I Became the Wife of the Hero Who Killed Me - Chapter 102

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Episode 102

 

Mariana was the first to notice something was wrong with Joseph.

 

At first, she thought he was simply whining, but when the child’s face turned pale, she instinctively screamed.

 

“Joseph? What’s wrong all of a sudden, Joseph?!”

 

“…!”

 

Countless gazes, including mine as I had been listlessly chewing bread, instantly focused on the young prince.

 

Anyone could see this was no ordinary situation.

 

The Empress’s ladies-in-waiting sitting in the back turned pale and shouted.

 

“It’s poisoning!! Seal the chapel. The culprit must not escape!”

 

“I’ll bring the imperial physician immediately.”

 

“Your Majesty the Empress! Your Highness the Prince! Are you alright?!”

 

Startled awake, I hurriedly looked around at the seat next to me.

 

Joseph’s complexion was pale, so something was definitely wrong. But if it were poisoning, the Empress, Rosalind, and I should have been affected too.

 

Usually during communion, the priest distributes the bread one by one directly.

 

But this was the Imperial Palace with only women of high status present, so to prevent incidents like poisoning, the distinguished guests chose their own bread.

 

It was a measure to prevent anyone from predicting who would take which piece of bread.

 

“No, it’s not poisoning!”

 

“Elisia?”

 

“His airway is blocked. His mouth is open but there’s no sound of breathing!”

 

Mariana, who had fallen into a half-panic state, finally let out a scream.

 

Poisoning would have been a problem too, but if it was airway obstruction, there wasn’t even time to wait for the imperial physician.

 

Even a few minutes’ delay would mean losing her beloved child.

 

She began frantically pounding the child’s chest.

 

“Come to your senses. Please, mother is here. Not like this, it can’t be!!”

 

“Kgh―”

 

But contrary to his mother’s pleas, Joseph couldn’t make any sound after that small death rattle.

 

It had already been over a minute since his airway was blocked. How much longer could this small child hold on?

 

There was no more time to think.

 

I shouted at the Empress who had completely lost her composure.

 

“I’ll do it! Hold Joseph upright and lean his upper body forward slightly!”

 

I had never done it myself, but I remembered learning it from the Monk.

 

I quickly removed the child’s jacket, leaving only his thin shirt. I located his shoulder blades and struck hard upward at the center with the heel of my palm.

 

“Elisia, what are you doing?!”

 

“Don’t let go. One more time!”

 

If back blows didn’t work, the next step would be abdominal thrusts.

 

I really wasn’t confident about the latter, so hoping this would solve it, I struck Joseph’s back hard upward once more.

 

“Cough, kgh!”

 

Joseph coughed violently and finally spat out the chunk of bread.

 

As what was blocking his airway disappeared, the child gasped violently for breath, then began trembling and crying.

 

Fortunately, his pale complexion completely returned to normal.

 

Confirming this, Mariana threw aside the Empress’s dignity and knelt on the floor. Then she pulled her young son into her arms.

 

“Oh, God!”

 

“Ugh! Mother, waaah!”

 

“I’m sorry, Joseph. Mother, mother was wrong…”

 

How much time had passed?

 

The Imperial Physicians who had rushed over in haste examined the condition of Joseph, who had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

 

Among them were men as well, but unlike during the day, no one blamed them.

 

It was because Mariana’s heartfelt tears had moved the hearts of the women watching.

 

Soon, the physicians who had finished their examination reported to the Empress.

 

“Fortunately, he was not poisoned. The Duchess of Lombard’s judgment was correct.”

 

“We must continue to monitor his progress, but thanks to the Duchess’s quick response, there shouldn’t be any lasting effects.”

 

“Ah, thank goodness…”

 

Mariana, who had been tense the entire time, finally let out a long sigh of relief.

 

After sending the sleeping child and the physicians back to the Palace first, she carefully took my hand.

 

“Thank you, Elisia. You saved me.”

 

“…”

 

“Joseph is a child as precious as my own life. If I had lost that child, I wouldn’t have been able to live any longer.”

 

“What I did wasn’t much. Joseph endured well on his own.”

 

“There’s so much I want to talk about with you. But we’ll have to save our long conversation for later.”

 

The hall was still in commotion.

 

Since the incident had happened at the Head Table, everyone had witnessed this disturbance clearly.

