Hiding My Identity From My Husband - Chapter 27

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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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27

[The ‘Hero’ Who Saved the Countess of Rockwood: Charles Courtney!]
[A New Legend Emerges from High Society? The Hero’s Chronicles]

I crumpled the Wagstag newspaper in my fist.
Every paper was running the same story.
Charles Courtney, who thwarted the intruder at the Marquis of Bayden’s estate and then rescued the Countess of Rockwood—where did this courage come from, the heroic bearing, the connection between Lou Bansen and Charles Courtney….
The journalists couldn’t wait to make me into some legend.
‘I’m losing it.’
This was never part of my plan.
My plan was to cause enough chaos in high society that I’d get myself thrown out!
So how on earth did it come to this?
‘I saved too many people.’
Wasn’t the Empire supposed to be a place where nothing ever happened?
So why does everything fall apart the moment I arrive?
My eyes were starting to sting. A soft whimper escaped me.
“You were awake?”
Lou pushed open the door and stepped inside. I kept my head down, only rolling my eyes toward him.
“You know, most people have the courtesy to knock so they don’t startle someone in their own room.”
“There’s no need for that with you—you always know when I’m coming.”
“True enough.”
His footfalls were unmistakable. I could recognize them from anywhere.
I tossed the newspaper onto the desk and pushed myself up.
Lou was already settled on the sofa, so I walked over to him.
“Reading the papers yourself, I see.”
Lou leaned back and looked up at me, speaking from his reclined position.
“I brought one along.”
“Throw it away.”
“Why? There’s a magnificent headline here—’The Hero Charles.'”
He waved the newspaper with a smirk playing at his lips.
Infuriating man.
I shot him a glare and snatched the paper from his hands, then flopped onto the sofa across from him.
“So, Charles.”
Lou relinquished the newspaper without resistance, but his mouth remained just as mobile.
“How does it feel to have become the Empire’s hero?”
“Don’t start.”
“They must be thrilled back in Seongguk.”
“I said don’t.”
Ugh.
I let out a long sigh and buried my face in my hands.
“Guardian will be contacting you soon, wondering what on earth Agent Sharan has been up to.”
“I’m not taking any calls. Guardian agents won’t be coming to the Empire anyway.”
“Fair point.”
“I’ll catch it when I return to Seongguk. Until then, I’ll just play ignorant.”
Though if I’m being honest, I have no intention of going back to Seongguk once this assignment ends.
“Setting that aside for a moment.”
Lou continued his line of thought.
“You looked exhausted yesterday, so I didn’t press you for details.”
He went on, his tone shifting.
“But what exactly happened yesterday?”
I slowly lifted my head and fixed Lou with an incredulous expression.
“You kept asking me yesterday. And you were being so sarcastic about it.”
“That was teasing. This time I’m asking seriously.”
Lou leaned forward and laced his fingers together.
“Tell me what really happened yesterday.”
I let out a long, weary breath.
“I didn’t mean to. Truly.”
She continued slowly.
“By accident, I picked up the Countess’s glass and drank the wine, but the taste was wrong so I realized it was poison. It was all just chance.”
Lu blinked slowly.
“Should I believe you?”
“It’s not about believing or not—it’s the truth!”
Oh, how unfair.
If I’d actually planned it, at least I could hold my head high.
Frustrated beyond measure, I struck my chest. At that, Lu burst into laughter again.
“All right. I believe you.”
“And just like that, you grant me forgiveness?”
Lu giggled and gave a small nod. Then, with practiced ease, she poured tea into the teacup.
She paused, then added as an afterthought:
“The Sommelier has invoked the Suicide Protocol.”
“……?”
Why was she saying it so casually, as if mentioning eating bread this morning?
So bewildered, I couldn’t even take the teacup Lu offered and simply gaped.
“Won’t you drink? Then I’ll have it.”
“No. Give it here.”
I collected myself and took the teacup from her. Lu smiled again and poured tea into a fresh cup.
“He died the moment interrogation began, they say. He must have been hiding poison in his mouth.”
Poison hidden in his mouth.
It was hardly something an ordinary person would do.
Did he have backing?
If so, from where?
Cataclysm?
The Duchy?
My heart began to race.
It felt as though the answer had already settled itself within me.
“Still, he left some words before he died, they said…….”
Lu blinked slowly, searching her memory.
“When night falls, silence follows, I think.”
Thud. My heart dropped.
[When night falls, silence follows.]
Those words…….
‘That’s what Cataclysm’s agents say right before they invoke the Suicide Protocol.’
In other words, the Sommelier was a Cataclysm agent.
This revealed that Cataclysm itself had moved to throw the Florya Count’s household into chaos and to kill the Countess of Rockwood.
Which meant…….
‘Why?’
I couldn’t understand it at all.
Cataclysm was an organization that moved only for the Empire’s interests.
So why target two noble houses?
If they collapsed, the Empire would suffer the loss.
‘Why, exactly?’
Questions kept piling up in my mind.
‘I’ll have to go to headquarters and verify this.’
First, after I hear what information Pinkie brings back.
Ah, my head.
A headache struck, and I pressed my temples.
“Charles?”
Lu called out to me, her expression suddenly alert.
“What’s wrong?”
Oh no.
I’d been too lost in thought in front of Lu.
I quickly shook my head.
“Ah, ah. No, it’s nothing. Just a little startled.”
“Is that so?”
Lu smiled brightly. It was a smile that somehow looked sinister.
“I was wondering…….”
Rou looked me up and down, then spoke.
“I knew Charles knew something.”
……
Wow. Her intuition really is sharp.
I swallowed hard and forced a smile.
“Ha, haha. What would I know? I don’t know anything.”
Rou blinked slowly, then let out a soft laugh.
“If that’s what Charles says, then it must be so.”
Her expression made it clear she didn’t believe a word of it.
But if I added anything more here, I’d only deepen her suspicion.
So I sipped my tea and hid my face behind the cup.
“By the way, did you hear what the physician said? Charles needs to rest for a while.”
I could feel her deliberately changing the subject. I couldn’t let this chance slip away.
“What if that physician is a quack? I’m perfectly fine, really.”
“The quack is your naivety. Come on, get up.”
Rou rose to her feet as she spoke.
“Let’s go for an outing.”
“……The two of us?”
I pointed at Rou and myself with my finger, furrowing my brow slightly.
I asked, uncertain why we both had to go out.
“Can’t I go alone?”
Rou answered immediately.
“What if Charles gets into another accident?”
“Another? I haven’t caused that many accidents.”
I grumbled and clicked my tongue.
“I’m not someone you can just leave by the water.”
“Speaking of which, shall we go boating on the lake? I hear there’s a Crocodile Farm there too—it would be nice to see.”
“Why won’t you listen to me?”
“I heard it’s quite popular among noblewomen and young ladies of the aristocracy these days.”
There was no way to persuade Rou when she was this stubborn.
I’d known that for a long time.
So I had no choice but to nod.
“Fine. Getting out is better than staying in the room anyway.”
As I agreed and slowly rose to my feet, Rou broke into a bright smile.
“Then let’s go now.”
“Yes……”
I answered and glanced back at the bed.
The pistol and Dagger hidden between the mattresses came to mind, but……
‘Well, it’s just an outing. It should be fine.’
So I left the gun and blade behind.

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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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