I Accidentally Resurrected My Dead Husband - Chapter 75

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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 75
“Miss Herington here has promised to provide for me.”
Of course, Ern had no intention of remaining idle forever. But seeing Udith mesmerized by the Emperor, he couldn’t resist teasing her a little.
“……?”
Me? No, me? Udith stared at Ern with the expression of someone struck by lightning. I’ve been providing for him until now, but I’m going to keep providing for him indefinitely? Is that what this means?
“So what you’re saying is, you plan to live off your wife’s earnings? Without engaging in any economic activity yourself?”
Ern nodded confidently. The Emperor fell momentarily silent. Behind him, the Aide regarded Udith with a look of sympathy—wondering how she’d ended up marrying such a man. Even his eyes conveyed pity.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am entirely serious. If I’m to spend my life with a man like myself as a husband, that much should be expected, should it not?”
“A man like you? What kind of man are you, exactly? Or do you do something remarkably well?”
“I hold her hand when she’s feeling unwell.”
Remarkable. Truly remarkable. The Emperor was so impressed he nearly burst into applause.
“Indeed, Sir Ern, you are remarkable. That a man like yourself exists in our Empire—I’m so ashamed I can hardly lift my head in public.”
The Emperor spoke with mockery, but it made no impression whatsoever on Ern.
“Tsk, tsk. It seems Sir Ern intends to go from being the Empire’s mad dog to a mere leech.”
Hearing the Aide’s muttering, Ern’s brows furrowed.
“Why does my nickname never escape the dog metaphor?”
“Well, that doesn’t seem to be the issue at the moment, Ern. ‘Leech’ does sound more insulting, I’ll admit.”
Cain added a remark, only to receive a sharp look from Ern. The Aide clicked his tongue, saying the mad dog label would stick, while the Emperor shook his head and said to give him his Knight Pension and send him off.
Throughout all this, Udith waited for only one thing.
‘He said he’d give me something as a reward for catching those Rebels. When’s he going to give it? Today, surely? Hehe.’
* * *
“Sir Ern remains unchanged, it seems. Has his Swordsmanship skill not deteriorated?”
After Ern and Udith had gone, the Emperor summoned only Cain for questioning.
“Indeed, when I saw him the other day, he was moving through the air.”
“Remarkable. An undying corpse brought back to life, yet his martial prowess remains intact. What sort of experiments did those people conduct on Sir Ern, I wonder?”
The Emperor’s crimson eyes deepened in hue.
“They have not abandoned their designs on us, Duke.”
Us—meaning the Empress and the Prince. The Chartine Empress and the Prince who carried Chartine blood. The Followers had always been obsessed with the Prince. From the beginning, their plan to infiltrate the Empress into the Imperial Court was all to obtain a child of Imperial descent.
“Why they conducted such experiments on Sir Ern, I cannot say. But given that we are entangled with him, it seems unlikely to be entirely unrelated to us.”
The Emperor tapped the desk with his fingertip.
“Perhaps I should entrust him with the rest of it.”
* * *
Ern’s Knight Pension came to just under one million Gold coins. The amount was less than expected, and Ern wondered if someone had stolen his pension.
But upon investigation, it turned out the Knight Pension was structured so that one hundred thousand Gold coins accumulated each year, and starting from the tenth year, it increased tenfold; from the fifteenth year, it increased fifteenfold. In other words, from the tenth year onward, one million Gold coins accumulated annually, and from the fifteenth year, four million five hundred thousand Gold coins accumulated each year. And Ern’s tenure was nine years, eight months, and fifteen days—not yet a full ten years.
As for Ern’s pension, the Emperor sent a large box as he commended Udith’s contributions. Surely that large box contained a fortune in Gold coins. Udith’s excitement soared.
Cain personally received the gift box and brought it to the Rainhardt Estate. He was one of the very few people who knew Udith had hired the Chartine. In fact, only two people knew: Henry and Cain.
Henry, being a divination enthusiast by nature, harbored no prejudice against the Chartine. Cain, having witnessed many Chartine living miserably while fleeing the Followers, had shed his preconceptions entirely.
Regardless, what mattered now was the large gift box Cain had brought.
“……Hmm?”
Since the box was quite large, Tan offered to help Cain and headed toward the carriage. But Tan’s expression as he lifted the box alongside Cain was far from ordinary.
“What’s wrong? Is it very heavy?”
