Episode 130

Lucerne looked like someone who had already stabbed someone in the head a thousand times. However, that someone was not Elisha. She was heading to Elisha and the man who had written her marriage contract.

“Don't treat me like an idiot, Elisha.”

Elisha's eyes wavered.

“……. What do you mean?”

“You understand everything. How kind do I have to be?”

“…… Please explain.”

“First. I'm your physical first man. Right?”

Elisha flinched. She didn't know he knew. Although she bleeds a little when she first got into a relationship. But that didn't necessarily mean she was the first.

“Is that important?”

“Don't talk back. As you know, in the marriage of aristocrats in this country, if physical relations are not accompanied. The marriage is invalid.”

“…….”

“So, fortunately, the previous marriage must have been broken. Then, should we just shut the mouths of the people involved?”

“Do you think so?”

Lucerne met Elisha's eyes exactly.

“Elisha. You used to live in a monastery, then you were dragged away by Jacob and locked up to work. Therefore, it is more likely that the marriage contract was forcibly written. Probably because of the property.”

Elisha flinched. She couldn't deny a single thing.

“So Elisha.”

Lucerne leaned over her and said.

“Come on, tell me your name.”

“…….”

“You will be less scolded if you put someone who will be punished instead of you. You're smart, you know.”

Said Lucerne as if to soothe her child. Elisha barely opened her mouth.

“You are right. I was almost forced into marriage.”

Elisha sat next to Lucerne and she barely fixed her hair. Little by little she found her composure with her hand on her couch.

“Jacob's laundry, where I worked before I met you. When I worked there, there was a story that women worshiped like a fairy tale. There is one knight who gave Jacob a favor. The article says he asked for a woman as a prize. She was the woman who was the 'collateral' for my situation. The story of the woman who married the knight is living happily as a man's wife, without having to pay off debts or work.”

“Are you the protagonist of that romantic story?”

Lucerne asked coldly. Elisha flinched. Indeed, he was quick-witted.

“Right.”

Lucerne nodded her head to continue explaining.

“It happened when my father died and was brought in for the first time.”

It was the night the castle of Rohr burned. Elisha was living in a monastery isolated from the world at the time. In the middle of the night she was brought to sleep by Jacob's knights.

Elisha was barefoot and her long blonde hair was disheveled. While she was being dragged, she was treated roughly and the skirt of her nightgown was torn.

She was brought to a cabin in the woods. It was around the camp where Jacob's soldiers camped. The cabin door burst open and people came in.

A man in front of them was holding the neck of a man dripping with blood.

I only found out later, but it was the neck of her biological father, Count Laure.

“They said his name was Jain. Although he belonged to a knight of the Cartier family. She is actually one of Jacob's entourage.”

Besides, Jain was a distant relative of Carola. He had taken care of Jacob even before Carola got married. His sword skills were so-so, but he got lucky that night. He has made merit in the territory battle.

That day. In the war, Count Laure ran amok with his sword and nearly stabbed Jacob. At that time, it was Jain who saved Jacob and cut Laure's supply and demand.

'Ah, to hear that Jacob is injured at the hands of Count Laure. Looks like she'll have to take her anger out on this woman today.'

Her knights looked at Elisha and giggled. Jain licked her lips. He looked pretty decent, but his face was full of the cunningness of a man with a small bowl. He was a man with the impression that he could be infinitely cruel in front of the weak.

'Is this woman Laure's daughter?'

'I'm sure they killed the rest. Lor, he gave birth to a bunch of illegitimate children.'

Jain had a conversation with the knight sitting next to her.

'An illegitimate child cannot inherit her title. Is she the wife's daughter?'

'Yes. She is the daughter of an ex-wife to whom she was married at the time of her birth.'

'It's half and half. As expected, bitches from the Kingdom Union are pretty.'

Elisha was separated from her father when she was very young and she never knew his face. However, her father, who had been reunited after a very long time, had his eyes wide open and his neck severed. It was a shock enough to shake the world.

“Therefore?”

Lucerne listened to Elisha in silence.

“Reality is not a fairy tale, but a realm of nasty animals. Jain liked me.”

Jain looked at Elisha and licked her lips.

'I like to see such a precious-looking bitch cry. It's a bit young, but this isn't bad.'

Jain didn't let anyone touch Elisha. Then he went to Jacob and asked her to be his bride.

“Actually, it was like this. Jain writes a contract to give Jacob most of the property, leaving only a small part of Count Laure, and I agree to receive her wife as a bonus. There is such a method. How to make someone marry anyone and write a memorandum of property transfer. And her husband is stealing her property and giving it to Jacob.”

But that was the way Jacob didn't like it very much.

Jacob mainly used to catch young ladies. Because he was the most helpless on that side and later became money.

