I Accidentally Resurrected My Dead Husband - Chapter 53

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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 53
Hours later, Kain awoke in the basement of Marquis Mosley’s Mansion to find himself under interrogation from Ern and the Marquis. Kain protested his innocence, claiming he’d only meant to play a trick on Udith.
“Please, just listen to me. That man said the insect laid its eggs in scented candles, that it was completely harmless to people.”
He’d received the insect from the man because he thought bad word-of-mouth about bugs in expensive candles would damage a merchant’s business.
“And you didn’t think you’d be caught releasing the insect inside the shop?”
“He said I had to release it near the candles, or else it might escape elsewhere. And it’s just one insect, isn’t it? I could’ve said it flew in from outside, or stuck to someone’s clothes. There’d be nothing strange about that.”
The man had insisted that Kain release the insect inside the shop for a reason. A trained Mind-Controlling Insect would only target its designated host, and if that target was too far away, it couldn’t find them.
So to implant a Mind-Controlling Insect in someone, you had to release it near your intended host. And this insect’s target was undoubtedly Ern. It showed no reaction to the other people in the shop or to Udith and Kain who stood near it, but the moment it sensed Ern’s hand, it burrowed straight in—that much was clear.
Kain confessed he’d had no idea the insect would burrow into human skin, and he rattled off every detail he could remember about the man’s appearance.
“He was tall, and… ah! He had a scar on his face.”
A tall man with a scarred face who carried Mind-Controlling Insects—the kind only the Followers used.
“Loam?”
Ern’s mind turned to Loam. One couldn’t leap to conclusions just because someone had a scar, but the circumstances pointed squarely toward him.
Though in the end, it didn’t matter. Whether it was Loam or someone else, the fact remained that they were Followers. What mattered was that the Followers had tried to implant a Mind-Controlling Insect in Ern’s body. And they’d done it inside Udith’s shop.
Which meant—
“They knew Ern was at the shop.”
That was the implication.
“There’s no point in hiding your face anymore, Ern.”
All the effort of concealment had come to nothing; his movements were already known. Ern irritably peeled off his mask and crumpled it.
“But why did they try to plant a Mind-Controlling Insect in you? Where were they planning to confine you?”
“That may have been the ultimate goal, but it looks like they meant to abduct me first.”
A Mind-Controlling Insect moves toward places where a certain floral scent is absent. By using this trait, they could make its host walk of their own volition to any desired location.
Ern clenched and unclenched his bandaged arm as he muttered.
“It seems their experiments with me aren’t finished yet.”
The Followers wanted to take Ern alive. When Cliff sent an assassin after Ern, Cliff’s steward had tried to interfere. Now the Followers were using a Mind-Controlling Insect—a creature relatively harmless to the human body—to abduct him.
In other words, they needed Ern alive.
“Thanks to the Empress keeping silent about how you removed the Mind-Controlling Insect, they apparently didn’t know you could extract it. The fact that they’re using the same failed operation again proves it.”
“Or perhaps it’s the only method they have. Trapped in the Capital and cut off from support from the main organization—that’s possible too.”
One thing was certain, at least: the Red Liquor Medium and her companions were still inside the Capital.
“Lock the city gates and send out the Security Forces or the Imperial Knight Order to search.”
Ern growled at Marquis Mosley.
“I’ve tried. But like I said, there’s an information leak from within.”
“Then you need to catch the rat first.”
If it were as simple as it sounded, it would have been done long ago. The Marquis let out a short sigh.
“His Majesty is troubled by it as well. When he suppressed the Rebellion, he removed every noble house with even the slightest connection to the Followers from positions of power.”
And yet the information still leaked—it was maddening.
“We’ll also thoroughly investigate every house that provided financial support to the Followers.”
“You mean to say you let those people off?”
The Emperor, much like Ern, wanted to eliminate every house that had contributed in any way to the Rebellion. But if he did so, inevitably someone would demand the massacre of every Shartin tribesman connected to the Followers—for the Followers’ ringleaders were Shartin.
And it was obvious the eyes of the court wouldn’t look kindly on the already-unpopular Shartin tribe, nor on the Empress and the Imperial Prince who were Shartin themselves. To the Emperor, protecting the Empress and the Prince from harm mattered far more than rooting out the rebels.
“I’ll speak with His Majesty and mobilize the entire Imperial Knight Order if necessary to find them.”
The Marquis answered with firm resolve, then turned his gaze to Udith.
