About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 193

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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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Side Story 3. A Soaked Husband
With a soft pop, a small white clownfish leaped repeatedly, circling around Luderne in graceful arcs.
Watching it, Luderne recalled the time Ail had shouted farewell to the clownfish.
Perhaps it could understand human speech?
“Could this be Sir Jester’s offspring?”
Luderne chuckled to himself at the question.
“There’s no way it would understand human words.”
Yet the clownfish swam toward him and swayed its tail gently, as if comprehending every word.
Luderne felt a spark of curiosity ignite within him.
“If you understand me, swim in a circle following the direction of my finger.”
As he traced a circle with his finger, the clownfish mirrored his motion perfectly.
Luderne found himself growing fond of the creature.
“Excellent. Though we’ve only just met, I’d like to ask for your help. Do you happen to know what an abalone is?”
Luderne described the appearance of an abalone.
The small clownfish, which had been floating still and gazing at him, suddenly leaped upward before vanishing into the depths.
Luderne immediately dove after it.
Logically, a clownfish would have no way of knowing where abalones dwelled. Yet because it was Ail’s offspring, Luderne harbored a glimmer of hope that it might be different.
The clownfish swam steadily forward, then glanced back once.
Luderne held his breath and followed the creature deeper.
After swimming for some time, the clownfish halted before a rock adorned with sea anemones, then tapped its snout against a flat, fist-like stone.
Luderne reached out and grasped the stone. It felt like rock at first, but when he turned it over, a yellowish, snail-like creature writhed within.
‘A mollusk—this must be it!’
Having confirmed its identity, Luderne surveyed the surrounding area.
‘I couldn’t see them at all before.’
There were abalones everywhere.
Now that he understood their form, he could spot them clinging to surfaces throughout the seabed.
Luderne surfaced and drew a deep breath. Now that he knew their location, he could harvest them properly.
Diving again, he selected only the largest abalones and placed them in his trap basket.
One more. Just one more.
He wasn’t certain how many abalones were needed for abalone stone pot rice, but it didn’t matter. He’d decided to fill the basket completely.
If he needed more, he could always return for them.
After collecting roughly fifteen, the basket seemed full to capacity.
At the same time, Luderne felt his chest tighten painfully. Even with good lung capacity, holding one’s breath for extended periods was agonizing.
He wondered if he might swallow some seawater in the process.
Yet when he thought of Priscilla suffering from morning sickness, he could endure this discomfort willingly.
If only he could bear the labor pains for her instead.
‘Is there a magic scroll that can ease childbirth?’
Such thoughts occupied his mind.
Then Luderne suddenly sensed a faint glow beside him, and his strained breathing eased slightly.
Turning, he saw the clownfish swimming alongside him, its body shimmering with a sapphire luminescence.
Moreover, that light flowed toward Luderne’s face like a long stem.
“!”
The clownfish wasn’t speaking, yet Luderne understood.
The white clownfish from my prophetic dream—it was this creature.
And like Ail, this one possessed magical power.
“Pah!”
“Your Majesty!”
The moment I surfaced, Ail’s voice reached me.
Turning around, I saw a small fishing boat carrying Ail and two fishermen approaching.
“Perfect timing.”
I swam toward the boat.
“Take this.”
“Oh? You caught them? And quite a lot too?”
While Ail received the trap in surprise, the fishermen quickly helped me aboard.
“Ah, this isn’t the time for that.”
Ail handed me a large towel.
Before drying myself with the towel, I paused to catch my breath.
“Can you communicate with the clownfish?”
“Pardon?”
I recounted what had just happened.
“Since becoming human, communication has been difficult. However, there’s only one clownfish that emits sapphire light, so I believe I understand. I did sense some magical power from that one.”
Ail pondered for a moment before speaking.
“I never thought the day would come to introduce her, but she is my hundredth child—Baekbeon.”
“…Baekbeon?”
“Yes. I laid seven hundred and thirty-eight eggs, and one hundred of them hatched. That’s why her name is Baekbeon. The rest never hatched, so she’s my youngest.”
Ail chuckled.
“If she were human, she might become an exceptional Mage.”
That was when it happened.
“Apu! Aapu!”
Along with a splashing sound came a child’s voice.
Everyone turned toward the sound, but there was nothing there.
In the moment I doubted my ears, wondering if I’d heard wrong—
The clownfish leaped above the water’s surface, emitting sapphire light, and the splashing sound came again.
“Apu! Aapu!”
For an instant, I saw a young girl with sapphire-colored hair before me.
“!”
I handed the unused towel to Ail and quickly dove back into the sea. I retrieved the child and lifted her onto the boat.
