I Accidentally Resurrected My Dead Husband - Chapter 33

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 33
“An Undecaying Corpse, you said?”
“Does something like that really exist in this world?”
Ern froze mid-motion as he was about to sit in an empty chair, Ken’s steely voice grazing past his ear.
“What corpse did you say?”
“Oh? Ah, an Undecaying Corpse?”
An Undecaying Corpse, he’d said.
Ern wanted nothing more than to press Ken for its exact location, but showing such eagerness would raise suspicion. He feigned calm and asked casually.
“An Undecaying Corpse? Something like that exists?”
“If it exists, it’ll come up for auction.”
“Auction?”
“Ah, our newcomer knows nothing, it seems.”
The Fighting Arena’s owner also ran an illegal Auction House on the side, often hiring arena fighters as guards for the auctions. Ken himself worked there frequently, and it was during one such job that he’d grown friendly with an Auction House manager—over drinks, the manager had mentioned the Undecaying Corpse.
“It’s coming up as merchandise in this auction, or so he said.”
“How does one get into that Auction House?”
“As a customer?”
Ern nodded, and Ken scratched his head.
“He said you need an invitation, but I’ve no idea how to get one.”
“And even if we knew, could wretches like us afford to buy anything there?”
Ken and the other fighter chuckled between themselves, saying that without being reborn, they could never set foot inside that Auction House as customers.
“The only way for us to get in is to land a job there, newcomer.”
“Wait, no, no.”
Ken was teasing Ern when another fighter snapped his fingers and cut in.
“Skinny one, if you win this time, that’ll be your Five-Win Streak, right? There’s a tradition—when someone hits the Five-Win Streak, the boss buys them a drink.”
“So?”
“So what? Once you’ve got that Five-Win Streak and you’re drinking with the boss, just mention you’d like to get into the Auction House. Who knows—maybe he’ll let you slip in sometime.”
Just one more victory and he’d have the Five-Win Streak. For now, it was the most promising path to reaching the Undecaying Corpse.
An Undecaying Corpse. Was this body too the work of the followers? If he traced the corpse’s origins, he might even discover the followers’ headquarters.
Even if not, he might learn what had caused his own body to stop decaying. Of course, that assumed this was a genuinely undecaying human corpse. So he had to see it with his own eyes, without fail.
* * *
The next day.
“Skinny one, do your best again.”
“When are you going to stop calling me skinny—I’m done.”
Ern shook his head and stepped into the arena. Outside, the announcer’s voice boomed, urging people to hurry before betting closed.
Leaning against a corner post in the arena, Ern scanned the crowd. He spotted a head of dark-chestnut hair tied back in a tight knot. That small head wove deftly between the larger men around her, placing bets. He was watching her eager back as she bent to the thrill of earning money when the referee clapped his hands.
“Come on, get ready. Ready up.”
Snapping to attention, Ern saw his opponent was already warming up on the opposite side. He began rolling his shoulders lightly when a sudden loud sound made him pause.
“What’s that?”
His gaze turned toward the arena entrance. The noise grew louder, and now it was possible to guess what it was.
“Hoofbeats……”
It wasn’t only Ern who heard it. A few sharp-eared spectators lost their nerve, went still, and exchanged glances.
“It’s—it’s a Crackdown!”
As someone cried out in terror, the arena stirred. Soon came the sound of thundering hoofbeats, followed by the crash and clatter of things breaking and being destroyed right nearby.
“Run! Get out of here!”
One person’s cry became the signal. Without hesitation, everyone surged toward the rear exit. In moments, the arena dissolved into chaos—people tangling with each other, falling over themselves.
Ern’s first instinct was to find Udite.
“Damn it, where is she?”
Udite was swimming against the tide of fleeing bodies. She was jostled by the panicking crowd, almost knocked over.
“Where the hell is she going?”
Cursing under his breath, Ern bolted out of the arena. He forced his way through the mass pushing toward the rear exit and grabbed Udite’s arm.
“What are you doing? Come on, hurry.”
“Wait, there, my money—it’s over there.”
Udite stamped her foot, pointing at a man who’d deftly tucked the betting purse under his ribs and was making his escape.
“Money matters now? If you fall here, there won’t even be bones left to collect.”
It was no exaggeration—a literal truth.
“Just a moment, Ern, my money, my mo-o-oney!”
Ern practically lifted Udite off the ground as he ran, her legs churning. In all his life, he’d never imagined anything like this—fleeing a crackdown from an illegal Fighting Arena. Shame crept up on him, belated and bitter.
“Cursed hell!”
Once he’d hustled Udite through the rear exit and set her down, he pulled her in the direction the enforcement officers had come from. If they walked past arm-in-arm like a couple out for a stroll, they’d be less likely to draw suspicion.
