Looking for the Villainess’s Contract Husband
Chapter 18
“…….”
Serpen did not answer Jack’s mutterings; he simply bowed his head.
He knew that the ‘experience’ Jack spoke of referred to the death of Victor, his close friend and former aide.
Until they arrived at the Diarmuid estate, Jack and Serpen remained focused on their documents, not speaking a word as if by unspoken agreement.
The silence was broken only by the snorting of the horses and the voice of the coachman.
“We have arrived, Master.”
Serpen stepped out of the carriage first and held the door.
Jack gathered his papers, set them aside in the carriage, and stepped onto the ground.
“Gasp….”
As Jack straightened his posture with an expressionless face, the knights and servants lined up at the main gate of the Marquis’s estate held their breath in unison.
It was because of the murderous aura radiating from him—a presence so chilling it overshadowed his looks, which were handsome enough to make a god sigh.
Fingertips trembled, and heads bowed instinctively.
Yet, while everyone else lowered their gaze by instinct, Marquis Diarmuid kept his neck stiff.
He mechanically curled the corners of his mouth upward and gave a shallow nod.
“To think I would live to see the day I welcome the Duke of Esperanza to the Diarmuid estate. It is an unparalleled honor.”
At those words, a crooked smirk rose on Jack’s lips.
It wasn’t because he was pleased by the Marquis’s greeting.
‘A snake of a man, through and through.’
On the surface, there was nothing wrong with Marquis Diarmuid’s words.
However, if one pried into the true intent, they were laced with wariness and suspicion, as if asking, ‘What wind blew you here to show your expensive face?’
In a way, Jack and Marquis Diarmuid were of the same kind. Jack, too, was a master at hiding blades within his words.
But after hearing what kind of life Laviella had lived, he didn’t feel like putting in the effort to hide his blade from a man like this.
Jack looked the Marquis straight in the eye and spoke.
“Marquis Diarmuid.”
“……Speak, your Grace.”
“I can hear the sound of your brain whirring from all the way over here.”
The Marquis’s brow twitched slightly at that remark.
Jack tapped his temple with his right index finger.
“I can hear the sound of you straining yourself to somehow get on top of my head.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean. I was merely……”
“Since when were you and I on equal enough footing to exchange pleasantries?”
“…….”
Marquis Diarmuid silently clenched his fists behind his back.
His jaw tightened, and the veins on the back of his hands bulged.
As if he knew all of this without even looking, Jack wore a relaxed smile while his eyes glinted with a lethal light.
“If you’re a merchant, act like one.”
“…….”
“It’s a rare occasion where I felt like bestowing something upon you. Don’t make me withdraw that whim.”
Jack finished his sentence smoothly and patted the Marquis on the shoulder.
The Marquis desperately forced his lips to curl up while grinding his teeth inwardly.
‘That son of a bitch.’
This was why he could never abandon his greed and hunger for power.
Wasn’t the only reason Jack Esperanza—who lagged far behind the Marquis in age and experience—could trample on his pride and act so arrogantly because he was a Duke?
He clenched his fists so hard that his fingernails dug into his palms.
A piercing pain shot through him, but the Marquis endured, never losing his smile until the end.
‘If this marriage goes through and Gretel just gives me a child…….’
That day would be the day Jack Esperanza’s life came to an end.
Marquis Diarmuid smiled brightly, imagining Jack’s limbs being torn apart in his mind.
He extended an arm and gestured toward the mansion with an elegant air.
“Please, come inside. My daughter is waiting in the drawing room. However, she is of fragile health and occasionally says things that make little sense, so please do not take them too much to heart.”
[I have ordered Gilbert to track down the knight named Paul. He is a capable knight, so he will bring back something—be it the child or a corpse.]
Before going out to meet Jack Esperanza, Marquis Diarmuid had looked down at Gretel with cold eyes and warned her.
[So don’t even think about doing anything foolish. You’re the one who survived outside for ten years because you didn’t want the child to be harmed; surely keeping your mouth shut and smiling for an hour is nothing to you.]
[…….]
[You must be smiling when you return with the Duke. Keep that in mind.]
“…….”
