Contract Marriage Interrupted

Episode 95. Crack (6)

 

Walter Ertmann wanted to die.

Disbelief flashed across Louis’s face.

“That can’t be. He’s…”

Others didn’t know, but Louis did.

That was Walter Ertmann who had used the holy artifact to return to the past.

It was simple when you thought about it, because it was so obvious after the fact.

What had changed the most, and who had benefited the most from it.

He considered the possibility that Odette might have turned back the clock, but she had only recently regained her memories, so there was only one answer: Walter.

‘The man who desired a new life so much that he used the holy artifact now wanted to die?’

It seemed hopeless, but then one hypothesis popped into his head.

Records of the holy artifact from the divinity department of Belfort Academy.

There was very little accurate information about the holy object, but even then, one thing was clear.

‘Those who use it are soon forgotten.’

Surely Walter knew what he had done and what he had to bear? 

Even knowing that, he chose to marry Odette.

‘What a selfish man.’

 

If he really cared about Odette, he shouldn’t have made such a choice.

There were plenty of ways to avoid a marriage she didn’t want.

A man as intelligent as Walter could not have failed to see that, so he must have known all along, and yet twisted everything with his greed. 

‘And then he consoles himself by saying it was for Odette’s sake.’

If only he had left her alone, there would have been a better way for Odette.

If he had, he might have had a chance to find his memories too.

‘Duke Ertmann, he expected me to find the memories.’

So he really did have the perfect answer for Odette.

To help Odette avoid a marriage she didn’t want, and to connect her with the memory he had found.

Wouldn’t that have been the best choice he could make made for Odette?

But by marrying Odette himself, Walter twisted everything for his own selfish reasons.

As if others wouldn’t be allowed to have what he couldn’t have. 

‘Despicable.’

Such a man could not be true to Odette.

From the start, Louis never thought that Walter traveled back in time out of a desire to see Odette again. He just wanted to make use of this new life he’d stumbled into, to get the woman he’d never had in his last.

 

His desire for Odette was only a perverse possessiveness for something he couldn’t have.

‘Giving her heart to such a man would only cause Odette to suffer.’

Therefore, he had to keep Odette and Walter apart at all costs.

If he could just get Walter out of Odette’s way, everything would go back to normal.

It was for this reason that he offered to cooperate with Blake. 

“Isn’t it funny, Count, to hear that the man you were going to kill was going to die anyway?”

Louis’s heavy gaze tinged with irony fell to Blake, who was grinning crookedly.

“…Apparently this isn’t the first time Your Excellency has dealt with this.”

“Sometimes it’s the sick that have to be dealt with. Or the old. Or both.”

Louis thought of the emperor, slowly poisoned and dying.

He was old and had so many medical conditions that a minor addiction didn’t even register.

“Isn’t that a good thing for you? For someone who’s never killed before, it’s something to assuage your guilt.”

“I’ve never cooperated out of guilt.”

“Well, think of it this way: if the plan works, you get Odette, and I’ll offer you my heartfelt congratulations as your brother-in-law.”

Blake patted Louis on the shoulder and smiled wryly.

He didn’t mention anything about failure.

‘He knows he can’t escape anyways.’

 

The liquor Blake had consumed earlier was forbidden by the Yellow Peril-Prohibition.

Louis’s willingness to reach deep into the bootlegging business had brought him into Blake’s clutches.

The shackles of bootlegging must be hung around his neck before Blake would let down his guard.

‘Of course, I made sure to leave a way out.’

Even with the shackles, it took a while for him to let down his guard.

Now everything was really at hand.

Louis no longer suffered from the ‘nightmare’, because he now knew its ending.

The unhappy marriage had pushed Odette to the brink, and in the end she threw herself off the terrace.

He could still recall the events of that day as vividly as if it were yesterday.

A thud. A dull, eerie sound that caught his ear.

Soon, the butler came bustling in, looking for Louis. Even though there were guests present, he couldn’t remain calm in the face of his master’s death. 

– M-Ma’am seems to have thrown herself from the terrace!

