About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 196

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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 6. Ten Years Later
On the outskirts of the Wintem Empire Capital.
In a small cottage, an iron cauldron bubbled with an ominous dark brown liquid. Before it stood a gaunt elderly man, stirring the mixture with a large ladle.
“Hehehehe.”
The elderly man’s name was Rozette.
With a hoarse voice, he let out sinister chuckles as his gaze shifted to a thin grimoire spread open on a lectern beside him.
“I need to add more cacao beans here.”
After studying the grimoire for some time, Rozette removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Even with magnifying lenses, the text appeared blurry to him.
His presbyopia was severe.
“Tsk, my eyesight was never this poor in the old days.”
He continued tossing various ingredients into the cauldron. While muttering complaints, he chanted incomprehensible incantations in a low voice.
How much time had passed?
An extraordinary light emanated from the iron cauldron.
“Ooh.”
Rozette’s eyes widened as he began to giggle with delight.
“Finally, finally it’s complete!”
He gazed out the window. In the bloodshot, hollow eyes of the elderly man lay the sight of heavy clouds gathering ominously, the Imperial Palace beneath them, and the Mage Tower soaring to pierce the heavens.
The Empire’s Mage Tower, called Doorban until just a few years ago.
The place that had been his greatest ambition and aspiration.
Watching it, a bittersweet ache welled up within him, and his eyes grew red.
“Luderne Wintem, Ail Jester.”
Rozette’s expression twisted viciously.
“If only those two hadn’t existed. Or if there had been no regression.”
Rozette had originally been a mage of the Imperial Court and simultaneously a tool of Eclite.
Before the regression, he had supported Eclite with all his magical prowess, and he had not hesitated to commit misdeeds and engage in political schemes.
Thanks to such efforts, after Eclite became Emperor, he had occupied a high position in the Mage Tower. With access to and command of numerous magics, his body had been far younger than it was now.
Then one day, something strange occurred.
Magic disappeared.
Eclite began forcing the mages to examine an unnamed magical scroll from the Magic Vault.
By misfortune, a dangerous spell detonated, and many mages died horribly. At that time, Rozette and the other mages, unaware they had regressed, became frightened and fled the Imperial Court.
Magic was not more important than life, after all.
The moment he realized he had regressed and that there had been glory in his past was when magic returned to the world.
Unable to maintain his youth through magic as he had before the regression, he had become a gaunt, white-haired elderly man, but he believed it was not too late.
Magic had returned, after all.
However, Eclite’s fate had changed completely.
Rozette sighed, lost in memories of the past.
“Cursed regression! If only it had never happened!”
He would have been the protagonist of that glorious era, remembered throughout history.
Luderne was offering him substantial compensation, but he could not accept it.
Before and after the regression, Luderne knew well that Rozette had been Eclite’s tool.
Moreover, Rozette was the one who had created the deadly poison that killed Luderne before the regression.
Whether Luderne and his close associates knew this fact or not was something even Rozette couldn’t be certain of.
However, before the regression, those who knew of this fact were captured and put on trial. During that process, they would have said anything to reduce their own guilt, so Luderne might have already learned the truth.
But since it happened before the regression, he likely hadn’t issued a warrant for Rozette’s arrest.
There was no benefit to Rozette stepping forward. It was far too obvious that he could never reclaim the glory he’d once possessed before the regression.
“Damn it!”
Rozette struck the ground. No matter how he thought about it, the injustice was unbearable.
And Ail Jester infuriated him as well.
In fact, Rozette had recently received a terminal diagnosis.
Having aged outside the Imperial Palace, in a world without magic, he could not overcome the passage of time.
“So my life is finished now, is it? Tsk!”
Rozette clicked his tongue and turned his gaze back to the cauldron. He poured the dark brown liquid into a prepared container and laughed with bitter malice.
“But just you wait. I won’t go down alone.”
Rumble.
A distant thunder echoed from outside. Soon after, rain began to pour down.
* * *
More than a decade had passed since the Wintem Empire was established.
There were several major festivals here as well—New Year’s, year-end celebrations, harvest festivals, and imperial family birthdays.
But no matter how I thought about it, there were too few small-scale festivals.
Small-scale festivals had numerous benefits. They stimulated the commercial economy while allowing people to regularly anticipate and enjoy festivities without extensive preparation, providing an outlet for stress.
In the world before my regression, there were diverse celebrations—Valentine’s Day, White Day, Children’s Day, Halloween, and more.
