CTMA 10

Chapter 10

So he’s saying… he’ll let him live.

I let out a sigh of relief and nodded.

“Alright. Let’s go with that.”

But Arpad made that strange expression again.

It looked a bit… displeased.

Like a fishbone was stuck in his throat.

‘What’s with him? Why is he like that?’

Reading the inner thoughts of a mad crown prince was always impossible.

How could a normal person ever understand the mind of someone insane?

But there was something more important than this.

‘I don’t have time to stand around here!’

We had spent more time than expected with the scuffle between Arpad and Sir Beltane, and now this conversation.

If Ludwig heard what happened and came running, I’d be in big trouble.

I poked Arpad in the side.

Looking up at him with wide eyes, I whispered urgently.

“Let’s go already! Are you going to do this or not?”

“I am. Of course.”

Thank goodness.

At the same time, I started crying loudly so everyone could hear.

“Why are you doing this to me?! Please let me go, Your Highness! I’m supposed to get married today!”

I heard Arpad scoff softly beside me.

Then he asked in a low voice,

“So I’m clearly the villain in this story, huh?”

“Of course you are. That was the whole idea, remember?”

I knew all too well what happened when a bride ran away with another man before her wedding.

That’s exactly why I had chosen the route of an abduction marriage.

In a previous life, I’d tried to run away with Sir Beltane and was caught—what they did to a runaway bride was beyond cruel.

That’s why I planned this as an abduction.

‘Even if we failed—or even if we succeeded—I had to protect my reputation.’

Logically, I was sacrificing Arpad’s reputation to save my own.

‘But that’s fine. I’ll save his life and help him become Emperor—it balances out!’

Besides, Arpad was already infamous as the “mad crown prince.”

Unlike me, he didn’t have a reputation to protect.

“Come on already,” I urged again.

Arpad chuckled quietly.

Then, he glanced around us like he was showing off and shouted loudly.

It was similar to my earlier performance when I begged to be released.

“Hmm. My bride seems to have changed her mind.”

Are you crazy?!

‘He’s not about to reveal that I hired him for this abduction… right?’

Thankfully, he didn’t.

A knight captain shouted in shock,

“What do you mean ‘your bride,’ Your Highness?! What are you talking about?!”

Arpad replied with smug arrogance,

“She’s too good for someone like Ludwig.”

Yup, absolutely right. His mouth may be twisted, but that part’s on point.

I nodded silently to myself.

“So I’ll take her. I’ll make up for the disgrace of lifting her veil by becoming the groom myself.”

That was pure madness.

“No! Stop him!”
“Inform His Grace at once!”

The knights finally tried to stop him.

But Arpad answered their resistance with his crossbow again.

Thunk! Thwack!

Bolts flew with sharp sounds and lodged into gaps in the armor.

Screams rang out.

“Aaaagh!”
“Ughhh!”

He disabled four more knights with ease, then declared with chilling calm:

“Tell Ludwig: there’s no reason to keep waiting at the temple. He should just go home.”

“Y-Your Highness!!”

With that, Arpad took off on horseback, still holding me in his arms.

And I—true to my role as the abducted bride—kept up the act until the very end.

I sobbed and screamed dramatically.

“Please let me go, Your Highness! Aaaaah!”

Of course, I didn’t even try to get away from his arms.

‘Yes! Success!’

Clop! Clop!

Ironically, the sound of the horse’s hooves was bright and cheerful.

Everyone who tried to stop us was thrown aside by the charging horse and Arpad’s deadly bolts.

“Kyaaa!!!”

My “delicate” screams faded into the distance.

“Your Highness! No, stop!”
“He’s taking the bride!!”

In the end, Ludwig’s knights had no choice but to watch with their eyes wide open as today’s bride was kidnapped by the Crown Prince.

The knight captain shouted in despair:

“The bride’s been taken! The bride has been abducted!”

It would be several hours before the world realized that this was the first official abduction marriage in over 300 years.

In the empire’s history, the last time an abduction marriage had occurred—and was officially recognized—was 300 years ago.

Right when the empire was founded.

The empire itself had been born when a ferocious dragon abducted a princess from her wedding.

The dragon’s bloodline from that marriage had ruled the empire ever since.

Now, the Crown Prince—rumored to possess the strongest dragon blood of this generation—had abducted a bride on her wedding day.

‘It’s like a reenactment of the founding Emperor’s myth!’

If the Imperial family denied this event, they’d be denying the foundation of their own legitimacy.

‘They won’t be able to reject it.’

That’s exactly what I had counted on.

And honestly, I hadn’t come up with this alone.

‘I saw something similar happen in a past life…’

Specifically, when Ludwig and Evangeline got married.

After I was falsely accused of infidelity and attempted murder, divorced, and branded a criminal.

By then, Arpad was already dead, and Ludwig had taken the Crown Prince’s position.

Those two had put on a grand show—their marriage became a media spectacle, staged as an abduction marriage.

They even used the founding myth to boost their popularity.

‘It worked. The people ate it up.’

So this time, I was flipping the script.

I smirked quietly in Arpad’s arms.

‘Ahh, if only I could see Ludwig’s face right now!’

Crash!!

An angel statue at the temple altar shattered into pieces.

The priests cried out in shock.

“Your Grace!”
“What an outrageous act!”
“This is sacrilege!”

Normally, Ludwig would never lose control like this.

But today was different.

He had just heard the unthinkable news while waiting for his bride.

“The bride’s been taken? Abduction?! What kind of nonsense is that?!”

Even the guests now realized something was wrong.

“Did I hear that right? The bride’s been kidnapped?”
“But who would dare do something like that?”
“The groom is Duke Ludwig, and the match was arranged by the Emperor himself!”

The crowd buzzed with disbelief.

Thud!

The knight who failed to protect the bride and delivered the shocking news was struck by his master.

He rolled down the aisle.

“Ugh! Forgive me…!”

Even the shocked guests frowned at Ludwig’s actions.

Sure, being furious about losing the bride was understandable—but hitting a knight publicly like that?

Evangeline quickly assessed the mood.

She rushed to Ludwig’s side.

“Brother! Please calm down!”

She leaned in and whispered so only he could hear:

“Stop it! Don’t you realize how many eyes are watching? Get a grip!”

“…Ah…”

Ludwig finally managed to collect himself.

‘As if this whole day wasn’t already a disaster…’

Especially that morning—Hillia’s hysteria had caused the Emperor to issue a stern warning.

And now this?

The bride had been abducted.

He completely snapped.

He forced himself to fix his expression.

“…Sorry. I overreacted.”

“Please kill me, Your Grace.”

The knight, still prostrated, knew Ludwig well.

He had served him from the beginning.

He also knew full well that this apology was nothing but an act.

‘Once we’re back at the manor… I’m done for.’

But what could he say?

“Your Grace, the one who abducted Lady Delphine… was the Crown Prince himself!”

Ludwig gasped in disbelief.

“What?!”

Next to him, Evangeline staggered, her face pale.

“B-Brother…?”

Strangely, the way she said “brother” had a different tone than usual.

But no one noticed that subtle change.