Contract Marriage Interrupted

Episode 78. Feelings for Walter

 

The only people who knew about Odette’s abilities were Cedric, Ellie, and Anne Sophie, as well as a very small number of people in the Department of Magic at Belfort Academy.

Of course, others at the Belfort Academy were aware that someone with the ability to give life was cooperating with their research, but their identity was never revealed.

Odette’s visit had been dismissed as a visit to see Anne Sophie, as usual.

‘Cedric or Ellie wouldn’t be the type to casually mention my abilities to others.’

Of course, even Cedric didn’t know the full extent of Odette’s powers.

He only knows that Odette can use her magic to control a bird with much greater agility than other sorcerers, He had no idea of her true power.

And she doesn’t need to prove that Ellie is the only kind of person who would give her life to protect Odette.

So it doesn’t make sense to assume that Walter might already know about Odette’s powers.

Moreover, even when Odette handed over the pendant, she didn’t directly mention her abilities.

‘I’d say he really doesn’t know.’

Even judging from the conversation in the dream, it seemed like Cedric had already passed away.

Therefore, there was no way Walter could have known about Odette’s powers.

But was there any reason to give him the pendant, even at the risk of revealing the ability she had been hiding all her life?

 

Odette pondered this question, but it didn’t take long for her to find an answer.

It felt unnecessary to delve into other scenes to understand herself in the dream.

Odette’s wish for Walter to be happy was genuine.

‘……That’s all that matters.’

She just wants him to be happy, and if the pendant she gave him could be of some help.

It didn’t matter to the Odette of her dreams that one day her powers would be discovered.

That was her sentiment, her affection.

A love that was far from calculating, and more like reckless.

So when Odette woke up, she was certain of one thing.

That in her dream, she was in love with Walter.

.

.

. 

 

Ever since that dream, back to the present.

Odette had been experiencing a strange phenomenon.

She feels as if she is being assimilated into the emotions she felt in the dream.

‘It’s strange…… Whenever I see Walter’s face, I feel like…… it’s not mine.’

She hadn’t felt this way before, but now Odette could feel herself reacting to Walter’s voice and every expression.

It was as if she was truly falling in love with Walter.

‘I love Walter.’

It was an utterly absurd statement.

After experiencing the depths of Regis Xavier depravity, Odette believed that spring didn’t exist for her anymore.

If there was one thing she realized then, it was that the idea of someone eventually loving her completely was nothing more than a cliché from a romance novel.

She wasn’t looking for a contract marriage or to become a wandering illegitimate Princess just to hastily find a marriage partner.

‘I think I might be deluding myself.’

Sometimes that’s the case.

Like when an actor gets too immersed in their role as a murderer and starts to believe they’re actually committing the crimes.

Odette thought she might be one of them.

‘Maybe I’m just trying too hard to make it seem like I’m in love with Walter, and that’s why these strange thoughts are popping up.’

After all, her first impression of Walter wasn’t exactly the best.

He was incredibly arrogant, rude, and simply unbearable.

As Ellie puts it, he fit the mold of the ‘ideal man in a romance novel.’

In fact, Odette had found herself irritated by his outspoken and straightforward speaking style several times.

Loving a man like that? It’s ridiculous.

‘I’m a demanding woman.’

 

Even when Regis tried to sweet-talk her, Odette didn’t easily succumb. Wasn’t she the type of person who wouldn’t fall for such a despicable man.

There was no way she could love such a terrible man…….

“…….”

Odette paused for a moment. She was tempted to retort.

‘But…… is Walter really that bad?’

Of course, it’s true that Walter’s first impression was terrible.

But we all had misunderstandings at the first meeting.

When she actually got to know him, Walter wasn’t so bad after all.

He was actually kinder and more thoughtful than she expected.

‘If he were a really bad person in the first place, he wouldn’t have brought me a rose.’

Of course, Walter’s treatment of Odette wasn’t always polite.

However, that didn’t mean it was never sincere.

He listened attentively to Odette’s words, and his touch was always gentle.

It was Walter who had taken such care of Odette during the three days shortly after their marriage, even though he had deceived her initially.

‘If someone lived in a mansion like this, they wouldn’t even choose their own clothes.’

Considering that Odette never once felt uncomfortable in his care, it was needless to say how attentive Walter had been.

Of course, there were times when he played occasional pranks.

– Walter, get me some water…… I’m thirsty.

