CMFAR 01

Chapter 01

Contract Marriage for Atilenta’s Revenge

“Atilenta, I love you.” “There is no one in this world who loves you more than I do.”

“Atilenta. Let us get a divorce now.”

When my husband Anthoni, whom I believed was truly mine, appeared with his arm linked with another woman’s—my heart shattered into pieces.

It happened at the very victory banquet meant to widely proclaim my achievements.

I had never collapsed before.

Not when my mother passed away from illness during my childhood. Not when even the servants despised me as a low-born child. Not when the King tried to sell me off, claiming I was a chaste princess, to an elderly noble.

Not when Anthoni requested me from that very King, nor when I went through an unfamiliar wedding and wedding night with him.

Nor when he took me to the battlefield, saying he needed my abilities.

“Continuing the family lineage is the most important matter.”

Anthoni spoke in a cold, indifferent voice. It was an attitude he had never shown me before.

“What… do you mean, all of a sudden—”

Suddenly, my legs trembled so violently that I couldn’t even stand properly.

Even when rumors spread far and wide that I was barren because I couldn’t conceive a child despite sleeping with him regularly, I had not broken down.

“Atilenta. You understand, don’t you? This time as well.”

While clinging closely to Anthoni, Selena smiled sweetly at me.

At that moment, my past life crumbled into pieces as well.

Selena—she had been my pillar of support.

Even though my mother had passed away, I had my nanny Jaema and her daughter, Selena. When we finally achieved victory, Anthoni had told me it was all thanks to me.

Because of them, I never doubted that my heart was strong. It was all a complete delusion.

“Hmm? Atilenta, give me an answer. His Majesty commanded it, so we couldn’t refuse.”

What are you talking about, Selena?

“Don’t worry. I will make sure to carry on the successor of the ducal house properly.”

Clearly, at first, you said the Duke made you uncomfortable.

“Atilenta. Honestly, your ability is far too dangerous.”

Selena whispered to me in an excessively sweet, alluring voice.

Ah, my only friend, Selena.

“You said… you needed it…”

I squeezed out a hoarse, cracking voice. Knowing that it would take a immense toll on me, the only reason I used my ability so much was purely for my husband.

Even as I stared at him with hollow, vacant eyes, his expression remained utterly heartless.

My ears went numb as if someone had struck me over the head.

“An-Anthoni. You said… you needed me…”

As I stammered like a child, Selena covered her mouth with a fan and cast a strange look at me.

“My goodness.”

I instantly recognized the look in her eyes.

Atilenta, what kind of delusion were you under? Of course it just meant your ability was useful.

“We will submit a petition to His Royal Highness. Together with the Duke.”

Anthoni wrapped his arm around Selena’s waist and pulled her close. Selena buried her brown hair deeply into his broad chest.

“Return to your place, Atilenta.”

Standing together with their clear, spring-like blue eyes, the two looked like a picture-perfect painting. I could feel the gazes of everyone in the banquet hall locked on me.

To them, I was nothing more than a humble, lowly woman disrupting this perfectly matched couple.

Clearly, my place used to be right between them.

“Sel-Selena…”

Seeing the two of them glued so tightly together right in front of me made reality sink in even more sharply.

“Stop it, Atilenta. Maintain your dignity. Don’t you see people are watching?”

I was a woman who matched Duke Anthoni in neither status nor appearance.

“Haah, haah…”

Panting for breath, I hurriedly clutched my chest.

“I won’t deny that you helped my family. However, just as Selena said, it is also difficult to refute that your ability could become a threat.”

How can this be a family that belongs only to you? When have I ever, even once, posed a threat to you?

“Now then, Atilenta. Return to your room. I’ll drop by to visit you occasionally. Just like when we were young.”

Selena, wearing a gentle smile, gently pushed my shoulder away. Perhaps because tears were about to burst forth, several royal guards were approaching me through my blurring vision.

Without hesitation, they dragged me away. The people around us pretended not to know me.

I couldn’t even let out a single scream.

