I Accidentally Resurrected My Dead Husband - Chapter 20

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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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Episode 20
First, the Marquis’s daughter dislikes Red Roses.
Second, Zark was trying to hide a Cursed Ring inside a candle made from Red Roses.
Third, the Marquis’s wife, who loves Red Roses, is pregnant.
A terribly complicated affair had tangled around her. Since she couldn’t fathom what was happening or how, a tactical retreat seemed wisest. Udith abandoned her original plan to meet the Marquis and slipped out of the Marquis’s Residence.
“I know time is pressing, but I still ask for your best effort, Udith.”
“I’ll do my utmost.”
Escorted to the door by the butler’s farewell, Udith turned her steps directly toward the Market.
“Udith.”
She’d barely gone a few paces when Udith’s lips tightened at a voice she least wanted to hear.
“Ha, what a coincidence, Zark. You were heading to see the Marquis’s daughter, were you?”
Udith forced a smile and greeted Zark with practiced naturalness.
“No, I’ve just come from seeing her.”
“Ah, then you must be heading home?”
“No. I was waiting for you.”
“Is it about that custom order you placed? It’s nearly finished.”
The deadline Zark and she had agreed upon hadn’t yet arrived. Before Udith could even ask him to wait a bit longer, Zark waved his hand dismissively.
“No, that’s not it.”
Zark smiled as though it were nothing and pointed diagonally across the street. A carriage stood waiting.
“The Marquis’s daughter wishes to see you.”
Why hadn’t she been summoned while at the Marquis’s Residence? Why call her out into the street? An ominous premonition brushed the back of Udith’s neck, leaving her unable to respond at once.
“Let’s go.”
Zark drew close beside her, as though he would drag her if she refused. Resisting would look suspicious, so Udith began walking, keeping pace without falling behind.
“What could the Marquis’s daughter possibly want with me—”
“I’m not certain myself. You’ll hear it from her directly.”
This made her even more uneasy. The distance to the carriage was remarkably short. There was no opening to push Zark aside and flee. In the moment she recalled an old proverb from her past life—that even the jaws of a tiger can be survived if one keeps one’s wits sharp—a pebble came rolling toward her and struck the toe of her shoe.
What? Udith turned to look where the pebble had come from and went rigid.
…!
Ern? He hadn’t left yet?
He had been watching her from naturally within the crowd, but the moment their eyes met, he turned away.
“Get in.”
Zark opened the carriage door for her in the coachman’s stead. Eager not to let him notice Ern, Udith climbed in quickly.
The Marquis’s daughter greeted the entering Udith with a nod. Udith hesitated and sat across from her.
“Welcome, Udith.”
If the Marquis’s daughter’s voice sounded unusually cold as she addressed her so familiarly, perhaps it was merely her imagination.
* * *
‘I don’t know why he was there, but I hope Ern follows.’
The carriage moved at a moderate pace, but its windows were curtained, revealing nothing of where they were heading.
“Have you ever done anything wrong, Udith?”
The Marquis’s daughter’s eyes, which had seemed gentle and round, had turned cold and sharp.
“Pardon?”
Udith blinked at the sudden question.
“I learned something today—when you’ve done something wrong, you become incredibly sensitive. It’s strange; even trivial matters start to feel momentous, and all sorts of doubts creep in.”
Why are you confessing wrongdoing to me? I’m not a priest to hear your confession. Even as they sat speaking calmly, Udith felt herself being backed into a corner.
“I’ve been wondering why you came today. I asked the head housemaid, and she said your mother didn’t summon you separately.”
“Ah, I had a new candle to show you.”
Udith produced from her basket a small candle with a faint blue glow—one she’d brought along as a cover story in case she ran into Zark inside the Marquis’s Residence.
“Couldn’t you show her that when you deliver the ordered candles next time?”
“I wanted to show her right away.”
“Do you know? In all this time, you’ve never once come to our house specifically to show off a new candle.”
Udith had been extremely busy with orders, and she’d typically included new candles as complimentary gifts alongside commissioned deliveries.
“So why, of all times, did you behave this way right after Zark placed a special order?”
“Ha, he said it was a surprise gift, so I suppose you knew about it.”
“Of course I did. I imagine you must have figured it out by now too.”
