How To End This Marriage-Chapter 132: Entangled Vows

"What do you mean by contract?" Duke gasped as I spoke. His confused face made me want to laugh.

"You don’t know about the contract you signed? How foolish do you think I am? Do I look like an easy fool to you?" I raised my voice.

"Wife, I don’t understand what you are trying to say," he said.

"You don’t understand? How can you not understand! How can you not grasp the simple fact that your mother prepared a contractual marriage between us long before we took our vows? You’ve signed the papers, and now our marriage is over after four years," I explained, bewildering him.

"You still can’t understand what’s going on?" I remarked, noticing Princess Vixara’s presence at the door.

"Alex, what’s taking you so long? You still have to show me the room," she innocently said.

"Yeah, go and show the room to your soon-to-be wife," I retorted, turning aside.

"You go; I will be there," Duke said, turning towards me. However, the princess insisted, "Alex, I don’t know the way."

Her voice infuriated me, and my blood started boiling. "What’s your issue? Didn’t you claim it was all a misunderstanding in front of the entire royal court? Why are you here? For a show? Came as the victory prize from the capital? No, you just wanted to defeat me, and you did it. Can’t you see I’m talking with my husband? Or have you become blind?" I shouted at her.

"Wife, calm down!" he urged.

"Why should I calm down? This witch has taken everything from me. She’s taking you away, and you’re telling me to calm down? Or was I a substitute from the start, even for you?" I turned to him.

"Wife, it’s nothing like that," he reassured.

"I will marry only you. I’ve already done that, so there will be no different person in my life," he said, kissing my forehead. He walked to show the princess her room, and as I placed myself outside to see where she was staying, I found out she was in the room beside mine.

"Why is she staying here? Place her in the guest room," I insisted.

"I’m the princess. I’m not a guest. I’m the soon-to-be wife of Alexavier Agnes," she declared in front of the duke.

"Duke, did you see? Did you see what she said? She really came here with the intention of marriage," I said.

"Princess, I have no intention of marrying you. If you have come here for the only reason you mentioned, then I would like to send you back to the capital with your permission," Duke asserted.

"Alex, why are you behaving like this? Why so formal? We’ve been like this since childhood. Aunt has said she will let me marry you once I grow up, and here I am. Then why are you taking a step back? Don’t go away from me. I love you, Alex. I can’t live without you, which is why I’ve come here, leaving everything behind. Even father wrote in the letter that he wants me to marry you, and that’s why I’m here," she pleaded, trying to pull him closer.

Duke, however, pushed her back into her room. "I have no such feelings toward you. Once His Majesty heals, I will send you there, declining the proposal myself," he stated, walking away. I chuckled for the first time.

"See your place in front of him? You are nothing but a sister to him. You can never be better than me. I’m his wife, and I will always be his wife. No matter if I live or die, no one can take my place in his life," I declared while looking at her angry face.

"Don’t be so happy, Bernice!!! I will pull you out of the surface you are standing on and throw you on the road. Then no one would want you, not the duke you are so proud of, nor your parents who sold you," she threatened, but I felt nothing.

"What will you do? Will you make me die again? You can’t, right? This time, if you do such a thing, the sole doubt will fall on you. From the palace to here, you are the only thing in common. So don’t think of killing me. It may backfire on your plan and bring the duke even closer to me. What do you say?" I said, smiling.

"This smile won’t be on your face for a long time," she said and abruptly locked the door with a loud noise.

As she locked the door, I walked toward Mother’s room. I didn’t know what she was doing, nor did I care, but I wanted to be there, asking her all the answers I required, mumbling to myself.

"Mother, what is all this? Did you forget the deal you made with me?" I asked, pushing her door and abruptly entering her room.

"What? Is this the way you enter my room?" she asked without raising her voice this time.

"Yes, I can come and go however I like. I don’t think I need to tell you this. But tell me, why are you doing this when you changed your word? Didn’t you say if I’m going to be with the crown prince, then only are you going to take action, of course, to the duke and princess? Then why didn’t you keep your word?" I demanded.

"Bernice, do you think I can delay this? You have to give Alex a divorce if you want to be with the prince. But you didn’t. You’re only trying to fool me and distract me from my dream. Do you think I don’t understand? Don’t take me as a fool. I’m much smarter than you. I don’t cry naively like you. I take course of actions. But you only get angry, cry, and become a puppet at the end. You know that?" she said, uttering things I didn’t want to hear.

As I was about to say something, I heard the door creaking sound and saw the duke coming inside.

"Mother, what I heard is right?" he asked straight to the point.

"What? What are you saying?" she asked.

"Mother, I am asking about the contract. I know you know about that. You don’t have to lie," he said angrily.

"Who told you? Your wife told you?" she asked.

"Mother, this is not the question I asked you," he insisted.

"I asked if you know or not about the contract. And how did you take my sign? How did you make me sign on something I didn’t read?" he pressed.

"Alex, calm down. Let me tell you," she said.

"You just sit, and I will explain everything," she said, trying to pull him to sit, but he didn’t.

"I want an explanation, mother. Do it now, or I’m not budging from here at any moment," he declared.

"Yes, I did!!! So what if I did? From the moment you came of age for marriage, the marriage was already set to be done with the princess. So what if I did a contractual paper for you? You should be marrying the princess, not her. So I waited for her for the past four years so that she could return to her own place, where she could call me her mother and you her husband. What is wrong with this?" she shouted.

"This is wrong, mother. This is completely wrong. Do you think I wanted to marry Vixara? No, I never once said I want to marry her, but you made it like that. I fell in love with her instantly. It didn’t even take enough time when I realized I couldn’t be with anyone but her. But you are saying she is here for only four years? No, mother, I can’t believe this. I will not let this happen. I’m not believing the contract, which you made me put my name without my knowledge," he declined.

"Alex, this is for your own good," she said, trying to convince him, but he pushed her away.

"This is not for my good, mother. I am not a puppet that will dance as you wish. I always listened to you. I always respected you. I didn’t even hear anyone but you. But at the end, you are making me a fool," he said.

"I’m so disappointed in you, mother. I could never ever imagine in my life that you would betray me. My own mother will betray me like this," he said, his voice cracking.

"Alex, listen to me!!!" she insisted.

"No, give me the contract paper. I need to see it and destroy it right now by my own hand. I can’t let the paper keep its existence," he said, determinedly searching for the document. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

He started throwing everything he could think of while searching for the paper, but he didn’t find it. Instead, some ledgers fell onto the mattress of the bed, making me look at them in disbelief. It wasn’t the ledger I had prepared recently; this was something I had never seen in the records.