Contract Marriage Interrupted - Chapter 85



Only Noblemtl

Episode 85. Social Activities
2023.11.23.

There was no need to find out who had delivered the teacup.

Empress Katharina and Blake had been giving Cedric poison since he was young.

In fact, they weren’t doing this because they expected Cedric to actually drink poison and die.

‘It must be a warning.’

The purpose was to put psychological pressure on him.

It would be better if he got caught by one.

However, Cedric had been building up his tolerance to poison since he was almost poisoned as a child, so he couldn’t die from this.

The truly dangerous ones were those who had no tolerance but had been drinking poison without knowing anything.

For example, Cedric’s father, the emperor.

‘… … I wish this level of peace could be maintained for the time being, at least for Odette’s sake.’

Cedric took a sip from the cold cup.

He couldn’t tell if the bitterness was the taste of poison or the taste of cold tea.

Perhaps that was what he was aiming for.

Not long after drinking the tea, his tongue became numb and he felt a sense of numbness.

If this was how much he drank with his tolerance, if someone without a tolerance drank it, his life would definitely be in danger.

‘I should probably not offer tea to Odette again.’ Even

if Cedric himself had brewed the tea, there was no way of knowing what kind of tricks he might have used while bringing the tea leaves or the teacup.

Fortunately, Odette wasn’t scheduled to come today, so he didn’t seem to have done much trickery…

‘… Poisoned chalice.’

Cedric thought of Odette and the men around her.

Walter Ertmann and Louis Clovis.

He had heard reports from Soljeong, who had left behind in the capital, that Louis and Odette had a connection.

The fact that the two had attended the banquet together, and that Louis had knocked on the palace door several times to meet Odette.

So Cedric asked Odette about this directly.

-Oh, Count Clovis? It’s nothing. I originally planned to marry him. The circumstances just happened to be right… … .

Odette lightly brushed off the topic, saying that nothing happened with Louis.

Rather than trying to cover it up, it seemed like nothing really happened.

-It seems that Count Clovis is also having a hard time because he doesn’t have a suitable spouse, but anyway, I’m married to Walter right now. He’s not my problem.

Odette wasn’t good at lying.

To be exact, she wasn’t good at lying to people who wanted to be honest.

In that sense, Cedric could tell most of Odette’s lies, but when she said this, she didn’t make any particular remarks.

Rather, she seemed to be saying it was nothing serious.

So Cedric didn’t bring up the fact that Louis had been knocking on the palace door to see Odette, or that he had tried to approach Odette right before their marriage.

After all, Odette didn’t seem to know about those facts.

The important thing was that Louis’s ulterior motive was unclear.

‘The guy who tried to approach Odette like that is now attached to Blake?’

Was he trying to retaliate for choosing Walter over him?

For some reason, Louis was no better than a poisoned cup to Cedric right now.

The problem was that choosing Walter wasn’t such a good choice.

‘Odette said she had no problems with Walter, but… …’

Cedric thought back to the question Odette had asked before leaving.

-Come to think of it, brother. Brother, you were a knight, right?

-Strictly speaking, it would be more accurate to say you were a soldier rather than a knight, but why are you asking?

Cedric did have a knighthood.

But who would dare treat him, the crown prince, as a knight?

Even the emperor would send the crown prince to the army as a commander, not a knight.

So it might be different from the life of an ordinary knight, but it seemed that what Odette was curious about wasn’t the life of a real knight.

If she had really been curious about that, she wouldn’t have asked this question.

-Knights… … When they go into the army, do they write a will? Or something like that… …

Cedric could only give the standard answer, “It depends,” to that question.

If it had been a different situation, he would have tried to find out why Odette asked that question by asking a little more, but this time there was no need to go to that trouble.

The only knight beside Odette was Walter.

‘One is into bootlegging, and the other is writing a will.’

Cedric sighed and leaned back in his chair after weighing the two options.

His situation, where he couldn’t avoid the poison, and Odette’s situation, where she had to choose the lesser of two evils even though she knew it wasn’t the best, felt similar.

‘Who is the lesser of two evils?’

　
Walter or Louis.

Which poisoned cup would be truly dangerous to Odette?

* * *

A few days later.

‘It’s come.’

Odette was about to receive retribution for rashly going to see Cedric.

That’s right.

“Oh my god, how many are there in all?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t want to know… … .”

An invitation to a social gathering.

.

.

.

To be honest, Odette had expected this day to come from the moment she followed Arnold into the carriage that day.

