I Accidentally Resurrected My Dead 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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Chapter 27
The unexpected news of his father’s death was shocking, but not sorrowful. It merely struck him as simpler to understand than his mother’s nature—easier the way a grandmother might be. When had he last felt genuine sadness?
What had he felt when the Countess sent an assassin after him? Sorrow? No—betrayal, anger, and the tiresome certainty that he’d now have to wage war against House Rainhardt. Those were the feelings that came.
His mother, who’d carried him in her womb for ten months, had longed for his death. Why should the Countess be any different? As for his father, he’d harbored no hope even there. Ern’s fingers, restless at his waist, felt Udiet fidgeting, and he let out a self-deprecating laugh.
Even the wife he’d gained by accident resented his return from the dead. And yet here I am, clawing my way back from death’s door—how comically absurd is that?
“Would you like to hear my story too?”
“…Why suddenly?”
The conversation had veered into strange territory again. Ern couldn’t even indulge his lament for long. The moment he let his guard slip, Udiet swept him along into something senseless.
“You’ve aired your family troubles, so wouldn’t it be fair if I aired mine as well?”
She was equating fairness with that?
“It makes me uncomfortable sitting here and only listening to your past.”
She means—her discomfort earlier wasn’t from sympathy for my hardships? It was just that she felt awkward hearing me out?
Ern was taken aback. He didn’t want sympathy, but watching Udiet show not a trace of pity left him oddly unsettled. Did I actually want sympathy? Now he found himself genuinely confused.
“When it comes to unhappy family circumstances, I’d match anyone.”
Don’t turn suffering into a contest. In all his years, he’d never met someone who wanted to compete over whose family was more wretched. And the way she declared her own unhappiness with such self-assurance—
“Just listen.”
“I refuse.”
“Why not?”
Udiet couldn’t understand it. Don’t people naturally comfort themselves by witnessing others’ misfortunes? ‘At least I’m better off than them’—and here he was, refusing to be that “them” for her sake. Honestly, his temperament was bizarre.
“Why don’t you focus on removing that parasitic insect instead?”
“I’m already devising a plan for that.”
Once Udiet dismounted at the Mansion, she read the note Camilla had given her first.
Every sentence ended with phrases like “it is said,” “it may be,” or “presumably so,” which undermined credibility somewhat, but information was scarce enough that she had no choice.
“It seems the Rainhardt estate was kept clean for a reason—the insect supposedly prevents filth from reaching its surroundings.”
Udiet marveled as she read the description. Here was a parasite that ate people yet had a preference for cleanliness.
“And apparently it keeps its host alive for a year.”
“Though isn’t ‘host’ more accurate than ‘owner’?”
Ern offered the correction from behind Udiet as he read the note, but she let it go in one ear and out the other.
“During that year together, it supposedly multiplies its owner’s fortune by any means.”
“True—ever since I picked up this insect, I’ve been paid bounties, and every bet I’ve made has come through.”
Now that’s worth listening to. Udiet nodded thoughtfully and spoke again.
“So everything I’ve managed to build without difficulty all this time is thanks to this insect.”
“And your point?”
“Then I should keep it for the full year, at most!”
Ern’s words caught in his throat. Had she already forgotten how she’d collapsed, bleeding from her eyes? He pressed his forehead and read aloud the final sentence from the paper himself.
“Throughout that year, it eats away at you moment by moment. Can you not see this sentence? Do you actually want to be gnawed on by the insect for a whole year?”
“Well, no, but…”
“Then stop talking nonsense and get rid of it now.”
When Ern pressed the matter forcefully, Udiet finally nodded in agreement. Yet Ern remained unconvinced. Even as he lay in bed, he couldn’t stop worrying about how to remove the insect from Udiet.
Before visiting Camilla, he’d feared the insect wouldn’t detach from Udiet at all. Now he worried it was the opposite—that Udiet genuinely wouldn’t part with it.
Her single consistent trait was how her eyes lit up at the promise of money. Had her past involved considerable suffering because of it? Watching her not even blink when she heard his own story suggested she’d endured substantial hardship for gold. Come to think of it, she’d been dragged here against her will by her brother and forced into marriage with a dying man—hardship enough.
Ern spent himself into sleep trying to devise a way to forcibly remove the insect from Udiet. And until the moment sleep claimed him, he failed to notice one crucial thing.
The forgotten past that resurfaced today, the hidden truth—neither had truly unsettled him.
* * *
Four days passed.
Udiet still hadn’t disposed of the insect.
“This clever, loathsome creature.”
Something about the business suddenly flourishing had seemed odd.
While the Dyed Candle was undeniably revolutionary as an item, sales had exceeded even reasonable expectations by far. Customers routinely paid premiums, and word spread entirely on its own.
