IHTMP 17

I’ll Change My Husband First with an Abduction Marriage- Chapter : 17

Even though she had hidden her body behind one of the Imperial Palace’s huge, distinctive pillars, I could recognize her.

There was no way I couldn’t.
“Goodbye.

Miss heroine of the original story.”
It felt as though something like pitch-black smoke was filling my chest.

I recalled, anew, my death in the third life.

Right after the guillotine’s blade came down on my neck.

With my blood splashed all over her, that woman had been laughing until her mouth split wide.
“…Huh?”
“…….”
“Hylia.”
Maybe it was because I’d remembered that pain and rage.

For a moment, I couldn’t even hear Arpad calling me.

Only after he grabbed my shoulders and shook me did I finally come to my senses.
“…Are you alright?”
Before I knew it, Arpad’s face was right up in front of mine.

Close enough that his breath brushed my cheek.

It was so close that even my intense fury toward Evangeline was briefly forgotten.

It felt like he had pulled me up with one hand from a swamp I’d been sinking into.

Thanks to that, I was able to understand a little late why Arpad was worrying about me.
“Your hands are cold.”
Before I knew it, Arpad’s hand was clasping mine.
“And you’re sweating far too much.”
And his forehead was touching mine.

Arpad murmured low.
“It doesn’t seem like you’re physically unwell…….”
“I-I’m fine.”
It was just that my emotions had flared too violently for a moment.

But Arpad didn’t listen to me.
“No.

I think you’re very unwell.”
“Huh?

I said I’m not……!”
But the man who looked as if he’d been carved into human form out of sheer stubbornness jumped down from the horse while holding me.

My vision shook.
“Eek!”
Amazingly, even as he landed, he pulled off the feat of maintaining the princess-carry posture without wavering.
‘I’ve heard that dragon blood affects physical ability too… but this is incredible.’
Holding me in a princess carry, he began heading toward the Crown Prince’s palace.
“My bride is far too weak, so I’m worried about putting her on a horse any longer.”
He said it so that everyone around could hear.

And then, over Arpad’s shoulder, I saw it.

Evangeline’s gaze burning several times more fiercely than before.

She was clearly furious.

The moment I realized it, a strange thrill swallowed my head whole.

Without realizing it, I wrapped my arms around Arpad’s neck and clung to him, as if to show it off.

Just like that, our entry into the Imperial Palace was made as if we were boasting to all directions.

Only Arpad’s fine steed followed docilely behind us.
* * *
Drip.

Blood splattered over the white marble balustrade carved with delicate floral patterns.

Evangeline’s fine, proud nails had snapped, unable to withstand the force.

But she didn’t feel any pain at all.
‘What… what did I just see?’
That was how shocking the scene that had just unfolded was.

She came running as soon as she heard that Arpad and Hylia had entered the palace.

And it was shocking enough that the two of them were parading around together, brazenly riding a single horse as if showing off.

But they were even doing a princess carry and walking all the way to the Crown Prince’s palace.

And on top of that—
‘Did Hylia just glare at me?’
That wasn’t all.

She even smiled as if she were showing off.

As if she knew Evangeline’s heart perfectly.

Even Evangeline hadn’t realized she would be hurt this much by seeing Arpad carry a woman in his arms.

And yet, as if she could read it all.
‘Just a character in a book, at most!’
Empress Isabelle, who didn’t know her daughter’s state, clicked her tongue low.
“So you’re struggling.

Even so, you won’t be able to be acknowledged by His Majesty.”
Malicious and ugly rumors about those two had already circulated around the capital five or six times over.

The palace servants, too, were each putting related rumors in their mouths.
“They say those two were having an affair from the start.”
“Oh my.

I heard a rumor that Lady Delphine seduced both His Highness the Crown Prince and His Grace the Grand Duke.”
“My goodness.

If that’s true, isn’t she a temptress of the ages?”
“No matter what, for the Crown Prince to abduct his cousin’s wife in an abduction marriage… could it be that His Highness the Crown Prince has truly gone completely mad?

I’m scared.”
All kinds of negative rumors swirled around the two of them at the center.

At the same time, there were many words of sympathy for Ludwig.
“To have his bride stolen by the Crown Prince’s madness, how pitiful.”
“They say even after suffering that, he said he wouldn’t blame either His Highness the Crown Prince or Lady Delphine.”
“He’s too kind, what will he do?”
It was the kind of rumor that, if Ludwig heard it, would make him feel humiliation and rage.

But the Empress didn’t care about such things.