“Catch her.”
The child who came aboard first wore nothing at all. Despite falling into the water, she seemed untroubled rather than startled.
“Ugh, humans find swimming difficult.”
“Huh?”
Ail startled and quickly wrapped a towel around the child’s body.
“You… you’re Baekbeon, aren’t you?”
The child beamed with joy.
“Yes! Papa! I want to follow Papa!”
The child waved toward the sea.
“Big sister! Big brothers! You all have to live well! If anyone bothers you, come tell me, okay?”
Only the pronouns differed—the words were identical to what Ail had said to the children when his curse was lifted.
Soon, white clownfish leaped from the water’s surface one after another.
As if bidding the child farewell.
* * *
“Good heavens.”
Water dripped from his dark hair plastered to his head, some droplets trailing down the sculpted contours of his taut upper body.
It was Luderne Sellen, who had gone out to retrieve abalone and returned thoroughly drenched.
My eyes, already wide with admiration at his captivating appearance, seemed to grow even brighter.
But this was not the time for such thoughts.
‘How foolish of me. What am I thinking, seeing my wet husband like this?’
I needed to bring Luderne Sellen a towel.
“Here, just a moment.”
I quickly fetched a towel and handed it to him, when Luderne Sellen showed me the trap.
“These are abalone, right?”
Inside the trap were fifteen large, plump abalone. Just seeing them made my roiling stomach settle, and I swallowed hard.
Luderne Sellen’s face broke into a satisfied smile at my reaction, and my cheeks flushed hot.
“Yes, they are abalone.”
“Do you think you’ll be able to eat?”
“Yes. Thank you so much.”
The drenched Luderne Sellen and the trap brimming with abalone.
Looking at him and the trap in succession left me bewildered.
“Did you… did you catch these yourself?”
Examining Luderne Sellen more closely, I noticed seaweed tangled slightly in his hair.
My mind filled with countless questions.
Starting with whether he even knew what abalone were, to how he managed to catch them, and above all, whether it had been dangerous.
“It’s nothing much. I’ll just rinse off the salt and be back.”
Luderne Sellen entered the Bathroom.
I rinsed the rice and soaked it in water, then meticulously cleaned four abalone. Just as I placed the cleaned abalone and rice into the magical induction cooker, I heard a knock at the door followed by Sir Jester’s voice.
“Priscilla, I’ve arrived.”
At the same moment, a refreshed Luderne Sellen emerged from the Bathroom.
“Luderne Sellen, are you alright? It wasn’t dangerous, was it?”
“This much is nothing. Besides, there were those who helped me along the way.”
“Those who helped you?”
“You’ll know once you open the door.”
It seemed Sir Jester and the fishermen had helped with the preparations.
“Sir Jester.”
As I opened the door, Sir Jester broke into a broad smile.
“How are you feeling?”
“Thanks to you, I’m getting better. Thank you.”
I peered outside the door. I found it odd that the fishermen were nowhere to be seen.
“Would you like to come in?”
“The words I’ve been waiting to hear.”
As Sir Jester entered with evident joy, a child who appeared to be around three years old in a simple dress became visible behind him.
“Wow.”
The child, whose hair bore a striking resemblance to Sir Jester’s, was too absorbed in gazing around the room with bright violet eyes brimming with curiosity to notice anything else.
“Who is this child?”
“Ah, she’s my youngest daughter.”
I was genuinely taken aback.
“Your youngest daughter? Well, I did think she resembled you quite a bit.”
It was confusing. This was the first I’d heard of Sir Jester having human children.
“She was the one who helped greatly in catching the abalone.”
Luderne Sellen, who had been observing the situation, approached and placed a kiss on my cheek.
“This child?”
“A clownfish transformed into a child. Come, let’s sit first.”
We gathered in the Reception Room.
“Baekbeon, remember what daddy taught you when he was in the Sea? You should only look at human things with your eyes?”
“Yes!”
The child began carefully examining the Reception Room.
Luderne Sellen and Sir Jester told me what had happened with the child.
“That’s remarkable. A clownfish transforming into a child. And her name is Baekbeon? Because she was the hundredth to hatch?”
I gazed at the child.
Even as we spoke, the child was too busy toddling around and exploring the house to pay attention.
“She’s barely been born, yet she already appears to be three years old.”
That wasn’t all. Her pronunciation was remarkably clear for her apparent age.
“Given the growth rate of clownfish, her current age seems about right, but… seeing her in person, it’s somewhat…”
Sir Jester laughed with a bittersweet expression.
“Clownfish live about thirteen years. I have no idea how long this child will live.”

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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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