Reasons for Contract Marriage - Chapter 157

If she were to use a different name instead of her original one, wouldn’t it most likely be a name she used in childhood but no longer uses now?

It was merely a vague assumption. But clinging to that faint hope, he had searched for Brianna, and finally today, it bore fruit.

In the darkness, Lucius slowly tightened the fist resting on his knee.

Brianna, you don’t know.

How much I came to hate you while you were gone.

He had tried to imagine what he would say and how he would act when he saw her again, but now, nothing came to mind.

***

“Hey, Nana.”

A voice called her from behind. When Brianna turned around, Natalie asked in a cautious tone, “About yesterday—did Mr. Ethan make some sort of mistake toward you?”

Brianna stopped kneading the bread dough and showed a slightly troubled expression. From the moment Natalie asked her to help with meal prep, she had suspected that question would come up. But now that she had to answer, there wasn’t much to say.

“…It’s not that.”

Brianna shook her head quietly while brushing off the flour on her hands. She had suddenly burst into tears and then abruptly run away—how bewildered Ethan must have been.

“Mr. Ethan didn’t do anything wrong. If there’s any misunderstanding, I’ll meet him later and explain it myself.”

Only then did Natalie exhale a big sigh of relief. “Ah, if it’s something like that, then I’m glad. We were worried, thinking maybe Mr. Ethan had done something disrespectful to you. You know what? When Levin heard you went home in tears yesterday, he got so angry at Ethan. He said it was strange because you’re not someone who cries easily, and he kept pressing him, asking if he’d done something wrong.”

“Good grief, all he did was try hard to get me a plushie.”

When Brianna actively defended him, Natalie finally looked completely at ease and began stirring the meat stew vigorously again. She had large hands to begin with, and the amount of stew she was cooking now was more than enough to feed the entire village.

“Did he manage to get a plushie? He’s a model student who only ever studied, so his shooting skills must be terrible, right? Oh no, don’t tell me, you cried because of that? ‘How could you introduce such an incompetent man to me!’ Like that?”

While Natalie laughed and chattered, Brianna rolled out the finished dough into a thin, round shape. Then she lit the oven and placed the dough on top. Before long, the savory smell of baking bread filled the house.

“…It reminded me of when I went to a festival with my ex-husband. I guess the emotions just got the better of me for a moment.”

It felt like she needed to explain why she had suddenly cried, so she brought it up. Natalie, hearing those words, quickly looked very somber.

“Sorry, you’re still not ready to meet someone else, and we just pushed too hard, didn’t we? I’m really sorry, we won’t do it again.”

Brianna smiled gently. “Please tell Mr. Ethan I’m sorry.”

“Okay, we’ll handle that, so don’t worry.”

Just then, Romi, who had been playing in one spot, got up and toddled over to the oven where Natalie was. Natalie flailed her free hand in alarm.

“Ack! Romi, don’t come here! It’s dangerous! Go play over there!”

But Romi bravely charged toward the oven, completely ignoring her mother’s warning. Brianna quickly scooped the child up before she could get hurt.

“Romi, that’s hot. Hot, you know?”

“Hot?”

At Romi’s babble, Brianna laughed brightly.

“Remember last time? You touched the candle and it was hot—ouch. That’s hot too, ouch, hot.”

“Hot! Ouch!”

Perhaps remembering how she had been startled when she reached for the candle last time, Romi repeatedly opened and closed her tiny hand. Then, clearly frightened, she clung tightly to Brianna’s neck.

Seeing that, Natalie said curiously, “She’s a bit picky by nature and usually doesn’t go easily to others, but she just clings to you without hesitation.”

Brianna sat down, supporting the child’s bottom, and smiled. “For some reason, kids seem to like me. I used to play with them a lot in my old village, too.”

Natalie nodded. “Yeah, looks like it. Come to think of it, did you have any kids with your ex-husband?”

As soon as she asked, Natalie bit her tongue, realizing she’d made a mistake. If she had a child, she would have brought them along. It wasn’t even a proper question.

Brianna gave a bitter smile. “No, we didn’t. The marriage didn’t last very long.”

“How long was it?”

“About six months.”

“Then you pretty much separated right after getting married.”

“Yes, you could say that.”

Now that she knew the circumstances, Natalie felt even more pity for her. To think she couldn’t forget her husband despite such a short marriage, it could only mean she truly loved him.

Still, the dead should be let go quickly, and she should meet a good man, have a lovely child, and live happily. Natalie thought that as she watched Brianna playing with Romi. But she kept those words to herself and swallowed them down.

After having a hearty dinner with the couple and returning home, it was already well past dusk. On top of that, Natalie insisted on giving Brianna a generous portion of the meat stew, saying she had made too much. From Brianna’s perspective, if she kept getting meals like this for another month, the debt they owed her would more than be repaid.

Before going to bed, Brianna went around the house checking all the locks. She closed all the windows and fastened the bolts on the two doors tightly. Since Levin and Natalie lived next door, there had never been an incident of someone trying to break in at night. Still, one could never be too sure.

After securing everything, she lay down in bed and began thinking seriously about what to do next.

It felt like the time had come to start doing something instead of hiding away forever. After all, if a woman lived alone without working and wasn’t struggling financially, people were bound to find it suspicious. At some point, someone might even assume she had inherited a large fortune from her husband and try to go after her money.

Then what kind of work could she do here…

Turning onto her side, Brianna recalled the villagers she had met here. There were many similarities to Harzen. The villagers were generally uninformed about the outside world and accustomed to old customs. Especially among the women, many still couldn’t read. This contrasted with the city, where even if most hadn’t received higher education, they at least knew how to read.

So perhaps she could try teaching people who didn’t know how to read. After all, the only thing she could offer was the knowledge in her head.

Back when she was the Duchess, supporting female artists had been quite enjoyable. Maybe if she could do something similar here, she might gradually forget the past six months.

While making such plans one by one, she eventually fell asleep. And what woke Brianna in the middle of the night was a strange sound.

When she opened her eyes, everything around her was quiet and dark. Thinking she might have imagined it, she tried to go back to sleep, but then she clearly heard a creaking sound coming from the door.

Brianna immediately got up and looked toward the entrance. Someone outside was trying to open the locked bolt.

She had experienced something similar once before. Back when she lived in Harzen Castle, Franz had broken in with the intention of assaulting her.

Jonas. Is it that bastard again this time?

He had stayed quiet for a while after Levin’s warning, but it seemed he was finally about to cause trouble. Wearing only her nightgown and barefoot, Brianna rushed to the back door. She planned to escape through there and get help from Levin and Natalie.

But just as she was about to open the back door, she sensed someone standing outside. In her panic, she even considered climbing out the window, but there was a shadow flickering outside that too.

How many of them are out there?

Pale and at a loss, Brianna hastily threw open the closet. From her travel bag, she pulled out a gun and quickly loaded it.

This time, she might really have to shoot someone.

She steadied her weakening heart and placed her finger on the trigger.

Thunk—a loud sound rang out as the bolt was torn off in an instant, and the door opened. Brianna immediately spun around and aimed her gun at the man stepping into the room.

But just as she was about to pull the trigger, Brianna sucked in a sharp breath at the sight before her, too unbelievable to believe.