Reasons for Contract Marriage - Chapter 181

Brianna’s lips trembled. The purpose of bringing her here was all too clear without needing to ask.

It was to kill her in the very place where the former duke had been murdered.

“How did you know we would visit Florian’s grave?”

The moment she parted from Lucius, she’d been abducted. The only explanation was that they had already known her movements.

Could there have been a traitor among them?

As though reading her thoughts, he let out a mocking laugh. “If you are suspecting someone inside the ducal residence, you are wrong. The ducal residence is so heavily guarded that no one can get close. So I targeted another way. By following Lily Serna, you naturally came along.”

Yesterday, Brianna had met Lily and mentioned that she’d soon go to pay respects to Florian. If they’d already been monitoring Lily, it wouldn’t have been difficult to discover that much.

What was more, crowds of Lily’s fans had gathered yesterday, making the surroundings chaotic. It would have been difficult to detect anyone suspicious.

Yet one question remained unresolved. How had he learned of her connection to Lily? As if he had noticed Brianna’s doubt, he continued speaking.

“I’ve long known that you and that soprano singer are close friends.”

Brianna had revealed her friendship with Lily only after returning to Bastogne. Before then, even if they met privately, it was always in the ducal residence or in places with no people around. Lily had worried that Brianna might be caught up in scandalous rumors if they were seen together. So ordinary people who knew nothing of their circumstances would only have realized yesterday that the Duchess of Carlisle and the opera singer Lily Serna were close enough to meet in private.

“In the letters you exchanged with that dead bastard of the Robert family, there were mentions of that opera singer. Thanks to that, I obtained what I wanted with ease.”

Brianna bit her lip hard. As soon as Florian’s name was mentioned, her emotions surged uncontrollably.

“I’ve known for a long time that it was you who killed Florian! And yet you tried to feed me those twisted words, as if it were Lucius who had killed him! You vile human being…”

Before she could finish, he roughly seized her by the hair. Even with her head forced sharply back, her teal eyes glared straight at him.

Facing her blazing gaze, he muttered, “Is it because of your lowly birth that you cannot grasp the situation? Or are you simply fearless by nature? At a time when even begging for your life wouldn’t be enough, how dare you speak such words?”

“As you said, I was born lowly, so a situation like this is nothing surprising. I’ve already experienced something similar before.”

When she’d been kidnapped by those hired by Viscount Robert and his wife, Lucius had come to rescue her. Even in the darkness where she had no one to rely on, he had eventually found her.

“So don’t think to threaten me with something like this. I’ll never beg for my life from you.”

“I know. That day, he abandoned his own brother to die because he was rushing to save you.”

The crown prince gave a twisted smile.

“Originally, I intended to deal with the two of them at once, but because of you, the plan was ruined. So I changed it—framed him for murdering his own brother and tried to send him to prison. But you interfered with that too. Yes, come to think of it, you have been the problem in everything.”

He had said that Lucius was fated to die that day, but if Lucius had instead gone to the villa, perhaps he might have saved his brother. He might have protected them both and revealed the crown prince’s crime in full detail.

Since Lucius bore such deep guilt over Florian’s death, Brianna felt her own guilt too, believing that because of her, Lucius had been unable to save his brother. And the one who had caused both tragedies was the crown prince.

“After killing that man of the Robert family, I intended to kill you right after, but Lucius placed people at your side, and so I lost my chance. Had I killed you then, there would have been no consequences.”

At those words, Brianna realized something new. Lucius had once told her he had even taken leave despite his injury because he feared she might be in danger. His concern had not been baseless. If not for Lucius, she would have been killed by the crown prince before even facing death at the hands of Viscount Robert and his wife.

“Don’t worry. He’ll come to save you this time as well. Even knowing it means death.”

Brianna’s eyes widened. Only when he saw her shaken for the first time did the crown prince release the hand gripping her hair with a satisfied expression.

