Contract Marriage Interrupted - Chapter 63



Only Noblemtl

Episode 63. The whole story
2023.09.07.

Before she could recognize the owner of the voice with her head, her body reacted first.

“… … Ellie?”

She hurriedly turned her head and saw Inyoung Hana and Russell approaching, both wearing robes over their heads.

“Are you sure? How did you get here… … .”

She could tell even without checking the face inside the robe.

Without even having time to think about it, Odette grabbed Inyoung, who was wearing a robe, and checked.

“Ellie, you’re okay… … ! Are you hurt anywhere? I thought something was wrong with you… … .”

Ellie’s voice became choked up at Odette’s words, which were unusually rambling.

She grabbed Odette’s hand and asked

, “… … I’m okay. How did you know?”

“Blake cut your hair… … By the way, is your hair okay?”

“Huh? Your hair?”

Ellie asked back incredulously and pulled back the hood of the robe she was wearing.

Then Ellie’s red hair was revealed under the moonlight.

It was long and well-kept, without a single cut.

Odette’s hypothesis was correct.

Seeing Ellie’s appearance, which seemed to be unscathed except for a slight scratch on her cheek, Odette finally felt relieved and hugged her friend tightly.

“I’m so glad. I’m so glad… I was really worried that something might have gone wrong with you… ”

“You came all the way here in the middle of the night because you thought I was hurt? Tomorrow… is the wedding?”

“Of course. You’re the most precious person to me… I would have come to find you even if it wasn’t a wedding.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Ellie’s face twisted into a tearful expression at Odette’s words.

And then, she finally burst into tears.

Odette hugged Ellie even more deeply.

It was a tearful reunion.

* * *

In order to learn the full story, let’s go back in time a little to the time when Ellie lost consciousness at the masquerade ball.

Ellie was dragged away by an unidentified assailant, and a little later.

“… Your Majesty, the woman I was chasing seems to have disappeared.”

Russell quickly noticed Ellie’s absence.

In fact, Walter and Russell had known from the beginning that Ellie was following them.

Ellie thought she was hiding well, but it was impossible for them, who had been trained for many years to detect movement, to not notice even a single movement of a clumsy noble lady. They

simply left her alone because they knew that the one chasing her was none other than Ellie, Odette’s maid.

The problem was that this place was not that safe.

“Is there a chance that she voluntarily stopped chasing us or lost us?”

“No. I saw that she was wearing a mask earlier. She must have intended to follow us into the banquet hall. And since I was moving while giving signals on purpose, it is even more unlikely that she lost us.”

Russell was clapping his hands and snapping his fingers to draw attention to himself.

At this point, he was not being chased, but rather begging for us to follow him.

Walter roughly checked the situation and nodded.

“I think we need to check it out. It’s almost time to harvest.”

After leaving a meaningful comment, Walter immediately raided the suspect’s mansion as soon as it was clearly confirmed that Ellie had disappeared.

That was the mansion where Elodie was staying.

“What, what are you doing! Get out now! How can you search a mansion where a woman lives alone like this? It’s rude!”

“Your Majesty has given me orders to check the entire house. I’ll go back once I check it out, so just stay still.”

“Get out now!”

Elodie fiercely resisted the sudden search.

She had recently moved out of Ertmann’s private residence and was living in a small mansion, so her main argument was that Walter had no right to do this.

“If you thought this outrageous act would be tolerated, you were very wrong! I’ll go to the newspaper office tomorrow and report this atrocity—”

“Sir Russell! There’s a hidden cellar here!”

“… … !”

And this backlash disappeared as soon as Ellie was found unconscious in the basement where Elodie had hidden her.

Elodie was taken into custody at home, and Russell showed Ellie to the congressman to check on her condition, brought her back to her senses, and brought her back to Ertmann.

And in the process, he had come face to face with Odette, who had come to him in the middle of the night.

This was the whole story of the Ellie kidnapping incident.

* * *

After the situation had calmed down to some extent, and Walter had joined him and moved to the office.

After hearing the whole story, Odette’s feelings became quite complicated.

“… … So, Ellie, you were spying on Walter, and Walter, you were secretly going to a masquerade ball. And Elodie Montoire kidnapped Ellie.”

What on earth had happened without me knowing?

None of it was trivial.

Odette felt her sleep, which had not come, start to awaken and asked,

“Ellie, is this why you refused to give me protection? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’m sorry. But how could I tell His Majesty, who is about to get married… … I was going to check and tell you. It’s true.”