So Louis went to the terrace where Odette had died and met the man who stood there like a ghost.

Walter Ertmann.

A wallflower I would never have invited into my home if it weren’t for his offer to invest in my business.

The man who had seen Odette’s last moments was the same as he remembered, with the same indifferent and nonchalant face that didn’t seem to suffer from repercussions. A gaze that was eerily disinterested in others.

 

In other words, Walter wasn’t terribly shaken by Odette’s death.

He’d seen too much death to be shaken by witnessing one person’s death.

But clearly, Walter was shaken.

His fists clenched under his sleeves. The way his jawline was taut, the way he clenched his teeth, and all his actions pointed to his crumbling interior. 

Walter fiercely growled, as if trying to say something, but it was too far away for Louis to hear, so growling was the best way to describe it.

Louis was no less distraught over Odette’s death.

His mind quickly rationalized.

-…Odette couldn’t have died, no, she couldn’t have done it herself.

The noble princess, who never bowed her head no matter what I said, couldn’t have died because she couldn’t stand this life.

Odette’s life must have been rich. She always ate good food and wore good clothes. Why would she choose death over lack when she had everything she needed?

No, even if she chose chose suicide because she couldn’t overcome her depression, it didn’t matter.

Here was a suitable person to take his frustrations out on.

-You… you were the one who killed her. Walter Ertmann, you killed her!

All of Louis’s anger and resentment was directed towardsWalter.

-You could have saved Odette, but you didn’t. You might as well have killed her. If it weren’t for you, she would have lived!

 

-Shut the fuck up. What do you know?!

-At least I know more than you do. I was Odette’s husband, unlike you.

Louis’s scowl brought a stream of profanity from Walter, but Louis didn’t care.

He knew how Walter viewed Odette. Though Odette herself didn’t seem to realize it.

-Walter Ertmann, you are despicable too. An unscrupulous man who coveted another man’s wife. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come all the way here to grab me by the collar, would you?

-…What?

-No matter how you rage, Odette is my wife, and that fact won’t change. Nor the fact that you meant nothing to her. 

With those words, Walter’s grip loosened, and Louis shook him off. Facing Walter, who stood like a shattered statue, he threw one last word at him.

-Cowardly murderer.

That was their last conversation.

Since then, Walter shut himself in his home like a recluse, and Louis had not heard of him since he left for the battlefield.

Whatever Walter’s feelings were, Louis was terribly distressed by Odette’s death.

Odette’s behavior, which had seemed so frustrating when she was alive, only made sense once she was gone. It was a natural reaction to being cooped up in the mansion.

 

‘Odette must have had nowhere else to turn to but me.’

It all started when he realized that Godmother Clovis had been bullying and pressuring Odette.

She believed that Odette was taking money from Louis every time and spending it on luxuries.

The nerves of the elderly were inevitably fragile.

What started out as simple hints and snide remarks became more direct over time.

She couldn’t do away with expensive clothes as she had to socialize, but every time Odette sat down for dinner with Godmother Clovis, she was subjected to verbal abuse and criticism, and had to clean up everything she ate.

What was surprising was that most of the servants also looked down on her.

Most of them had served Mrs. Clovis far longer than Odette, so no one felt sorry nor cared for her. In fact, they often looked down on Odette, who couldn’t even do her own fair share.

In the end, it was only Louis’ sleeve that Odette could hold on to.

Despite knowing that his failing business, uncaring family, and indifference were causing her misery, Odette was unable to fully hate him in the end.

Or perhaps she had no strength left to hate him.

Thus, in her will, she wrote these last words to Louis.

 

[Please don’t take a new wife, I pity her].

Thus, Louis finally understood Odette.

How terrible a human being he was, and why her choice was the worst.

“…”

Louis clenched his hands slowly in thought.

‘I won’t repeat the same mistakes this time.’

If only the man who had killed Odette, the same man who was still ruining everything, Walter, were gone.

Then I can make everything right.

 

{Special thanks for Divine senpai for helping this chapter!}