My Husband was Switched - Chapter 1
“What’s going on…”
I tore at my hair as I looked at the man lying soundly asleep in the bed. Even upon closer inspection, his black hair was unmistakable. There was only one person this handsome, this large, and this injured.
Cedric Monteroz.
The Grand Duke of the North, Cedric, was the tragic male protagonist who was drafted to the battlefield every day as the Emperor’s sword. So, was I the female protagonist lying in bed next to him? No.
If that were the case, I would have shouted in joy, feeling incredibly lucky. All of this was my fault for not properly checking his face in my haste.
Even if it was a secret marriage, I should have checked the face of the man I was marrying!
I should have realized something was off when an excessively sexy man, with the lights off, was tied to the bed saying, ‘Please eat me.’
“Did you sleep well?”
I slowly turned my head at the cold voice accompanied by a faint smile.
In the bright light, his face was fully revealed.
Jet-black hair and eyes bluer than any sky.
Why on earth was he in bed with me?
“…Your original marriage partner wasn’t supposed to be me.”
“You’re saying strange things. From the beginning, the person to be my wife was Claire Anne Rose.”
He accurately said my name.
Claire Anne Rose, the half-sister of the female protagonist. The villainess who gets her husband stolen by Princess Isabelle Gwen Thalia and is abandoned.
There was clearly some misunderstanding.
Why was the man meant to marry Isabelle lying next to me?
No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
I married to avoid him.
…It seems I ended up with a switched husband.
❖ ❖ ❖
To tell my story, we need to go back a few days.
Or should I start from the day I transmigrated into this place?
This is the world inside the novel <The Princess’s Golden Cage>.
Princess Isabelle Gwen Thalia is my half-sister and the female protagonist. So, who am I?
Out of all the many characters, I ended up as Claire Anne Rose. The villainess whose husband cheats with the female protagonist and turns evil.
Not only am I abandoned by my cheating husband, but I also get killed by him after he turned evil.
“Agh, how unfair!”
Children born with the Emperor’s blood are granted special abilities, and Isabelle’s ability is controlling the weather.
“If you had married Cedric from the start, none of this would have happened! When you pushed me aside because you didn’t want to marry, why did you fall for him and seduce him as soon as you saw him?”
Isabelle has an ability perfectly suited for the North, so why did Claire have to suffer? If they were going to do this, why create supporting characters at all?
‘Ah, my life.’
I was born to a mistress whom the Emperor once loved. Because of my golden eyes, I was tied to the imperial family. Golden eyes signified possessing a special ability.
If born with an ability, you had to be bound to the imperial family. It was no different from being used for the Empire and the imperial family.
But fortunately or unfortunately, no noticeable ability manifested in me.
In truth, it had manifested long ago, but since it was a useless ability, it was treated as if it hadn’t.
“Tweet tweet.”
“I know. I’m strange.”
“Tweet tweet tweet.”
“You think I’m out of my mind? Yes, so please leave me alone.”
Yes, I could communicate with animals. If I didn’t get scolded for having such a useless ability, that was fortunate.
Others didn’t know this ability allowed communication with sacred beasts, so their reaction was understandable. I could even heal animals.
One penalty was that using the ability came with a price. What form that price would take was still unknown. It was only a guess that it would be proportional to the power.
The one thing I had to do to survive and escape the imperial family was clear.
Successfully marry Cedric Monteroz to Isabelle.
❖ ❖ ❖
My days were busy. Fortunately, it was just after Grand Duke Cedric had returned from the battlefield. So his marriage with me hadn’t been pushed forward yet!
I planned to change Isabelle’s mind and successfully marry her to Grand Duke Cedric, then escape the palace. The Emperor would likely try to marry me off somewhere politically convenient since I was a useless existence.
I found Isabelle at the right moment and ran straight to her.
Like a salesperson approaching a customer, I put on a business smile and spoke to Isabelle.
