I Accidentally Resurrected My Dead Husband - Chapter 67

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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 67
“The Lofri Merchant Company is arriving soon, madam!”
Udith practically leaped with joy at the good news.
At an upscale inn where they had stopped on the way to the port. Udith, who had been resting in her room, came down to the dining hall for supper. There, she overheard some half-drunk merchants chattering among themselves and learned information about the Lofri Merchant Company.
“It’s a merchant company that does business with the Lofri Merchant Company. They’ve arranged to meet at the port in two days.”
“How fortunate.”
Unable to keep this happy news to herself, Udith deliberately woke Caroline, who was about to retire, and told her.
“I was worried about sending you alone on a ship, madam, but this is truly a relief.”
“To be honest, my own peace of mind is considerably eased.”
Caroline had never traveled alone before. Though she didn’t show it, she had spent her entire life as a lady’s maid with ten guards in tow, and even now, traveling with only four of them, she felt genuinely anxious. But to meet her brother the moment they arrived at the port—there was no news more reassuring than that.
“We can’t let such good news pass without marking it somehow.”
Caroline gestured with her napkin and ordered another glass.
“A toast, Miss Herington.”
Caroline poured wine into the glass the server brought, filling it only halfway. She wanted to fill the glass to the brim and drink deeply, but they were still in the midst of fleeing the Empire, so she merely indulged in the gesture.
“To your safe escape from the Empire, madam,”
“To the settling of Miss Herington’s debts.”
Udith and Caroline raised their glasses with wine sloshing generously over the rims, then drained them in one gulp. There’s nothing quite like that first shot.
“Ahhh.”
Udith exhaled sharply at the bite of it and this time took up the bottle herself.
“Let me pour for you too.”
“Of course.”
Udith poured just a touch into her own glass. The two of them toasted lightly again and quickly drained their drinks.
“Now get some rest, madam. We’re planning to leave early tomorrow morning.”
“You’re right. Miss Herington must be tired too. Get some sleep.”
Udith shut Caroline’s door firmly and stepped into her own room next door. Despite having had wine, sleep wouldn’t come. Her mind was tangled with one worry after another. She opened the window and caught the night breeze, trying to settle her thoughts. Though the night was pitch-black, the garden before the inn glowed with lanterns lit for late-arriving guests.
“…That horse looks awfully familiar.”
A figure in a black robe led a sleek horse into the well-kept garden.
“Isn’t it just like Gold?”
And the man beside it looked exactly like Ern. But the real Ern should be somewhere in the Capital interrogating Loam by now. Gold should be waiting somewhere near where Loam was being held.
“I must be drunk—I’m seeing things.”
Udith murmured the words even as she couldn’t tear her eyes from the horse and the figure in the black robe.
Then the person handing the horse over to an inn attendant suddenly lifted his head.
“…What?”
As the hood fell back, bright blonde hair caught the moonlight. Even from a distance, the high cheekbones and the distinctive way he held himself—
“Ern?”
It was Ern. Udith threw on a gown from the set kept in each room and hurried downstairs to the inn’s lobby. Just then, Ern, who had just handed Gold over to the inn, was passing through the front entrance with a long stride.
“Ern, what—what brings you here!”
Udith rushed to him. Even seeing him right before her eyes, she couldn’t quite believe it. She poked at his forearm and chest, as if to verify he was real. The solid texture beneath her fingertips—it was definitely Ern.
“Is that a jest the moment you see me?”
Ern caught her wrist and lowered her hand.
“I can’t believe you’re actually here. Wait—what’s going on? Don’t tell me you failed?”
You burned down the Ferni Marquis Estate and you didn’t catch Loam? Is that it? Udith gripped his collar and looked up at him with desperate eyes seeking denial.
“No, I caught him. I caught him, so stop that now. This isn’t a conversation for here. Come upstairs for now.”
Ern gripped Udith’s shoulders and turned her toward the stairs, gesturing for her to lead the way. Udith brought Ern to her own room.
“Now tell me—what happened?”
Why had Ern come all this way if he hadn’t failed to capture Loam?
“Don’t tell me Loam is dead?”
Had they caught Loam and his associates, only to find him unable to provide any answers? Ern shook his head at Udith’s question.
“Then why did you come?”
“To hold your hand.”
“What?”
“I came to hold your hand.”
At this unexpected answer, Udith could only blink. He’d rushed all the way here just to hold her hand? Through the night?
