Contract Marriage Interrupted

Episode 50. The reality of nightmares

 

The banquet was in full swing.

Odette sneaks out of the ballroom.

She’d had a little too much to drink, so she made a good excuse to take a short walk.

‘There are so many people.’

She felt like she was going to get drunk, not from the alcohol, but from the atmosphere.

She knew she needed to keep a firm grip on herself.

But this time, it wasn’t to get sober that Odette escaped.

It was to escape the ballroom.

‘We were supposed to meet around the time the fifth bell rang.’

After a few minutes of walking, she found herself in a dimly lit garden.

‘Here we are.’

The meeting place with Walter.

* * *

 

Just before entering the ballroom, Odette had this conversation with Walter.

“Walter, when we go to the ballroom, there will surely be a lot of people, right?”

“Of course, because there will be a wedding announcement. Are you worried?”

“Everything else is fine, but…… I’m worried that if I lose sight of you, it will be hard to find you.”

“Is that so. I’ve never seen anyone have a hard time finding me.”

At Walter’s words, Odette lifted her head and looked at him.

And at that moment, she just remembered how conspicuous Walter was.

He is a head taller than others and has a muscular physique.

With his black hair and handsome appearance, he would definitely stand out from the crowd.

“But if you’re in the middle of the crowd, you’re going to get lost in the crowd again.”

“If you don’t like that, why don’t we pick a place to meet outside?”

Odette hesitated to tell Walter that, “The problem is that you’re in a conspicuous place, not inside or outside.” but then suddenly she thought of a good idea.

“How about here? There’s a path leading to an unused palace from the banquet hall. It’s not in use right now.”

The pathway to the unused palace is dark, with few lights in the gardens around it.

There were few who knew the way, and being in such darkness made it practically deserted.

This was a place Odette often used to hide, a spot where she could easily go unnoticed.

Especially when spending time in the crowded banquet hall made the need for solitude more pressing.

 

“I’ll show you to the path, and look for an arched structure there. It’s not too far, so you should be able to find it easily.”

After talking about this, the two agreed to make that place as their meeting point following Odette’s instructions.

And as expected, Odette’s prediction was correct.

‘He drifted away from me as soon as the marriage announcement was over…….’

It wasn’t surprising, it was typical for men to engage in conversation among themselves, and likewise for women to do the same.

‘What would have happened if we hadn’t decided on a meeting place?’

The thought of standing next to Walter amidst the crowd made her feel dizzy again.

Although the dark path had a slightly eerie atmosphere, it was a space familiar to Odette, and as she approached the arched structure, her steps gradually became more cheerful.

It was also because of a figure who stood out next to the structure.

‘Judging by the height, is it Walter?’

It was hard to tell in the darkness, but if anyone who would be in a place like this, it was definitely Walter.

Odette approached the figure with confident steps.

“Walter? Did you arrive first?”

As she walk closer, the figure’s features became clearer.

Tall height, straight nose, and handsome appearance.

The basic modifiers were similar, but somehow different.

If Walter had a sense of a rugged cliff, the figure in front of her had a softer, smoother exterior.

In the dimness of the night.

Odette was finally able to recognize the person standing there.

It had been quite a while since they last met, and the atmosphere felt somewhat different……..

Still, it wasn’t easy to recognize that platinum blonde hair.

With a hint of doubt, a name slipped from Odette’s lips.

“……Count Clovis?”

* * *

 

Louis Clovis.

The young man with platinum-blond hair and a handsome appearance had not been at the mansion recently.

He had claimed to have fallen ill, but in reality, it was due to an unknown curse that had occurred.

Of course, now the suffering and pain that accompanied the curse’s initial outbreak had disappeared.

He was only haunted by hallucinations or nightmares.

‘Odette…… No, the Fourth Princess.’

His daily life was ruined to the point where Louis only wish was to go back to the time when he didn’t know about her.

When he opened his eyes, he looked at literature everywhere or talked to people who might have information. But when he closed his eyes, he found himself talking with the nightmares of Odette.

Thanks to this, Louis ‘nightmares’ gradually became more complete.

Initially, he could only piece together situational details from fragmentary information. Now, every event within those nightmares felt as if he had experienced them firsthand.

 

The cause-and-effect relationships of the situations, even the emotions felt during those moments – everything became intertwined.

Sometimes he was confused as to whether he was Odette’s husband or Louis Clovis, who was still under pressure from his grandmother to marry.

