I'm So Tired Because of My Contract-Breaking Husband - Chapter 12
Chapter 12
‘Please. Survive until the end of this ordeal, daughter.’
Marquis Stephan held Adelina’s hand until she safely boarded the carriage.
He had stayed up all night guarding the terrace without Adelina knowing, clutching an antidote he had prepared just in case.
‘Why is the Emperor in such a hurry… Could it be that he has caught on to our plan?’
He knew that Emperor Grain would not remain idle once he learned of Adelina’s existence.
However, he thought Emperor Grain would only act after the coming-of-age ceremony, but since he became anxious and acted immediately, Adelina’s life became endangered even sooner.
“Are we dining out? Let’s dine out!”
“If that’s what my daughter wants. Anything.”
Stephan faintly smiled as he watched Adelina chatter away, linking her arm with his.
‘This isn’t so bad.’
Would this be how it felt if I had married and had a child?
The warmth transmitted from beside him was not unpleasant.
“Daughter. Over there. The Duke is waiting.”
Upon arriving at Lake Lactea, they saw Duke Lexion walking alone by the lakeside, drawing the attention of the women around.
‘That guy… he’s enjoying this, isn’t he?’
Adelina narrowed her eyes at him as she stepped down from the carriage.
+++
‘Don’t look! Don’t look! Ducks, you don’t look either!’
A pair of a man and a woman, with hair dark enough to absorb all sunlight and silver enough to reflect even sunlight, walked side by side, causing even the ducks splashing in the lake to stare in wonder.
Adelina felt so burdened by the gazes of people and ducks alike that cold sweat broke out on her back.
Every time Lexion’s hand approached her back, she flinched, worried it would be noticed.
Lexion nonchalantly observed the peaceful daily lives of families out for leisure and then turned his gaze to Adelina, who was walking beside him.
“Is everything going well with the preparations?”
Adelina, focused on the touch of Lexion’s hand on her back, looked up at his face.
‘You! You said it well! You swindler!’
Indeed, the old saying is never wrong!
After saving him from poison, instead of repaying her, he dragged her into a life-threatening situation!
“Duke, shouldn’t we draft a contract?”
“A contract?”
“Yes. A verbal agreement seems risky.”
Right. How many romance novels have I read!
‘Hey! I’m not that careless!’
In those novels, everyone drafted contracts. So, Adelina intended to write a solid contract as well.
“There’s a risk of the contract being discovered. Don’t worry. I’m not someone who goes back on my word.”
“Oh…”
Lexion, mentioning the contract, turned Amelia around by holding her shoulders, as if to say it was unnecessary.
Feeling the eyes of people sneaking glances at them, he continued walking, holding Adelina’s hand.
‘That’s true. Having documents increases the risk of getting caught…’
As she walked, hand in hand with Lexion, Adelina fell into deep thought again.
In a situation where she couldn’t trust servants, maids, or even the escort knights, could a safe be secure…?
‘Come to think of it, you lead quite a pitiful life…’
Momentarily forgetting her own circumstances, Adelina looked at Lexion with sympathetic eyes.
Lexion, as if trying to enchant Adelina, looked at her and drew a soft arc on his lips.
‘No! I can’t let this slide! I can’t be enchanted by that face!’
For a moment, she almost fell for that face, but Adelina quickly regained her senses and shook her head slightly.
“I will claim life compensation.”
“Hahaha. Sure, as much as you want.”
As Lexion’s hearty laughter spread above Adelina’s head, the sparrows sitting nearby were startled and flew away.
‘Why are you laughing so loudly! People are watching!’
Feeling as if more people were staring at them, Adelina covered her face with the hand not held by Lexion.
“When are we going to retrieve the mirror?”
Adelina, still holding a hand to her face, subtly asked. She blinked her eyes innocently, as if she had no particular interest in the mirror, just casually bringing it up.
‘The mirror! You promised to give me the mirror, you swindlers!’
Though she wanted to dive into the safety of the mirror away from prying eyes, she smiled at Lexion, telepathically insisting she had no such thoughts.
“After you become my wife.”
‘Wife…’
At Lexion’s response, Adelina halted. It seemed he was serious about giving her the mirror only after marriage.
‘In that case, I must marry quickly.’
Yes. Even as a Marquis’s daughter, her life was in danger, so she should quickly become a Duchess, receive the mirror, and hide inside it.
“This spot looks nice.”
Following Adelina, Lexion stopped walking.
A breeze blew across the lake, creating ripples. The sunlight resting on the lake’s surface shattered into pieces, sparkling with the ripples. Butterflies fluttering among the low flowers around them took flight with the wind.
Lexion gently tidied Adelina’s hair, tousled by the wind, and tucked it behind her ear.
Adelina shrank her neck at his touch.
“What is it?”
Lexion cupped Adelina’s cheeks with both hands and lifted her face.
“For a kiss.”
“Wha… what?”
Lexion’s lips approached hers.
‘No way! You swindler!’
When Adelina pressed Lexion’s lips with both hands, his eyebrows twitched significantly.
From afar, a loud laugh of ‘Puhahaha’ was heard. Judging by the hearty laughter, it must be Marquis Stephan.
“I never thought you would refuse your husband’s kiss.”
Duke Lexion tightly grasped Adelina’s wrists, which were covering his mouth.
“You said I didn’t have to do anything.”
“You don’t have to do anything. I’ll take care of everything.”
At Lexion’s absurd response, Adelina narrowed her round eyes and glared at him.
“I won’t do even this.”
