What’s Wrong With My Marriage? I Was Bought as a Wife, Yet My Husband Is Madly in Love With Me! - Chapter 1

“I have essentially bought you with money.”

Klaus, Luce’s husband, said those words on their wedding night.

It was the literal truth. Luce had been specifically named as the bride requested in exchange for paying off her family’s debts. There had been no ceremony only the filing of legal documents to finalize the marriage.

Barely three days had passed since the offer to shoulder the debt was made, yet Luce had already been whisked away to Klaus’s mansion to face her first night as his wife.

Count Klaus Barth. That was the name of the man who was now her husband.

(No engagement period, married in just three days. I wonder what kind of impossible demands he’s going to make of me.)

This was far beyond the realm of common sense. There had to be a reason. Was it a sham marriage? Did he only need an heir? Or Luce prayed he wasn’t the type of man who took pleasure in mistreating his wife.

Klaus appeared older than her, but she didn’t know his exact age. He was a man with golden hair and blue eyes. His refined features looked cold at first glance, but when he smiled, the corners of his eyes softened, giving him a very gentle appearance. A small mole near his eye only added to the sweetness of his expression when he laughed.

Klaus knelt before the trembling Luce, took her hand in his, and spoke in a serious tone.

“Luce, I ask that you please forgive me for spending money on you without restraint.”

“…Excuse me?”

The words were so unexpected that Luce let out a stray, bewildered sound.

Luce’s life had always been a series of “short straws,” bearing the brunt of everyone else’s mistakes.

When did it start? It was so long ago she could hardly remember.

When her younger sister cried saying she broke a vase, Luce apologized to their mother alongside her. Her mother, cradling the sobbing sister, scolded Luce, saying it was her fault for not watching her sister properly and telling her to act more like an older sibling. Though the sister apologized later, she began coming to Luce with every problem. And in the end, Luce was always the one who got yelled at.

When her older sister was obsessed with volunteer work, she brought piles of mending back to the mansion. She claimed they would all do it together, but while Luce worked, her sisters eventually ended up napping on the couch. Luce finished almost all of it herself. When she helped carry the items to the church, she watched as her older sister accepted the praise as if it were her due.

When her brother was assisting their father with work, he complained that he lacked the necessary reference books. Luce ran through every bookstore in town to find them. But when she finally handed them over, her father caught them. Her brother lied, saying he couldn’t work because Luce had “borrowed” the books; her father scolded Luce for interfering with her brother’s duties.

Whenever her mother or sisters bought dresses or jewelry they ended up disliking, they dumped them in Luce’s room. Consequently, her closet was overflowing with things that weren’t her style yet her father scolded her for being a spendthrift.

Then, her father arranged a marriage meeting without even checking the details. He insisted the other party was desperate to meet her and that the man was a “fine gentleman.” On the day of the meeting, the man looked at Luce’s face in shock. As it turned out, he had intended to propose to her older sister. Despite it being her father’s mistake, he apologized on the spot, claiming Luce had “insisted” on being the one to go. Luce wasn’t just humiliated; rumors spread that she was a foolish younger sister trying to steal her sibling’s suitor.

And then.

Then, Luce was forced to marry a stranger to pay off the debts from her father’s failed business ventures.

“Luce, if you simply become Lord Klaus’s wife, he has promised to cover the debt and provide new funding. This way, we won’t have to surrender our title. His family is wealthy; I’m sure he’ll make you happy.”

She couldn’t believe her father’s words. A marriage to a man she had never met. The other party had specifically requested her and was in a hurry to wed. Nothing good ever came from such haste, yet her father had agreed. There had been a path of steady repayment or surrendering the title, but he chose to sacrifice Luce instead.

As Luce stood speechless, her father interpreted her silence as compliance and left the room. If she didn’t stop him, he would finalize the deal. Following after him, Luce witnessed a scene that broke her: the rest of her family was enjoying themselves. Her mother and older sister were chatting about party dresses, while her brother and younger sister discussed where to go for an outing. Her father joined them, and a happy family circle formed. No one cared that Luce was being sold off.

It was as if she hadn’t existed from the very beginning. She could only stand there, frozen.

(…When a person truly reaches the depths of despair, they don’t even have the energy to be angry.)

Luce thought blankly as she was swayed by the movement of the carriage. The people she thought were her family didn’t even come to see her off. Every ounce of affection she had left for them shattered, and she climbed into the carriage Klaus Barth had sent alone. Instead of rage, a hollow laugh bubbled up.

(Why am I throwing my life away for people like that?)

She had thought about running away. But Luce, who had spent her life only doing what her family told her, was naive to the ways of the world and didn’t know how to work or survive on her own.

If she wanted to leave that house, marrying Klaus Barth was the quickest and most certain way out.

She knew nothing of the man. Her father had told her nothing, and no letters had arrived from Klaus himself. The carriage had simply arrived three days after the agreement.

Luce didn’t recognize his name at all.