 

Mariana let out a quiet sigh, arranged her disheveled hair, wiped her wet eyes, then went around the hall to calm the atmosphere.

 

She began comforting those who had been startled by Joseph’s emergency one by one.

 

With Mariana’s composed handling, the commotion quickly subsided.

 

And by the time all the interrupted ceremonies were finished, dawn was already breaking.

 

‘Isabella!!’

 

I had been delayed because the Empress had kept me for so long.

 

Despite all the universe’s interference, I couldn’t give up my desire to connect with her, so I hurried outside.

 

But the area around the Temple, including the Chapel, was already completely empty.

 

As I stared blankly at that scene, I was suddenly overwhelmed with sadness.

 

‘What a hard-won opportunity this was…’

 

The chance to build a personal friendship with Isabella La Perang, whom I loved, respected, and admired most in the world after my parents, had slipped away.

 

If I hadn’t helped the Empress from the beginning.

 

If I hadn’t, I might have been able to sit next to Isabella all day, have conversations, and leave a good impression on her.

 

We might have even developed into a relationship where we exchanged letters asking after each other’s well-being every year!

 

She was famous for avoiding High Society unless it was an important ceremony like today, so I didn’t know when I might meet her again.

 

Perhaps during my entire stay in the Imperial Capital…

 

‘No. Still, I saved a child thanks to this, so it’s fine.’

 

I’m about to return to Lombard anyway, so what does the Empress’s favor matter?

 

But because I was sitting right next to Joseph, I was able to immediately notice something was wrong with him.

 

If I had been sitting far away, I wouldn’t have noticed his breathing had stopped, and something truly terrible could have happened.

 

‘If I think of this as God’s will to save a life…’

 

Even as I muttered this, I kept rubbing my eyes that were burning for no reason.

 

A heavy jacket settled over my shoulders.

 

“Elisia, are you alright?”

 

Edwin was looking down at me with a worried expression.

 

Despite my exhaustion, I asked in surprise.

 

“Why are you here, Edwin?”

 

“I heard something happened during the holy communion. I thought Elisia must have been very shocked, so I couldn’t just sit still.”

 

“You came out right after hearing that news? But the ceremony was delayed for quite a while…”

 

The Marian consecration ceremony ends around the time the morning star rises in the night sky.

 

But now the sun was rising instead of the morning star, which meant Edwin had been standing outside for at least several hours.

 

I was even more surprised and touched his cheek.

 

“You’re so cold! Even though it’s spring, dawn is still chilly…”

 

“Elisia seems to sometimes forget where I’m from. A mere southern breeze is hardly worth calling cold.”

 

“…”

 

“Rather, I’m worried about Elisia. It must have been very difficult, wasn’t it?”

 

It was just an ordinary phrase.

 

It must have been very difficult.

 

It was really nothing special, but at that moment the dam of emotions burst and a tear rolled down my cheek.

 

Edwin carefully wiped my wet cheek with a calm expression.

 

But despite his efforts to wipe them away, tears flowed down again.

 

“Yes, it was difficult…”

 

Everything else was fine. It was all manageable.

 

If the Emperor got petty and angry about embarrassing the Protocol Minister, I could just flee to the Northern Region.

 

Even an Emperor couldn’t kill his nephew without any justification.

 

As for Isabella, while staying at the Imperial Court, I might be able to look for another opportunity through Caterina.

 

This was because Isabella’s maternal grandmother was from House of Pavia.

 

But when young Joseph’s breathing was fading—

 

What if I couldn’t save this child? What if I couldn’t rescue that young boy who had opened his eyes wide with delight at just a simple shadow puppetry?

 

I desperately struck his back, reviewing the movements I had learned from Filio dozens, hundreds of times in my mind during that short time.

 

The tension from that moment came rushing back belatedly.

 

“It was really difficult…”

 

“Shh, it’s alright now.”

 

Everything was in chaos.

 

Swept up in an unidentifiable emotion mixed with exhaustion and relief, I fell into Edwin’s embrace and silently soaked his chest.

 

Edwin held me like that for a long time without saying anything.

 

And when he saw signs that I was calming down, he spoke in a calm voice.

 

“Oh, come to think of it, I ran into Marquise Ferang. Before Elisia came out.”

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