How To Escape From A Devilish Husband (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 1

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Chapter 0. Prologue

The quiet dawn.

Delphine silently gazed down at the man sleeping beside her.

The man who had destroyed her family and personally beheaded her father.

The face of her husband, with whom she had exchanged sacred wedding vows.

He lay in a deathlike slumber, poisoned by the toxin she had fed him with her own tongue.

His bare-chested face looked strangely, unnervingly peaceful given the circumstances.

Perhaps it was because he had spent the entire night pouring all his desires into her.

Just as he had done without missing a single day since that first night he took her.

Delphine absentmindedly brushed her fingers over the red marks on her body and blankly recalled the past six months.

This man had always held her as though in worship.

Not that his actions carried any sanctity or caution—quite the opposite, in fact.

Every night, he shed the mask of the refined nobleman and became a beast.

Like a werewolf facing the full moon.

Delphine had never even imagined such raw, unfiltered intimacy.

He always focused his entire being on tasting every inch of her with relentless obsession.

What made his lewdness feel like worship was his eyes.

He always looked at her as if she were an object of veneration.

As if he could scarcely believe she existed before him—as if his very existence stemmed from her…

Her gaze on her sleeping husband lasted only a moment.

Delphine slowly raised both hands high.

The dagger in her grip gleamed a sharp blue under the light of the dawn moon.

Her hand trembled violently with anguish as she clutched the cold, shining blade.

Should she kill him?

Or should she let him live?

“Four o’clock in the morning. In front of the bakery in District 2. Not a minute later. Remember—if you miss this chance, you’ll never escape.”

Lingering in her ears was the urgent reminder from Lin, the ally who had promised to help her flee.

There was no time for hesitation.

According to plan, she intended to slit his throat with the dagger and slip quietly out of the mansion.

Just as he had done to her father six months ago.

But…

Clang—.

The dagger slipped from Delphine’s hand.

Though the clear ring echoed through the bedroom, the man—who usually slept as lightly as a bat—didn’t stir.

“Why… why can’t I just stab him…?”

Delphine stepped backward, her face pale as death, putting distance between them.

Unconsciously, one of her hands rested on her stomach, as if to protect something.

Trembling violently, she fumbled for the door to her chamber and opened it.

She had to leave.

Yes. She would run away.

Far, far away.

What to do about the child in her womb—the seed of a sinner—could wait.

Her first priority was to escape this empire where she’d been born and raised as a noblewoman, and flee from his devilish grasp.

Delphine fled the slumbering mansion, racing toward District 2 through the biting dawn wind.

In that sharp breeze, every cursed tie binding her to that man shattered like fragile glass.

Her family’s sworn enemy—and her husband.

A slave who once lived a wretched, worm-like existence, yet returned as the empire’s most glorious hero.

And…

Her father’s murderer—and the father of the child growing inside her.

By the time Delphine reached the northern wall of District 3, dawn had already begun to break.

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Ioan Pride awoke at dawn, just as the sky began to lighten.

It was two shichen earlier than Lin—who had prepared the poison—had anticipated.

The other side of the bed had long lost its warmth.

A blue dagger lay on the floor.

His own unconscious form, drugged and oblivious to everything that had happened.

Putting together what must have occurred during the night wasn’t difficult at all.

He rose from bed as though he’d never slept, dressed swiftly, and headed straight for the imperial palace in District 1.

The captain of the knights recognized him immediately and stepped forward, bowing.

“Lord Pride? What brings you here at this hour…?”

There was nowhere within the Astraks Empire beyond his reach.

She must now know that fact as well—and if she’d resolved to flee from him, she would surely aim to leave the empire entirely.

Yet the empire was surrounded on all sides by high walls.

Beyond the southern wall lay the sea.

To the east and west rose treacherous mountains teeming with monsters…

“Prepare the troops. We’re heading to the northern wall.”

Pride fastened the buttons of his crisp uniform and muttered lowly.

Without a single question, the captain saluted sharply and dashed out of the office in haste.

She must surely plan to cross the northern wall and reach another city.

What expression would she wear when she found him standing in her path?

Would she tremble in fear—or would she, as always, stand tall and meet his gaze with pride?

Just recalling the intensity of her pure emerald eyes sent a shiver through his entire body.

Though he’d spent the night indulging himself, unspent lust stirred again within him.

As he finished dressing, he remembered last night—or rather, this very dawn.

For the first time, she had kissed him first.

