Reasons for Contract Marriage - Chapter 172

“Brianna.”

Lucius clenched and unclenched his fists nervously.

Never in his life had he been this shaken. Even when he charged into enemy territory with a single gun in hand during war, he had not been as tense as he was now.

“I have loved you far longer than you think.”

From the moment I found you among countless strangers at the train station. No, in truth, even longer ago, back when I caught glimpses of the young girl in the letters exchanged with my friend, I had already been drawn to you.

Knowing my friend had cherished you for a long time, I tried again and again to suppress my feelings, but in the end, I could not.

“That’s why I married you. The so-called contract conditions were nothing but an excuse. I thought only by saying that would you agree to marry me.”

At first, it was difficult, but once he started, the words flowed more smoothly than he expected. Lucius confessed his love to Brianna with sincerity.

“That’s why I want to protect this marriage to the end. Because I love you.”

He didn’t expect Brianna to burst into tears from being moved or to return his confession with her own declaration of love. Just having her understand his sincerity would have been enough. If she said she was not sure now and would answer him later, even that alone would have made him happy. At the very least, it would have meant leaving open the possibility for the future.

But what came next was something he had never imagined.

Brianna’s face, after hearing his confession, grew even colder than before. She fixed him with an icy gaze, then suddenly turned and disappeared into her room.

Moments later, Brianna returned holding a sheet of paper, which she set down on the desk.

“This is…”

“As you can see, it is divorce papers.”

Lucius froze in place, staring at her. Brianna glared at him with a cold, teal gaze he had never seen before.

“You told me last time to think about whether our marriage was nothing more than a contract and physical attraction. I thought about it a lot, and this is the result.”

“Brianna!”

“No, there is something more between us. Fraud and deception. And you are a liar and a cowardly hypocrite!”

A liar? A hypocrite?

Lucius couldn’t understand what Brianna was saying. He even doubted if she had properly heard his confession just now.

“Are you saying that everything I just confessed was a lie?”

“It is a lie. An obvious lie. I told you just now, I wouldn’t ask twice, so this time tell me the truth. But you chose to mock me until the very end!”

Brianna’s sharp voice sliced through the air. With tears welling in her eyes, she glared at him with all her strength.

“Liar, hypocrite! Robber, swindler! You say you married me because you loved me? Did you think I would foolishly believe that? Just how long do you plan on deceiving me?”

Lucius rubbed his face in frustration before looking at her again. If Brianna had accused him of harboring impure feelings for his friend’s lover from the very beginning, he might have understood. He had prepared himself for such reproach.

But treating his entire confession as nothing but a lie was something he could not accept.

“Brianna, why do you say my words are lies?”

“Because I already know everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“The reason you married me!”

Brianna burst into tears with heavy sobs.

“You married me out of guilt, because you believed Florian died because of you. I already knew.”

Lucius froze. It was only after some time that he opened his lips again.

“You knew that Florian died because of me?”

“You asked Florian to investigate gunpowder, and during that process, he was murdered. By the crown prince!”

Lucius’s face turned pale in an instant. That was the very fact he most wanted to hide from Brianna. It was also why he had not dared confess earlier. If he confessed his love, he would also have to admit that her lover had died because of him.

Would she ever be able to accept the love of the man who had caused the death of the one she loved? He could not be sure.

“How did you…”

“How I know does not matter. What matters is that you never intended to marry me from the beginning. You only married me out of obligation for your dead friend, so why tell me such obvious lies about loving me for so long?”

Lucius swallowed a groan. Brianna was misunderstanding, believing he had married her out of guilt over Florian. First, he had to clear up that misunderstanding.

Lucius grabbed Brianna’s arm. “Brianna, that is your misunderstanding. I didn’t marry you simply out of guilt toward Florian. I told you, I have loved you for a long time.”

Brianna forcefully shook off the hand that held her arm and shouted, “Even with clear evidence, you keep lying!”

“Evidence?”

At those words, Brianna’s anger grew stronger. Her chin trembled, and tears streamed down her slender face. As she wiped the flowing tears with her hand, she spoke sharply.

“If you will keep pretending not to know, then I will show you myself. That evidence.”

Brianna went around the desk and opened a drawer. Then she took out a letter inside and slammed it down roughly on the desk.

“Here it is. The reason you had no choice but to marry me!”

Lucius looked down blankly at Florian’s letter.

Only then did he realize how Brianna had learned the circumstances surrounding Florian’s death. She had seen this letter.

Then since when had she known?

“When did you read this letter?”

“Why are you asking that?”

“Answer me first, Brianna.”

Brianna let out a hollow laugh as if it was absurd, then opened her mouth. “About a week before the royal ball.”

Lucius quickly traced back to the past. Around that time was indeed when he had felt that Brianna, whom he thought had grown closer after the St. Riccio Festival, seemed to have grown distant again.

“Then after reading this letter, you planned to leave me?”

“No. I still wanted to stay by your side. So I tried. I decided to fulfill my responsibility and duty. But after I learned I could hardly bear a child, that was when I decided to leave. Knowing why you married me, how could I, in good conscience, stay by your side any longer?”

Lucius pressed his forehead. He was stunned and frustrated. At least now, the reason why Brianna had suddenly left his side was clear.

It was not because she hated him. In a marriage where only contract and duty remained, she could no longer fulfill those conditions, so she left.

“I still tried my best in my own way. Even though I knew you married me because of your friend’s will, I tried to fulfill a wife’s duty and even tried to have a child as the contract required. But when that became impossible, I left so you could be at ease. But what about you? You try to maintain this marriage with such ridiculous lies just to repay your guilt toward Florian? Then what am I in the middle of that?”

Brianna burst into tears and shouted fiercely.

“I am not an object to be handed back and forth as you two please. So stop dragging me into it anymore. That precious friendship of yours! Whether you two share friendship or love, I will not care anymore, so do as you please. But I no longer want to be caught up and toyed with in it! Do you understand me?”

Brianna glared at him with eyes blazing. Pouring out all the resentment and sorrow she had harbored for so long, she looked braver and more beautiful than ever.

Meanwhile, Lucius regained his usual composure. If the reason Brianna was asking for divorce again was not because her heart had left him but because of a misunderstanding, then that was something he could correct.

Lucius lowered his hand from his forehead and looked at Brianna. Then he spoke in a calmer voice, “Brianna, this letter was received after I married you.”