Contract Marriage Interrupted

Episode 12. Unexpected encounter

 

Not the famous Third Princess, but who said the Fourth Princess have no social life?

‘Even if this is a delusion, it’s a bit excessive.’

She may have been illegitimate child, but Odette was a Princess.

And when Louis saw her at first glance, she was a woman who seemed to be a combination of all the types that Louis would hate.

‘Quiet, straightforward.’

It must be extremely frustrating because you don’t have any social activities, let alone dating.

Is there a topic we can talk about?

Odette was the type that Louis rarely thought of talking to on his own.

The problem was that his hallucinations were constantly bothering Louis.

‘Even now the pain is gone.’

Hallucinations about Odette popped up from time to time.

And for the most part, she was clueless with Louis, sometimes crying.

– I regret marrying you. It was the worst choice of my life…….

Thanks to this, Louis could not erase his doubts even while he was sick.

‘All I saw was a glimpse of her face.’

Why is she suddenly?

 

Moreover, he felt strange afterwards, as if his emotions were assimilated into Odette’s hallucinations.

A tingling sensation inside his chest, a constant sense of emptiness, as if he had lost something very important.

It was a different sensation than pain.

It’s not enough to feel pain from hallucinations, but to suffer from this kind of feeling.

‘It must be a curse.’

Louis finally came to the academy as soon as he came to his senses.
He had thought about visiting the Fourth Princess, but it was a gamble to go after Odette when he wasn’t even sure if he was under a curse.

‘But I didn’t get anything in the end.’

Do I really have to go see the Fourth Princess?

Louis sighed and left the room after the meeting with Zantipe.

The moment he turned the corner of the corridor.

“……Your Highness Fourth Princess?”

Louis’ eyes widened at the unexpected scene.

Not too far away, he could see a silver-haired woman.

It wasn’t hard to recognize her.

It was the same woman who had been haunting his thoughts for the past few days.

The problem was, she wasn’t alone.

‘Is that…… Regis Xavier?’

The slick-looking man next to her was certainly someone Louis knew.

He knew him from the academy, and he haven’t heard from him since he suddenly left to study abroad.

But why is he with the Fourth Princess?

* * *

 

You can’t do anything if you don’t have luck on your own.

And right now, Odette was newly realizing the truth of life.

The reason was simple.

As she left Anne Sophie’s study and made her way to Epona Hall, she bumped into an unexpected face.

“I didn’t expect to see you here. If this isn’t fate, what is?”

Regis Xavier, that worst face ever.

‘Why the hell is he here?’

It would have been natural to ignore him, but it was so unexpected that even Odette hesitated a moment.

Regis took advantage of the opportunity and approached Odette with a smile.

It had been more than a year since she’d last seen him, and he still looked ruggedly handsome.

Neatly swept back hair and a fairly handsome face.

And a demeanor that could make him seem quite intelligent if he didn’t open his mouth.

It was the same look that had once made Odette’s heart flutter.

No, should I say it was a little more ripe.

 

‘I heard that you went to study abroad and returned home not long ago.’

I never thought we’d meet here.

Odette held back the frown that was threatening to form, and gave him a quick glance.

At this point, she couldn’t ignore him, so she simply said hello and walked away.

“If bad luck is fate, it’s fate. I’m busy on my way, so I’m done.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, but isn’t it a shame to cross like this. If you tell me where you were going, I’ll escort you.”

Escort.

Does he even think they’re close enough to say that?

‘Was it just his shamelessness that increased while he was abroad?’

Regis and Odette were not on good terms, to say the least.

Unsurprisingly, it ended in disaster.

– Don’t ever show yourself in front of me again.

– Odette!

– Don’t call me by my name. You don’t deserve it.

That was their last conversation, and after a while, only news came that Regis had gone abroad to study.

And now he’s going to pretend like it never happened?

Odette suppressed the mockery that threatened to escape her and answered.

“You don’t have to. It’s not like we’re in such a good relationship. The count must be busy on his way, see you.”

Well, she have to go now.

 

Odette was about to walk away when the words were spat out of a rapid-fire cannon.

“Odette. Are you still upset about that?”

“……!”

Regis’ hand grabbed her arm, and Odette’s face frowned.

“Let go of me.”

“I was wrong, okay? It’s all in the past, and I’ve been thinking about you all the way back home-“

“Let go!”

Odette finally snapped, shook Regis’s hand away.

It was unpleasant where it touched. The way he was treating her, the way he was acting, that impudent look, everything.

Part of it was his displeasure with Regis, but there was also something about his brash demeanor that reminded her of the past.

– You’re always here. It’s good that you’re so easy to find.

When she was a student at Belfort Academy.

Odette was always reading by herself.

There was no point in revealing her identity, so she always stayed away from the group of students, which naturally became a habit.