It was all thanks to this insect. Udiet stroked the creature above the Silk Pouch, then suddenly darkened her expression.
“Couldn’t you make me 200 million Gold in one go? What’s with this nickeling and diming? You’re eating away at someone’s life—surely you can do better than this? Does my life not even equal 200 million Gold?”
Udiet picked up the pouch and shook the insect roughly, threatening it to surrender the fortune.
“Doesn’t she find that revolting?”
Ever since hearing that the yellow silk pouch and insect were a pair, Henry had no desire to touch the thing. Yet Udiet seemed utterly unbothered.
“Give me 200 million Gold, and I’ll deliver you to some far tastier prey instead.”
Watching Udiet produce the insect openly and proceed from coercion to enticement to outright negotiation, Henry released a long sigh.
“Ern, do something about that insect soon. Your wife’s going to lose her mind entirely.”
“She never had much of one to begin with.”
“She already had the insect when you first met her. Once the insect’s gone, she’ll come back to her senses.”
Perhaps. Ern watched Udiet murmur—”Are you beneficial or harmful? Tell me straight”—and privately clicked his tongue. The insect would probably answer her quite happily if she asked.
“You’ve gotten attached to it.”
At that point it might as well be a pet, Ern replied dryly, and Henry shuddered, striking his forearm in protest.
“Remove it this instant! The insect is consuming the Countess. I’m terrified we’ll end up in real trouble.”
Udiet held the insect beside her and whispered a wish for new business connections to open, while Ern exhaled softly and brushed back his hair.
Ern’s fears proved prescient. Even as she felt herself dying, Udiet couldn’t bring herself to let go of the insect. Perhaps Cedric Rainhardt had been the same.
“Ugh, my ears are itching.”
Hearing that scratching, gnawing sound again, Udiet rubbed her ears frantically.
He could have simply let Udiet manage it herself and left. He’d already explained how to remove the insect, so his moral obligation was discharged. And yet his feet wouldn’t move.
Was it because he himself was the architect of Udiet’s entanglement with the insect? Had he not carried the parasite to find his mother, House Rainhardt would have remained intact, and Cliff would never have conceived such a scheme.
Udiet was purely a victim. In a single youthful choice, he’d ruined her life. That guilt—the weight of having cast her into the mire—clung to him like a shackle.
* * *
“500,000 Gold on Rat Number One.”
“This gentleman placed 500,000 Gold on Rat Number One. And you, sir?”
“I’m putting 80,000 Gold on Rat Number Five!”
“80,000 Gold, yes—80,000 Gold on Rat Number Five.”
The moment he set down the coins, the announcer’s tone turned dismissive.
The way they looked down on someone without money infuriated Leon Herington, and he wanted to say something to the announcer, but the race had already begun and he’d missed his chance.
“Go, go!”
Inside the arena made of wooden boards, ten rats with numbered tags tied to their tails began to race. Leon’s specialty was card games, but 80,000 Gold wouldn’t get him into a proper card game.
He’d entered the Rat Race to build up his stakes. For quick, substantial winnings, nothing beat games like this.
“Run, Number Five!”
Fortune seemed to favor him. Rat Number Five led from the start. Just as the finish line came into view, Rat Number One charged at Number Five’s flank, shoved it aside, and crossed the finish line first.
Those who’d wagered on Rat Number One cheered; the rest groaned. The man who’d bet 500,000 Gold laughed with delight and sipped his drink.
“Eh?”
He’d had his face hidden the whole time, but when it became visible as the man drank, Leon recognized him—that handsome fellow who used to be at Udiet’s place. Was he still with Udiet?
“Here, please take it.”
The announcer handed 2.5 million Gold to the handsome man.
“Five times over? Not bad.”
As the handsome man tucked the coins into his pouch, the man beside him—apparently his companion—gazed enviously.
“Ever since you got married, your luck’s been incredible. I’m jealous.”
Marriage? So Udiet and that fellow had actually settled down together? Leon had figured he’d bleed them dry and vanish. So what could be lacking in a man that handsome that he’d stay with Udiet? He’d been planning to sell her off to somewhere else once that man disappeared—now that was going to be complicated.
“And I hear your wife’s business is thriving? She’s raking in money hand over fist.”
“Raking it in? Hardly. Just enough to get by.”
Raking in money? Running a business?
Leon’s fingers toyed with his empty purse. Here he was, penniless, and his beloved little sister was amassing a fortune. What could be better news?
“Next round, maybe I’ll try Rat Number Three. That one had good momentum.”
“I think I’ll follow your lead this time.”
Even after losing his wager, Leon grinned foolishly. The thought of seeing his sister again after so long filled him with joy.

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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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