Chapter 2
The Protagonist Possessed by My Husband, Chapter 2
- Daughter of Duke Shannon
It has already been 23 years since I started living as ‘Luise Shannon.’
I was born as the eldest daughter in the Shannon Ducal House of a neighboring country.
Before becoming Luise, I lived as an orphan who had been adopted and then abandoned twice in my previous life.
It was a lonely life.
In the first house I was adopted into, I was abandoned in less than two years because they had a biological daughter. In the second house, my adoptive mother quickly passed away, and my father abandoned me.
But it was okay.
‘Other people only have two parents, but I have four.’
It’s better to have many parents to miss and remember than none at all.
If I include my biological parents, does that make six?
I shrugged and tried to smile.
However, I never got used to this loneliness, even by the time I turned twenty-three.
The people who were briefly my parents never looked for me again after that.
It's so unfair to always be alone.
‘…I want a real family too.’
Having become an adult three years ago, the loneliness surged more intensely than before.
I wanted to find a boyfriend, but no one I felt any romantic interest in ever appeared.
‘I’m dying of loneliness, but why are my standards so high?’
It’s like I can’t even spare a glance for anyone who isn’t a top-tier handsome man.
When will I ever meet someone I love…?
It was one night when I fell asleep alone, feeling so desolate.
My biological mother appeared in my dream.
Surprisingly, she was also searching for me.
‘Follow me here. Then you can meet me.’
What? I can see Mom?
While dreaming, I went outside as if possessed.
‘We can really meet, right? I’ll definitely go to your side, Mother!’
Finally, I’m going to have a family!
The sensation of my soft bare feet scraping against the asphalt was painful, but I was still happy.
If I could meet my real family, I was confident I could cross even a thorny fire.
But then.
Bang-!
‘You could have at least told me I had to cross the River Jordan…’
Suffering from sleepwalking and wandering the night streets, I was hit by a truck. And then I was born in a world I had never seen before.
As confused as I was, I cried even more vigorously.
‘Luise. Our baby.’
‘Finally, I get to see your face.’
Mom?
The woman who gave birth to me approached and rubbed her nose against mine. She smelled soft and warm.
Could she be the same person as the mother I saw in my dream before I died?
I couldn’t remember her face no matter how hard I tried, but I just believed that my mother had called me to this world.
‘Now I’ve finally come to the place where I belong.’
I was happy every day.
As a noble lady of a duke's family, I grew up receiving abundant love and education.
Everyone smiled lovingly at my meaningless gestures and expressions, and everything I wore and ate was always made with care.
The shadows of my dark past life gradually faded, and instead, the brighter parts of me came to the fore.
However, when my mother passed away when I was thirteen, many things around me changed.
My father remarried to have a son, and soon after, a younger brother was born.
My stepmother, who kept having daughters, tried to isolate me within the house, and as rabbit-like younger siblings appeared, my father gradually became indifferent to me as well.
My stepmother even forbade me from holding my younger sisters, but I stubbornly adored them. I was always polite and kind to my stepmother as well.
Then, my stepmother would often clutch her head and collapse, saying, ‘A shameless thing like you is turning my insides upside down.’
At some point, my stepmother simply gave up on tormenting me.
But then, one day, just before I turned twenty.
‘When are you finally going to accept a man’s proposal? You’ll be twenty-one next year, don’t you know you won’t be able to get married if you miss this opportunity?’
My stepmother urged me to marry almost every day, as I was letting my prime marriage age slip by.
However, I simply couldn’t find a man I liked.
I had attended countless Balls, but they were nothing more than attendance checks.
‘I died a virgin in my past life, and now I can’t find a man I like here either.’
Half the world is made up of men, how is this even possible?
While I was rejecting men’s proposals, most of the ladies my age were getting engaged.
…Ah, I want to get married too.
The one who wanted to get married more than anyone was me.
I had a romantic idea about marriage.
No, to be more precise, I had a fantasy about a sweet and loving relationship with my husband.
I had only heard about dating, love, and marriage, but I had never experienced them myself.
