I Accidentally Resurrected My Dead Husband - Chapter 63

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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 63
“What was your ambition back then?”
“To become rich.”
Back then, my dream was to become one of the ten wealthiest people in the nation. Now I’m content with modest passive income and a small plot of land—I suppose you could say my dreams have shrunk.
“At least you’ve been consistent.”
Ern drew a map from the inner pocket of his jacket hanging on the rack and murmured to himself. By now, Udith’s ambitions no longer surprised him. He unfolded the map on the table.
“Is that a map of the Capital?”
“Yes. This marked section is Marquis Perni’s Capital Summer Villa. An excellent location for an escape route—no perimeter wall, so there are ways out in all directions.”
Beyond that, it’s set deep in a forest. Capturing fugitives across open ground is difficult enough; in a forest, it becomes far harder still. Ern explained his plan to encircle the villa in two layers before pursuing them.
“When?”
“In two days.”
“Why two days?”
A Routine Training exercise for the Capital Security Force was scheduled for two days from now. On that day, all soldiers of the Capital Security Force would assemble for joint drills.
“To encircle this place, we’ll need at least fifty soldiers. If Marquis Mosley mobilizes fifty soldiers privately, someone might find it suspicious.”
“You mean information could leak?”
Ern nodded. Information had been leaking to Loam’s side continuously. There was no reason it wouldn’t happen again.
“The commander of the Capital Security Force is directly under Marquis Mosley’s command.”
In other words, Marquis Mosley would participate in the Routine Training as well. Cain, he said, would advance suddenly into the Southern Forest with fifty soldiers on the training day. Only Marquis Mosley and Ern knew of this plan. Now Udith made three.
“But Ern, harboring a traitor is also a serious crime, isn’t it?”
“If caught, it’s immediate execution. Title and assets will be confiscated, the family name disgraced. Dependents will be dragged away into slavery.”
“Then what happens to Marchioness Perni?”
“Marchioness Perni will likely face punishment as well. As a foreigner, she might escape execution, but punishment is unavoidable.”
As long as Guilt by Association existed in the empire, there was nothing to be done. Udith’s expression grew troubled. When she’d learned of Loam from Caroline, she’d vaguely believed that once they were eliminated, Caroline would be free. She hadn’t considered Guilt by Association.
If Caroline were arrested, the Penko Kingdom and Ropri Merchant Guild would respond, but this wasn’t a simple crime—it was treason, and escaping it would not be easy. Moreover, the Ropri Merchant Guild was based in the kingdom, not the empire. Even if they wielded vast capital for lobbying, Caroline would still be imprisoned and subjected to extensive investigation.
Udith didn’t think Caroline could endure that.
“Marchioness Perni wouldn’t be foolish enough to blab that Loam is alive, would she? That would derail the entire plan.”
“You don’t need to worry. I’ve already coordinated with the Marchioness.”
While Udith worked out the details of bringing Caroline out of the Marquis’s Residence, Caroline would continue to feign those peculiar nightmares.
“Smuggling Marchioness Perni out is also a crime.”
I know. But I can’t simply forfeit six million gold for that. Besides, Caroline isn’t a criminal. She’s just a woman who found the wrong man and is on the verge of losing her mind.
“You could take six million gold and go to prison.”
At Ern’s warning, Udith hesitated briefly before speaking.
“What if it’s not smuggling? What if I’m simply going to the harbor to meet the Marchioness’s brother as he arrives—and what if that happens to be in two days?”
“You know better than that.”
“You’re the only one who knows I’m aware of the operation.”
If Ern kept his mouth shut, it would appear that Udith hadn’t known the plan in advance and thus hadn’t deliberately smuggled the Marchioness out.
“You want me to lie?”
“Come on, it’s not like I’m asking this just to line my own pockets.”
Udith twisted her body and poked Ern’s forearm repeatedly with her shoulder.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Sweetie.”
Ern frowned, watching Udith drag out her words.
“You only call me that when you want something.”
Yet even as Udith pleaded with him to look the other way and shook his arm, he didn’t pull away. He could have easily disentangled himself if he wanted to.
“If I turn a blind eye, what will you do for me?”
“Tell me what you want.”
Udith readily agreed to the deal, assuming he’d ask for something like expensive liquor at most.