“I’m not entirely sure what you mean—”
“Stop pretending you don’t understand, Udith.”
The Marquis’s daughter’s expression, which had worn a serene smile, hardened into something cold and severe.
There was no maintaining the pretense any longer, not after what she’d just said. Damn. Udith bit at the soft flesh inside her mouth.
“We’re in quite an unlucky situation, aren’t we, Udith.”
“Unlucky? Both of us?”
“I thought Miss Herrington had discovered the ring’s true nature and had come to tell me. When a man about to marry hides such a ring inside a candle as a gift, one naturally suspects an affair, don’t you think?”
Udith did not mention her plan to report the matter to the Marquis, merely nodding in agreement.
“But she went to my mother’s chamber instead.”
“The head maid dragged me there—I had no choice in it.”
“I know. That’s what troubles me. Miss Herrington heard that my mother had become pregnant. After that, instead of coming to me as she’d originally intended, she left the house.”
Udith did not mention that the original target had been the Marquis himself, not his daughter. She sensed it would only wound the girl’s pride to say so.
“That’s when I believed Miss Herrington sensed something. Am I right?”
Udith could only nod in admission once more.
“It would have been better if Miss Herrington had met me first instead of my mother.”
“What would have changed?”
“At the very least, I wouldn’t have had to deal with Miss Herrington.”
The carriage lurched. For a moment, the curtains swayed violently, and Udith glimpsed the world outside—a desolate place she could not recognize. She bit her lip.
“It’s a shame, really. I was quite fond of the candles Miss Herrington makes.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“What choice do I have? Miss Herrington knows everything I’m planning to do.”
The Marquis’s daughter raked her gaze over Udith from head to toe, her eyes contemplative—as if deciding which method would serve best. Udith’s throat tightened.
“Disposing of one Miss Herrington means nothing to me.”
She knew it too well. Though both were daughters of marquises, the fallen Herrington Family—now worth little more than a name—and the Briks Family, who lived ostentatiously in the Capital, were as different as heaven and earth. Killing one Udith and burying the matter would be trivial for the Briks household.
The carriage had already traveled far, and Ern, silent as he was, would struggle to catch up. Even if he did, it would likely be too late for Udith. She could not simply wait for Ern to arrive. Udith swallowed hard.
“It seems you don’t wish for a sibling.”
“That’s right. You must think me a terrible person, Miss Herrington.”
Layla Briks. She had been born the only child and sole heiress of the Marquis, raised with all the weight of her family’s future upon her shoulders.
Her stepmother, impossibly young, had never been welcome, yet over the past ten years, Layla had managed well enough with her. They had even grown close, in their way. Had it not been for “that incident” six months ago, she might have been able to congratulate her on the pregnancy.
“Six months ago, I received a letter from my mother—not the one I know now, but the one who gave me life.”
In Layla’s memory, her mother was always confined to her sickbed. She had believed her father’s account that the illness had claimed her. But the letter told a different story.
“After witnessing Father’s adultery, her condition worsened.”
The adultery itself was damning, but the identity of her father’s lover was worse still.
“She was a woman my mother had been supporting. Too poor even to afford a debutante’s debut, my mother became her chaperone.”
Layla’s biological mother had paid every expense of the girl’s presentation and had even sought to arrange a suitable marriage for her—all the while ignorant that the woman was meeting with her own husband. Only much later did Layla’s mother learn of the betrayal. The shock, combined with her existing fragile health, struck her down. She sensed then that her time was short.
“The woman came to see my mother and told her this: that if she became the Marquis’s wife, she’d do better than my mother ever had. She told her not to worry, just to close her eyes and accept it.”
Watching that shameless, remorseless woman, Layla’s mother grew desperate with concern for the daughter she would leave behind. She wrote a letter bearing the truth, entrusting it to her oldest friend.
“She said to deliver it when I came of age to bear it. When that friend heard of my engagement, she believed the time had come.”
When Layla saw the woman’s name written in that letter, the betrayal struck her like a blade.
“You needn’t ask who that ungrateful woman was, need you?”
As Udith nodded, Layla continued.
“I planned to have my revenge after the marriage.”
Then her stepmother became pregnant. After ten years of nothing, a child had suddenly come.

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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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