We’re in a Contract Marriage, But I’ve Imprinted - Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Translator: Effe

Editor: Yonnee

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“M-Mom…”

I called my Mother with tears in my eyes. I knew she wouldn’t come even if I called out for her, but maybe I wanted to let them know that I had someone to call. Or that I simply wanted to see my mother.

Then the boy who saved me started talking to me.

“Are you okay?”

Contrary to his nonchalant expression, his tone was kind. I think his voice was a bit soft.

I was glad that the boy was the only one who spoke to me in this situation, but instead of answering, I nodded my head timidly.

Because the people around me were still glaring at me coldly.

However, my eyes kept going and I glanced at the boy.

No, Ian.

I didn’t even know that my head, which had been lowered by the enchanting scent, was gradually lifted. As his golden eyes met mine, for a moment, his pupils were quivering slowly.

Perhaps surprised by something, the trembling eyes looked directly at me.

At that moment, goosebumps ran all over my body. I couldn’t take my eyes off the strange sensation that couldn’t be explained in words. Sensations similar but different from those I felt from Father came to me distinctly, and I just stared blankly up at him.

“Ian! Are you okay?”

WIth Monica’s call, his gaze, which had been obsessively looking at me, disappeared in an instant.

As Ian stood up, shaking off the water, Monica and Alex approached.

“What are you doing! Bring a towel!”

The employees started to move in a hurry as Monica cried out. All the hastily brought towels went to Ian. As I was momentarily stunned, I forced myself to get up.

I wanted to run away from them out of fear, but my body wouldn’t listen to me—I stayed on the ground. So many people took Ian with them and all disappeared. People ignored me and left as if I was invisible and transparent.

What I experienced in my childhood became a trauma that eroded my self-esteem for a long time.

After Mother returned that day, she scolded me and hit my calves. I was beaten until I was bruised and bloodied, and only after I cried everything out did the corporeal punishment was over.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that this was the turning point of my life where everything changed. Being scolded by Mother was nothing.

From that day on, I was often called to the main mansion.

Whenever Monica had her lessons, she had me by her side. My father and older brother acted as if they were taking care of me, but she accidentally avoided class or made trouble.

And no one told me that I was going to be beaten in Monica’s place. The teacher naturally asked me to roll up the skirt of my dress, exposing my calves to the teacher’s cane.

I didn’t know the reason I was being beaten, so I couldn’t say anything and had to be beaten in silence, terrified.

Mother found out too late, but she couldn’t stop it. Mother’s position was also not very different from mine.

The only difference is that Mother had an alpha to protect her.

However, I couldn’t help but feel the fact that an alpha wouldn’t be able to protect me, even though I was young at the time.

So, for the first time, I even resented Mother. Mother, whom I loved but also hated, died along with Father in a carriage accident one day, 10 years after.

People were saddened as people called it a truly heedless sky. Everyone made a fuss, saying that no one knew that lightning would fall in the midst of the cloudless sky.

But I couldn’t say anything. With my trembling hands, I just held onto the jar of ointment Mother used to apply to my calves every day.

People only know Mother as a vulgar omega or a rude mistress who was threatening the position of the legal wife, but in fact Mother had a secret. I don’t know if Father knew, but now I’m the only one who knows the secret.

Mother and Father’s death could never have been a natural disaster.

It was suicide.

Or murder.

Mother was an elemental wizard with lightning properties. She possessed tremendous magical power, and she had ample ability to create lightning bolts strike down from the sky, regardless whether it was clear or full of clouds.

* * *

The funeral was performed with pomp and grandeur. It was natural. Father was the head of the Rosewood County, and he was also the knight commander who was trusted by the emperor.

In comparison, Mother’s funeral was shabby. Unacknowledged until her death, Mother was not allowed to lie next to Father, and I was not allowed to attend Father’s funeral either.

At least, in the annex in the most remote part of the mansion, I held Mother’s funeral there, all by myself.

Hugging the coffin alone, I sobbed. It was sad that no one came for me, and it was even more sad because I could hear the wails of those who had gone to Father all the way here.

“Why do we have to live like this? Huh, Mom?”

Why did she commit suicide?

Was it that hard?

Shouldn’t she have thought of me?

“I only have you, Mother… How can I live in a hell like this by myself? Mom…?”

Until now, Monica’s harassment had been beyond imagination. The reason I was able to hold on was because of Mother who always worried about me.

Father called her every day so I didn’t see her often, but when she occasionally ran into me at the annex, she saw me and shed tears. At such times, my resentment would easily disappear.

In order to alleviate Mother’s worries even a little, I steadfastly endured life as Monica’s servant.

And even if it took time, the hope that they would eventually accept us as a family also gave me the strength to endure. Yes, I definitely thought they could change.

But what I was thinking was not hope, but a hopeless wish, and now I lost my one and only family.

It felt like there was a hole in my chest. I gasped at the thought of not being able to feel Mother’s pheromones that always tickled my nose.

As I grew up, the wide choker that naturally grew to fit my neck seemed to tighten my neck today.

So I took off the choker for the first time since Mother placed it. It didn’t matter since there’s no one anyway.

How long did I have to hide it?

Now that I didn’t have even my mother, what reason did I have to live here?

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