About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 134

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 134. That’s What You Call It?
“Nonsense. Close that mouth of yours.”
At Luderne’s words, Sir Jester clicked his tongue in disappointment.
Luderne cleared his throat and turned to me with a question.
“So where were you headed?”
“The Cemetery.”
“The Cemetery?”
“There’s a communal cemetery in the Northern Clearing. My mentor is buried there.”
“You were going alone?”
“Yes.”
“Then there should be a carriage outside.”
I shook my head.
“I rode a horse here. I need to hire a new coachman.”
“Sir Jester, eat first.”
Luderne retrieved my bonnet and cape.
“Then I’ll escort you directly. Tell me the details on the way.”
Just then, a staff member wheeled in a trolley laden with tea and refreshments.
“How about a cup of tea before you go?”
At Sir Jester’s suggestion, Luderne let out a scoff and took my hand.
“You’ve already wasted time when you should be visiting your mentor. Enjoy the tea yourself.”
Before I could protest, I found myself outside with Luderne.
Luderne examined my horse and shook his head.
“It looks a bit frail for two riders. Take mine instead. Wait here.”
“Pardon?”
I was bewildered by his words.
‘I can ride alone just fine.’
But before I could respond, Luderne vanished from sight.
I had no choice but to wait for his return, intending to suggest we each ride our own horses.
Shortly after, Luderne reappeared leading his horse, a sword at his waist, a crossbow across his back, and a small flower basket in one hand.
“These flowers…?”
The question escaped me as he pressed the basket into my arms.
Luderne guided me toward his horse as he spoke.
“You said you were going to the cemetery, and there happened to be a flower shop nearby, so I picked out the finest arrangement.”
I was taken aback.
Of course, I had planned to buy a bouquet on the way. But nothing as elaborate as this basket.
He guided me with such casual certainty that I found myself mounting his horse without protest.
Luderne swiftly mounted behind me and spurred the horse forward.
“I’ve received brief reports on how matters are progressing, but I’d appreciate hearing what’s happened during your time away.”
I explained the circumstances of how Sir Jester had been transformed into a fish. Then I recalled that Luderne had sent someone to help me.
“By the way, thank you. Thanks to your help, things at the Mansion have been proceeding smoothly.”
“I’m glad it was helpful.”
“But is it alright if I stay here for a while?”
“I’ll come and go as needed. That’s why I need to confirm something with you.”
I turned to look at Luderne Sellen.
“What is it?”
Luderne Sellen fell silent for a moment, his crimson eyes fixed steadily upon me.
“You won’t know unless I tell you.”
Luderne Sellen ran his tongue across his lips, moistening them.
I wondered just how important whatever he was about to say truly was.
“What do you intend to do about your appearance when you leave the fiefdom?”
“Well…”
I turned my gaze forward again.
In truth, this question wasn’t difficult to answer. Luderne Sellen already knew my identity, and now Count Veloda Genoma and Melissa Bilsty also knew I was alive.
“Couldn’t I simply live as Priscilla everywhere now?”
“Simply as Priscilla?”
“Yes. There’s no need to hide my appearance anymore. Besides, the marriage is suspended anyway.”
I felt relieved after speaking those words.
“There’s no reason to conceal my identity as Priscilla from the Raber Salon. I think I can live in this form.”
It seemed he was about to conclude with something like “I see,” but his response was utterly unexpected.
“No. Absolutely not.”
I turned to him in surprise.
Luderne Sellen’s expression had hardened terrifyingly. His voice had become as cold as frost.
“Outside the fiefdom, you must remain as Priscilla from the Raber Salon.”
“…What?”
“It means you mustn’t leave the Bilsty Estate in your original form.”
I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
But Luderne Sellen pressed his point with conviction.
“Even if the heavens split in two, I would ask that you keep this promise.”
I tilted my head in confusion. His stubbornness was truly strange.
“Isn’t it my own choice what form I take?”
“…”
Luderne Sellen’s lips moved slightly before he let out a sigh.
His gaze turned away.
It seemed he didn’t want to explain, so I looked forward again. But I couldn’t help but think about it.
And the conclusion came quickly.
The reason he’d pretended not to know I was Priscilla while letting me live as Priscilla.
It was undoubtedly because he preferred my appearance as Priscilla.
After wrestling with this thought, just as we were nearly at the Cemetery entrance, I asked directly.
“Is it perhaps that you prefer my appearance as Priscilla?”
“That’s quite a thing to say.”
It wasn’t an answer directed at me—merely a muttered thought aloud.