“Odette, it’s not like that. I wasn’t trying to ignore you. It’s just painful for me to see you……!”

“Master, wake up, you are not married, this is not a dream!”

“…… not a dream, then what about Odette?”

While he was half-awake and looking for Odette, he saw the faces of the servants holding him with confused expressions several times.

Walter’s explanation was correct. The curse was truly insidious, it seemed like it would definitely lead to his death.

It felt like he was already losing his sanity.

‘In the midst of all this, I still want to see Odette.’

Knowing that addressing her as the Fourth Princess was correct, Louis unconsciously called her by her name.

This is why meeting her as his wife was more vivid than meeting her as the Fourth Princess.

If it hadn’t been for Walter’s warning, Louis would have run to Odette a long time ago.

He would have fallen to his knees and told her he was sorry, that he was sorry for leaving her alone.

The only reason Louis didn’t do that, or rather couldn’t do it.

Was that he hadn’t seen the end of the ‘nightmares’ yet.

‘At some point, the dream stopped.’

 

He wasn’t sure at first, but after repeating the same time frame a few times, it was clear.

The nightmares always started the same way.

“I want to marry you, Louis Clovis. Not in love, but as a contract.”

The moment he and Odette face each other on the balcony of the palace.

Louis’s ‘nightmare’ begins, and they go through a brief period of happiness and a process that leads to destruction.

“Louis, you really need to learn from your wife! She’s so refined, but what’s with your behavior!”

“Grandmother, I’ve told you not to interfere in my life!”

“I’m saying this because I care about your wife. How can you lead such a debauched life after marrying a princess?”

“Don’t be too harsh on him, Madam. I’ll talk to him about it.”

When Louis and his Grandmother argued, Odette was always the subject of comparison.

Her attempts to intervene only added fuel to the fire.

Louis gradually grew tired of her, she was too much for him to handle in the first place.

‘Why did I marry a woman like that? No matter how urgent it is to get married, I would just choose a decent woman from a suitable family. I married the princess just to get some praise…….’

Such thoughts couldn’t help but manifest in his actions.

The subtly colder attitude extended to neglecting the family.

Odette withered away day by day, and their relationship gradually worsened.

 

In the meantime, Odette’s older brother Cedric dies, her only friend, a maid, marries in a distant country, and Odette’s condition rapidly deteriorates.

And then one day, it all leads to that moment.

“Louis, I have a favor to ask you.”

“…… what?”

“You know, meeting your friends.”

“That again? You can’t come in early. You know it gets complicated when we start talking.”

“……It’s not about that. You can go out, just please don’t bring anyone home. My head starts pounding when there are too many people…….”

Whether her head truly pounded or not, Louis knew that Odette disliked having many people at home.

Because his well-bred wife had been raised to be noble, displaying any sign of pain as a source of shame.

Louis felt a sudden pang of guilt, but he responded that he would.

However, no expression of gratitude for his consideration came back.

That was the end of the ‘nightmares’.

In the unfinished story, Louis felt a thirst for resolution.

While he was dreaming, he felt annoyed and disliked Odette, as if he was being assimilated into the dream.

But when he woke up, all those feelings were replaced with regret.

‘What the hell happens after that?’

Louis had to see the ending, if only to erase this inexplicable regret.

Walter’s words were true, this curse could drive him mad and even lead to his death.

 

‘I can’t see Odette until I resolve the curse.’

Louis traveled around the empire to find out about the curse.

And he recently caught the clue in a very unexpected place.

The call came from Zantipe, a professor of magic at Belfort Academy, who Louis had first visited to inquire about the curse.

“I thought there was a possibility that what was on you wasn’t a curse, so I was researching areas other than curses, and I found a clue there. It was fortunate that an academic festival was held this time.”

“It wasn’t a curse you say…….”

“Yeah, it wasn’t because of Magic. It might not really be a curse.”

The clue came from the field of theology.

It wasn’t even a matter of magic using holy power.

“…… Isn’t this book about sacred objects?”

“Technically, it’s a record of those who used relics. Take a look. Aren’t there things similar to your situation?”

There are only three of them on the entire continent, and they are said to grant wishes.

As if to say that the legends of its ability to bring the dead back to life weren’t exaggerated, there were many other things written in the records.

One peculiar aspect was that most of the records weren’t about the individuals using the relics themselves.

“It seems that when using a relic, even those related to it are affected.”

And one of those symptoms is.

‘Hallucinations.’

A symptom that aligned with what Louis was experiencing.