Ch#10

Episode 10

So he's saying he'll spare him.

I let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

"Alright. Let's go with that."

At that, Arpad made that subtle expression from a moment ago again.

An expression that looked somehow displeased.

It looked exactly like he had a fish bone stuck in his throat.

'What is it? Why is he like that?'

Reading the mind of a mad Crown Prince was indeed impossible.

How could a sane person understand the thought process of a madman?

There was something more important than that.

'I don't have time for this!'

Following the conflict between Arpad and Sir Beltane, and then conversing with me, we had wasted more time than expected.

If Ludwig hears the news and comes running, it'll be a disaster.

I poked Arpad in the side.

And looking up at his surprised, wide eyes, I whispered.

"Let's go quickly! Aren't you going to do it, the marriage-by-abduction?"

"No. I will."

Thank goodness.

At the same time, I sobbed and shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Why are you doing this? Please let me go, Your Highness! I'm supposed to have my wedding ceremony today!"

I could hear Arpad swallow a hollow laugh with a "Hmph."

He asked in a low voice.

"So I'm definitely the villain role."

"Of course. That was the request from the start, wasn't it?"

I know all too well what happens when a woman about to get married runs off with another man because I've experienced it.

'That's precisely why I chose the marriage-by-abduction method.'

In my past life, when I ran away with Sir Beltane to avoid marriage and was caught, I already experienced the treatment a woman who runs off with another man receives.

That's why I specifically chose the marriage-by-abduction method.

'Because if it fails, or even if it succeeds, I need to protect my reputation afterwards.'

Looking at it coldly, it's true that I sacrificed Arpad's reputation to protect my own, but

'Saving my life and putting him on the throne is compensation enough!'

Besides, Arpad was already famous as the mad Crown Prince even now.

Unlike me, he didn't really have a reputation to protect in the first place.

"I said let's go quickly, right?"

At my urging, Arpad let out a short laugh.

Then, as if showing off to the surroundings, he looked around and shouted loudly.

It was a performance similar to when I was begging to be let go a moment ago.

"Hmm, my bride seems to be quite exhausted."

Are you crazy!

'Surely you're not going to reveal here that I instigated the marriage-by-abduction?'

My suspicion was fortunately soon denied.

It was after the knight captain's scream-like question.

"Your bride, Your Highness? What are you suddenly talking about?!"

Arpad retorted with the utmost arrogance.

"She's too good for a guy like Ludwig."

Yes, yes. That's right. Even if this mad Crown Prince is twisted, at least he speaks the truth.

I nodded only inwardly.

"So I'll take her. As for the price for the insult of lifting her veil, wouldn't it be solved if I become the groom?"

It was truly insane nonsense.

"That's not allowed!"

"Stop him!"

"Quickly, inform His Grace the Grand Duke!"

Just as the knights were belatedly trying to stop Arpad, the mad Crown Prince gave them an answer to their desperate attempts with his crossbow again.

*Thwack! Thud!*

Bolts flew with rough sounds, piercing through gaps in their armor.

Ugh! Aah! etc. Varied screams rang out.

After instantly rendering four more knights combat ineffective, Arpad declared in a leisurely tone.

"Tell Ludwig. There's no reason to wait at the temple anymore, so tell him to go back on his own."

"Y-Your Highness!"

With that, Arpad started galloping away with me in his arms.

And I remained faithful to my role as the bride being abducted until the very end.

By putting on an act of shedding tears and screaming.

"Please let me go, Your Highness! Aaah!"

Of course, I made not even a fingernail's worth of effort to escape Arpad's embrace.

'Yes! Success!'

* * *

*Clatter! Clatter!*

Ironically, cheerful hoofbeats rang out.

Those who tried to block the path all fell one by one to the fierce horse's kicks and the Crown Prince's crossbow barrage.

"Kyaaah!!!"

The slender woman's scream trailed off into the distance.

"Your Highness! You can't!"

"Stop!"

"Good heavens! How could such a thing...!"

In the end, Ludwig's knights could only watch with wide eyes as today's new bride was kidnapped by the Crown Prince.

The knight captain screamed with a contorted face.

"The bride, the bride has been kidnapped!"

