Contract Marriage Interrupted

Episode 88. Exhaustion

 

Walter Ertmann, the Master of Ertmann, was working in his mansion as usual.

was working in the mansion unlike usual.

Considering how he had been wandering outside more often lately, it was quite rare.

In other words, it also meant that his business outside had come to an end.

The pen spun in Walter’s hand as he pondered.

Despite being newlyweds, he had been busy running around outside, and the cause of his current worries was all the same.

Louis Clovis.

‘He’s up to something.’

Walter had been keeping an eye on him for a while now.

Louis Clovis the a man who had been in and out of the bootlegging business, and now he had come to Blake.

Walter’s gaze turned to the letter placed in front of him.

On the day Cedric controlled the Ertmann Duchy, he informed Cedric about the connection between Louis and Blake. And Cedric returned what he had investigated, which was the contents of this letter.

[…… Louis Clovis was rarely seen coming and going. It looks like they met outside to avoid suspicion, but Blake is very good at hiding his whereabouts, so it wasn’t easy to trace him from then on.]

To summarize, it was unclear whether Louis and Blake had a relationship as deep as they suspected, but it was clear that the two people, who previously would not have had any contact at all, were often bumping into each other.

 

Cedric questioned whether he should be cautious of Louis to this extent, but Walter thought differently.

‘In the past, Louis Clovis had nothing to do with politics.’

It’s not that he wasn’t ambitious.

But his ambitions were more focused on business than politics.

Of course, in order to run a business, it is impossible to be completely separate from politics, but Louis was reluctant to be politically involved as much as possible.

The reason was simple. He didn’t want to use his background to his advantage.

‘It was a rather peculiar case. He wanted to avoid the attention of his family as much as possible.’

Perhaps he wanted to prove himself by doing something on his own, not through the power of his family.

The problem is, it’s the kind of thing a naive nobleman would do.

‘Foolish.’

Having lived as a nobleman, knowing nothing but how to live as one, what did he expect to achieve by stepping out of the shadow of his family?

If he had been a lesser man, he might not have harbored such ambitions, but unfortunately, Louis was quite intelligent.

He just wasn’t outstanding.

Caught up in such mediocrity, he dreamed unrealistic dreams, so the outcome couldn’t be good.

To evade Clovis’s eyes, Louis got involved in underground businesses to secure funds, eventually even getting into the bootlegging business.

‘Once he dipped his hand in, he couldn’t withdraw until he made a profit.’

This would have been especially true since if you let go, you would be proving your own incompetence.

 

Because of this, Louis kept pouring in money as if he were trying to fill a bottomless vessel, and all of the repercussions flowed to Odette.

Louis would ask Odette to fetch Clovis’s money for him, effectively hiding behind Odette as a shield.

When Walter thinks about how it led to Odette’s death, he still feels like he wants to kill Louis, but anyway, that’s a past thing that doesn’t exist anymore.

The important thing is that even though this past existed, there was something strange about Louis actions.

‘Clearly Louis Clovis has regained most of his past memories.’

Although it’s unclear how much he remembers, it’s enough to potentially disrupt Walter’s plans.

If Louis has these memories, he should know to withdraw his involvement from the underground businesses he was once associated with.

‘It’s even more suspicious that he’s delving deeper into them.’

Going to such lengths seems almost like someone is urging him to be discovered.

Let’s remember, Louis wasn’t foolish. With the addition of memories from the past, such a judgment would never have been made.

So, there must be some intention behind his actions.

“It must be related to his attachment to the Second Prince.”

If that’s the case, what is Louis Clovis aiming for by going to such lengths?

This is the question that haunted Walter hasn’t been able to solve.

He knew that Blake and Louis were working together, but the endgame was vague.

 

Walter even went as far as meeting Blake in person…….

– Marriage seems to suit you, Duke. I hear whispers that the two of you get along quite well. It’s so noisy that it’s almost deafening.

– Odette, did she inherit anything from her mother? Her skill in handling men seems to be quite remarkable. Haha!

…… but there was hardly any gain from it.

Especially since Blake, unlike usual, openly expressed his discomfort by spewing more criticism than usual.

“He must be in a tight spot.”

And Odette probably played a significant role in causing that predicament.

Blake had planned to send Cedric away and build up his own power in the center of the imperial palace in the meantime.

However, despite his efforts, Odette’s diligent inquiries constantly hindered him. On top of that, Cedric’s early return due to Odette’s marriage.

As soon as Cedric arrives, the news that Count Marvo is dead, so Cedric’s power began to gain momentum.

From Blake’s perspective, all the efforts he had made over the past few months were in vain.