Ellie rubbed her swollen red eyes, still sobbing, as if she had not yet recovered from her crying.

“How could I have just stayed still when His Majesty frequented places like masquerade balls!”

“… … Ha, right. Then Walter, why did you go to such a place? Is that why you didn’t tell me about your night out?”

When Odette’s gaze turned to Walter, Walter looked a little tired.

However, he didn’t avoid answering.

“As I said before, I was going to tell you later. Russell can testify that I didn’t go to the masquerade ball because of the reason that woman suspected.”

“If that’s the case, why didn’t you tell me?”

“… About Louis Clovis.”

Odette’s mouth fell open in shock at Walter’s confession.

“You didn’t tell me because it was about Count Clovis?”

“That’s one thing, and it’s also related to your brother, so I didn’t want to make you feel unnecessarily upset.”

Walter said this and briefly confessed that Louis seemed to be involved in the bootlegging business.

“Moonlighting, especially if it’s related to nobles, is by no means a light matter.”

“Of course. That means that a huge amount of money is secretly circulating.”

It was obvious how the money made while avoiding the eyes of the imperial family would be used.

It meant that if not careful, it could be a blow to the imperial family.

“So when Cedric returns to the capital, he’ll probably tackle this issue first… … I thought it could be a little dangerous depending on the situation. I thought I’d find out in advance before Cedric returns.”

“It could be dangerous depending on the situation?”

“If Cedric starts investigating, the nobles who are in danger of being caught for their involvement in the smuggling business could unite.”

And there was no telling what harm they might do to Cedric.

“I didn’t want you to worry about it.”

Walter sighed, saying that if he had known this would happen, he would have told them.

He seemed a little embarrassed as he said that.

Perhaps it was because he remembered how he had kept quiet about this matter while rejecting Odette’s seduction a few days ago.

In the end, both Ellie and Walter had kept their mouths shut for Odette.

‘I can’t say anything more about this.’

It was his self-interest that had caused this problem, so it was difficult to scold him further.

Odette sighed, touching her temple, and Ellie raised her hand hesitantly.

“Um, but… …! There’s something I want to ask you, Your Majesty! No, there is!”

“What?”

“Your Majesty said you frequented the masked ballroom to find out about the bootlegging business, but then how could you have pointed to Elodie Montoire?”

Ellie, who had been kidnapped herself, still couldn’t completely trust Walter.

She hadn’t forgotten that this matter had been resolved so absurdly, but it could have actually been a very serious problem.

If Walter hadn’t immediately realized that Elodie had kidnapped Ellie, the search would have been quite difficult.

Especially since Elodie had been out of the question for quite some time, it would have been difficult to immediately think of her if there had been no other reason.

How on earth did Walter know that Elodie was the culprit?

Walter laughed at Ellie’s words and then answered.

“Of course I didn’t know. It’s true that I’ve been supporting Elodie Montoire’s social life, but that’s only because of Montoire and Ertmann’s relationship. It’s not because of her.”

However, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t negligent enough to notice that Elodie was up to no good. The reason

Walter let Elodie go was actually because he was pushing her to do ‘no good.’

Of course, he didn’t intend to talk about that, so Walter explained what had come to the surface.

“All the money Elodie Montoire spends goes through Ertmann and is billed to Montoire. However, the jewels Elodie Montoire recently purchased turned up as stolen goods.”

In short, Elodie was creating a slush fund by avoiding Ertmann’s eyes.

By giving away jewels to someone instead of paying them, or secretly selling them to make money.

“If you’re going to spend that much money secretly, then of course you need to keep an eye on it. That’s all.”

“That makes sense. Okay!”

And finally, Elodie nodded, seemingly satisfied with Walter’s explanation.

No, to be honest, Elodie still thought there were some suspicious parts.

‘I know that the Duke and Elodie Montoire’s relationship is clean.’

But people’s secrets don’t just come from such things.

Walter said that he didn’t tell Odette that he was chasing the bootlegger because he didn’t want to worry her.

‘Looking at the situation, it seems that His Majesty has already sensed that the Duke is hiding something and asked her.’

Isn’t it true that the story about the bootlegger should have been hidden in such a situation?

If he really cared for Odette, he should have explained the situation that made it seem like he was having an affair.

At least, that’s what Ellie would have done.

‘If His Majesty had noticed that I was going somewhere secretly and asked me, I would have told him the truth.’

But Walter didn’t do that.

‘The Duke is hiding something.’