I had considered creating Valentine’s Day or White Day, but such events typically have historical origins.
Forcing an event based on Saint Valentine from this otherworldly place felt contrived.
In any case, Luderne and I agreed that small-scale festivals were necessary.
So I dressed in commoner’s clothes and ventured incognito into the Commercial District near the Imperial Palace with Walter.
The purpose was to observe the people’s lives and search for something that could serve as the origin of a festival.
Following the Mage Tower’s advice that rain would fall in the afternoon, I didn’t forget to bring an umbrella.
As the capital, the city center was bustling with activity. However, finding a suitable festival origin proved difficult.
By afternoon, dark clouds gathered and thunder and rain descended.
We opened the umbrellas we had prepared. A few passersby could be seen opening their umbrellas one by one.
But some seemed caught off guard by the sudden weather change. Those driving carriages whipped their horses and accelerated as the rain fell.
Even though the street wasn’t narrow, something felt ominous. The carriage driver suddenly shouted.
“Whoa whoa whoa?”
“Get out of the way!”
“Neigh neigh neigh!”
Crash! Bang bang boom bang! With a cacophony of sounds, four large cargo-laden carriages collided in succession and became hopelessly entangled.
Chaos erupted in an instant.
“Good heavens.”
We quickly approached the scene to assess the damage.
The carriages were severely damaged and the wheels were broken. The horses had collapsed, but fortunately they didn’t appear to be seriously injured.
“Damn it, Ail!”
“You should have driven straight!”
“Who are you to talk!”
The carriage owners bickered over who was at fault, their faces twisted with frustration, yet they appeared unharmed.
The surrounding roads had become terribly congested as a result. The accident had blocked traffic in both directions, leaving carriages from either way completely immobilized.
It seemed it would take some time before the accident administrator arrived at the scene.
Unable to bear it any longer, Luderne exhaled sharply through his nose and stepped forward.
“That’s enough. The situation is chaotic—it would be better to focus on cleanup rather than quarreling.”
The eyes of three carriage owners widened, but without protest, they began following Luderne’s instructions. However, another carriage owner hesitantly objected.
“That’s difficult, sir. The scene must be preserved so the administrator can determine whose fault is greater.”
Only then did another carriage owner, as if suddenly regaining his senses, speak up.
“That’s right, sir.”
The carriage owner continued, stroking his chin with his hand.
“Your clothes are simple, yet you carry such nobility… I feel as though I’ve seen you somewhere before…”
The man, who had tilted his head in thought for a moment, became more cautious in his tone.
“…In any case, I can tell you’re a high-ranking nobleman out sightseeing. But this accident requires the administrator to come.”
“As we clean up, the administrator will arrive. When he does, I’ll take full responsibility, so don’t worry.”
Luderne’s response, though not forceful, carried undeniable authority. The carriage owners hesitated briefly, exchanging glances, but soon began following his instructions like docile sheep.
Luderne then addressed the onlookers gathered nearby.
“What are you all doing? If you’ve seen an accident, help clean it up at once. We’re all citizens of the same Empire.”
Whether enchanted by Luderne’s charisma or swayed by the carriage owner’s comment about him being a high-ranking nobleman, a few hesitantly stepped forward and began lending a hand.
Several of them gradually moved in to help.
Luderne then folded the umbrella he had been holding and removed his jacket, handing it to me.
“Hold this for a moment.”
Walter likewise folded his umbrella and removed his jacket, which I quickly accepted.
“…Thank you.”
Walter’s lips curved upward slightly. He appeared pleased.
The two men, now in white shirts, rolled up their sleeves and began helping the carriage owners separate the horses from the cargo carriage.
Each time their muscular forearms tensed with effort, the rain soaked their shirts, staining them with the color of the downpour.
Once the horses had been moved to one side, Luderne instructed a young boy watching nearby to fetch a veterinarian.
The boy, apparently surprised to be addressed, widened his eyes and his cheeks flushed red.
“Yes, sir! I’ll bring them quickly!”
The boy saluted and began running.
Luderne, grasping one side of the large cargo carriage with Walter, called out to those around him.
“Everyone, lift together.”
Several strong men immediately rushed to the carriage.
“One, two.”
Luderne and Walter’s muscles bulged with exertion. Their rain-soaked shirts clung to their bodies, making their broad shoulders and back muscles all the more pronounced.

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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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