of all people?’
When she had read the original in passing before possession—cursed at it, then forgot it—she hadn’t had any particular thoughts about the character named Arpad.

Despite his few appearances, he was a character most readers were angry wasn’t the male lead.

But he was just a character in a novel, wasn’t he?

She had no special interest in a character who wouldn’t even be a second male lead and would die.
‘To begin with, I read while getting angry that neither the heroine nor the hero had any charm…….’
Hylia, the female lead who was obedient and could do nothing but cry, was naturally not to her liking.

And Ludwig, the male lead, wasn’t very appealing either.

Readers clung to the keyword of “regret story” and held on to see the male lead regret, but she wasn’t even that type.

Even when she read the novel as a habit without thinking.

And even when she never imagined she would end up possessed into that novel.

She hadn’t realized.
‘Arpad…….’
That the man named Arpad—seen with her own eyes in this world, heard by her own ears, smelled by her own nose…….

Could be so utterly enchanting…….

But even to her, the possessor, Arpad was like a picture in a book that she could never have.
‘Because he’ll go mad and die anyway.

Even in the original, there were ways to delay the madness, but there was no way to erase it.’
Even she, the possessor, couldn’t make it so Arpad wouldn’t go mad.

Knowing that, she couldn’t want him anyway.

Especially not while knowing that Ludwig was the original male lead and would become Emperor.

But even so…….

When she thought that Arpad might become someone’s husband, her chest felt tightly blocked.

No—like she’d swallowed burning charcoal and her chest was scorching from the inside.

Evangeline didn’t even notice her lips were bleeding.

Only when Empress Isabelle reached out to stop her did she realize.
“Stop, Eva.

Your pretty lips will be ruined.”
“…Mother.

It’ll be fine, right?”
Unlike Evangeline, the Empress was calm.
“What are you so worried about?

In any case, the daughter of Delphine and Arpad are both people who must be killed.”
The Empress was utterly composed.
“And thanks to the rumors we’ve spread all this time, their reputations are already at rock bottom.

No one will recognize them as husband and wife.

His Majesty won’t allow it either.”
“…Yes, Mother.”
“Don’t forget, Eva.

Your mother will surely make you the empire’s true Empress.”
Evangeline—the possessor inside her—sneered at the Empress.
‘As if you’re just a character in a book who can’t even notice your precious daughter’s soul has been replaced.’
And Evangeline’s anxiety soon took shape and struck her.
“Your Majesty!

Your Majesty the Empress!

His Highness Arpad and Lady Delphine have entered the palace!”
News they didn’t want at all.
* * *
“W-What…?”
Ludwig, who had opened the carriage door with a sword and a vicious gaze, froze.

The carriage was empty.

He shouted furiously and rushed to the driver’s seat.
“Hylia?

Arpad?

Why is the carriage empty?!”
According to the information the Empress had given, this carriage was heading from the northern detached palace to the Imperial Palace.

And there was even information claiming that both Arpad and Hylia had been seen riding in this carriage.

Ludwig pressed his blade to the poor driver’s neck and shouted,
“What the hell happened?!”
The driver trembled and answered,
“A long time ago, in the Noel region, they already split from our party!”
Noel was a full day’s distance even if you rode at full speed.

It was too late to chase them now.

And who could know where they might be by this point?

The testimony of the few other knights was similar.

This party had been bait from the beginning.
“Damn it!!”
And though there was no real meaning in knowing it now, there had never been any possibility from the start that he could stop Hylia and Arpad from entering the capital ahead of time.

Because at Hylia’s advice, Arpad had prepared not one or two bait parties.
* * *
I was standing in the plaza before the Imperial Palace that I had left about a week ago.

No—more precisely, I was seated on a horse with Arpad as we looked up at the Imperial Palace’s main gate.

Since this place was always crowded, we were surrounded by people who recognized us.

Whispers hummed from all directions like a swarm of bees.
“Is that the Crown Prince and the young lady who disappeared?”
“The bride of that wedding that was stopped a week ago?”
“They say it was an abduction marriage, but already…….”
I ignored those voices.

And I looked up at the Imperial Palace’s main gate, the ‘Gate of Glory,’ with a complicated expression.

This gate is the largest entrance of the Imperial Palace, opened only to special people.

Direct-line royals on procession, or parades for heroes who saved the nation.

Right now, Arpad, mounted on a horse with me, was boldly demanding the Gate of Glory be opened.
“Open the gate, at once.”
The commander of the Imperial Second Knight Order, directly under the Emperor, who guarded the Gate of Glory, looked flustered.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince?”
“That’s right.

Fortunately, your eyesight is normal, so I have no need to waste words.

Open it.”
“Wh-Where in the world have you been all this time?

And the person beside you is……!”
He was sweating coldly with a sense of trouble.
‘Come to think of it, he’s one of the ones who sided with the Empress and Ludwig.’
I deliberately leaned into Arpad.

Then, through the skin where we touched, I felt a vibration as though he were purring like a satisfied beast.

Without realizing it, I tensed so much it felt like all the fine hair on my body stood on end.

But I couldn’t show an awkward distance with him.
‘In any case, we’re already husband and wife.’
We needed to prove that fact before everyone.

So that no one could deny this marriage.

As if to blow away my concern, Arpad naturally wrapped an arm around my waist.

Then, with his head buried against my shoulder, he glared at the commander with sharp eyes and spoke again.
“Do not make me say it three times.

Move.

How long do you intend to obstruct the procession of the Crown Prince and his consort (妃)?”
The commander must have known.

That if he blocked them any further, Arpad’s blade might fly for his throat.

In the end, he stepped aside powerlessly.

And Arpad’s great white horse passed proudly through the Imperial Palace’s front gate and entered.

It was only the two of us, but it was a clear parade.
* * *
“So?