Udith assumed his expression was simply due to the weight. But that was not the case. Tan stared at Cain with eyes trembling as though the earth were shaking beneath him.
Cain’s lips were quivering. It was a forced smile, not one born of genuine joy. Tan then looked toward Ern. Ern tilted his head at Tan’s look—one conveying bewilderment, distress, and complete uncertainty about what to do.
What was this about? Could it be something other than Gold coins inside? Sensing something amiss, Ern approached the gift box before Udith. Then Tan whispered softly.
“It’s too light.”
Too light. This absolutely wasn’t Gold coins.
Ern glanced back at Udith, who was practically trembling with anticipation. If her expectations weren’t met like this, and it wasn’t money, then……. He didn’t even want to think about it.
“This isn’t money?”
He whispered to Cain again. Cain’s eyelid twitched.
“I simply do as I’m ordered, as you know.”
Damn. It’s not money. And she’s expecting it this much. Ern was at a loss for what to do. At that moment, Udith, unable to wait any longer, approached them with quick strides.
“Ern, why are you standing there? Can’t you see that the Duke and Tan are struggling with the weight?”
Udith pushed Ern aside and stood before the gift box. As she lifted it slightly to help carry it, she froze. The box was light—far too light. Light enough for Udith to lift it herself.
She immediately threw open the box’s lid. Inside the luxurious velvet box lay a single Dress. Not Gold coins, not a certificate of deposit—merely a Dress.
“…The gift came to the wrong place.”
“No, it arrived in the right place, precisely as intended…….”
At Cain’s response, Udith collapsed to the ground like someone who had lost her kingdom.
“They say there’s not a soul in this world to trust, but even the Emperor has proven untrustworthy.”
“That is a rather presumptuous remark, my lady.”
“Keep quiet, Duke. The way I feel right now, I’d commit treason a dozen times over.”
* * *
“They say Ern has a weakness for his wife. And she’s been struggling alone to pay off her debts. So tell me, Duke—how would you move Ern in these circumstances?”
“Take his wife hostage and use her to control Ern, Your Majesty.”
“Aide, I asked the Duke, not you. And that’s precisely why Ern can barely restrain himself from devouring you whole. But Duke, if we’re to move Ern through his wife—what would be the best approach?”
The Emperor posed a question whose answer was already decided. Cain, as a subordinate, had no choice but to respond.
“The Countess of Rainhardt is desperately scraping together gold to repay her enormous loan debt. We should exploit this desire of hers to move Ern.”
Catch the Followers, and he would repay Udith’s debts—that was the idea. The Emperor grasped his meaning and issued his decree accordingly.
“When the headquarters of the Followers is destroyed root and branch, we shall repay all of the Rainhardt family’s debts in full.”
“What?”
Ern’s brow furrowed sharply. Why was the Emperor so desperate to use him? He’d even saved the Empress’s life, and this was the gratitude he received.
“Setting that aside—but what’s this reward? Just a dress?”
Ern stared from a distance at Udith with a hollow expression, holding her liquor bottle as she drank in his stead.
“There should be at least one jewel, even if not gold coins.”
“He said we’ll receive it all at once once the Followers’ headquarters is captured.”
The Emperor had deliberately substituted gold coins with a dress, reasoning that Ern would only move if cornered further.
“So please don’t be too disheartened, madam. This dress is genuinely quite expensive.”
Cain laughed awkwardly, gazing at Udith. But she only returned his gaze with eyes full of betrayal. Such a fine dress was utterly useless to her. She had no galas to attend—what good was a fancy gown with all its frills and flounces? She couldn’t make scented candles in it, couldn’t clean the shop properly in it.
Because it was a gift from the Emperor, she couldn’t simply sell it. It only took up space. Only space.
“You’ll repay all of my debts when the Followers’ headquarters is destroyed?”
“Yes, madam. Surely that’s far better than receiving a few gold coins immediately, wouldn’t you say?”
“Better? How is it better when we don’t even know where their headquarters is? And when could we possibly catch them? I’ll have settled all my debts long before then!”
At least with Loam’s gang, there’d been some information that they were hiding in the Capital, making it relatively easier to capture them. But the Followers’ headquarters—there wasn’t a single clue as to where they’d gone to ground. They could be anywhere in this vast Empire. It was like searching for a needle in a desert.
“So you won’t do it?”
“……I suppose I have no choice but to.”

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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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