“I left him a note. If he wants to save you, he must come here alone. I told him that if he brings even one person, I’ll kill you immediately. What do you think? Will Lucius come here even knowing it means death?”

Brianna bit down on the soft flesh inside her mouth.

“He won’t come.”

“Why are you so certain?”

“Because people don’t know, but ours is a relationship formed by contract.”

Once, she had been so bound by that contract that she had even left him, thinking Lucius didn’t love her. But in this moment, she desperately wished that all his words of love had been lies. Only then would he not foolishly throw himself into the flames.

…But Lucius would surely come here.

“So no matter where you are, all you need to do is stay there. Then I’ll come and find you.”

His words from before came to mind, stabbing her heart like knives.

For the first time, the fact that he loved her felt unbearable. For the sake of keeping his promise, he’d come here. And the crown prince must not know that. Brianna continued speaking, praying for a moment when he would let down his guard and look away from her.

“It’s only because he pitied his friend’s fiancée who was left alone, and because I was the most convenient woman to use for an heir, that he married me.”

He suddenly burst out laughing. “I thought so at first too. That he picked up the woman left behind out of guilt for his friend. But at the royal ball, when I saw the look in his eyes, I realized it was not so.”

He had been laughing with shaking shoulders, but then abruptly cut it off and spoke in a mocking voice.

“That day, Lucius’s eyes were fixed only on you. Even though he knew in his head not to reveal his weakness, he couldn’t hide it on his face. Did you really not know? That when he looked at you, his eyes were completely different?”

She didn’t clearly remember what kind of gaze Lucius had given her that day.

At that time, Brianna had been thrown into turmoil after finding Florian’s letter and was overwhelmed with thoughts of the possibility of pregnancy. On top of that, she had been busy trying to grasp the information Lucius had not told her.

But she knew better than anyone what kind of gaze he usually gave her.

Deep and elegant like the night sky, yet warm. Since meeting him, whenever she saw a starry night sky, she always thought of him.

“Wait and see. You will know then, whether Lucius truly thinks of you as nothing more than a contractual partner, or whether he loves you enough to give his life.”

He pulled a chair and sat down in front of Brianna.

“Let us put it to the test.”

Brianna let her body slump like someone who had given up everything. Even so, she moved her hands tied behind the chair in an attempt to loosen the rope. But the knots were too tightly bound to be easily undone.

If only her hands were free, she could use the gun.

Fortunately, the crown prince still seemed unaware that a gun was hidden beneath her skirt. As she desperately tried to think of a way to free her hands, the crown prince spoke.

“Do you know when I first met the Duke?”

He took out a cigarette and placed it between his lips. Lighting it, he exhaled white smoke and spoke with a look as if recalling the past.

“At the time, I was twenty years old, so the Duke must have been around eight. I had stepped outside during a banquet to smoke, and I saw a small child playing with a ball.”

It was the first time she learned that Lucius had met the crown prince at such a young age. Nobles usually only interacted with royalty and other nobles after making their formal debut into society.

“When the ball rolled over to me, at first I intended to return it. But when I saw the boy’s face, it irritated me greatly. Should I say he scratched my mood? The child looked at me with indifferent eyes, as though looking at an inanimate object.”

He gave a sly laugh.

“In that moment, anger surged. Even the small child of the Carlisle family seemed to look down on me, the crown prince in name only. So I told the boy, if he wanted his precious ball back, he should beg me earnestly for it.”

The rest of the story did not need to be heard to be known. Lucius would surely have coldly ignored an unworthy adult revealing his inferiority to a child.

“Yes, as you guessed, that boy turned around without a moment’s hesitation. So I burned the ball with the cigarette I held in my hand.”

He flicked the cigarette between his fingers. Hot ash fell onto the hem of her skirt spread across the floor.

“In that moment, I suddenly wondered. If instead of such a trivial ball, I did the same to something he truly cherished, what kind of expression would he make then?”