Reasons for Contract Marriage - Chapter 173

He added, “More precisely, I received this letter the day after I spent my first night with you as newlyweds.”

At those words, Brianna’s eyes blazed again with fierce anger. “What are you saying now? You and I married long after Florian’s death. Why would a letter left in his will reach you only then?”

“Because the assistant entrusted with delivering it sent it to me late.”

Lucius reached into the drawer from which Brianna had just pulled the letter. He picked up the envelope lying at the bottom and handed it to her.

“Check the date on it yourself.”

Brianna looked down at the postal mark stamped on the envelope. The date of their wedding was clearly marked there. If so, as he said, this letter had been delivered to the ducal residence the day after their marriage.

“How could this…”

“After Florian’s death, I was wounded and took leave. After that, as you know, several matters overlapped, and I never returned to the battlefield. Meanwhile, the assistant remained at war, so he was only able to send the letter after going on leave. He said military mail could not be trusted.”

Brianna drew in a small breath.

“Then…”

“Yes, when I received this letter, it was already after I had married you of my own will.”

Once she learned the truth, strength drained from her body. Brianna reached out one hand to the desk to support herself.

There was no doubt in his explanation. Not only did the date on the postal mark match his words, but the handwriting on the envelope was also unmistakably Florian’s.

Brianna raised her head and looked into Lucius’s eyes. “If not because of Florian’s request, then why did you marry me in the first place?”

He let out a faint sigh. “I already told you, Brianna. I have loved you for a long time.”

“But, but when you proposed to me, what you said was…”

“I told you I had a duty to produce an heir, and for that, I needed a woman who could skip the tedious process and marry me right away. That was all a lie. With Florian having just died, I couldn’t possibly confess that I had loved you for so long. Even if I had, you wouldn’t have believed me.”

Brianna brought her trembling hand to her lips. As he said, had he proposed back then with a confession of love, she would never have married him. Not only would it have been hard to believe, she would have coldly despised a man who declared love to his friend’s lover right after that friend’s death.

A bitter smile touched his lips. “At the time, I thought it best to bind you with a contract first, then later confess my true feelings after enough time had passed. Once your feelings for Florian had somewhat faded and you had begun to care for me, I planned to be honest then. I never imagined you would run far away before that, saying you hated me.”

“Lucius, I, that is not it…”

Brianna hurriedly shook her head.

“It was not that I hated you. After reading this letter, I simply believed you had married me because of Florian’s request. I thought you had been forced to marry me out of guilt toward him. So I thought I had to give you another chance…”

“I did always feel sorry toward Florian. But it was for a different reason than what you think.”

Lucius stepped closer, his shoe tip brushing Brianna’s toes. Standing so near their bodies almost touched, he looked down at her.

“The truth is, from the first time I met you, I had impure thoughts about you.”

“…Impure thoughts?”

“When I saw you tie the handkerchief I gave you around your knee, what I thought was how I wanted to lift the hem of your skirt. Before then, not once had I ever thought such things about a woman.”

Brianna’s face flushed in embarrassment. At that time, Lucius had always worn the same cold expression, as though he had not the slightest interest in her, so she could not have imagined what he just confessed.

“And when I received the handkerchief back through Florian and returned home in the carriage, I comforted myself with it, carrying your scent. Imagining myself madly plunging into your body.”

“You know what? Even back then, I wanted to do this to you.”

Only then did Brianna realize the meaning behind the words he had spoken when they had once made love in the carriage. At the time, she had thought he was so aroused that he was just babbling nonsense.

“Luce…”

“Shall I tell you one more proof of how much of a madman I am? That gunshot wound I had when I came home on leave, it was something I staged myself.”

At first, she did not understand his meaning. Staged?

Then she soon realized and recoiled in shock.

“You mean you wounded yourself?”

“Yes. I fired a gun into my own arm.”

“Are you insane? Why would you…”

“At that time, I had to come to you no matter what it took.”

Lucius pulled Brianna’s slender waist into his arm. As their bodies pressed together, their pounding heartbeats merged into one and throbbed wildly.

“You were the only one who had continuously exchanged letters with Florian. If he had let slip even a small word to you, you would be in danger. No matter how I thought about it, there was no other way but to suffer a serious injury to be granted leave.”

At that moment, her once dry eyes grew hot, and a single tear dropped. The confession she had just denied as a lie and railed against now came clearly into view.

“And I don’t regret that decision in the least. Thanks to it, I was able to keep you safe.”

He continued in a calm tone, but each word he spoke struck Brianna’s heart with pain.

Only now did Brianna realize what she had done to him. After such a difficult confession, she had thrown divorce papers at him in anger.

“Since when…”

Brianna wept softly.

“Since when did you…”

“Well, when was it… Was it when I saw you hurl yourself alone in front of a carriage to save a child? Or back when I imagined the little girl in the letters…”

Murmuring quietly, he soon let out a hollow laugh.

“I don’t even know the exact moment myself. At some point, my eyes just started following you on their own. When I came to my senses, before I knew it, my heart had already gone over to you.”

“Brianna, the heart has invisible feet that might take you somewhere without you realizing it. And often, you’ll only understand later, ‘Ah, I truly love that person.'”

Brianna recalled what Madam Linares had once told her about the feeling of love.

As she had said, she had already loved him for a long time. And the same went for him. Bound by a contract, they had simply failed to realize each other’s feelings.

“Sob…”

The tears that had been slowly flowing now poured down to soak her cheeks. When Brianna broke into sobs, Lucius bent down and pressed his lips to the tears running down her face, drinking them in.

He lifted Brianna and set her atop the desk. Standing between her legs, he quietly gazed at her. Before they knew it, their eyes were at the same level.

“So Brianna, now you must be honest with me as well. Tell me how you truly feel about me. Do you really want to divorce me and leave my side?”

“If I still say I want to leave you, will you let me go?”

At her tearful question, Lucius couldn’t answer right away. Biting his lips tightly, he hesitated for a long time before finally speaking with a heavy sigh.

“…Divorce is impossible. But if you wish to live your life without ever seeing my face again, I will grant you that.”

“How?”

“Whether it is the villa you once stayed in or another place. I will provide you with a residence anywhere you wish. I will not appear before you, but I will always ensure your safety.”

“But if we don’t divorce, you’ll never have an heir.”

“Do you still not understand? From the beginning, the heir was nothing but an excuse. I have no interest in a child. I need nothing but you…”

Before he could finish, Brianna pressed her lips against his.