But hearing those words tumble out so carelessly, I spun around sharply. Luderne Sellen had his hand clamped over his mouth.
“Ah, that’s not what I meant.”
He seemed to realize in that moment how his words must have sounded.
Feeling as though I’d caught him in some unspoken truth, I shot him a pointed look.
“I should get down now. Will you hold the horse?”
Luderne Sellen sighed and tied the horse to the side before helping me dismount.
While he secured the reins to a tree, I ventured deeper into the Cemetery.
Gravestones stood at regular intervals in the sunlit expanse, and flowers occasionally rested before some of them.
‘Was my teacher’s grave at the far end of this place?’
Searching my memory, I pressed further into the Cemetery. If I recalled correctly, my teacher’s resting place lay near the edge where the Forest began.
True to my recollection, the Forest came into view, and I reached the boundary of the Cemetery.
But at what I presumed to be my teacher’s grave, a woman stood alone. Someone had come to visit.
When I was about ten meters away, the woman sitting before the gravestone turned to look back at me.
She appeared to be of considerable age, and something about her seemed familiar, so I greeted her first.
“Good day to you.”
At my greeting, the woman rose abruptly. Looking more closely, I noticed she bore a striking resemblance to my teacher.
“Who are you?”
“Are you perhaps my teacher’s daughter?”
“Yes, I am.”
“I hope you’ve been well. I’m Priscilla—I received etiquette instruction from your mother.”
As I greeted her warmly, the woman’s mouth fell open in astonishment, her eyes widening as she covered it with both hands.
“Goodness, Priscilla! I saw your return in the newspapers. But I never imagined we’d meet like this. How long has it been?”
She was taking a step forward when—
A wild dog burst from the Forest and charged directly toward her.
I couldn’t believe it. A wild dog near the Cemetery, and at this hour no less.
“Ahhhhh! Run this way, quickly!”
My startled scream made the woman turn around.
“H-help!”
The woman began running frantically toward me.
“Go! Get away from here!”
I snatched up a stone from nearby and hurled it at the wild dog with all my might, shouting fiercely.
Despite throwing it haphazardly, luck was on my side—the stone struck the creature’s face, and it yelped in pain.
“Yelp!”
The wild dog whimpered and tucked its tail between its legs. But it didn’t flee. It merely froze in place, cowering slightly.
In that moment, the woman brushed past me.
I turned and ran toward where Luderne Sellen waited.
“Woof! Woof! Woof!”
The wild dog’s barking grew closer behind me, and my breath came in ragged gasps.
But I couldn’t afford to stop running.
Luderne Sellen had weapons. If I could just reach him, we’d be safe.
But we had to stop running almost immediately. A hyena blocked our path as though it had been waiting for us.
“Good heavens.”
“Grrrrrowl.”
The hyena’s eyes gleamed with a feral light as it bared every fang in its maw.
The hyenas, their bellies drawn tight against their spines, smacked their lips repeatedly. Saliva dripped steadily from their razor-sharp teeth.
They appeared to be starving.
‘What do I do?’
As I pondered, I suddenly recalled how to respond when I’d encountered a bear.
You weren’t supposed to turn your back, they’d said.
I wasn’t sure if that would work on hyenas.
But with no other options, I pressed my back firmly against the woman’s and fixed my gaze on the newly appeared hyena with steely intensity.
“Grrrrr….”
The hyena lowered its body with a menacing tension. But it didn’t move recklessly. It seemed to be watching for an opening.
I spoke quietly to the woman.
“When the hyena gets close, stare at it with all your might.”
“What?”
“Just do it. If we show any weakness, it’ll attack.”
“Yes.”
The woman fell silent. She seemed focused on the staring contest with the hyena.
I was holding my gaze on the hyena’s yellow eyes without blinking once.
“Snarl!”
A threat came from the hyena behind us.
“Aaaah! Someone help!”
With her scream, I felt the woman’s back leave mine. Her arm was clamped in the hyena’s jaws.
“Ahhh! Get away!”
There was no time to think. I beat the hyena frantically with the flower basket in my hand.
But the hyena showed no sign of releasing the woman’s arm.
“Roooar!”
The hyena I’d been facing also lunged at me.
I barely dodged, but the hyena relentlessly seized the hem of my dress and shook it violently. My unbalanced body was dragged toward the beast.
As my dress tore completely, the hyena stepped back. It was clearly preparing for a proper attack, and I realized we were finished.
Then my hand grasped a small stone from the ground.
I knew well that this wouldn’t be enough to kill a hyena.
But I couldn’t simply accept death quietly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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