Predatory Marriage

Chapter 248.
Count Weddleton’s Mansion (6)

Translator: Atlas / Editor: Regan

The princess smiled a little at the question.
Though her smile implied it was foolish, the Count couldn’t help being distracted by the beauty of her smiling face.
It was difficult to take his eyes from her.

“I will save you,” she whispered benevolently.

His mouth fell open, and the princess frowned in reproach.

“Don’t you think it’s generous, considering the evils you have countenanced?” She asked coolly.
“A father should take responsibility for the behavior of his daughter.”

***

Leah did not want this threat to sound empty.
So she told Count Weddleton to inquire the next day as to the fate of Byun Gyeongbaek.

Really, she had no idea what was actually going to happen to the man.
But it was enough to explain why she thought Ishakan might have followed and collected him.
And once she had explained this, she and Ishakan left the drawing room together.

“You killed Lady Mirael, didn’t you?” Leah asked him as they walked down a corridor.

It was a guess based on today’s events.
The massacre of the Tomaris, the Kurkans’ intent to kill Byun Gyeonbaek, and the way Ishakan had listened, collecting information from Blain and Count Weddleton…

Lady Mirael lived in a mansion in the capital with many skilled knights as guards, but Ishakan could have taken her life without difficulty.
And at her question, Ishakan only smiled.

“Do you think I merely killed her?”

“……”

Of course not.
All the intruders that had planned to assault Leah that night were likely dead as well.
Leah said nothing.

“You’re good at lying,” Ishakan added.

“I had no choice,” she replied.
It had been a lie to say that Cerdina’s power was weakening, and that Leah had broken the spells she was under.
But those lies would have shaken the Count.

“What will you do if he refuses to testify for you?”

“Kill him.”

Ishakan was visibly surprised at her unhesitating answer.

“But he will accept the proposal,” she went on thoughtfully.
She had not had much interaction with Count Weddleton before, but she had observed him from a distance for some time.
He had high status as Cerdina’s father, and grandfather of the King.

Count Weddleton did not count for much in his own person.
He did not excel.
He simply leveraged his influence to accumulate wealth, and he did not risk any shady business dealings.
He limited himself to quietly reaping the benefits of his high connections.

In other words, he had done almost nothing but politely beg.

And for one simple reason.
He feared his daughter and grandson.
He was afraid they would dispose of him if he once stepped out of line.
So he stood back in order to survive.

“And this time, too, he’ll choose the option that he thinks will keep him alive,” she said.
Count Weddleton had no choice, if he wanted to preserve his life for this night.

As they were about to go downstairs, she saw water beading on the windows.
It had begun to rain again.

“It’s not raining too badly,” she said, as Ishakan followed her eyes to the windows.
“I’ll go back to the palace tonight.”

“No, you won’t,” Ishakan said, reprimanding her.
“I just told you that you are pregnant.
The rain will stop before sunrise.
We’ll wait here a little longer.”

Silently, she nodded.
She still couldn’t believe she was pregnant, but for now she would play along with him.
And it would be nice to wait a little.
She was a little overwhelmed by all the information she had learned today.
She would prefer not to go back to the palace until she had had time to process it.

Together, they walked through the empty corridors to find an empty guest room to hide in.
Ishakan followed her in silence until suddenly he snatched her and covered her mouth with his hand.
Opening a small door at the end of the corridor, he pulled her inside.
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It was a broom cupboard.
There was barely enough room for the two of them inside, and as soon as he shut the door, it was completely dark.

Leah stared in the direction of his face as Ishakan wrapped his arms around her waist.
Outside the door, there was a familiar voice.

“Leah…Leah!”

Blain slurred as he cried Leah’s name.
He sounded as if he were drunk.

Leah’s body stiffened and her heart beat wildly.
The impulse to run to Blain immediately was overpowering, and as Ishakan looked down at her, her toes curled.
She didn’t want him to know that she felt this way.
Her body was doing this involuntarily.

As she willed Blain to disappear, there was a woman’s voice.

“Your Majesty, I want to be with you…”

The thin door didn’t block sound.
They could even hear the wet noise of the woman kissing Blain, and the seductive tone as she spoke.

“Your Majesty, we can’t do that out here,” she simpered. “Leah wants to do it in bed…”

The woman was pretending to be Leah.