Gretel sat on the sofa in the drawing room, staring blankly into space.
Her mysterious green hair, tinged with brown, flowed down to her waist in soft waves.
With navy eyes set beneath delicate lids, a straight and neat bridge of the nose, and perfectly shaped red lips, she was beautiful enough to make anyone sigh.
Gretel, meticulously groomed by the maids, looked like a doll painstakingly crafted by an artisan.
Not a person, but a doll.
[Smile.]
[Smile.]
[Didn’t I tell you to smile?]
[Smile!]
In her head, Marquis Diarmuid’s voice overlapped like an echo, again and again and again.
‘……I have to smile.’
Gretel consciously tried to curl the corners of her mouth.
But her face wouldn’t move, as if she were someone who had forgotten how to smile.
After a few more attempts to force a smile, tears suddenly spilled from Gretel’s eyes. They left tracks like water trails on her white cheeks.
‘I shouldn’t…… show that I’ve been crying.’
If the guest—that is, the Duke of Esperanza—were to discover her tear stains, Marquis Diarmuid would be furious.
So she had to stop crying as soon as possible, wipe away the marks, and put on a smile again.
But her body wouldn’t move at all.
It felt as if she had been taxidermied alive.
Without even contorting her face, Gretel simply let the tears fall from her expressionless face.
Then, a small commotion pierced through her muffled ears.
“……You cannot. I shall go with……”
“No matter how precious your daughter is, do you plan on hovering over her like she’s a toddler even after marriage? It’s unsightly, Marquis.”
Following the unfamiliar voice, the drawing room door swung wide open and then clicked shut.
Outside the drawing room, the Marquis seemed to huff and puff for a moment, but it soon grew quiet.
“Gretel Diarmuid, I presume?”
Even in her daze, her name pierced her ears clearly.
Gretel’s head slowly turned toward the door. Soon, their gazes met.
“…….”
A man around her age with black hair and red eyes was looking at her.
The man’s eyes widened slightly, as if surprised by something.
“……It’s a first, having a lady wait for me in tears.”
The moment she heard Jack’s mutter, her reason returned as if she had been doused with cold water.
Consternation finally flickered across Gretel’s face, which had been vacant all this time.
‘What have I done…….’
Then Jack, who had strode over to the pale Gretel, pulled something from inside his jacket and thrust it before her eyes.
Despite her startled flinch, what he held out was a handkerchief.
“Here.”
“…….”
“Cry more if you want to. But your father might have his ear pressed to the drawing room door, so try not to make too much noise if possible.”
His tone carried neither sympathy nor surprise. To the ear, it sounded almost heartless.
Yet, for some reason, she felt comforted by it.
After hesitating, Gretel reached out a trembling hand and took the handkerchief Jack offered.
At that, Jack turned away without a second thought and moved his long legs to sit on the sofa opposite her.
Seeing this, Gretel bit her lip hard.
The handkerchief in her hand crumpled.
‘……I have to say thank you, and I have to smile.’
Jack’s gesture of kindness was certainly appreciated.
However, Gretel couldn’t help but think of what would happen if Marquis Diarmuid were to catch Laviella and get her into his clutches.
If she cared for Laviella’s safety, she should wipe her tears with the handkerchief right now, smile, and say she would wash it and return it next time.
Because that was what the Marquis would want.
But…….
[Cry more if you want to.]
Was it right to deceive someone who had spoken to her like that?
Was it right to push this man—who had handed her a handkerchief without asking a single question—into a pit just to achieve her own desires?
Gretel agonized fiercely for a long time while clutching the handkerchief.
But in the end, she squeezed her eyes shut and forced the words out.
“……You intend to marry me, don’t you?”
What Gretel ultimately chose was Laviella’s safety.
In truth, it was the natural conclusion.
No matter how grateful she was for Jack’s kindness, nothing was as precious to Gretel as Laviella.
To protect Laviella, she was willing to shake off even this paltry guilt and cast any number of others into the hands of a devil.
‘……I’m sorry.’
Gretel bit the inside of her cheek, offering a silent apology to Jack that he would never hear, trying to push back the guilt.
But the response that followed was something Gretel hadn’t expected at all.
“No.”
