Looking for the Villainess’s Contract Husband
Chapter 4
‘…In the end, she’s crying.’
Laviella stood with her back to the cupboard, listening to Gretel stifle her sobs, and let out a small sigh.
She had intentionally acted nonchalant precisely to avoid this.
‘Even if I didn’t cry, she would have been upset enough as it is…’
But seeing her child’s tearful face would surely hurt her even more.
With that thought, Laviella hadn’t shed a single tear. In truth, she had also been far too busy racking her brain for other reasons.
A short while later, Gretel, having finally stopped her tears and washed her face, entered the bedroom.
She forced a smile as she sat on the edge of the bed.
“Livi. It’s time for sleep.”
“…Can’t I read just a little more? I’m not sleepy yet.”
“But your body went through a lot today. You need to rest that much more.”
“Okay.”
At Gretel’s gentle persuasion, Laviella shrugged and placed her book on the nightstand.
While the young girl crawled toward her pillow, Gretel tossed a few more logs into the fireplace, lost in thought.
‘Should I stoke the fire more?’
Lately, the days were supposedly getting warmer, but even so, the temperature remained low enough that the snow didn’t melt.
She worried that Laviella, who was fragile to begin with, might catch a cold after rolling around in the snow earlier that day.
“Livi, aren’t you cold? Maybe a bit more fire…”
“Mom, this.”
Just then, Laviella, who had snuck up behind Gretel, suddenly pulled something out from under her pillow and held it out.
Gretel blinked as she saw it by the light of the fireplace. She spoke in a bewildered voice.
“Livi, what is this…?”
“It’s a gift. I can always fold another one, so you take it, Mom.”
Laviella turned her head away coyly, pressed the paper bird into Gretel’s hand as if forcing it upon her, and scurried back to bed.
The child lay down with her head on the pillow and pulled the blanket completely over her head. She didn’t move an inch after that.
Gretel, who had been staring blankly at her, finally looked down at her hand.
She noticed letters faintly visible through the paper bird’s wings and carefully unfolded it.
There, she saw handwriting that was still crooked and childish, yet clearly written with great care.
It was Laviella’s writing.
<Mom, you’re prettiest when you smile.>
“…….”
The moment those words met her eyes, Gretel almost burst into tears instinctively.
Barely managing to hold them back, she refolded the paper bird, placed it on the table, and approached the bed.
When she saw the blanket twitch at the sound of her footsteps, a laugh escaped her before she could stop it.
“You little rascal! Doing something so adorable!”
“D-Don’t pull the blanket!”
As Gretel tried to pull the covers back, Laviella flailed her legs and gripped the blanket tight.
The face glimpsed behind it was flushed bright red with embarrassment.
Gretel intentionally loosened her grip, play-fighting with Laviella for a moment before returning the blanket to her daughter.
Then Laviella, who had been huffing and puffing with her cheeks puffed out in mock indignation, suddenly spoke up.
“Mom.”
“Yes?”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“…….”
“It’s just that those men were in the wrong, so don’t act all timid like you did something wrong.”
Having said her piece, Laviella pulled the blanket back over her head and lay still.
Gretel stared at the rounded lump of the blanket in silence for a long time before smiling through tear-filled eyes.
“…Yes, all right. I will.”
“Geez. I told you not to cry.”
Hearing the watery voice, Laviella grumbled as if she had no choice and sat up.
The child gave Gretel a tight hug and patted her back.
Gretel firmly returned the embrace, holding her daughter who was small and fragile enough to fit perfectly in her arms.
A certain resolve settled on her face.
‘I will save you, no matter what.’
Wasn’t that the very reason she had kept living? She didn’t care if it cost her own life.
Gretel made that vow to herself.
At the same time.
‘Mom, you have to live. Be happy, in my place.’
Laviella, held in Gretel’s arms, was also lost in her own thoughts.
If her life was destined to be short anyway, she would spend it making her mother, Gretel, happy.
Though their thoughts were complete opposites, the bodies held against each other were equally warm.
Outside the window, the cold yet cozy Northern night deepened.
And a few days later.
‘Wh-What the hell…’
Laviella turned pale, clutching the hem of Gretel’s skirt.
“The Marquis has ordered that both of you be brought to the Capital. Let us go.”
This soon?
So, to rewind time a little.
“Livi, are you reading again?”
“Yeah.”
For the past few days.
I had been reading diligently while waiting for the wounds from rolling in the snow to heal.
In truth, it was closer to me pretending to read while plotting a way to escape.