“Why? Don’t you like this? Rated 19?”
“When did I ever!”
As Adelina tried to pull her wrist free from Lexion’s grip, he pulled her closer and embraced her. His lips came close to her ear.
“Darling. No interruptions in the middle.”
At Lexion’s leisurely voice, which seemed to graze her ear, goosebumps rose from her ears.
‘Gosh! How do you know that!’
Could it be! Did he hear everything I said inside the mirror? Those embarrassing and cringe-worthy words!
“Duke…”
“Let’s not interrupt today.”
Lexion embraced Adelina’s waist, whose face was as red as the sunset, and pressed his lips against hers.
‘Hey! I knew I would lose!’
Momentarily embarrassed, Adelina, who had lost her composure, regained her senses and wrapped her arms tightly around Lexion’s neck with her now-free hands.
Lexion seemed startled by her action, enough to feel him hesitate.
If she felt embarrassed here or became more flustered, she would lose. She would be taking a step back in their contractual relationship.
‘Kid. It’s your first time. It’s my first formal kiss too.’
Lexion, who spoke as if he had lots of experience, turned out to be inexperienced. He only gently touched lips and softly nibbled the outer lips.
‘In that case…’
Adelina slightly parted her lips.
Lexion, as if waiting for that moment, boldly delved inside.
‘I won’t lose!’
Adelina also tightened her grip around Lexion’s neck, intertwining his softness with hers.
Between their lips, rough and hot breaths were exchanged. The moist sound made it impossible for their lips to part. Right next to her ear, the sound of a wildly pounding heart was heard, making her ears hot and numb.
“Ha… Ha…”
After their lips parted, Adelina, resting her forehead on Lexion’s chest to catch her breath, felt a sharp gaze on her cheek and slightly opened her eyes.
Baby ducks surrounded them, staring intently as if asking, ‘What are you doing?’
‘Thank goodness… Only the ducks saw…’
Adelina sighed in relief and turned her head, only to meet the eyes of her legal father, Marquis Stephan.
Stephan quickly turned his head and suddenly started jogging in place, muttering ‘Hut two, hut two.’
“Mom, what were those people doing?”
“Oh? Now, pack up. We need to go eat.”
She even saw the people who had been watching their affectionate display quickly turn their heads.
‘They must have seen everything…’
Adelina hid her face between Lexion’s jacket.
“Adelina?”
“If you call my name, they’ll know it’s me!”
Lexion chuckled softly and patted her silver hair. See, look at this silver hair.
“Adelina.”
“Don’t call my name!”
“There’s no one in this Empire with silver hair but you. And golden eyes too.”
Adelina, nestled in Lexion’s arms, stopped moving.
“Adelina?”
“Why are you telling me this now!”
Adelina opened Lexion’s jacket wide and burrowed further inside. She spread the jacket collar to hide even her silver hair.
“Hahaha.”
“Be quiet!”
Lexion embraced her back, covering her exposed silver hair with his hand.
+++
That night, Count Chellus of the Kingdom of Iberis secretly climbed a hill with James, a knight handpicked by the knight commander, to observe the Dragon Knights.
Both were dressed in plain gray knight uniforms and black cloaks, commonly worn by wandering knights, to hide their identities as much as possible.
“Is that what came from the other continent?”
When Chellus took out a round, elongated telescope, James looked at it curiously.
“Yes. I borrowed it with great difficulty. Here. There’s one for you too. Observe well and remember.”
James held the telescope, something he had never seen before, and placed it against his eye.
“Wow. Now I understand why we had to observe from this far!”
The distant dragon looked as if it was right in front of him, vividly visible.
Telescopes weren’t nonexistent on the Aslan Continent.
However, Emperor Grain controlled even such things thoroughly, making it difficult for anyone other than high-ranking military personnel of the Petrus Empire to obtain a telescope as advanced as the one Chellus had.
Though it was a dark night where the dragons were, it was still possible to distinguish objects thanks to the light stones and torches.
‘I must! Discover the dragon’s weakness! Where’s the vital point!’
James and Chellus held their breaths as they observed each of the dragon’s movements through the telescope.
Dragons, which lived only in the Petrus Empire across both the Western and Aslan Continents. Other regions only had troublesome monster wyverns.
These dragons were intelligent and trained through interaction with humans. Although they were few in number, they had long lifespans and were over three times the size of wyverns.
In contrast, wyverns were merely flying monsters larger than bears. Fortunately, they were troublesome creatures with a lifespan of only 20 years.
They carefully observed the actions of knights wearing black uniforms embroidered with dragon emblems.
“Those must be the dragons that take two years to hatch.”
“Yes, it seems so. I heard the hatch rate is significantly low, below 20%, so the knights take special care of them.”
The Dragon Knights meticulously guarded the large, round objects emitting a bluish light.
‘Evans?’
When Prince Evans, also a Dragon Knight, appeared with Dragon Knight Commander Austin, veins bulged on Chellus’s hand holding the telescope.
“Count…”
“Don’t mind it and focus on observing the dragon.”
When James removed his eyes from the telescope to scrutinize Chellus’s expression, Chellus placed the telescope back to his eyes.
‘Could it be… are they watching us?’
Evans and Austin blocked the view of the dragons with their bodies and looked in their direction.
Through the telescope, Evans’s blue eyes seemed to be staring directly into Chellus’s brown eyes.
“Oh dear. We have an unexpected guest.”
A low male voice came from behind, and a bastard sword was aimed at the necks of Chellus and James.