How the Villainous Consort Avoids His Death Ending

“My father…… has already passed away a long time ago.”

Valerian quietly exhaled a trembling breath as his eyes turned red. Tristan, upon receiving the unexpected news, firmly closed his mouth and let out a low groan.

In the original work, Valerian’s father, Baronet Aubepin, was a loyal vassal of the Grand Ducal House of Hezekia. Although his title was not high, his martial arts skills were outstanding, so he stayed at the Grand Ducal Castle and played an important role in the previous Grand Duke’s mercenary fleet.

However, Baronet Aubepin was also heavily injured in the naval battle where the previous Grand Duke passed away, and ultimately retired from active duty, heading down to a small estate on the fringes of Hezekia, after which contact was cut off.

Since he was receiving the news that such a Baronet Aubepin had died so belatedly, Tristan’s state of mind was bound to be complicated. However, he also showed a look of wariness regarding what the request of Valerian’s mother, Lady Aubepin, could be.

“That is unfortunate. However, if Baronet Aubepin already left the world several years ago, you would not have come to visit merely to deliver a death notice. What is the mother’s request that you wish to deliver?”

“Ah…… I apologize, Your Excellency. Because I did not want to push forward our wretched family circumstances, I could not bring myself to open my mouth easily.”

Everyone present in the reception room was staring at Valerian without a word. His large gray pupils trembled intensely as if frightened.

However, regulating his breathing, Valerian continued his words calmly.

“After my father passed away, our family fortune declined drastically. My elder brother, who became the new baronet, tried hard in various ways, but we incurred a large debt while tending to our bedridden mother, and in the end, we even lost our estate a few years ago. We have managed to endure during this time, but now…… now it is the limit. Therefore, my mother…”

Valerian dropped his head completely. The appearance of him trailing off his words while exposing his pale, long neck was exceedingly pitiful.

A choked voice soaked in moisture trickled out hesitantly, yet firmly until the very end.

“……She told me to dare make a request to Your Excellency. Asking you to keep the long-standing marriage contract…… between my late father and the late Grand Duke.”

Thud.

Even though I had been bracing myself for it, my legs shook and I ended up collapsing into my seat as if crumbling down. Tristan, his complexion changing, hurriedly approached and supported me.

“Ruellin!”

“Your, Your Highness the Grand Consort……”

Valerian, who had tossed out the bombshell, scrutinized my reaction while trembling so pathetically it pulled at one’s heartstrings. Tristan carefully raised me up and, with a hardened face, spat out a stiff tone toward Valerian.

“The Grand Consort of Hezekia is Ruellin. You would not have come to visit without knowing that.”

“O, Of course, Your Excellency. I merely……”

“Without the consent of His Highness the late Grand Consort, it was merely a light joke shared in private between my late father and Baronet Aubepin. In my childhood, I also heard it mentioned in passing, and it must have been the same for everyone else. However, no one took it seriously, and it is a misnomer to even call it a marriage contract.”

“Your Excellency, this humble one did not come to assert a marriage contract. I merely came while braving impudence because I could not turn away from my mother, who was lying on her sickbed, pleading so earnestly……”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I merely…… because living in my hometown is bleak, I dared to come to request to obtain a job at the Grand Ducal Castle. That is all.”

“Because living on while supporting my sick mother is bleak, I came to visit to obtain a job.”

It was precisely that sentence which Valerian had first said when he came to visit the Grand Duke in the original work. This entire situation right now looked as if it had popped straight out of a page within the original work.

However……

“It’s a lie.”

There was a part that was minutely different from the original work.

If his objective had truly been a job from the very beginning, Valerian had no need to drop an enormous bombshell like a marriage contract with the Grand Duke out of nowhere. Above all, when Valerian came to visit in the original work, the position of Grand Consort was vacant, yet he had never once mentioned the marriage contract with his own mouth.

After some time had passed since Valerian obtained a job at the Grand Ducal Castle, the person who recalled the marriage contract was Wilhelm, who had worked in the Grand Ducal House for generations (just you wait), and the people who advised Tristan to welcome Valerian as the Grand Consort were the knights, including Gerhardt (just you wait, part 2). Back then, it was largely thanks to the fact that Valerian was gentle and good-natured to everyone, earning a good reputation.

Like that, the Grand Duke’s marriage was naturally accomplished.

“But since I am here right now. If left alone, it was a situation where the marriage contract wouldn’t even be mentioned.”