After glancing past the book at Mom sewing, I turned my eyes to the newspaper I had tucked between the pages.
‘The news that Patrick’s Dukedom has been confirmed was reported over a week ago… It’s highly likely the Marquis is starting to dream his deluded dreams by now.’
In the novel, just before Patrick returns to the Capital, he receives an engagement proposal from Marquis Diarmuid.
[Hmm. House Diarmuid…]
[Accept it. However, that man is no different from a black-hearted snake, so treat it purely as a temporary alliance until the Brian Dukedom is established.]
Following the advice of his comrade and strategist, he decides on the engagement to Gretel Diarmuid and heads to a cafe to meet her upon returning to the Capital.
‘And that’s where he meets the female lead instead.’
In the novel, Gretel fails to show up at the cafe on the day of her meeting with Patrick because her daughter, Laviella, falls seriously ill.
Unaware of this, Patrick sits in the cafe long before the appointed time, waiting for Gretel.
That’s when the female lead of the novel, the Imperial Princess, storms into the cafe where Patrick is.
She had heard that her one and only close friend had developed feelings for someone and had raided the cafe where that man was rumored to frequent.
Mistaking Patrick—who matched her friend’s description—for the man her friend liked, the Imperial Princess plops down in the empty seat across from him, and the original novel begins.
‘…When I read it as a novel, I think I liked it, calling it thrilling.’
Now that I’m actually a party involved in the story, it’s nothing but bleak. A sigh escaped me involuntarily.
“There she goes sighing again. I wonder if she’ll start clicking her tongue next.”
I heard Mom’s soft laughter from over there.
Since her voice was clearly teasing, I ignored it and continued my thoughts.
‘Anyway.’
The important thing was that the Marquis must have also seen the newspaper confirming Patrick Brian’s Dukedom.
Since Patrick would be returning to the Capital soon, the Marquis’s plan to use Mom and me must have started even before that.
‘Which means there isn’t much time left.’
The closer we get to the Capital, the stronger the Marquis’s influence becomes.
In other words, escaping from the Marquis and his people becomes even more impossible.
Therefore, I had to escape the Marquis’s grasp with Mom before we were dragged all the way to the Capital.
‘The knight who went to report to the Capital should be back around tomorrow.’
When the knight returns tomorrow, he’ll surely blather on to his comrades about what happened in the Capital.
I’ll have to eavesdrop on that to gauge the movements of the Marquis’s house and set a date for our escape.
…Or so I had resolved, until the next day.
“The Marquis has ordered that both of you be brought to the Capital. Let us go.”
‘Wh-What the hell…’
I wasn’t even given a chance to prepare.
In my panic, my grip on Mom’s skirt tightened automatically.
Glancing out the window, I saw nearly ten knights with unfamiliar faces milling about below the tower, with a carriage standing in their midst.
‘…He’s serious about this.’
To send this many knights just to fetch two people with no physical power. The Marquis is truly not an opponent to be taken lightly.
Just then, Mom turned her head to steal a glance at me before looking forward again.
A voice that sounded like she was gritting her teeth reached me.
“…Why?”
“The Marquis is concerned that the Little Lady’s health is deteriorating…”
“Don’t talk nonsense. I know better than you what kind of man my father is.”
“…….”
“What is he up to? Tell me the truth.”
Mom reached back, wrapping her hand around my shoulder as she took a step back.
I moved back in sync with her.
There was a moment of silence.
The knight, who had been watching Mom and me without a word, let out a heavy sigh.
At that point, even the faint warmth that had lingered on his face evaporated completely.
“I do not wish to take you by force. Please cooperate.”
“Insolent…”
“You lot over there. Escort the Eldest Lady and the Little Lady to the carriage. The rest of you, pack any belongings that catch your eye.”
“Yes, sir!”
The man must have been the leader of the knight group, as the others moved in perfect unison at his command.
Several knights quickly scattered throughout the house.
Seeing them lay hands on the home Mom and I had built together sent a surge of hot emotion through me, but I suppressed it desperately.
‘Mom is holding back, so I can’t make a scene.’
Mom’s hand on my shoulder was also trembling with tension.
Whatever the case for me, for Mom, who is a direct lady of the Marquis’s house, this situation must be beyond insulting.
And the reason she was enduring such an insult was likely for fear that I might get hurt if a commotion broke out.
‘So, let’s endure.’
If we were to resist recklessly now and they decided to knock us out to move us, escaping would become twice as hard.
After all, one needs to be conscious to escape.
“Excuse me…”
As I tried to steady my breathing, the knights approached us hesitantly, looking troubled.
