Marriage by Contract? No, It’s a Marriage of Convenience – A Countess Who Had Her Engagement Broken

Chapter 43: Friedrich’s Confession 1

And a full-blown winter came to the territory. The two of them always stayed close together, even outside of work. The servants watched this warmly.

One night, while enjoying fruit wine in front of the fireplace, her husband started in a serious tone.

“Liddellina, this is actually about the marriage contract.”

“Yes.”

“I think I mentioned this before, but I want to be a normal husband with you. It’s selfish of me to unilaterally impose harsh conditions, but could you consider it?”

“…Yes.”

It was not at all unpleasant. Rather, it was happy. However, more than that, she was worried.

“Um, my previous husband disliked even touching me.”

But now he is touching her shoulder and twirling her long hair around his fingers and stretching it out.

“I can’t help wanting to touch you.”

Liddellina blushes at those words. But at the same time, she is also afraid.

“If I were to become a normal married couple with you and spend time together, what do you plan to do if your memories return? Won’t you reject me? That’s what I’m afraid of.”

(I trust him and have faint feelings for him. So if I’m accepted and then rejected after that, I won’t be able to bear it. It will probably hurt more than Gilbert did.)

“About that thing… Actually, my memories have already returned.”

Liddellina lost her words. She was quiet for a moment. The two of them looked at each other intensely.

“What? W-When? Is it true? Why is it okay to touch me now? I mean you haven’t changed at all since returning from the battlefield! Why didn’t you tell me anything before?”

Liddellina opened her eyes wide in surprise, and in an unusual move for her, leaned forward and stood up.

“Previously, I had a fear of women, but thanks to losing my memories and being able to build a good relationship with you, it seems that I have completely recovered.”

The conversation was almost non-existent and was done through writing. It’s hard to believe that.

“Did you really recover? Even though you remember the past? Isn’t it just that you don’t remember the cause of your fear of women?”

Friedrich shakes his head.

“No, I do remember why women became scary. You probably noticed it too. Sometimes you looked at me with eyes that seemed to fear me.”

“I’m afraid of my husband when he gets angry, so I thought I’d leave things as they were before. But he’s never gotten angry with me.”

She had realized that he had a fear of women before he went to war.

“Oh, but I forced the marriage contract on you and threatened you with your words. You seemed very afraid at the time, and I really couldn’t stand it.”

Friedrich resides, bowing his head.

“No, my husband was afraid of me because I am a woman at that time. Well, now that I think about it, I remember.”

“It’s an unpleasant story, but I want to tell you why I became that way. If you’re uncomfortable, I’ll stop in the middle, and you don’t have to feel sorry for me.”

“If Husband is okay, please let me tell you the story.”

When Liddellina expresses her honest feelings, he begins to speak about the past calmly.

***

His father Georg always threw himself into battles because he liked them. At that time, he was arranged to marry Princess Theresia, the fourth daughter of a neighboring country. This was a political marriage by royal command.

However, the prideful and hot-tempered Theresia and the aggressive Georg did not get along.

Even after Friedrich was born, Georg did not care about his family and took a mistress. Of course, Theresia fiercely resisted and disliked letting the mistress into the castle.

So Georg created a separate house for his mistress and spent all his time there, eventually giving birth to a boy. The mistress also hoped to make that child the heir.

Friedrich was locked in the tower by a mother who had gone mad with jealousy at being unloved by her husband.

“You’re not allowed to grow up,” and no matter how much he (Friedrich) cried and screamed, he was not allowed out of the darkness and into the light, and was not given enough food to eat.

At first, he thought someone would rescue him someday, but no such miracle occurred, and he spent an interminable amount of time in a dark and unsanitary prison-like room, his emotions worn thin.

But one day, the sound of a large axe hitting the door repeatedly echoed. Eventually, the door was destroyed, and Friedrich squinted at the bright light he hadn’t seen in a long time.

The one standing and holding the axe was his father’s lover. He thought he could get some help.

But she swung the axe at Friedrich.

“Your mother definitely killed my child! So, you die too!”

When his father rushed to the side of the half-mad, screaming and swinging woman, Friedrich had suffered serious injuries to his face and body.