I Refuse To Be A Character In A Novel - Chapter 6

A cold water droplet fell on her exposed collarbone.

“I…well…that’s…”

As she stuttered for an answer, a faint laughter was heard.

Did he just laugh? 

Is he teasing me on purpose?

“Why are you acting like a bashful bride all of a sudden?”

‘Because I’ve never done this before!’

When Zachary’s face came so close that she could hear the sound of his breath, Erna became lost as to where to look, but she didn’t avert her eyes. 

Facing his always calm attitude, she felt embarrassed to act like a frightened rabbit, so she decided to do the same.

There was no need to feel flustered.

“Em?”

Zachary tilted his head at an angle, gesturing to her for an answer.

“What do you mean by that? I just don’t want to.”

“You don’t want to?”

His indifferent voice instantly calmed her racing heart.

“Not today.”

“The reason?”

I felt a little wary.

This is a new situation for me.

No matter what this body experienced with him, it was not me.

Feeling wronged by the situation, Erna collected her breath and put strength to her voice to sound firm.

“Do I need a reason? I don’t feel like it. How come the only time we spend time together is during this one day of the month? We don’t even get along.”

As her voice got a little aggressive towards the end, Zachary looked slightly surprised.

Perhaps because he didn’t expect her to react that way, or simply because her words held some truth.

The two of them were no better than strangers.

On the other hand,

‘Saying it out loud sounds like I am asking for his affection.’

Embarrassed by her words, Erna wanted to hide her head somewhere, but somehow managed to maintain a calm face.

✰✰✰✰✰

In order to avoid the fate of getting pregnant and dying according to the plot, I knew I had to divorce, but it was not a decision to make lightly.

This was the duke’s territory, and I would only be a stranger if I lost my title as the duchess.

I first have to go back to the capital. 

I’m not even sure how my parents would react if I brought up divorce.

While the marquis supported this marriage, my mother was against it.

She was a person who married the man she loved, twice. And she did not want her only daughter to be married to a man she deemed as heartless.

But now that it was already done and things have come this far I’m not sure how she would react.

I might become a topic for people to chew on in the social circle, but I could withstand that much.

The problem was bigger than people’s gossip.

This marriage was built on mutual political interests.

The late grand duke of Argentine declared loyalty to his brother, the king, by having his son wed the marquis’ daughter. 

The Heissentein family was one of the founding families and the number one loyalists to the royal family and the current king.

As for the marquis, the duke would back his sister, the queen whose position was threatened by other nobles, since she still did not have an heir after years of marriage.

Now, Zachary was even in mutual ownership with the marquis over several factories in the capital.

The two families were too intertwined with each other.

If i was to get divorced and Zachary pulled his support from the queen, she might end up replaced, and the crown prince who is to be the male lead of the novel would not exist.

According to the novel, the queen would finally have a son 2 years from now despite her old age, and he was to be the male lead of ‘Scattered Flowers’.

But on the other hand if I decided to stay here, there is a chance I would end up pregnant and die.

Zachary is now my legal husband, and I couldn’t keep refusing him for no apparent reason.

A hand that caught her cheek woke her up from her thoughts, and before she could react, a huge shadow was cast over her.

“…What are you doing?”

“Getting along with my wife.”

Erna reflexively shrank back at the dangerous smile that lingered around her husband’s lips.