Instead of tilting a glass of water to Odette’s mouth, Walter chose to hold it in his own mouth and let it flow past Odette’s lips.

He didn’t give her enough water, and half of it leaked out of her lips, until she whined and begged for more.

‘……Hmm, maybe he’s not so good after all.’

Odette downgraded Walter’s rating, which had briefly been positive.

As a bonus, Walter’s sleeping face, which had seemed so sweet a moment ago, was starting to look mean again.

Odette pursed her lips and stared at her husband’s face.

‘He may look gentle now, but when he wakes up, those eyebrows will pierce the sky.’

What about those arrogant green eyes?

His cynical gaze, as if everything in the world were unimpressive, made Odette feel like her noble title was meaningless.

‘Besides, his narrow eyebrows and close-set eyes only make him look sarcastic.’

As if that wasn’t enough, he frowns every now and then.

There was no other example of someone who easily wore an air of superiority.

If an artist wanted to draw a devil, Odette was willing to recommend Walter as the model.

‘…… But sometimes when he smiles, I think he’s kind of cute.’

His eyes didn’t crinkle, but the crooked lips are cute.

Odette quietly reached out her hand and poked Walter’s cheek.

Then, with a little courage, she pulled gently on the corner of his mouth.

 

‘If the corners of your mouth go up like this…….’

It’s amazing how that fierce look softens in an instant…….

“……!”

And at that moment, Odette stiffened rigidly.

Walter’s eyelids lifted, and the green eyes that she had previously judged as arrogant turned towards Odette from his deep asleep.

Those loosely raised eyelids seemed to say that it knew all of Odette’s thoughts, as if it had been awake since when?

His slow blink reminiscent of a predator’s attitude and their eye contact at a distance where lips could have touched at any moment paralyzed Odette’s mind.

At first it was surprise, but this time it wasn’t for that reason.

‘……Again.’

Again, her heart raced.

Walter interlaced his fingers in Odette’s stiffened hand, kissed it lightly, and whispered.

“By this age, you should know well enough that a person’s face isn’t a toy……..”

Because he had just woken up, the slightly hoarse voice tickled her ears in a more sensual way than usual.

“Or perhaps my princess wanted to play with her husband since it’s morning, huh?”

“I-I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Of course you didn’t. You always try to run away when I’m asleep…….”

Perhaps not yet fully out of his drowsiness, Walter stretched languidly and pulled Odette into his arms. They snuggled closer, as if they were done arguing.

The warmth of his body and the familiar scent of his body enveloped her, and her heart began to beat faster and faster.

Odette couldn’t even open her mouth because it felt like the sound of her pulse would come out instead of her voice.

As she stiffened in Walter’s arms, she thought to herself.

‘I guess this…….’

Something was definitely wrong.

* * *

 

No matter how she thought about it, the dream was the problem.

It was the middle of the day, when Walter was out and the mansion was quiet.

Odette was sitting alone in her room, lost in thought.

‘What on earth is this dream?’

She wondered.

At first, she shrugged off the dream and this strange phenomenon.

But as the days went by, she could feel the emotional assimilation getting stronger and stronger.

‘It was just this morning.’

At any other time, even if such a thing had happened, her heart wouldn’t have raced like that.

If it were just warmth, she might not have known what to think.

When she thought about it, it all came back to that strange dream.

The dream in which she was in love with Walter.

‘It’s too specific to be just a delusion.’

And it all remained in her mind, without any ambiguity.

Moreover, the strangest thing was that the content of this dream connected back to the dream Odette had on the day she first woke up at the Duke of Ertmann’s residence.

‘They say dreams sometimes continue, but can they be this realistic?’

While she couldn’t recall the details of the dream, when she tried to piece it together.

In the dream, Odette was already married to Louis through a contract marriage, and Cedric, for some reason, was dead.

She had a strange relationship with Walter, a man she shouldn’t have had anything to do with, because of Cedric’s maintenance.

‘And I…… I was in love with Walter without conscience, even though I was married.’

Of course, what Odette was doing in her dream was a contractual marriage, not a normal marriage where the couple is supposed to be faithful to each other.

So, technically, she wasn’t acting against her conscience.

‘The problem is that it affects reality.’

The emotions she felt when she hugged Walter this morning.

Strangely, the feeling was not unfamiliar.

Perhaps it was natural.

It was the same feeling Odette had for Walter in her dream.