The Maid's Contract Marriage (1 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 3
The Julius Marquisate’s Triumphal Square was packed with wildly cheering spectators.
Christina Julius stepped forward before Arthur, the supreme commander leading the triumphal army, grasped the hem of her dress, lowered her gaze, and gracefully knelt.
“…I behold the rising light of the Empire.”
At Christina’s first words to Arthur, the gathered crowd erupted into thunderous cheers.
The applause continued until Marquis Julius raised his hand to silence the crowd.
After a brief pause, still bowing, Christina continued.
“…I congratulate you on your triumphant return amidst great honor. I am glad to see you in such robust health.”
The square boiled over again with renewed cheers.
This time, the noise died down even before the Marquis raised his hand.
The excited crowd, afraid of missing even a single word from him, each pressed a finger to their lips and urgently hushed those beside them.
The onlookers’ eyes sparkled.
The throng rejoiced at their good fortune to witness the reunion of this century’s legendary couple with their own eyes, eagerly awaiting Arthur’s reply.
What unfolded before them was the historic reunion the entire Empire had long awaited.
“…”
Seated on his horse, Arthur looked down at Christina, then gazed at her silently before smiling faintly, as if intrigued.
“…Are you claiming to be my wife?”
The crowd, wearing expressions of eager anticipation, exchanged confused glances or shook their heads, wondering, “What did Sir Arthur just say?”
So many people had gathered that only a few close enough could hear his voice directly.
Yet everyone could sense the atmosphere—no joyful cheers erupted.
With half doubt and half expectation, the people hushed even further, hoping to catch even a single word.
“…”
Christina remained silent, standing still with her lips tightly shut.
An uneasy silence settled between them.
“Sir Arthur.”
Just before the atmosphere grew truly awkward, the Marchioness stepped in on Christina’s behalf.
“It must be that Christina is terribly nervous—after all, it has been so very long since you last met.”
Arthur quietly maintained his faint smile as he looked at the Marchioness.
He offered no reply, only that crisp yet somehow chilling smile.
Slightly flustered, the Marchioness forced a gentle smile and continued.
“She was barely seventeen when you left, so I thought you might not recognize her… Has she not grown beautifully beyond recognition?”
In response, Arthur merely gave a small, breathy laugh and smoothed his furrowed brows with his index and middle fingers.
Then he lifted his head and calmly scanned the faces of the Julius household.
An odd tension spread among the crowd, their expressions growing puzzled.
Marquis Julius, who had been standing a step back, silently exuding the dignified and benevolent aura of a noble lord, and Antonio Julius both showed clear signs of discomfort.
…She addressed him directly—why wouldn’t he answer?
Marquis Julius had hoped to begin his renewed relationship with Arthur splendidly before all these people, and was displeased that Arthur refused to respond amiably as he’d expected.
He briefly considered making a graceful, indirect remark to prompt a reply, but remembering the eyes of many upon them, he simply smiled instead.
It would be unwise in every way for the Marquis’s first words to the people’s hero, Sir Arthur, to sound like criticism or reproach for his perceived lack of nobility.
Moreover, they desperately needed to resolve the persistent rumors about inadequate military supplies.
For that, they required Arthur’s favorable testimony.
Realizing this, Marquis Julius rose from his seat as though about to embrace Arthur himself.
Creating a scene fit for an illustrated newspaper wouldn’t hurt, after all.
Although the temple archivists and guild journalists hadn’t fully gathered yet—his visit was earlier than expected—the presence of so many witnesses ensured word would spread.
But just as Marquis Julius, beaming brightly, spread his arms and began stepping down from the platform,
Arthur spoke, still wearing that awkwardly apologetic smile.
“That woman isn’t the one I married.”
His voice rang clear through the crowd.
Ignoring the stunned onlookers, Arthur briskly turned away from Christina and fixed his gaze on the Julius household.
“I said I came to see ‘my wife.’”
[This is the timeline separator]
“…”
What on earth was happening?
Reina, dragged out of bed half-asleep, stared in bewilderment at the Marchioness standing before her.
“M-Madam? Um…”
The Marchioness snapped shut the fan in her hand and glared at Reina.
Normally, Reina would have quickly looked up at her with pitiful, respectful eyes as if frightened—but not this time.
She was in the middle of being stripped of her clothes, after all.
As Mrs. Hurst spun her around like a top, Reina let out an involuntary yelp.
Next came the corset, tightened sharply—she gasped involuntarily.
The corset was pulled tighter still.
“Agh!”
There was still room to tighten it further?
Too busy groaning to avoid being crushed by the corset, Reina missed the Marchioness’s unusual expression, which had flickered past in an instant.
“…”
The Marchioness still hadn’t made her final decision, her eyes fixed on the maid before her.
From behind Reina, who clung to the bedpost and groaned, the Marchioness spoke.
“You know Sir Arthur has returned, don’t you?”
“Ugh, y-yes… yes…”
Gasping for breath, Reina clawed at the corset and barely managed to reply.
Was there anyone in the Empire who didn’t know he’d returned?
For a month now, temple bulletins, guild newspapers, and every special edition had been reporting his every move daily.
“Ugh!”
Head Maid Mrs. Hurst pressed a hot, damp towel tightly over Reina’s face.
Ah, it’s scalding!
Her scream vanished into the towel.
Next, another wet towel was rubbed vigorously over her hair.
Then, a heated curling iron from the brazier swooped close, radiating intense heat.
“…!”
The threatening warmth near her skin made her neck shrink and goosebumps race down her spine.
Wait, wait! It’s hot—scary!