She evaluated it with a snort.
“It would have been the best picture for Ludwig to bring the bride back, but now that it’s come to this, it can’t be helped.”
The Empress turned her head and looked at her daughter.
“After Ludwig swallows up House Delphine later, you should think of it as gaining a good weakness to chase that woman out with… Eva?”
“…….”
The Empress clicked her tongue and wrapped her daughter’s bloodstained nail.
“You still can’t let it go?

That foolish heart of yours?”
“But Mother…….”
“Didn’t I tell you to give up.

Arpad will never become a puppet like Ludwig.”
The Empress knew that her daughter had held Arpad in her heart for a long time.

It was the Empress herself who had kept persuading her daughter.

At her mother’s urging, Evangeline answered as if she had no choice.
“Yes, I know.

Mother.

I know very well.”
But Evangeline couldn’t accept the scene she had just seen.

No matter how soon Arpad was going to die, and no matter how she couldn’t have him.
‘Why should I just let it go when there’s another woman beside him?

I’m this angry, and my heart hurts like this?’
The possessor inside Evangeline had always thought this.

That the true heroine was herself.

Why should she treat things that are nothing more than characters in a book like real people?
‘I’ll kill her!

Plans or anything else—I’ll never leave her alone!’
Evangeline’s green eyes burned with sinister killing intent.
* * *
Amazingly, Arpad truly carried me all the way to the Crown Prince’s palace.

And even then, his breathing didn’t falter in the slightest.
‘His stamina is amazing.’
I’d already realized it bone-deep after riding together for three days and nights, but still.

At the Crown Prince’s palace, the servants, including the head attendant, greeted us in a flustered state.
“Your Highness!

You’ve finally returned!”
“Do you know how shocked we were when we heard the rumors?”
“Could it be that she is……?”
Everyone was looking at us with a mix of shock, curiosity, and suspicion.

Arpad ignored the confusion of those below and replied with utmost calm.
“She is the Crown Princess.”
For reference, I was still in Arpad’s arms.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, I whispered to Arpad.
“Isn’t it about time you put me down?”
“Why would I want to put you down?

Do you dislike being in my arms?”
A wrinkle formed between his smooth brows.

Somehow he looks displeased again.

Why?

He was truly a man whose mood was impossible to grasp.
“That’s not it, but… it’s embarrassing with everyone watching.”
“Why is it embarrassing?

Am I embarrassing?”
If I said yes, he’d probably get seriously angry.
“…That’s not it.

It’s just that of course it’s embarrassing to be held in front of everyone.”
“I’m not embarrassed.”
Arpad was incredibly shameless.
“I’M embarrassed, so put me down!”
“No.”
“Why?

How?

I have feet too!

I walk just fine!”
“I don’t want to because you keep asking me to put you down.”
Are you a contrarian?!

I tried to squirm down by force because I was so dumbfounded, but it was completely useless.

In the end, I had to stay in his arms because I lost in strength.

To make it worse, with me still in his arms, Arpad committed the bizarre act of rebuking the servants.
“What are you all doing right now?”
“Y-Yes?

Your Highness?”
“You aren’t properly paying respects to your mistress?”
I was horrified.
‘No, to bow and greet me, you have to put me down first!

Everyone was clearly waiting for that!’
But Arpad was a lunatic.

And a lunatic is someone for whom common sense and reason don’t work.

And the servants of the Crown Prince’s palace, who had served such a lunatic for a long time, were used to groveling.

They bent their knees in a rush and greeted me.
“We greet Your Highness the Crown Princess.”
“May Artanus’s glory always be with Your Highness.”
Thanks to that, I had a special experience.

Receiving greetings from palace servants while held in a man’s arms.

It couldn’t help but be a special experience.
‘Among all the Crown Princesses in history, I’m probably the only one who’s been greeted like this!’
Hiding those thoughts, I answered with dignity.
“…It’s nice to meet you.”
I want to cry.

I’m so embarrassed my ears are burning.

So I had no choice but to pretend to bury my face in Arpad’s broad shoulder to hide it.

But the servants and Arpad seemed to interpret it strangely.
“The Crown Princess seems very fatigued.”
“Shall we call a court physician?”
“Have them on standby, just in case.”
No need!
“Just in case, we’ve already had Ivory’s bedroom cleaned.”
“Good work.”
Ivory’s bedroom is the Crown Princess’s bedroom.

It was also a room I had never once been able to use in my past three lives.

Somehow, it felt strange.

And Arpad carried me all the way to Ivory’s bedroom.
‘Yes, your stamina really is incredible!’
Only after we entered the bedroom did Arpad finally set me down.

But it wasn’t that my feet touched the floor with a sound.

He seated me on the bed as lightly as a feather.

Arpad’s gaze and mine collided head-on.