“I heard the news. Grand Duke Monteroz has returned?”
“…Yes. I was on my way to see Father.”
“To Father?”
I had a bad feeling about this. I blocked her path and blinked my eyes.
“Are you planning to refuse your marriage with the Grand Duke?”
“Yes, it’s perfect timing! Sister, come with me and talk to Father.”
“If I go, won’t Father get even angrier?”
It would be fortunate if he didn’t shout at me for being a useless illegitimate child. The Emperor disliked Claire. He thought she had no resemblance to him except for her golden eyes. His indifference was a relief to me.
“Isabelle, are you trying to refuse the marriage? You must marry him.”
“I don’t want to. I want to marry someone I love. I don’t want a forced and barbaric marriage.”
Well, the Northern Grand Duke does have a barbaric body. Very wild and rough. I nodded unconsciously before snapping back to reality.
“You’ll regret it.”
I looked at Isabelle with half-closed eyes.
“Why is Sister so in favor of this marriage?”
“Because Grand Duke Monteroz is handsome and will love only you?”
“How do you know that? How can someone who is called to war every day love me?”
“…Sister knows everything. I can tell.”
“If you want it so badly, why don’t you marry him? I’ll wait for a fateful encounter.”
A fateful encounter, huh. That fateful encounter ends up being an affair with a married man. My husband, no less?
I wanted to avoid conflict with her as much as possible. What good would come from opposing the female protagonist?
“You’ll really regret it.”
I meant it sincerely. He truly loved only one woman. The problem was that it was limited to Isabelle. I couldn’t let things flow as they did in the novel.
If Isabelle didn’t marry Cedric, I would end up marrying him. How could I not have malicious thoughts? If the two liked each other, I could just divorce him.
The problem was the public’s perception. Even if we were half-sisters, we shared blood. What would it take to marry a man who had been married to your sister?
‘A true villainess.’
Isabelle spreads a ridiculous rumor that Cedric and she were in love, but Claire, who had a one-sided crush on Cedric, broke them apart and married him.
So, I had to do everything to ensure their marriage.
I had to survive first.
“Hmph, I won’t regret it! I wouldn’t take a man like that even if you give him to me!”
…Well, I would take him if I was given him.
❖ ❖ ❖
I hid behind a pillar, staring at Grand Duke Monteroz. If I had a camera, I would have captured him to show Isabelle. When I heard he was coming, I infiltrated his route.
As a result, I was able to see him. Imagining his face from the novel’s descriptions and seeing him in person were different.
“He’s at least 190 cm tall. Maybe taller?”
While assessing Cedric, he moved diligently. His legs were so long that keeping up was exhausting.
He seemed to be heading to the audience chamber to meet my father. Probably to finalize his marriage with Isabel, using her ability to fill the North’s deficiencies.
Father would have no choice but to give her away, despite his reluctance. Such was the nature of a promise made by the Emperor.
“Why are his legs so long?”
As I followed him, he suddenly turned around, and I quickly hid.
My heart pounded as if it would burst, and I held my breath, closing my eyes tightly.
‘Surely I wasn’t caught?’
Anyone would find this suspicious. It would be troublesome if he misunderstood.
I cautiously peeked out. Fortunately, he was gone. Only then did I collapse to the floor, exhaling a sigh of relief.
“I’m really doing everything to survive.”
“Do you need help?”
Suddenly, a shadow loomed over me, and I heard a voice I shouldn’t have.
I slowly looked up. The man extending his hand to me was Cedric, whom I had been following.
“Ah!”
Startled, I pressed myself against the pillar, holding my breath.
“N-no, it’s nothing!”
I shook my head vigorously at the Grand Duke. Worried he might remember my face, I turned and fled.
That was my first encounter with him.
Translator
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ngl if i were her position id would be more than pissed. bc wdym you were supposed to marry this guy, you declined so i was forced to marry him, then seduced him behind my back?? like… the audacity pls 😭