Reasons for Contract Marriage - Chapter 165

Veronica stared blankly at her son, who had suddenly vanished without a word a few days ago and returned after three days.

The problem was that her son’s appearance clearly looked like someone who had spent the entire night rolling around in bed with a woman. There was a scab of blood on one side of his lip, and a distinct scratch mark on his neck.

“You, you little brat!”

Veronica immediately shouted and swung her fist at her son.

“Where and with whom have you been doing such filthy things…”

“Please listen to me first, Mother.”

Lucius lightly blocked her flying fist. Then he sat her down and took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

Veronica glared at Lucius, seething. Even if he had been debauched before marriage, being faithful to one’s wife after marriage was a long-standing tradition of the Carlisle ducal family. Yet now Lucius had not only been unfaithful but was looking at her so shamelessly.

“Fine, go ahead and tell me. Where have you been these past few days, and who were you with last night?”

“I found Brianna.”

At those words, Veronica froze. After a moment, she regained her senses and asked again.

“…You found her?”

Lucius quietly nodded. That meant all those wounds were caused by Brianna.

If that sweet and gentle girl had left such marks…

“You, you, don’t tell me!”

Just as she gasped and tried to rise in shock, Lucius replied calmly, “I know what you’re imagining, but it’s not like that, so please settle down.”

“You think I don’t know you? You’re the spitting image of your father.”

Her late husband had been a truly genteel man.

When their marriage had been arranged, everyone came to tell her how lucky she was to be marrying such a kind man.

But at the time, Veronica had a secret concern she couldn’t tell anyone. It was that her fiancé never touched her except to kiss her.

Although keeping one’s chastity before marriage was considered a virtue, it was also common for young couples to secretly engage in physical intimacy once their wedding was set. With the ceremony approaching and her fiancé still showing no signs of wanting to hold her, she began to wonder:

Could he be impotent?

After much deliberation, she confided in her older sister, who was already married. Her sister, wearing a serious expression, said that it wasn’t impossible and suggested they confirm it beforehand.

So Veronica tried to provoke him at a ball by chatting and dancing at length with other men, thinking: If you still don’t hold me after this, then you really must be impotent!

Perhaps it worked, because that day, instead of escorting her home, her uptight fiancé took her to the ducal family’s villa.

And for three days, Veronica was trapped there and couldn’t return home. She realized then that her fears had been utterly groundless. She also discovered that when driven by jealousy, he would lose all sense of reason, as if becoming a completely different person.

Lucius had inherited that nasty tendency exactly.

“No doubt you behaved just as unreasonably toward that girl as your father did toward me! Where is Brianna now?”

“I brought her to the summer villa yesterday.”

“Why didn’t you bring her straight to the mansion?”

“Because there are things that need to be taken care of first. I also have a few requests to make of you concerning that.”

Now Veronica stared at Lucius seriously.

When she first heard that Brianna was unwell and would be staying at the villa for a while, she believed it completely. Given all that had happened since the wedding, she thought it made sense. Veronica didn’t even ask which villa Brianna was staying at. She thought she would return soon.

But after a month, then two, then three, Veronica began to realize something was wrong. Unless she was gravely ill, there was no reason to need that long to recuperate. Veronica had tried to press Lucius on where Brianna was, but he kept his lips tightly shut and said nothing. In the end, it was only when she threatened to personally check all the villas that he finally opened his mouth.

He said he was looking for Brianna.

At first, she wondered if Brianna had been kidnapped. But she soon realized that wasn’t the case. The scarf Brianna had given her before disappearing had been a farewell gift left intentionally.

She wanted to ask what had really happened, but when she saw the dark expression on her son’s face, one she had never seen before, she could no longer bring herself to ask.

“What is this request?”

“First, I’d like you to go on a trip for a while. About a month.”

Veronica let out a laugh of disbelief. No matter how she looked at it, he was asking her to leave so she wouldn’t interfere with his time with Brianna.

“Didn’t you always say you wanted to travel the whole continent once the war ended? Take this opportunity to go everywhere you wanted to see.”

“…Luce, I really think Brianna left because of you. In this situation, if one of us has to leave, shouldn’t it be you, not me?”

Lucius silently stared at her with tightly pressed lips. Look at that. That stubborn expression was just like his father’s.

“It’s fine if you don’t go on the trip. But if you don’t, Brianna will continue to remain trapped where she is, unable to take a single step outside.”

Veronica was so dumbfounded she gaped. “You, to Brie… You little… I’ve held back and held back, but really now! Are you trying to threaten your own mother?”

“Just one month. Please. Mother.”

Unlike his stiff attitude earlier, Lucius now bowed his head respectfully.

“When you return from the trip, everything will be resolved. I promise.”

In the end, Veronica pressed her forehead and sighed faintly.

She had no confidence in breaking that iron will, and if she insisted on staying, only Brianna would suffer more. For now, she could only hope Lucius would mend things well.

“Fine. I’ll leave as soon as I’m ready.”

***

After finishing his conversation with the Dowager Duchess, Lucius summoned the butler Carl to the study.

“Transfer all the money in Brianna’s account to another place.”

At that order, Carl paused and looked at Lucius cautiously before asking, “Do you mean Madam’s personal assets?”

“Yes.”

Carl let out a soft groan.

It was something that could be done realistically. Among nobles, it was customary to discuss finances before marriage. How much dowry would be brought, how much the wife would receive monthly if the husband died first, whether additional assets would be divided in case of divorce, or if she would simply take back her original dowry. Those kinds of things.

In the case of the Carlisle ducal couple, none of this had been discussed beforehand. The wedding was held hastily, and the bride had no dowry, so there was nothing to discuss.

The problem was that a bride’s personal property not documented in advance was, by custom, fully transferred to the husband. So with just a marriage certificate, the bank would release the duchess’s deposits.

“I beg your pardon, but wouldn’t it be better to reconsider this?”

Carl offered this advice, hoping he might change his mind.

“Even the gentle Dowager Duchess has always been sensitive when it comes to personal finances. If Her Grace finds out you touched the account without her consent, she will be furious.”

“I’m not trying to take Brianna’s assets. I’m just moving them somewhere she can’t access for a while. If she needs money, she can use mine.”

“That’s…”

Carl was about to say that wasn’t a solution at all, but shut his mouth with a deep sigh. Once the duke made up his mind, he wouldn’t change it.

“Understood. I’ll contact the bank immediately.”

After Carl left the study, Lucius leaned back deeply into the chair. He gazed forward with unfocused eyes.

Before bringing Brianna to the ducal residence, he had to eliminate everyone she could rely on.

That way, whether she liked it or not, she would realize the only person she could turn to was him.