Once the property transfer agreement took effect, the target had to be at least 19 years old. Married life was personal and private, so the marriage was maintained well until the age of 19, but it could not be monitored. Moreover, even if the opponent is an adult, it takes at least a few years to siphon off the property.

Besides, if you were unlucky, the bride you were forced to marry could die from being abused. In many ways, the cleanest way was to simply lock up the collateral and clear the debt.

If Zain hadn't saved Jacob's life that night, Jacob would never have allowed Elisha and Zain to marry.

“I was very young then. And I wasn't crazy. I have no choice but to sign as I am told and write as I am told. I didn't even know what I was writing. They even made me write a blood note and sign it.”

“And?”

Lucerne's body began to ooze subtle anger. At the time, Elisha was fourteen years old. Lucerne knew that.

“Then, she was forcibly taken to the bridal chamber. In fact, she wasn't even a bride. It was just her Jain room. There was a damp, old blanket on the bed.”

“…….”

“I came to my senses when I got to the point where I was raped. Fortunately, nothing happened that night. I took out the dagger from Jain's bosom and wounded him in the shoulder. And he ran out of the room almost half naked.”

Elisha continued.

“Then she bumped into Jacob in the hallway. Jacob looked closely at my body then.”

At that time, next to Jacob was Carola, clinging to his arm. Carola opened her eyes wide and looked at Elisha.

“…… Jacob must have taken notice of you.”

Elisha nodded her head with an expressionless face.

“It's similar. Jacob said he was too lazy to give me to Jain. So he suggested that Jain not give him another woman. I was too young at the time……. It was the reason she wanted to touch her once she grew up.”

Elisha even felt a little fear in Lucerne's cool eyes.

“Besides, Jain lost her face by being stabbed by me.”

“Is that why the marriage fizzled out?”

“Yes. He said Jain would give up on me. The excitement must have cooled since I came out stronger than I thought.”

And that night, Jacob sent Jain cortisans to replace Elisha.

Elisha thought of her brief bad relationship with Jain. In her previous life, Jain held a grudge for it. The scars of her burns on her face and her ugliness made him lose face even more.

Afterwards, Jain felt ashamed of having proposed to Elisha and treated her badly. One day she even threw Elisha into muddy water in front of her people. Elisha said that day she was half-naked and she had to flee to her lodgings.

Everything she did with the Cartier family was bad luck. Looking back, the future that will be brutally treated by them is as if it has already been decided.

Her biological father, who couldn't even remember her face. Count Laure originally had a bad relationship with the neighboring Cartier family. He even injured Jacob's body on the day the territory collapsed.

“But Jacob has a lot of women. He just threw me in the laundry and forgot about it. After that, time passed and I met you. That's it.”

“I understand a little bit now.”

Lucerne said silently.

“Your hatred of the Cartier family.”

Elisha nodded her head.

“I want you to be the head of the household. Because that would make Jacob the most miserable and painful. I want to see him go mad with anger.”

Lucerne seemed like a person who held back his emotions. He said softly.

“Anyway, I get it. I will take care of this.”

Elisha was relieved at that moment. Lucerne didn't throw her out. Something gurgled through her throat. Elisha savored the sensation but tried not to let her emotions out.

“Thanks for understanding.”

“…….”

“I didn't mean to fool you. I really didn't know if there was still evidence of that marriage. That's probably the evidence Carola has. She was tipped off by Mimosa.”

“…….”

“If you think I have a flaw. I apologize. All marriages between nobles and nobles are recorded in the Great War. Here is my marriage annulment document that I received from Rosaria at the request.”

“Did you think I would be relieved to see this and say you were blameless?”

“…….”

Lucerne clicked his tongue.

“What letter are you sending? I guess I don't know.”

Elisha couldn't understand his words at first glance. After a while she understood what Elisha meant.

“You mean…….”

Elisha's lips quivered. Lucerne knew it all from the beginning. I knew he was monitoring all of my private life. He wrote a letter to Rosaria, of course…….

“Then why are you angry?”

Elisha said to her dejection.

“I said It is unacceptable to have something hidden from me.”

“…….”

“Are you hiding what could have been your weakness like this?”

Elisha realized why Lucerne was angry. It wasn't because she had a flaw. He told her Elisha that she was angry at the fact that she had a past she didn't know about.

“You knew the rumors would spread.”

” …… No one can stop rumors.”

Lucerne smiled.

“There is nothing impossible in the world, Elisha.”

Elisha silently lowered her head. It has always been difficult for her to speak her mind.

“I'm sorry. I was worried because it was difficult to talk about. You…… Lest they suspect that I really was another man's wife.”

“I'm doing something called jealousy these days.”

Lucerne said boredly.

“Still, reason hasn't completely disappeared.”

“…….”

“You are mine. Elisha. So I have a duty to protect you.”

“…….”

“Do you know what I mean?”

Elisha meekly nodded her head.

“I'll tell you everything next time.”