Behind her, the Marchioness continued speaking.
“If you wish to live, you’ll speak carefully to Sir Arthur so nothing inconvenient happens to us. If it’s revealed you once impersonated Christina, both you and I will be in serious trouble—especially you, who certainly won’t escape unharmed. You’re clever enough to understand without me spelling it out.”
…?
For a moment, Reina wondered if she was being asked to serve as the young lady’s maid again—but quickly realized that couldn’t be it.
Understanding the Marchioness’s meaning belatedly, Reina’s face turned pale.
What did that even mean? Who was she supposed to talk to—and about what?
“Huh?”
Reina jerked her head around in alarm, glancing between the Head Maid and the Marchioness.
So, just now, when they said Sir Arthur had returned…
The Marchioness looked down at Reina coldly.
It wasn’t hard to grasp that Sir Arthur’s return—expected in ten days at the earliest—had suddenly become an emergency blazing at their feet.
And she now understood the order she’d just been given.
Though thoroughly flustered, Reina replied carefully and respectfully, stammering.
“M-Madam… Shouldn’t the real Miss Christina step forward now? Sir Arthur has returned as a fully honored triumphal general, and the royal court is even preparing grand rewards for him.”
The Marchioness offered no reply.
Reina hesitantly continued.
“A-At this point, he’d surely be a worthy son-in-law for the Marquisate… What if I go out and things get even more tangled…?”
Indeed, he was no longer the Arthur of the past.
No matter how powerful the Julius household, they could no longer treat him carelessly or sweep his grievances under the rug.
Newspaper reports described him, even in their most modest phrasing, as “the Empire’s rising star.”
Though never stated outright, the royal family had indirectly acknowledged Arthur as one of their own by publicly expressing joy over their “brotherly bond.”
In short, he was no longer someone they could quietly substitute with a mere maid.
Then why?
When they should be doing everything possible to bury the past, why involve her?
“M-Madam…”
Back then, she’d been young and ignorant, swept along without understanding—but now she knew well enough to realize that getting entangled in such matters again could cost her life.
She didn’t want any more involvement.
She just wanted to remain a distant acquaintance of a famous person—
someone whose success she could feel quietly proud of upon hearing the news…
She sincerely hoped their distance wouldn’t narrow beyond that.
Yet the Marchioness, who had been silent until now, finally opened her tightly shut mouth.
“…It seems that bastard has figured it out.”
Before Reina could even ask who “that bastard” was, the Marchioness’s tone suddenly sharpened.
“Or are you perhaps lying to me? You said yourself he hadn’t realized you weren’t Christina!”
Reina flinched and repeated the answer she’d given every time she’d been summoned over the past month.
“O-Of course! Back then, he definitely didn’t notice… I did exactly as I was told…”
Anxiously, she hurriedly retraced that old memory once more.
But before her thoughts could fully unfold, the Marchioness’s sharp voice pierced her ears.
“Then why in the world did that bastard claim Christina isn’t his wife!”
Reina froze, her breath catching.
‘…Sir Arthur said that?’
Her heart plummeted.
The thought that Arthur might expose the fake marriage terrified her.
That marriage had been a contract with the royal family.
Their deception had been a betrayal of the crown itself.
If exposed, everyone involved could face execution.
Just then, Head Maid Mrs. Hurst spun Reina around again and addressed the Marchioness.
“If Reina had truly been discovered, why wasn’t there an uproar five years ago? If you’ve spent five years covering it up, I’d be furious too and want to bring it up now.”
Fifty years of loyal service to the mansion, tending to three generations of Marchionesses—Head Maid Mrs. Hurst’s blunt honesty left even this Marchioness momentarily speechless.
Mrs. Hurst wasn’t finished.
“So either confirm for certain she’s dead first before changing your mind, or at least send proper supplies when he’s out earning honors! Treating him so poorly—of course he’d feel resentful! I already warned you this would become an issue; it simply wasn’t right.”
It was so painfully accurate that Reina nearly nodded in agreement.
But catching sight of the Marchioness’s terrifying expression, she quickly schooled her face.
Unable to act against Olga Hurst—the mansion’s pillar who enjoyed the Dowager Marchioness’s favor—the Marchioness instead glared at Reina, raising the hand clutching her fan.
“You…!”
Reina’s shoulders reflexively hunched.
But the expected slap never came.
The Marchioness trembled her vein-throbbing hand, clenched her teeth, and turned away.
“…Get ready for now. If this matter is resolved well, I’ll certainly never let your grandmother suffer. You understand that if things go wrong, neither you nor your grandmother will be safe—don’t you?”
Without waiting for Reina’s reply, the Marchioness stormed out of the room.
Bang!
“…”
Reina stared blankly at the closed door and whispered her answer to the Marchioness, who couldn’t hear it.
“…Yes, of course.”
Strong hands swiftly tied the ribbons on her dress.
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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Chapter Comments (37)
Inline Comments (173)
How would he report what had happened: the Marquis household thrown into chaos b
Even I am stressed reading this right now. How is this going to get resolved?
I wanted the time we spent together to remain good memories.
Not possible brother… you two can’t be on equal standing. Reina has a bigger threat looming over her and she can’t even be her self around you
"Say it again, but longer."
This is the second time he has said this lol 😆 , blunt isn’t he
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Omgosh I forgot how much I dislike the misunderstanding trope
Oh my gosh my heart aches for reina… everyone is just tossing her around
Oh gosh reina 🥺… even in this day and age taking contraceptives mess you up … I can’t even imagine how it was back then. ( yes I’m aware it’s fiction but sympathy is free)