I want to have a kiss, and try this and that… sob.
‘I’m so curious about what it will feel like.’
Just thinking about it made my heart flutter and my face flush.
I clasped my hands together wistfully on the bed and wandered through my dreams.
I wondered if a man’s lips were really softer than whipped cream, as I had read in books, and if the first night would be fantastic and special.
‘If I get married, I’ll be able to have children soon, right?’
How lovely would a daughter who looks like me be?
If I get married, I’ll have a ‘real family’…!
A real family that I’ve wanted so badly since my past life.
Amidst all this, my stepmother brought in a marriage proposal from Duke Alexis of the Rilt Empire, a neighboring country.
My stepmother was anxious that I wouldn’t marry anyone and would become a fixture in this house.
Since I couldn’t find a fiancé in our kingdom, she must have looked as far as foreign countries.
‘He’s a very young and handsome duke. He’s said to be one of the most handsome men in the Rilt Empire. Even his portrait is very impressive, and it seems like he’s too good for you, don’t you think?’
I stared silently at his portrait.
Looking back now, it was a portrait that didn’t capture even a fraction of his real appearance due to the painter’s lack of skill.
He might have looked handsome to others, but to me, he was just an ordinary guy #1.
‘…I think my face is more than enough.’
‘Oh, yes. It must be nice to be so beautiful.’
To embellish a man with such a common appearance with all sorts of adjectives, my stepmother must have really wanted to send me far away.
The Brent Ducal House desperately and touchingly appealed in a letter, detailing the reasons why they wanted to marry into our family.
Having in-laws across the sea was a long-held dream of the family, they wanted to serve the Shannon Ducal House, with its history and dignity, as noble in-laws for life, the duke was so handsome and kind that the lady’s married life would be not just prosperous but blissful, and so on.
‘Consider it the luck of a lifetime to become the wife of such a man, and get married right away.’
However, I couldn’t readily marry someone from another country whom I had never even met.
The fact that the Emperor of the Rilt Empire was rumored to be a notorious madman was also a problem.
However, very unusually, my father came to see me in response to my refusal.
‘Get married. Our family can only be peaceful again if you get married.’
Our family was facing an unprecedented crisis because my father had been scammed and had gambling debts, and my mother’s extravagance had piled up.
The Brent Ducal House said that they would use their wealth to make up for our family’s shortcomings.
I absolutely, no matter what, did not want to get married for that reason.
‘I didn’t know you were so selfish. Aren’t you thinking about your younger siblings?’
‘If you just get married, everything can be easily resolved! You ungrateful thing!’
My father and stepmother took turns forcing me to marry.
So you’re telling me to make a sacrifice…?
Of course, the other party was a wealthy ducal house, but I was greatly shocked by the way my family was trying to easily abandon me.
I felt like I was losing all the last bit of affection I had for the Shannon Ducal House.
I knew very well that they had never had any affection for me, but I didn’t expect to realize it so vividly in this way.
I am someone who is not needed.
A daughter who can be abandoned at any time.
I wanted to get out of this place, anywhere.
Any household would be better than this one.
At least if I get married, I’ll have my own children.
I haven’t found a man I like anyway, but this man in the portrait is decent enough, right?
I married as if I were grabbing my only escape route.
For myself and my young half-siblings.
However, I didn’t expect to face a shock that surpassed disappointment.
I had fallen into a scheme by my stepmother and mother-in-law.
‘Now I see why you sent the marriage proposal to a distant foreign country. Aren’t you being too much? The, the Duke didn’t say he couldn’t do this, or, or that!’
‘So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to go back to your home country now? If you want to divorce my son, read the marriage contract again! See how much your family has to pay in penalty fees!’
‘….’
Twenty times the wealth and land received upon marriage.
I was about to send a letter to my family ten days after the wedding, but I stopped.
The room was filled with letters I had written and crumpled up.
There was no way my family had the money to pay the penalty fees anyway. Even if they could raise the penalty fees, I didn’t want to go back to that house.
And most decisively.
It would be too hasty to give up on my husband like this…
He is extremely handsome.