“Link your arm through mine. Catch your breath and act natural as you walk.”
When Ern drew Udite’s arm through his own, a horse suddenly blocked their path.
“Stop right there. I saw you both leaving the Fighting Arena. Hands up. Turn around.”
Ern, who’d been devising a plan to grab the reins and knock the rider from his mount, froze at the familiar voice. Udite, tucked against his side, lifted her head slowly—she’d recognized it too.
“…Henry?”
Udite met Henry’s gaze as he drew his sword atop the horse, and she laughed awkwardly.
“The countess? Ern?”
Henry rubbed his eyes and looked again. They made for a sorry sight—unmistakably fleeing an illegal Fighting Arena. His eyes met Ern’s across the empty space between them. Silence stretched taut.
What felt like an eternity to Ern was only a moment. Of all the people to get caught by—why him? Why not anyone else? Self-loathing and shame crashed over him like a tide, and he found himself speechless.
“What in—”
So resurrecting yourself isn’t enough, Ern? You’ve got to get into every other kind of trouble too. Henry, at a loss for words in an entirely different way, sighed, rubbed his face dry, then waved his hand dismissively.
“Just go. Get out of here.”
With no words left, Ern simply scooped up Udite and bolted. The look in Henry’s eyes as he watched his friend disappear was impossibly complicated.
“…I spent gold coins to bring that man back to life. Gold coins.”
* * *
“You’ll pout your lip again if you’re not careful.”
A few days later, Udite suddenly thrust out her lower lip, and Ern clicked his tongue in disapproval.
He reached over and pressed down gently on her protruding lip. The soft, pliant sensation as it compressed wasn’t entirely unpleasant, so he pressed again—once, twice.
“You’ll bite off my finger doing that.”
“Not much I can bite. Besides, stop dwelling on it.”
“How can you say that? We didn’t even try anything before it ended.”
“Choose your words carefully, Miss Herrington. We didn’t end things—we lost them. And it’s hardly a loss, is it?”
He had a point. Yes, they’d lost the stakes in the final round, but when she considered all they’d won before that, it wasn’t truly a loss. They’d covered three months’ worth of interest, living expenses, materials for her incense research—it all added up.
Yet whenever Udite thought of that final wager she’d failed to reclaim, her chest ached like a spurned lover’s. She’d think of it while eating, while cleaning—the money that had slipped away haunted her. Part of her wanted nothing more than to drag Ern back to another Fighting Arena, but
“Don’t even say the word ‘Fighting’ from now on. I mean it—if you do, we’re getting divorced.”
Ern shuddered at the mere mention of arenas. The Crackdown they’d fled through, bumping into Henry—the mortification had clearly cut deep.
“Work hard and earn your way to more money instead.”
“That’s not really something you should be saying, is it?”
After all, who’d been living off her earnings all this time?
“You’re frowning. You’ll get wrinkles.”
As Udite glared at Ern, he reached out and smoothed the furrow between her brows with gentle pressure. She swatted his hand away and asked him a question.
“By the way, didn’t you say we were going to see the Undecaying Corpse today?”
* * *
Though his plans had nearly gone awry midway, Ern successfully infiltrated the Auction House.
He’d managed to secure a position through Iron-Fisted Ken, and when Ern explained the whole situation and mentioned he’d have to report for work, Udite was delighted.
“So I’m finally getting a husband with a salary?”
“Just for one day.”
“Shame. I wish you’d keep going.”
Who’d want to keep going? Ern had found work, and Udite’s momentary joy was genuine. Yet strangely, this time he didn’t feel the urge to give her what she wanted. Instead, the thought of answering with something like, “But you’re the one feeding me—why should I take a salary?” and seeing her lip pout again seemed far more appealing.
In any case, Ern secured a position as an auctioneer’s escort, which would give him an excellent vantage point for viewing the merchandise.
The auctioneer mentioned he always verified each lot in person before the sale began and led Ern to the Warehouse. After Ern had spent considerable time examining all manner of strange and expensive items, he finally reached it—the object itself.
“Ladies and gentlemen, today’s highlight! The Undecaying Corpse!”
A weathered Wooden Coffin that bore the marks of age. The auctioneer clapped his hands excitedly before it, and two workers hoisted the coffin lid open.
Creak—
The lid groaned with a sound no one wanted to hear. Dust billowed up from inside the coffin in a thick haze, though it hadn’t been opened violently.
“Ugh, the dust.”
The dust was so acrid that even Ern, his nose and mouth covered with black cloth, coughed several times. Only once the thick cloud had settled could he finally see inside the coffin.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————