Home/I ended up having a surprise marriage with the male lead/ch 113

Chapter 113

"Have you been well?"

Emilia replied coldly.

"If I hadn't seen you today, that would have been better."

But despite her sharp response, Cedric looked rather pleased.

"What on earth are you doing?"

Emilia asked Cedric with an expression of utter contempt.

She knew Cedric's temperament well. Showing fear right now would only play into his hands. Besides, she needed to keep this conversation going and buy even a little time.

"Why, you ask? I didn't want to waste my energy on the likes of you either, but you keep getting in my way and prancing around where you don't belong."

"When did I—"

"Suddenly showing up at the palace was one thing!"

His face flushed red as he recalled something, contorting with anger.

"And at the hunting competition—you're the reason my arm got shattered!"

At that, Emilia almost let out a hollow laugh despite the situation.

What kind of twisted mind did he have, blaming her even for the injury he sustained at the hunting competition? She hadn't even crossed paths with Cedric that day.

Emilia glared at him and spoke.

"If you have time to waste on these antics with me, why don't you treat your wife properly?"

At her words, Cedric gnashed his teeth and shouted.

"Treat her properly?! That woman ran away!"

'...Raina ran away?'

What was that all of a sudden?

But Emilia couldn't dwell on the thought any longer. She wasn't in a position to speculate about Raina's situation right now.

"She even stole all my things!"

Cedric fumed as if reliving the memory.

"What's so precious about that one item that... If that woman hadn't run away, things would have been settled cleanly. Instead, I had to get my own hands dirty!"

It would have been perfect if they could have blamed Emilia for the miscarriage and been done with it. But because Raina had fled, he'd been forced to act personally.

He'd been promised wealth and a title in return, but because of this affair, he would never be reinstated as a palace official.

While Cedric ranted and raged by himself, Emilia discreetly scanned the room.

'What do I do.'

It was a powder room for ladies—a completely sealed chamber with no windows.

There was nothing but a sofa, a vanity table, and a wardrobe for storing the dresses brought along.

Just as she was considering how to shake Cedric off and make a run for the door—

Cedric suddenly grabbed her roughly, yanked her up, and dragged her toward the back of the room, tossing her onto the sofa.

"What do you think you're doing!"

But Cedric paid no heed to Emilia's protests and climbed on top of her.

"Get off!"

She tried to shove him away, but Cedric didn't budge an inch.

She glared at him, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

He stared down at her disheveled form beneath him with satisfaction.

Then, pinning her legs down so she couldn't escape, he pulled a small medicine bottle from his pocket.

Soon, the sound of the stopper being removed reached her ears.

Sensing something strange, Emilia clamped her mouth shut and struggled even harder.

"O—Open up!"

Cedric pressed hard against her cheeks, forcing her mouth open.

In the next moment, the liquid from the bottle was poured into her mouth.

"Cough, cough!"

She coughed repeatedly as the liquid unexpectedly slid down her throat.

Cedric looked down at her with a vile smile, tears welling in her eyes from the coughing fit.

"Ha, Cedric, you...!"

Emilia shot him a fierce glare, shoved him off, and planted her feet on the floor to stand.

But the moment she tried to take a step, her legs gave way and her body swayed dangerously.

'Ah...'

Cedric burst into laughter at the sight of Emilia's expression, which clearly showed something was wrong.

But Emilia had no time to concern herself with his reaction.

'My body feels strange.'

Her limbs grew heavy, as if soaked in water, and gradually, she felt her senses slipping away. Her vision was growing hazy, as if a fog had settled over her eyes.

'This can't be...'

Emilia had witnessed a similar phenomenon once before.

Yes—the very first time she met Gaidon.

Her body had become paralyzed and unresponsive, her vision blurred—just as he had described.

'If that's the case... then this wasn't Cedric's doing alone. The Empress is behind this.'

Emilia swallowed her anger inwardly.

She had thought Cedric was merely being used to dig into her past, but she never imagined they would resort to such blatant methods.

At that moment, Cedric called out to her in a triumphant voice.

"Ah, Emilia."

Emilia squinted at Cedric, but while she could make out the shape of his face, his expression remained unclear.

"So why didn't you just stay quiet and rot in that little corner of yours? You didn't know your place, so you had to come up to the capital, and now look what's happened to you."

He sneered as he watched her break out in cold sweat, barely able to stand.

"What do you think will happen if others see a noble lady alone with another man?"

He continued to mock her.

"And what if they hear the sounds of... intimacy? Haha, that's a scandal that would bury you in high society for good!"

At that moment, Emilia could no longer hold herself up and collapsed onto the floor.

Her loosened shoes, from all the struggling, had slipped off her feet.

Cedric's gaze fell on her bare white feet, then traveled up to her delicate shoulders, fully exposed.

His eyes gleamed with a sickly light.

"Consider this payback for the time you dared to threaten me with such nonsense."

He stepped toward Emilia.

Then, bending down, he reached out his hand—

"Argh!"

Suddenly, a searing pain shot through his head.

"Y-You!"

Cedric clutched his head and stared at Emilia.

In Emilia's hand was a shoe, gripped tightly.

"You... back then... I didn't hit you hard enough... so you never learned your lesson, did you?"

Blood was seeping from the sharp heel that had struck Cedric's head.

"And don't be ridiculous. The reason... I'm in this situation... is simply because... you're trash... and you got caught."

"Y-You crazy bitch!"

Cedric raised his hand toward Emilia.

But Emilia swung her shoe faster.

Thwack.

After confirming Cedric had collapsed, Emilia's arm dropped limply.

At the same time, the shoe she had barely been clutching rolled across the floor.

"Hah... hah..."

Emilia gasped for breath.

Her hands trembled at the thought of how close she had come to being violated by Cedric.

'I have to pull myself together.'

Emilia bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, struggling to keep her mind focused.

'First... I need to get out of here somehow.'

From what Cedric had said, he planned to show the nobles some sort of inappropriate scene involving her.

If so, just being in the same room as Cedric right now was dangerous.

But her legs wouldn't respond—no matter how much strength she tried to muster, they refused to move.

In the end, Emilia crawled on her hands toward the door.

Her vision was so blurred that she couldn't even tell if she was heading in the right direction.

Still, she had to get out of here by any means necessary.

'Please, please.'

As she moved through what felt like an eternity of agony, she heard the distinct sound of the door opening.

Emilia's body went rigid.

'...What do I do now.'

She had used every last ounce of remaining strength to deal with Cedric.

She had nothing left—no means of defending herself.

Her eyes burned with heat.

In the meantime, footsteps approached, drawing nearer.

Soon, a hand reached out toward her.

Emilia squeezed her eyes shut and let out a shrill scream.

"Don't touch—!"

But in that moment, a broad chest and a familiar scent enveloped her.

"It's all right, Emilia."

A low voice settled softly by her ear.

Back   Next