It would be several hours later that it was revealed this was a marriage-by-abduction carried out for the first time in about 300 years.

* * *

In imperial history, the last time a marriage-by-abduction occurred and was recognized was about 300 years ago.

It coincided with the founding period of the Empire.

Naturally, since the event that led to the Empire's founding was precisely when a ferocious dragon abducted a princess from a wedding procession in a marriage-by-abduction.

The dragon's bloodline born from that marriage is what has been passed down to the Empire until now.

And now, the Crown Prince, known to have inherited the dragon's bloodline most strongly in this generation, abducted a bride on her wedding day.

'It's literally a recreation of the founding myth of the first Emperor!'

For the imperial family to deny this would be like denying their own legitimacy from its very foundation.

'They absolutely won't be able to deny it.'

Even due to their own legitimacy issue, it would be difficult to deny this marriage-by-abduction.

This was precisely what I had aimed for.

Actually, I didn't come up with this alone.

Because I had already seen a similar case before my regression.

'Right... Ludwig and Evangeline's marriage happened that way.'

It was after I was framed for adultery and attempted murder, became a criminal, and was divorced.

By then, Arpad was already dead, and Ludwig naturally took the Crown Prince position.

The two, who had driven me out, put on a performance of the century, and that was precisely a marriage-by-abduction.

To fill the gap in Ludwig's legitimacy, and to make their wedding the event of the century.

They used the founding myth of the first Emperor.

After putting on that sickening, thousand-fold act, the two held their wedding ceremony.

Among the public, this incident caused quite a stir.

'It was very effective in raising the two's recognition and popularity.'

This time, I'm just going to reverse-use that.

I grinned from within Arpad's embrace.

'Ah, it's such a shame I can't see Ludwig's contorted face in person!'

* * *

*Crash!!*

The angel statue decorating the temple altar shattered to pieces.

The priests exclaimed in shock.

"Your Grace the Grand Duke!"

"What kind of barbaric act is this?!"

"Such sacrilege!"

Normally, Ludwig would never have made such a mistake.

But now was different.

Because an utterly shocking piece of news had reached him as he waited for the delayed bride.

"The bride was taken? Marriage-by-abduction?! What kind of nonsense is that right now!!"

At Grand Duke Ludwig's scream-like cry, even the guests became aware of the current situation.

"Did I hear correctly just now? The bride was abducted?"

"But who on earth would dare do such a thing?"

"His Grace the Grand Duke is the groom, and His Majesty the Emperor himself arranged the match..."

Shock rippled and spread in all directions.

*Thwack!*

The knight who failed to protect the bride and delivered the shocking news was struck by his lord and rolled on the virgin road.

"Ugh! Sorry, Your Gr...!"

Even those who were shocked by Grand Duke Ludwig's disgrace frowned.

While it was natural to be angry about having his bride taken, there was no way it looked good for him to assault a vassal in a public setting for that reason.

Evangeline, who attended as one of the guests, quickly grasped the surrounding atmosphere.

And immediately ran to Ludwig.

"Brother! Calm down!"

Approaching closely, 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 senses.

'Nothing has been going smoothly since last night until today anyway...!'

Especially this morning, the stress from being warned by the Emperor due to Hilia's hysteria was immense.

In the midst of that, hearing the news that his bride had been abducted, his reason completely snapped.

He roughly handled the situation.

"...My apologies. I got too excited."

"Please kill me, Your Grace."

The knight, still flat on the ground, knew Ludwig's true nature well.

Because he was a knight who had served by his side since the Grand Duke's residence.

He couldn't help but know that Ludwig's apology now was absolutely not sincere.

'If we return to the Grand Duke's residence, I'm finished!'

But he also had something to say. Who on earth could have stopped 'that person' who abducted the bride!

The knight cried out as if pleading.

"But Your Grace the Grand Duke. The one who abducted Duchess Delphine is none other than His Highness the Crown Prince! There was absolutely nothing we could do...!"

Ludwig spat out shock mixed with rage.

"What did you say?!"

Beside him, Evangeline staggered with a face that had turned pale.

"B-brother did it?"

The nuance of the term 'brother' she used just now was subtly different from when she referred to Ludwig.

But no one noticed this detail.

Translator: Nox