“Granting me one wish, later.”
“Not liquor?”
“Ha, you thought I’d fall for a single bottle of expensive spirits? Sorry to disappoint, but no.”
Humans are creatures of progress. Ern was no exception. The old Ern would have settled for an expensive bottle of wine. Smuggling Marchioness Perni out was unlawful, but Ern had never been particularly scrupulous about following the law.
Yet living with Udith had changed him. Unknowingly, he’d begun to calculate profit and loss rather than chase immediate gratification. For Udith, it was a regrettable transformation.
“Still, a wish is a wish. Ern, you’re showing me so many new sides of yourself today.”
Udith pouted her lips.
“You exercise in the morning now, you’re not just lazing about.”
“And whose fault is that?”
Ern couldn’t help but respond. He was already in good health to begin with, and when she clung to him and caressed him from the moment morning came, it created an awkward situation.
“Tch, how is that my fault? Don’t tell me you’re going to wish for all the money from selling the mansion later.”
“I’m not as unscrupulous as you. I’ll use my wish within what you’re capable of granting.”
Udith, ever suspicious, weighed Ern’s likely wish against the benefit of helping Marchioness Perni. How grand a wish could Ern possibly make? The scales tipped toward the Marchioness.
“All right.”
Udith extended her hand. Ern clasped it. The deal was struck.
“Then let’s get some sleep now. We have so much to do tomorrow, so I need to wake up early.”
“Lying in someone else’s bed as though it were perfectly natural.”
She moved through it so naturally that Ern found himself wondering if it was his bed or hers. He simply stood and watched as Udith made herself entirely at home in his bed.
“Don’t just stand there. Come lie down. It’s better for you too when we sleep together.”
Udith crawled into Ern’s bed, arranged their pillows side by side, and gestured for him to lie down at once.
“Me? What’s better for me?”
“You won’t be lonely.”
What kind of nonsense was that? Ern opened his mouth and found himself at a loss for words. The damp steam had to be purged somehow, so he had no choice but to lie down beside Udith. After one night of holding hands while sleeping, the act of clasping hands felt far more natural now.
“Did you ask Tan exactly how many days it’ll take for the steam to dissipate?”
……
“Listen, Miss Herington—did you ask or not? Are you already asleep? Already?”
Udith, whose fatigue from days without sleep had not yet lifted, sank into slumber the moment her eyes closed. Ern was exasperated. How could she be so utterly devoid of caution?
“Either she trusts me completely, or she doesn’t see me as a man at all.”
Ern idly touched the tip of Udith’s nose as she slept peacefully. In her sleep, she wrinkled her nose and burrowed against his side. Her arm crossed over his chest, her leg wound around his thigh. As her warm, soft body pressed against his, Ern swallowed hard.
His Adam’s apple bobbed sharply up and down. What kind of sleep habit was this, exactly?
“Damn it. This is already becoming difficult.”
A heated breath escaped his lips. It would be a long night.
* * *
Ern began the day as he had yesterday—with a run. He caught up with Tan and demanded to know exactly how long they would need to sleep together, but Tan simply said:
“After a week, if Miss Herington sleeps alone and doesn’t have that dream, then the damp steam will have dissipated. If she still has it, then you’ll need to sleep together longer.”
It was an irresponsible answer anyone could have made. Furious, Ern dragged Tan around the garden three or four more laps. Tan, bewildered, was drained of energy before the morning was through.
After a cold shower, Ern emerged to find Iluer—a man with no martial power but deep knowledge of Shamanism—the Grand Dame, and Udith huddled together, plotting their strategy.
Udith’s original plan had been to wait for Caroline’s younger brother to arrive at the estate before making contact. But now only one day remained. So Udith boldly altered her scheme. Tomorrow, at the very moment Ern and Cain struck at Marquis Perni’s Capital Summer Villa, she would slip Caroline out of the Marquis’s Residence.
The greatest challenge was how to spirit Caroline away without drawing the attention of the household servants. Surprisingly, the answer came from the Grand Dame herself.
The Grand Dame pressed a box layered in tattered cloth into Udith’s hands.
“Fire Insect Eggs are inside this. With them, you’ll be able to get the Marchioness out of the Marquis’s Residence.”

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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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