Throughout the night, she’d clung to his neck, weeping and utterly lost in passion.

…So all of that was merely an act—part of her scheme to escape today.

Swish—. His hand tightened involuntarily as he sheathed the gleaming blade.

“Go ahead. Run.”

Fully dressed with the scabbard at his hip, he murmured through clenched teeth.

“Delphine. To possess you, I’d sell this worthless soul a thousand times over.”

Before morning had even fully broken, orders to seal every gate in the walls had been issued.

An empire-wide search was launched for a young woman with red hair and emerald eyes.

Ioan Pride, the empire’s hero, departed for the northern wall of District 3 with a full battalion.

All of this unfolded just as his wife, Delphine Pembroke, arrived near the northern wall.

#Chapter 1. The Devilish Husband

Sometimes she was Del. Sometimes she was Delph.

But most of the time, she was simply Delphine Pembroke.

“Del, try this wild strawberry. It’s delicious.”

Her loving mother had always called her Del.

“My daughter, Delph. I bought you a pony.”

To her father, she had been Delph—until she turned eight.

From a certain point onward, he began calling her “Delphine Pembroke.”

“Delphine Pembroke. Look at your father properly.”

That had started when she began formal instruction in imperial etiquette.

Whenever she failed to hold her knife correctly at age nine, or couldn’t recite the proper protocols by ten, her father would glare disapprovingly and say, “Delphine Pembroke.”

“They say my daughter will become the empire’s greatest beauty—no father could resist such pride.”

That’s what people whispered at social gatherings.

Her father was the head of the venerable Pembroke earldom, yet distant from the imperial family.

He would often buy extravagant jewels beyond his means, attend palace banquets draped in them, and return home humiliated.

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And each time, he grew harsher, turning the mansion’s atmosphere increasingly grim.

Especially after her mother passed away.

No one called her Del or Delph anymore.

The only comfort she found in that oppressive environment came from the lowest servant in Pembroke Mansion—the most despised commoner slave.

“Young miss… are you happy here in this mansion?”

That bold, strange, yet strikingly beautiful slave boy had often asked her that.

“Young miss.”

Delphine snapped out of her reverie at the sound of her name and lifted her head.

Anna, her nursemaid, had entered her room with a knock, looking troubled.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well… I thought you should know. Ioan is in the hall right now—with your father.”

The sudden news left her momentarily unable to process Anna’s words.

“…What did you say?”

“That slave boy—the one who disappeared years ago. Dirty blond hair, brown eyes.”

Of course she knew who he meant.

She had been the one who secretly applied ointment to his beaten back and occasionally sought comfort from him.

Three years ago, on the very day her engagement was announced, he vanished without a trace from the mansion.

She hadn’t heard a word about him since.

“You’re saying Ioan is in the hall right now—with Father?”

“Yes. I don’t understand it myself—I happened to see your father while passing by, and Ioan was with him.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes. That look is unmistakable.”

…Then why hadn’t anyone informed her of his visit?

It was odd that Anna, not the butler Wilson, had brought her the news.

Delphine glanced briefly at the desk clock.

4:34 p.m.

An awkward hour for visitors.

“…Let’s go see for myself.”

“Yes.”

Accompanied by Anna, Delphine slowly descended toward the hall.

“Young miss—where are you off to?”

Wilson, who was supervising hallway cleaning, asked cheerfully.

“Oh, Wilson—didn’t you hear? We have a guest in the hall.”

“A guest?”

He looked bewildered. The servants cleaning nearby seemed just as confused.

“The hall is down this very corridor—none of us saw anyone pass through.”

“…What’s going on?”

Could Anna have been mistaken?

Even Anna, walking behind her, looked troubled, as if doubting her own judgment.

She’d just check for herself.

Gently—very gently—Delphine pushed open the hall door.

Inside the spacious hall stood two men.

Her red-haired father—and the man beside him.

It was Ioan. Undoubtedly him.

Though his back was turned, she recognized him instantly.

He’d grown taller and broader over three years, but that particular dirty blond shade was rare.

Seeing him again after so long stirred a whirlwind of complicated emotions within her—joy mingled with confusion.

Why did you vanish from my life so suddenly? I thought you were dead—where have you been all this time?

While she stared at his broad back, lost in thought—

Ioan abruptly raised a long, massive sword.

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What happened next was instantaneous.

A sickening, unfamiliar crunch—squelch—filled the air, followed by something heavy hitting the floor.

It was a head—with the same red hair as hers.

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