The story that Cedric had sent troops to the Ertmann Duke’s mansion and controlled it would have spread like wildfire in high society, and there was no way that the story of Duchess Ertmann leaving the mansion alone would have been left out.

Furthermore, the troops that had been controlling the Ertmann Duke’s mansion withdrew shortly thereafter, so high society could not help but be impatient, not wanting to miss this new excitement.

“Did you hear that? The Crown Prince sent troops to Ertmann as soon as he returned to the capital?”

“Duke Ertmann and the Crown Prince were close when they were attending the Belfort Academy. Did they suddenly turn their backs on each other?”

“Since Ertmann hasn’t said anything since then, it doesn’t seem like they’ve fallen out that much… … ”

“When the mansion was controlled, the Duchess Ertmann went to see the Crown Prince in person? Didn’t she mediate?”

“But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Duchess Ertmann weren’t particularly close. How could that be possible?”

The newlyweds, the Duke and Duchess Ertmann, had attracted the attention of the entire social world.

The attention that had been pouring on the newlyweds was enormous, but the reason they had been able to keep quiet until now was simple.

As rumored, Walter was quite the lover.

In fact, this was thanks to Arnold, who had been staying at the Wellington Hotel, bragging about his granddaughter-in-law every single day.

“I’m not bragging about my granddaughter-in-law! I’m just saying that because Walter is so devoted to his wife. If Odette says one word, he’ll put his sword back in his hand!”

“That’s why you have to choose a good daughter-in-law or son-in-law! I knew the moment I saw her that my granddaughter-in-law would bring good luck!”

The only one who dared to call Odette, who had the background of the 4th princess and the title of Duchess Ertmann, as if she were the granddaughter of the neighbor, was Arnold, and will continue to be.

But what could he do if Odette told him to call her whatever he wanted?

Furthermore, since no one had the guts to dare to pick on Arnold, rumors about the Ertmann couple’s love affair had already spread like wildfire in social circles without Odette knowing.

“Duke Ertmann gets upset even when the wind touches my wife’s fingertips?”

“What about him? He doesn’t let her walk more than two steps. He carries her around like that every day… …”

Of course, since rumors are rumors, there were exaggerated or unheard parts.

People talked about how the rumors might be exaggerated or groundless, but they didn’t dare invite Odette over to ask her.

The reason was simple.

“If… .. those rumors are all true and Duke Ertmann gets angry, it would be a problem.”

“Even if Duke Ertmann himself is like that, it seems certain that Sir Arnold is terribly jealous of Duchess Ertmann… … .”

He didn’t have the confidence to handle the aftermath if he provoked her wrongly.

In the midst of all this, Cedric’s antics scratched the itchy insides of those who couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

First of all, the fact that Odette, who had never been out since her marriage, came out for the first time meant that she had broken her seclusion.

Furthermore, up until now, the only thing that could be written as a greeting on an invitation to Odette was about marriage.

However, if you carelessly bring up the topic of marriage to a newlywed couple, let alone an invitation, Ertmann might find fault with it and get angry at you for just sending an invitation.

However, things were different now.

Everyone could mention Cedric’s control of Duke Ertmann’s residence and ask if everything was okay!

This time, people wrote invitations to Cedric with sincere gratitude and excitement, and servants from each family knocked on Ertmann’s door every day.

And so, now,

a mountain of invitations was piled up in front of Odette.

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.

.

I knew this would happen, but why did my sad premonition never go astray?

Ellie, who was diligently opening the letter next to Odette, who was looking somewhat hopeless, tilted her head.

“Oh, you sent an invitation to His Majesty too? You sent one to me too. Somehow, I thought that you contacted me, even though I’m not the kind of family that would send an invitation, but I guess you were planning this.”

“… … Really? You used your brain.”

If you invited only Odette, there was a chance she wouldn’t come, so you invited Ellie, who was from a humble family and therefore likely to be prey.

Then, you must have thought that Odette would attend the banquet for Ellie’s sake, who was a close acquaintance. You

used your brain very well.

In that sense, you’ll also skip that.

Ellie, who threw away the invitations, gathered the remaining letters and tapped them on the desk.

“There’s a total of 54. If you take out the places that you can afford to miss, there are about 20.”

“I never imagined I would receive this many invitations in my life… … .”

“It’s not surprising, Madame, since you are now Duchess Ertmann.”

Emma, ​​who was sorting out the envelopes beside her, smiled and added.

However, her expression was bothered by Odette’s unusual reaction.

“Madam, if you’re so worried, why don’t you postpone your social activities until later?”