The Blackened Second Male Lead's Wife

‘So I’ll let go of all the disappointment I felt from him for he was the person who brought Estelle to me when I was prisoned by Lucian.’

I settled my old resentment and looked at the emperor. 

The emperor smiled contentedly, whether or not he knew how I felt about him. 

“It’s been a long time since I’ve last seen you two. It’s so great I get to see you again.” 

Then he turned to Carlix, who was sitting close to him. 

“Carlix.” 

“Yes.”

“It is customary that I, the host of the banquet, or you start the first dance to begin the celebration. But since today is a special day, why don’t we hand it over to them?” 

“Very well.” 

Lucian’s shoulders twitched at Carlix’s answer. 

Because this was not in the script.

‘Who said you could do this? You think I’ll just go along with you? Want to die?’

I quickly held Lucian’s hand and whispered before he uttered those evil words. 

“This is good. It’s an opportunity to show the people here how much we love each other.” 

Lucian stared at me, and murmured with a small sigh.

“…..If you want.”

Lucian and I stood face to face in the large hall. 

The emperor, Carlix, and Estelle, and everyone else in the banquet hall, watched us in silence. 

I asked Lucian, holding hands with him. 

“Are you all right?” 

“I feel a little queasy, but it’s bearable.” 

I burst into laughter. 

I’d imagine that Lucian’s mind was filled with the urge to dig out the eyes of many people looking at me one by one. 

It’s frightening, but it’ll be okay. 

I know he won’t do that. 

Because he promised me so. 

The other day, no matter how many promises Lucian made, I still feared that he would not be able to put up with it, but not now. 

Through intense training, Lucian is now (almost) completely able to control his emotions. 

Even with many eyes on us, he is able to have a casual conversation with me. 

“It’s like the day of our engagement ceremony. We were the main characters that day.” 

“…..Yeah. You were wearing a red dress that day.” 

“I was supremely beautiful, wasn’t I?”

“Yes, and today…” 

Lucian whispered in a sweet voice.

“You look supremely beautiful.”

As soon as those words ended, beautiful music began to fill the air. 

Lucian turned yandere but he didn’t turn into the dance god.

His steps were still clumsy, twisting and turning all around, and his movements were half a beat off the music. 

That’s what I like about him.

‘It’s so cute that he can’t dance.’

‘He missed the beat just now, but he’s so cute pretending he didn’t make a mistake!’

‘He’s trying to not make it obvious, but that drop of cold sweat on his forehead is so cute!’

Anyway, he’s really cute! 

It was so cute to see a man who could destroy the continent if he wanted to look so panicked doing the waltz. 

‘And I’m not the only one thinking that.’ 

I’m certain. 

Seeing us dance, half of the fears people had about Lucian will disappear. 

I also expected this.

After the dance, applause broke out.

There was no fear on the faces of the applauders. 

Far from being afraid, they were very pleased with the beautiful man’s cute tricks.

Estelle was among the applauders. 

Estelle, wearing the Chanel dress I gave her as a present, clapped like a seal.

As soon as the applause time was over, Estelle came up to us. 

“Miss Nia! Lucian! I really missed you two.” 

We exchanged letters while I was staying in Lucian’s castle, but this is the first time in months that we had seen each other. 

“Me, too,” 

I hugged Estelle with a happy face. 

At that moment Estelle looked at Lucian with a nervous look on her face. 

Contrary to her worries, Lucian’s face was calm. His eyebrows flinched very slightly, but that was it. 

Instead of grabbing Estelle’s delicate body with jealous eyes and throwing her out the window, Lucian bowed to her.

“It’s been a long time. Miss Estelle.” 

His voice was so soft that you might’ve missed what he said, and his greeting was stiff compared to other times. 

Nevertheless… Estelle looked as if she was crying. 

She looked as if she was looking at her second-year middle school son who came back to his senses after his rebellious phase. 

Estelle said, smiling brightly. 

“Well, it’s been a long time. Lucian.” 

