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Chapter : 19
“Cedric, think about it. Your wound is half hidden thanks to your high collar. Mine isn’t. The blood patterns on our clothes are different, too. No one is going to look at us and think we have the exact same injury. And it definitely won’t be printed in the papers.”
Cedric furrowed his brows at her fluently prepared reply.
“When something falls outside people’s common sense, they ignore it. And the newspapers didn’t have time to draw a proper illustration.”
“…Not as foolish as I thought, then. A small mercy in misfortune.”
“Just admit I’m right. You look really ugly fighting it.”
Cedric let out a humorless little huff of laughter.
“It doesn’t change the fact that what you did was reckless.”
“Why would it? If what you said is true, the outside world is dangerous for me now—because of those people you’re so wary of. But Cedric, does that mean this place is safe?”
“…Have I ever personally harmed you?”
“More than once or twice.”
Lauren stretched out her fingers, then folded them one at a time as she began counting.
“First, kidnapping—obvious. Second, the whole mess started because you dragged me into that gambling den. Third, you promised compensation and I got nothing. Fourth—”
“Damn it.”
His profanity didn’t faze her.
“Fifth, you threatened me.”
As each finger folded, Cedric’s expression hardened.
Serves you right, Lauren thought, barely suppressing her grin. His deepening frown looked like the centerpiece of a masterpiece painting—despite the fact that reporters were still camped out in the garden.
“All I want out of this marriage is one thing. Half of your assets—the half I can legally claim. I’m sick of empty promises. I’ll take it when everything is resolved and the divorce is finalized.”
She rattled on without stopping.
“And this won’t be imprisonment. We’re living together. Even if we use the front door openly, gossip magazines won’t explode over it. Married couples living in one house isn’t strange.”
“…Wasn’t it one demand?”
“Whether it’s one or two—who cares? I’m not done. Just listen.”
“….”
“If things are dangerous outside, I’ll limit outings. But take down the stupid boards on the windows.”
“Bloody hell. You should have written this on paper.”
Cedric rubbed his face with both hands, saying nothing for a long time as if weighing something in his head.
“Do you… have another woman you promised marriage to?”
Lauren tossed out a silly question while watching him, the seriousness in her tone making it impossible to know whether she was joking.
“If I say yes, will you back down?”
“Are you insane? Don’t say stupid things. Unless you want half a year of headlines.”
She rejected the notion instantly. Cedric snorted—why ask, then?
Marriage. By tomorrow, all of the capital would hear the news: the Earl of Collins was getting married. And those people would hear it long before midnight.
Everyone already knew Cedric had taken Lauren under his protection—no need to wait until tomorrow.
Legally, having her life tied to his was a massive advantage. If Lauren disappeared, Cedric would be entitled to reports on the investigation.
Not that the police would find her faster than he would…
Or she might be killed before being found.
Even so, it wasn’t a loss. Obsessing over a wife was, if nothing else, less deranged than obsessing over a stranger—though still abnormal.
Cedric tapped his shoe lightly against the hallway floor, the rhythm steady. His mind raced.
She really thought this through.
He studied Lauren slowly. She didn’t look away from his blatant stare—her hazel eyes, usually ordinary, seemed almost uncanny in that moment.
“Fine, Lauren,” he said at last.
“…Let’s marry.”
The sentence sounded as though revenge or treason should replace the word marriage.
“Good decision, Lord Collins. Should we skip the handshake?”
“Prepare to become Lady Collins. You’ll be writing a very long contract.”
There was a trace of threat in his voice, but for the first time, they agreed.
Per her suggestion, they skipped the handshake.
The drawing room windows were shattered, so they went to the fourth-floor study to finish the negotiation.
“When are you giving the revolver back?” he asked.
“It’s mine. From now on, I’ll do what I want with it.”
Cedric ground his teeth. A single revolver had turned the entire situation on its head.
Just wait, Lauren Bailey.
It was the first time he muttered the words she’d been repeating like a spell.
Everything progressed rapidly.
The Baileys were barely known nobility, so getting royal approval was unexpectedly easy.
If he’d been marrying a rich heiress from an influential house, it would have stirred politics.
This merely rattled high society—not parliament.
The famed Earl of Collins marrying a Miss Bailey?
Society, not government, would riot.
No one could guess what Cedric was thinking.
He accepted every one of Lauren’s conditions, almost meekly—difficult to believe after his earlier coercion.
When she asked him why, what did he say?
“Replacing the drawing room windows was expensive.”
Absurd. Whatever manners he had once displayed were long gone—his sarcasm flourished instead.
Of course, they weren’t suddenly living happily ever after.
They were still in the calm before the storm—before the wedding and before Lauren debuted in society.
Things will eventually change.
Meaning she wouldn’t have much time left to sit peacefully flipping pages in the study.
Lauren leaned back in the chair, turning pages of her novel.
The curse linking their injuries, her father’s disappearance—so many problems unsolved—but she forced herself not to be impatient.
Most of all, Cedric believed her father was dead.
I can’t push Noah to keep investigating yet.
She’d obtained a few documents by threatening Cedric, but until she stood publicly as Lady Collins, she intended to stay cautious.
Those papers held power.
Several of Cedric’s mansions, land, and half the jewels from his vault were now legally hers.
Far more than expected.
She paused her reading and lifted a deed toward the lamp.
“It’s really not a fake?”
As the paper warmed under the light, a faint sigil shimmered to the surface—magically processed documentation used for large-value transfers. Confirming it was real did nothing to erase her doubt.
“What’s with that face? I don’t play games with transactions.”
Cedric stood at the doorway—she hadn’t heard him come in.
He carried a bundle of letters and a newspaper. He crossed the room in long strides and stopped before her desk.
“I can’t trust you yet. I thought you’d haggle.”
“If I’d known, I would’ve handed you a few jewels upfront. I meant what I said about compensation—from start to finish. Even cashed the cheque I sent, didn’t you?”
“That was put to good use. I hired a very capable detective.”
Noah—the key player in all of this.
She’d written to him right after the marriage announcement, but he hadn’t replied yet.
“Forget that detective. Officially, we’re in the same boat now. You and I.”
He dropped the newspaper and letters on the desk.
The teetering pile leaned and collapsed toward Lauren.
In seconds, the desk was covered in envelopes—at least twenty.
