I Became the Wife of the Hero Who Killed Me - Chapter 170

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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 170
“You really are a fool. What do you think you are to me…….”
Pitiful. Heartbreaking.
The Grand Lord of the Northern Region—master of vast territories—was on his knees before a commoner woman, begging for love like a child.
Silent tears streaming down my face, I brushed my fingers against Edwin’s cheek.
I pulled him toward me before he could bow his head further, trapping him in shame, and held his gaze steady on those wavering golden eyes.
‘Yes. These eyes.’
When I was reborn in Elisia’s body and first saw Edwin, I had wanted to kill him—wanted it so badly it burned.
I wanted revenge proportionate to every ounce of pain he’d caused me. Nothing more, nothing less.
But why had that hatred vanished so quickly?
Why had I fallen so easily in love with this man who bore the name and face of my enemy?
It was because Edwin had looked at me this way from the beginning.
The window to his soul had gazed at me with such desperate longing.
“I’m sorry……. Elze, I’m so sorry. For loving you when I have no right to…….”
“You’ve always looked at me with these same eyes. How could I have been so blind?”
You could never have betrayed me.
“Forgive me for misunderstanding. I should have trusted you to the end, but instead I hated you enough to die.”
“No. You’re not the one who should apologize. You’re not the sinner who must bear all of this.”
…….
I traced my fingers endlessly across Edwin’s tear-stained face.
The knot of trauma that had festered in my chest for so long, tormenting me, began to dissolve slowly, melting away with the tears.
That wound which had always sat heavy at the core of my being.
The painful memory I’d been too afraid to face directly, always running from it.
“You asked me to forgive you. If that’s not possible, then at least pity me.”
…….
Edwin lowered his head as if uncertain of his worth.
Unable to meet my eyes, he pressed his lips together like a sinner awaiting judgment.
“You were everything to me once. So when I learned you’d betrayed me, it felt as though my entire life had been negated. Even in death, I couldn’t forgive you.”
“Elze…….”
I thought of what Edwin had been to me in that past life.
Unthinkable presumption.
Honestly, I can’t say I felt no romantic affection for him.
But whenever that feeling stirred, I clung to reasons why I shouldn’t love him, like a charm to ward off evil.
Because there was nothing more foolish, more wretched, than a lowborn commoner harboring feelings for the Grand Lord of the North.
I repeated to myself countless times that this feeling was friendship—admiration for my lord. Nothing more.
“But now my heart won’t hide itself anymore. Even knowing you’re as distant as heaven itself, I kept wanting more. And I realized I wanted to become your true wife.”
Edwin, who had been staring downward in despair, lifted his head in shock.
I brushed the tears from his cheek and spoke each word with careful deliberation.
“Listen to me, Edwin. This isn’t pity. This isn’t sympathy. I have loved you again, even in this rebirth. I had no choice. You said I was your sun, but the truth is—you were the brightest light in my world.”
“That can’t be right. I’m…….”
“So stop running now. For my sake, who loves you—please, forgive yourself.”
I kissed his trembling lips.
Edwin’s eyes welled with tears, as though none of this could be real, and beads fell steadily from his cheeks.
Our first kiss as Elze and Edwin tasted of salt.
“I don’t think I can bear another woman at your side anymore. So you’d better behave from now on.”
“W-what, Elze?”
“Don’t smile like that, fool. You’re mine for life now.”
“I like it. Keep me forever.”
I rose to my feet, taking his remaining hand as if to seal the promise with action.
I cast one last glance around the barren underground dungeon.
Though I had roamed freely through both the Northern Region and the Imperial Capital, my memory—my very soul—had always been chained to this cramped cell.
Bound by invisible shackles, unable to move, no matter how desperately I struggled.
“Let’s leave the past here.”
“Do you think we can…….”
Edwin’s expression darkened with regret and self-reproach as he looked back at the prison.
He too had been confined to this narrow space his entire life.
The moment I steeled my resolve and began to lead Edwin beyond the iron bars—
He stepped in front of me.
“It could be dangerous. Let me go first.”
“It’s fine.”
“The Gateway has a will of its own. If we escape this place, there’s no telling what will happen.”
“The Gateway? What do you mean all of a—”
Edwin seemed to understand exactly where this extraordinary place was.
His eyes, fixed on the darkness beyond the iron bars, had hardened with tension.
Yet perhaps it was only my imagination.
From the moment Edwin burst in, this space—which had felt like a terrible hell—now seemed warm and merciful, like the arms of God.
I thought I understood why.
“With you beside me, I’m no longer afraid of anything.”
“…….”
“I’ll leave the old wounds here, and move forward into the future with you.”
Edwin, nodding softly as he looked at me, gripped my hand even more tightly.
We stepped out together beyond the iron bars.
At the far end of the darkness, brilliant light flooded our vision.
* * *
Public sentiment in the Imperial Capital had grown turbulent.
Word had spread that the Northern Wall had collapsed and the Duke and his wife caught up in the catastrophe had vanished.
Upon learning this, the citizens gathered in the Plaza Before Imperial Palace and raised their voices day after day, demanding that Lombard dispatch relief forces.
The crowd filling the plaza swelled with each passing hour.
Nigel slammed his desk irritably as he listened to the roar outside his window.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!!”
“…….”
At the Emperor’s outburst, his attendants bowed their heads in unison.
From all accounts, the probability of the Duke and his wife returning alive was nearly zero, and worse still, there was no heir to succeed them—which meant Lombard would now face complete collapse.
So too would the Pro-Lombard Faction that had followed them.
Yet despite everything unfolding as he had wished, Nigel’s mood had plummeted.
‘Damn it. They’re ignoring me outright.’
The nobles, who had watched his every move, had finally begun to act.
The Great Lords of the Central Region, who were close to Elisia, had rapidly dispatched relief forces to Lombard, and even those nobles without private armies packed supplies and sent them north in abundance.
Moreover, whether by some secret pact with Arzenbach or not, the Holy Capital had mobilized a massive fleet and transported Holy Knights upon it.
In short, the entire Continent was moving as one for Lombard’s sake.
But what disturbed him most was an urgent report that had arrived from Pavia.
[Princess Katerina has occupied the Capital of Pavia and the Royal Palace.
Immediate measures are required.]
Katerina, backed by the fierce support of her people, advanced with unstoppable momentum.
Karl II, the tyrannical king who had usurped his sister’s throne, was dragged to the plaza by an enraged mob and vanished like morning dew upon the executioner’s block.
Queen Rosalind, who had wielded merciless tyranny, met the same fate.
After Katerina reclaimed the throne, she ordered a comprehensive investigation, and in the course of it, all the atrocities Rosalind had committed at Nigel’s command were laid bare.
But most devastating was the revelation of who had masterminded the terrorist Bowman who had destroyed the Northern Wall.
He had desperately tried to prevent this information from spreading throughout the Empire, yet he could not know how long the dam would hold.
‘Blast it.’
Nigel was cornered.
His fatal miscalculation had been never imagining, even in his wildest dreams, that the common people would dare to drag down the Royal Family itself.
For Nigel, the deaths of Karl II and Rosalind were no different from humanity piercing the neck of a god and dragging it down to earth.
It was an unprecedented event—one that overturned the very foundations of his understanding.
He could never accept it.
Born at the apex of power, Nigel had mastered Imperial Studies and political strategy, yet he had failed to grasp the most essential truth: that a lord’s power flows from the support of his people.
Then a close associate burst in from outside.
“Your Majesty! Dire news, sire. Broadsheets and pamphlets about the situation in Pavia have appeared all over the Imperial Capital!”

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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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