Ah. What a beautiful scene.

Estelle said, lowering her eyebrows as she wrinkled her nose for fear that tears might leak out. 

“But, Miss Nia, I failed to bring Marquis Lilac. I went to the mansion and asked him to come with me, but he said he wouldn’t come.” 

I pouted. 

‘He was able to refuse even with Estelle’s coax? How stubborn.’

When I returned to Lucian’s castle, my father was very upset.

When I wrote a letter to him, he replied. 

<Who are you? I think you sent this to the wrong person. I don’t have a daughter who does not listen to her father and gets distracted by a man.>

It went something like that. 

Well, I wasn’t too worried. 

There’s no parent in the world who doesn’t have a soft spot for their children.

‘He’ll calm down and gradually start to forgive me.’

I cleared my head of worries for my father and a small voice came from somewhere. 

“Lady Pernia.” 

I turned my head. 

A group of women were looking at me with their hands together. 

Those who all wore thick makeup were members of the BMA (a group that loves bold makeup). 

I approached them with a happy face.

“Duchess Rosasa, Marquess Marenne, Countess Leo, Baroness Grande. It’s been so long. Have you been well?” 

My warm greeting brightened the faces of the women. 

“Of course. We’ve been well.” 

“How worried I was for Lady Pernia ever since she left for the war zone. I keep hearing terrible rumors…”

I grinned with my eyebrows down.

I know roughly what kind of rumors they are talking about. 

The Devil-turned Kardien. Pernia, who had been eaten by him/possessed by him. 

Little by little, the headlines got worse.

Countess Leo said with a bright face. 

“But I see the rumors were all nonsense. Lord Kardien and Lady Pernia look healthy and happy.” 

“Right?” 

At least now, they didn’t seem to believe the rumor saying that Lucian is the devil at all. 

Probably because Lucian is standing arm in arm with me, with the most beautiful and harmless face in the world. 

(Of course, he only looked fine on the outside. It was a completely different case inside, but the women had no way of knowing that.)

So everyone laughed and dismissed the rumors upon seeing Lucian’s holy beauty. 

“Ladies, may I know what you are conversing so merrily about?” 

A man with a clear voice approached us. 

It was Marquis Garcian, the man who challenged the emperor about Lucian. 

And next to him stood his wife, Erica. 

‘So it was true that she got married.’

Erica. She tormented Estelle and me. She was one of the villain extras who had poor villainess-ing abilities.

She had become a marquess, and had a distinctly different demeanor. 

Her head was raised high, her whole body was covered with sparkling gold and silver jewelry, and her dress was incomparably gorgeous. 

Erica, whose eyes met mine, turned away with a smirk. 

‘What a vixen. She’s the same before and after marriage.’

Anyway, it wasn’t Erica that was important now. My eyes turned again to the Marquis Garcian.

The marquis stared at Lucian with fiery eyes. 

“Don’t be deceived by this man’s looks, ladies. Have you forgotten? No matter how dazzling his smile is, you must remember that this man is a devil!” 

He seemed to want to prove to the people that Lucian was a devil somehow.

Nevertheless, Lucian and I were at peace. 

‘Well, I expected this kind of response.’

There are some people whose suspicions disappeared right away as they saw that Lucian was harmless.

But that was only a fraction of the population. 

There are still many people who are convinced that Lucian has become the devil. 

There were thousands of soldiers who saw Lucian slaughter tens of thousands of enemy troops, so it was not easy to dismiss it as a rumor with the evidence. 

If we deny or admit the rumors, their doubts and anxieties will only grow. 

So I decided to admit it coolly. 

“Yes, Lucian is under the devil’s curse.”

Hi *nervous sweat* for those that are reading as the chapters are updating, about the mistake I thought I made, sorry but there was no mistake. I checked past chapters raws and the empress dowager IS Carlix’s grandmother. It clearly said that in Chapter 24. Sorry about this confusion! Carlix’s mother died so his grandmother is acting as the empress dowager.