“You promised to hold hands and make a wish. If I don’t hold your hand today, you’ll start building up that wretched vapor again and claim the contract is void.”
What kind of absurd reasoning was this? Could it be—could it actually be that he was worried about me? But to leave Loam behind and come all this way… Udith couldn’t close her gaping mouth.
“What, you don’t want me here? Were you planning to sleep alone in this nice room, and I’ve gotten in the way?”
When Udith stood frozen and said nothing, Ern’s brows creased.
“Then I’ll leave.”
“Why would you say such things when you’ve come all this way?”
Udith hastily grabbed hold of Ern as he began to rise. Truth be told, the moment she saw him, she felt completely reassured. Far more so than when she’d heard the news about the Lofri Merchant Company arriving soon.
The weight that had pressed down on my shoulders—the tension of fleeing through unfamiliar streets, of protecting Caroline as we went—lifted like a stone dropping away. I hadn’t realized how completely I’d come to rely on Ern.
“The room comes with a meal and a bottle of wine included, I noticed.”
Udith decided to offer the meal and wine cheerfully to Ern.
“Seems like you’ve already had a glass or two.”
“I haven’t even finished half a glass. Can you smell it on me?”
When it came to things like that, she was uncanny.
“Hah, drinking while we’re on the run—you’ve got nerve, Miss Herington.”
The dry edge in Ern’s voice made the elegant inn feel as familiar and comfortable as the Rainhardt Mansion. My neck, stiff from the ornate décor and strangeness, softened without warning. I hadn’t realized how the wine was working through me until now.
My cheeks flushed warm, and when I fanned them and my legs twisted beneath me, Ern clicked his tongue.
“You’re drunk. Completely drunk.”
Even as Ern pressed his palms against my cheeks, I could only giggle.
“Thank you for coming.”
I let the wine be my excuse to speak what I truly felt. Ern, caught off guard by my sincerity, actually faltered.
“…You’re thoroughly intoxicated. Go to bed.”
“I can’t sleep otherwise.”
“What do you mean, otherwise?”
“I need you to hold my hand.”
* * *
With her tension finally released and the wine rising to her head, Udith collapsed into sleep the moment she lay down.
“I should ask how she managed to capture Loam, whether he’s hurt anywhere. If he came from that rough terrain, surely…”
Ern muttered to himself over the sleeping Udith. She lay peacefully, her lips twitching as if eating something in her dreams. He wanted to tell Udith everything that had happened today.
How Loam had asked him what revelation or awakening he’d found in dying and coming back to life. How the woman hiding at the villa had been the Marquis Ferni’s lover. How, it turned out, the Ferni Marquis Estate had burned entirely to ash. And more besides.
It wasn’t the first time they’d been apart all day, but several things had happened, and yet Udith had fallen asleep without a chance to talk. He felt a strange emptiness at that.
“…Empty?”
Ern laughed quietly at himself, recognizing the feeling blossoming inside him. Empty, he thought. When had he ever lived openly, laying everything bare to another person from first to last?
Even when the Countess Rainhardt treated him decently, he’d been the quiet type. When his swordwork showed promise, news spread through his instructor—he never advertised it himself. He was the sort who found even joining the Knights’ Order a tedious chore, putting it off until Loam nearly tore his hair out from stress.
Yet in mere months with Udith—a fraction of his life, a speck of time—Ern had melted entirely. Meals shared together. Conversations traded under the night sky. Petty arguments over wine bottles. Each small, ordinary thing was different than it had been before.
“So you were lonely without me too, then.”
What saved him was knowing he wasn’t alone in this change. He hadn’t forgotten that bright face of hers—how she’d rushed down in haste the moment she spotted him. A face like someone who’d just found a purse of gold coins.
He hadn’t come here worrying whether she’d greet him or not, exactly. But still, being welcomed like that gave meaning to the urgency with which he’d run.
“But drinking enough to get drunk in the middle of danger—why?”
Just because it was an elegant inn didn’t mean it was free of thieves. Places like this often had their share of pickpockets.
“Go ahead and rob me then, and save yourself the effort of advertising it.”
Ern looked at the sleeping Udith, then closed his eyes. It had been an exhausting day for him too.
* * *
Udith woke refreshed. The morning was bright; it started well.
“Miss Herington, grateful as you claim to be—would you fetch that robe for me?”
But well only in the beginning. As Udith prepared to leave, his voice brushed past her ear and she grimaced.

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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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