‘So, in a situation like this, he wouldn’t be able to refuse the deal that Louis Clovis offers.’

And whatever they do, they’re going to have to be a lot bolder than usual.

Because if he doesn’t, he’ll realize that there’s really no way to beat Cedric now.

‘The Emperor will fall within the year.’

Empress Katarina had consistently poisoned the Emperor.

 

If he succeeded in ousting Cedric, he planned to poison the Emperor immediately and seize the throne before Cedric could recover.

‘In fact, it was the same in the past.’

The plan was to control the poison and keep the Emperor alive until Cedric was ousted, but unfortunately, Cedric was much more cunning than they had anticipated.

– The tea leaves that the Emperor enjoys drinking were poisoned. How did I know? It’s not difficult. I’ve been drinking the same tea. Easy, right?

– …… Are you planning to die from it?

– I’ve been regularly taking both poison and antidote, so I have immunity. It’s fine. But at some point, perfectly good tea started being served. So, I used the excuse that the tea leaves seemed spoiled and replaced them all with new ones.

The reason for swapping out the good tea for new ones is obvious.

– It must have been filled with the same stuff the Empress used.

– Originally, it was something the Empress did, so it was easy to follow suit. Thanks to her, it was easy.

As usual, He turned a healthy tea into a poisoned one in Katarina’s name.

– Even if the Empress is imprisoned because of the tea I switched, I shouldn’t feel too guilty, right? It’s all been part of the plan so far.

Cedric said with a smile, masking his true intentions with a friendly demeanor.

It was a ruthless smile, fitting for someone surviving through all sorts of tricks and aiming for the Emperor’s throne.

It was also the smile of someone who knew the end was near.

And Walter was feeling something similar.

Though his intentions differed from Cedric, he sensed the end too.

‘I wonder if I can survive until Cedric ascends to the throne.’

 

He didn’t get to see it in his past life, so it would be nice to see it in this life, but it seemed unlikely.

The persistent pain in his heart which had been bothering him, suddenly stopped at some point.

However, it was by no means good news.

There’s only one way to get rid of the pain without treatment.

Whether it’s from freezing, burning, or necrosis, the wound felt numb that you can’t even feel the pain.

‘My heartbeat is faint, and I can hardly feel any pulsation when I put my hand on my heart.’

It was as if his heart was slowly coming to a stop.

He could sense that there wasn’t much time left for him to endure like this.

‘It seems that the closer I get to Odette, the closer I get to death.’

Or perhaps this death is ultimately named ‘misfortune’, so the closer Odette gets to happiness, the closer I am to death…….

“……I’m tired.”

His thoughts lingered. To intentionally break the chain of thoughts, Walter got up from his seat and approached the window.

It was a coincidence that he saw the carriage entering the Ertmann Duchy’s garden.

And if that carriage was indeed the one Odette took to Countess Myra’s social gathering today.

‘Is she back already?’

It was too early for the gathering to be over.

He had expected her to return around sunset.

 

Despite the curiosity, the relief of seeing the carriage was overwhelming.

Even with the concerns, he felt glad. Seeing Odette would surely dispel his fatigue.

Without hesitation, Walter went down the stairs to greet Odette.

Whether she was expecting his welcome or not, Odette’s surprised expression as she entered indicated she didn’t anticipate it.

“Walter? How…… did you know?”

“I just happened to want to see you.”

So, he glanced out the window. Odette’s timely entrance didn’t need any explanation.

Suffice it to say that their eyes met and Walter smiled faintly.

Normally, Odette would blush or make some awkward remark about such directness, but this time, she simply hugged Walter without a word.

As if she had longed for his embrace for a long time.

“……Odette?”

Walter called out to her, bewildered by the strange hospitality, but she didn’t answer.

Her early arrival and unfamiliar demeanor were quite odd.

As he reflected, the fact that Odette’s complexion wasn’t quite right before she showed a surprised expression crossed Walter’s mind.

Along with the intuition that something had happened at Countess Myra’s social gathering.

* * *

 

It didn’t take long for Walter to figure out what had happened to Odette.

“What do you think about your mother?”

“……Did Countess Noarch attend Countess Myra’s social gathering?”

Walter could infer the correlation from Odette’s straightforward question alone.

And Odette was particularly bad at lying.

Seeing Odette’s pained expression, Walter felt an even stronger sense of fatigue than before.

“……Yes, she did attend. But I’ve been wanting to ask you something.”

“Countess Noarch has nothing to do with Ertmann anymore.”

“But she has everything to do with you.”

Truly, he was terribly exhausted.