Just like that, I was locked away in the prison of my childhood—the place where I stayed during my days as a princess.

This was a shabby room with only a single window, located in a secluded corner of the royal castle.

All the years I had strived to escape this room vanished into meaningless air.

Inside, the room remained unchanged. The bed where my mother suffered from illness and passed away was just as worn out as it was back then.

Suddenly, tears streamed down my face. Unable to even think about wiping them away, I mumbled to myself.

“…Did something go wrong?”

I clearly heard that this victory banquet was held for me, for us.

‘Atilenta. Your ability is truly amazing, so precious and valuable. For now, let’s keep it between us. You understand what I mean, right?’

The moment she found out about my power, Selena had worried about me and respected me. Anthoni had highly valued my ability.

‘Since we forged victory thanks to you, we should announce it in front of everyone now. Look forward to that day, my dear.’

I retraced and pondered the words they had spoken to me, but in the end, I couldn’t find an answer.

All that came to mind was the scene of Anthoni with his solid physique and Selena, the epitome of a socialite beauty, clinging to each other as a gorgeous couple.

All I possessed was the red hair that proved I was the illegitimate child of this country’s King—the very hair that others were busy whispering about as the mark of a witch.

At that moment, I saw my mother lying on the bed like a dried leaf.

“M-Mother…”

My mother, who had vivid, sunset-crimson hair, was the King’s mistress. Yet, she said I was conceived from just a single night together.

It was impossible for a woman carrying the King’s child to flee outside the palace. The King never properly took care of us either.

It was a fever that could have been cured with just a bit of medicine, yet that King did not care for my mother.

‘A-Atilenta… I, I can’t… breathe…’

Now, the hallucination was painting a picture of my mother gasping in high fever.

Unable to bring myself to face the lingering illusion, I turned my eyes away from the bed and looked toward the window.

Although the window pane was covered in thick dust, the outside was so dazzlingly bright that the lights felt vivid.

Today’s victory banquet was a grand event that would last until dawn.

Lights as brilliant as colorful jewels, the scent of alcohol drifting all the way to this secluded spot, and the sound of grand music.

Yet, in truth, none of it could reach this place.

A colorless, odorless room—this was precisely my ‘proper’ place that Selena had talked about.

I slowly collapsed to the floor.

‘What kind of delusion were you under, Atilenta? Did you forget your mother’s words never to trust others easily?’

Someone was whispering to me.

My gasping mother, the cold Duke, the sweet Selena.

Yes, I had forgotten. Foolishly so.

“Ah, ah… So everyone deceived me just for this day.”

I realized the truth far too late.

When I was young, I couldn’t understand the King who turned his back on us, nor my mother who spent the night with such a man.

Now, I understand my mother completely. Because my situation is just like hers.

Like my broken heart, my words spilled out in shattered fragments.

“…Mother, how could you… be so foolish, too?”

Rumors had it that my mother was a strange witch from a foreign land. How on earth did the King come to know her?

My mother had told me many stories, but she always hesitated to speak in detail about the King. Even until the moment she passed away.

“How could you spend the night with a man like that…”

As I tightly closed my burning eyes, I heard my mother’s voice.

‘Atilenta, the reason I was called a witch was, above all, because my power did not align with the temple magic that this royal family pursues.’

With a hand so thin and frail it looked ready to snap at any moment, my mother had held onto me.

‘So my child, do not get caught with your secret. Here, take this keepsake…’ ‘A keepsake… hic, please don’t say… such things, sob…’

I cried my eyes out, completely helpless to take any action.

‘…If someone realizes your true value, they will try to exploit it. Never trust such a person easily.’ ‘Then, what about Nanny Jaema? What about my friend Selena? They cared about you, Mother…’

Ah, foolish Atilenta.

‘If someone treats you well, you should return the favor. But Atilenta… are you prepared to return malice in kind?’ ‘I…’

Only now did I seem to understand the meaning behind the faint smile my mother wore back then.

Since she had failed at it herself, she was giving her daughter advice to engrave into her very bones.