“You should be careful as well, Miss Herington. The Followers may target you.”
Udith and Ern suddenly remembered how Loam had approached Udith, saying something had stuck to her.
Had that been intentional? They’d assumed he was trying to recruit her as a believer.
Ern’s jaw clenched, and a vein stood out on his temple. Because of that man, Udith had become entangled with the Followers. If he’d left the mansion the moment he’d come back to life, none of this would have happened. His complacency had put Udith in danger.
‘There’s no point in leaving now.’
They already knew about Udith. There was every chance they’d use her as bait to capture Ern. Fortunately, Udith was quick-witted and clever enough that she shouldn’t fall easily into the Followers’ trap—
‘But what if they dangle gold coins in front of her? What if they promise her a fortune?’
Ern quietly studied Udith standing beside him. This was the girl who’d sign away her body just to earn money.
‘She’d take the bait. She’d swallow it whole.’
Ern sighed, much as Marquis Mosley had done. His earlier deliberation about whether to join the Imperial Knight Order for the Capital-wide search came to a quick end. He couldn’t trust anyone else to guard her—he’d have to stay at Udith’s side himself and leave the search to the Marquis.
* * *
Kain received a thirty-year prison sentence on charges of aiding a traitor. Naturally, Kain protested bitterly. He’d intended to interfere with Udith’s business, but he’d never meant to aid the Followers.
Looking only at the facts, Kain had been used by the Followers. A thirty-year sentence was quite a heavy punishment. But Udith had intervened.
“You don’t have to buy my candles anymore, Marquis. Would you just do me one favor?”
Udith wanted Kain to pay for his past sins as well. Of course Kain would feel deeply wronged. But could he feel more wronged than Georgina, who’d lost her shop and her secrets because she was Shartin, driven to desperation? Or more than Georgina’s mother, who’d lost her son?
“Rest easy now.”
This was a small merchant’s revenge.
Udith’s heart felt light as she turned away from the graves of Georgina and her mother after leaving flowers. For the first time, the shop truly felt like it belonged to her alone.
“You’re still worried about it, aren’t you? I figured you’d complain that I cursed you and ruined your business.”
“What do you take me for, Ern?”
“A human corrupted by the worship of gold.”
Udith’s frown deepened, but she couldn’t actually argue—he had a point.
“I’m worried. I think if someone offered you a thousand gold coins to come along, you’d go.”
“Am I an idiot?”
Udith’s lips jutted out stubbornly.
“What if they offered ten thousand?”
“I wouldn’t go.”
“Twenty thousand?”
Twenty thousand gold coins? At the mention of that sum, Udith hesitated for just a moment. But then, mindful of her own neck, she shook her head firmly.
“All right then—a hundred thousand?”
“A hundred thousand? That’s… that’s quite a lot. I mean, nobody’s going to offer that kind of money anyway.”
Udith’s hesitation deepened noticeably. There, see? I told you. That’s exactly why I need to stay close to her. Ern’s tongue clicked against his teeth.
“Instead of asking ridiculous questions, shouldn’t we hurry up and catch the Followers? What if they stage another rebellion?”
Worry saturated Udith’s voice. So when she heard that the Followers might target her, it had actually frightened her, hadn’t it?
“When a nation is in chaos, business suffers too, you know.”
“…You’re concerned about that?”
Ern had meant to ask whether that was really what mattered most, but by now he understood: for Udith, nothing was more important than that.
“That’s why I’m saying—wouldn’t it be better if you helped Marquis Mosley instead of staying glued to my side?”
Ever since the day they’d visited Marquis Mosley’s Mansion, Ern hadn’t strayed from Udith’s side for a moment. They lived in the same house anyway, and they shared a single horse for travel, so they weren’t exactly separated most days to begin with.
“I’m telling you, the Followers could approach you.”
“Sir Henry is there.”
To ensure Udith’s safety, Marquis Mosley had personally arranged for Henry to take an unusually long leave from duty. Thanks to that, Henry could abandon his work with the Security Forces and devote himself entirely to the scented candle shop. It was officially a leave granted to protect Udith, but the arrangement pleased them both well enough.
“So you want to be alone with Henry, is that it, Miss Herington?”
Ern had meant to say that he didn’t trust Henry’s abilities. But somehow the words that came out were something else entirely—unwilled, unbidden. For just an instant, it sounded almost like jealousy, and Ern felt a flicker of embarrassment at his own slip.
“What? Ern, are you jealous?”

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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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