A Wicked Husband - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3.1

Given the circumstances, marrying the Duke might have been an almost radical solution, but it was advantageous to both parties. In fact, for Eileen, it was a tremendous benefit.

I’m sure it is the right thing to do.

Chezare was no longer an abandoned prince. He was a duke whose elder brother was the emperor, and he commanded tens of thousands of soldiers. Now, he was also a hero who saved the nation and even had the Triumphal Arch.

Any woman who had this chance to become the wife of such a man would probably jump for joy. Yet, Eileen couldn’t bring herself to accept it willingly.

That was because she knew that he had a ruthless persona, he was incapable of loving anyone.

To Chezare, the kiss and proposal were simply actions without any emotional significance. He proposed only because he needed to, and he kissed only to prove that he was capable of sexual intercourse.

If he required another woman to be part of his plan, he would have acted the same. And this made it unbearable for Eileen.

That was because Eileen…

I like him.

Eileen had a secret crush on Chezare.

She didn’t want the unrequited love she had harboured for such a long time to end as a shallow relationship. Instead of having an empty shell marriage, it might be better for her to just leave, and perhaps occasionally find out how he was through the newspapers.

Eileen felt a searing pain in her heart, and as her expression darkened, Lotan said softly, “Even if you dislike it, there’s nothing you can do. Why did you do that in the first place? If it wasn’t for His Excellency, you’d have been dragged to the guillotine.”

Those words were not an exaggeration. If someone else had discovered her actions before Chezare had, she would have been immediately sentenced to death.

Eileen fiddled with candy and handkerchief in her hand as she muttered gloomily, “I wanted to be of help to His Excellency.”

Earlier, she couldn’t speak her mind in front of Chezare, but she could explain herself to Lotan.

“Powerful painkillers are essential in war. I felt that this was certainly an innovation…”

Her voice trailed off towards the end, and a sudden thought flashed across her mind.

“But how did you know about it?”

Morpheus was still in the experimental stage. Being a double-edged sword, it had been meticulously researched and never left the laboratory.

“I’m more surprised that you didn’t think that His Excellency wouldn’t know!” Lotan exclaimed, clearly astonished. “How could he not know when you had been so diligently purchasing opium? At first, he thought that you had become an addict, or you might have been scammed.”

“I’m not that stupid…”

“Have you forgotten how you were kidnapped with some candy in the past?”

Eileen’s face burned from embarrassment, and she yelled, “That was when I was twelve!”

More than ten years had passed since the incident, and it wasn’t because of a single candy.

The kidnapper had given her a bag of lemon-flavoured candy, as well as a bag of orange candy, which was something she had never tried before. He also told her that he was going to show her some unusual plant specimens, so she followed him.

Despite the complicated reason for why she had been kidnapped, Chezare’s subordinates simply remembered that she had been kidnapped after being baited by some candy. Lotan muttered softly, “I feel dizzy just thinking about the chaotic scene back then…”

“I’ll never do that again.”

Eileen had unconsciously pulled Lotan out of his reminiscing. Then, putting the back of her hands to her flaming cheeks, she said, “Anyway… if there’s another solution to this matter, then I’d like to avoid marriage as much as possible. It seems like it might be troublesome for His Excellency, and it’s too sudden…”

Her voice was reduced to mere murmurs. She couldn’t voice her opinion confidently because she did commit a crime.

Lotan glanced at her, seemingly empathising with her. Despite his fierce countenance, he said in a relatively friendly tone, “It’s surely troublesome for His Excellency, but he’s doing it out of concern for you, Miss Eileen.”

“….”

“Also, once he makes up his mind, he doesn’t waver.”

Eileen was well aware of that. Since Chezare had decided to make her his Duchess, this matter was fixed in stone. The same had happened when he decided to make his elder brother the Emperor.

Even though she knew that her fate had been sealed, she still attempted to protest, albeit in a weak and futile manner.

“Please give me some time, I still need to talk to my father about this.”

At the mention of Eileen’s father, a hint of disdain flashed across Lotan’s eyes. However, he quickly regained his composure before she noticed it. After a few moments of silence, he brought up a new topic.

“Now that I think about it, it’s been a really long time since I last saw you.”

“How has everything been thus far?”

“There were some minor issues. By the way, why didn’t you send a letter to Your Excellency?”

Eileen exclaimed in astonishment, “What?! Letters?”