The corner of Epona Hall where the shadows of the overhanging trees cast just the right amount of shadow was Odette’s favorite spot.

And it came naturally to Regis to approach her.

– I wanted to talk to you. I’ve never seen you before.

– I’m not good at talking…… It’ll be more fun to talk to other people.

– It’s too noisy over there. It’s nice to be with you because you’re quiet.

– ……!

– You smell nice. Are you wearing perfume?

 

Regis asked deliberately, leaning in toward Odette, even though he knew she couldn’t possibly be wearing perfume.

Whenever he looked up at her like that, her face would turn bright red, and he quite liked that.

A pretty girl with a secret background.

It would have been fun to play with her, and it would have been fun for her to not be able to hide her shaking.

How much fun he must have that she had over not knowing anything.

Just thinking about that made Odette still feel her heart heating up.

Suppressing her emotions, Odette gave a cold warning.

“I don’t want to have any trouble with you. and don’t get all cocky, because I didn’t realize it before, but I won’t tolerate it now.”

“……Tolerate? Are you really still mad at me?”

“I told you not to say anything.”

“You must be very angry. Well, I guess that makes sense. I understand. Even if it were me, I would be angry if something like that happened to me.”

Odette’s brow furrowed as Regis’s fluid tone changed.

Although he changed his tone to be more respectful as Odette requested, his shameless tone still remained.

“I am truly sorry for deceiving Your Highness at the time. But I want to tell you that my feelings were sincere.”

“…… It’s not worth listening to any more. Please don’t talk to me in the future.”

“Odette!”

But her arm was grabbed again.

 

Unlike earlier, when she’d been able to shake it off easily, this one was firm.

And there was no one else around.

“You have no idea how much I regretted sending you away like that. I went abroad to try to forget Your Highness, but I came back only to realize that it was no use.”

“It’s none of my business, let go of me!”

“It will just take a moment. Please give me time to explain it then!”

The moment when a pale Odette struggled to escape from Regis hands.

“Today was the first time I learned that Count Xavier was a ruthless man who tried to trample on women in broad daylight.”

A sharp voice interrupted, and the grip on her arm loosened.

When she looked up, she saw a rather gaunt, but beautiful face that couldn’t be hidden.

“I’d like to hear what you’re doing. Is that too much to ask?”

Louis Clovis.

He smiled brightly.

* * *

 

Regis seemed to flinch at Louis’ appearance.

“Lou- Louis?”

“Yeah, I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

“A-Ah, Yeah, it’s been a while. I returned home not long ago. But your complexion-“

“I’ve been sick lately but it’s okay now, I’m fine. So what are you doing now?”

Regis’ attempt to slip by mentioning Louis’ complexion was immediately blocked.

“As far as I know, this person here is the Fourth Princess, and you didn’t try to intimidate Her Highness, did you?”

“What do you mean, intimidate? Even a man with a protruding liver wouldn’t be able to do that.”

“Well, right? It’s not that I don’t know you, so I’m not saying it out of the blue. Aren’t you famous for being bold even at the Academy Awards?”

Regis’ face twisted at the subtle sarcasm asking if his behavior was too flashy.

‘Damn…….’

Even so, he thought he would be able to talk to Odette like this because there was no one around, but what was the point of running into Louis right here?

‘I came out on purpose after hearing that Odette came to the academy today.’

Odette had not socialized again since the tea party.

Since Walter crushed the existing rumor with a bigger rumor anyway, Odette didn’t have to come forward and explain it.

So Regis had no choice but to go after Odette with the information Lizaina had gleaned from a maid at the Fourth Palace.

– She’s gone to Belfort Academy, so you should go and try to arrange a reunion by chance. You know right, nothing beats a first love.

Yeah, nothing beats a first love.

And Regis was proud to be Odette’s first love.

 

So, He believed that if we met again and persuaded her well, she would soon come over again.

‘She was a stupid girl who would fall for anything you said.’

In Regis’ memory, Odette was young and naive.

That was the fun part.

It started at the request of the 3rd Princess, but the further back he went, the more he realized he was enjoying it too.

He liked the taste of innocence, and he liked the glimpse of affection reflected in the way those honey-gold eyes looked at him.

So much so that the moment the whole truth was revealed and it ended in a mess, he regretted the past for the first time.

‘If the truth hadn’t been discovered, I would have been able to play with her more…….’

Of course, this is what regret is, but whatever.

Regis, who was a playboy by nature, had no regrets about any woman.

Except for one thing, Odette.

‘It’s a strange thing. No matter what kind of woman I meet, I can’t stop thinking about this woman.’

Odette was the reason why he had to return home from abroad.

So this time, he was going to make her for himself again, but Louis interrupted him.

“Don’t say…… Are you in such a relationship with Count Clovis, Your Highness?”