I Became the Wife of the Hero Who Killed Me - Chapter 53

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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 53

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Early in the morning, I woke up and trudged down to the dining hall.

Since the military camp’s meal time was at 11 AM—they have their first meal after finishing dawn training—it barely matched my wake-up time, saving me from starving.

‘I could have a servant prepare a separate meal for me, but…’

The servants at this military camp wouldn’t look kindly upon me.

Like the time-honored cliché in popular novels, they might secretly spit in my food or sprinkle sand in it, so I thought it would be safer to eat with everyone else in the dining hall.

I had to depart for the castle soon, and I didn’t want to travel that long distance on an empty stomach.

“Madam, your beauty shines even brighter today!”

“Flattery won’t work.”

“Tch.”

Ramon was with me today as well.

It seemed that last evening, the clerk-level knights had kidnapped him, saying they couldn’t just let a high-ranking official like the Administrative Director go, and made him approve all sorts of documents.

Even so, the awkwardness I felt yesterday hadn’t disappeared.

How desperate must I have been to be glad to see that damn Duke.

“Stay right by my side until the moment we leave the military camp. You know what will happen if you go anywhere.”

“Were you that uncomfortable? The great Madam herself?”

“Don’t even mention it. I’m not some plague, yet everyone keeps avoiding me like I’m a germ…”

Ramon tactfully went ahead and opened the dining hall door.

At that very moment, the noisy interior fell silent as if cold water had been poured over it.

Almost every gaze turned toward me.

‘Go ahead and make me eat with uncomfortable stares. I have an ally this time too.’

I lifted my chin proudly.

And as I crossed the dining hall with a nonchalant attitude, the knights who had been frozen like stones belatedly nodded their heads with awkward smiles.

Though I was a bit confused whether they were smiling or baring their teeth threateningly.

“Go, good lunch, Madam.”

“It’s morning right now… Anyway, uh, yes.”

One knight even tactfully pulled out the chair I was about to sit on.

It was still awkward, but the atmosphere was quite different from yesterday.

Ramon, who had been rolling his eyes, whispered secretly.

“I think the meaning of plague is a bit different between you and me, Madam.”

“It’s not.”

The most confused person right now wasn’t Ramon, but me.

Just yesterday they looked like they would chew a person to death raw, but could the atmosphere change this much overnight?

Unless they had some ulterior motive…

‘Ah, could it be that?’

I should have Ramon taste the food first.

I was recalling the old saying about testing even a stone bridge before crossing, when once again, like déjà vu, a long shadow fell over my head.

“Good lunch, my lady.”

“Good morning, Your Grace.”

Despite my gracious correction of the time, the Duke ignored it completely and whispered something to Ramon.

Ramon kept glancing at me, then ultimately abandoned his promise with me and disappeared somewhere.

What a heartless person.

Having sent Ramon far away, the Duke sat at the table with a somehow relieved expression.

“It seems there’s been a problem at the harbor.”

“The harbor… you mean the western one?”

I was sipping warm honey wine when I glanced up at this unexpected news.

The Duke, who was casually resting his chin on his hand, had been staring at me at some point.

Ah, our eyes met.

“I received a report that a landslide has blocked the road from the harbor to Lombard.”

“That’s serious. The envoys sent from the Holy Capital might have arrived…”

“That might be the case.”

The Duke’s gaze remained persistently fixed only on me.

In the end, I was the first to look away.

“So that’s why you sent Sir Ramon?”

“Yes, as the Administrative Director, he’s the right person to solve the problem.”

“…”

“How is your wound?”

Just when his gaze was starting to feel burdensome, the Duke spoke again.

It seemed he was looking at the wound I got from falling yesterday, not at me.

My needlessly tense heart relaxed with relief.

“It’s fine. It wasn’t a big wound to begin with.”

“It might leave a scar.”

“From just this?”

I put down the glass of honey wine I was holding and extended my palm.

Then the Duke silently took my hand in his.

With his large, calloused hand supporting the back of my hand, he gently traced over the wound with his thumb.

It happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to say anything.

“…Ah.”

It seemed the Duke had also grabbed it thoughtlessly without much consideration.

He let out a low groan as if surprised, then slowly withdrew his hand.

From my perspective, even that movement felt eternally long.

“I was trying to examine the condition more closely.”

“It, it’s rude to grab a lady’s hand carelessly, Your Grace.”

“I’ll be careful.”

Did he think I would send word to the Imperial Palace over a slightly scraped palm?

Of course, the original Elisia would have done exactly that and more, but I wasn’t her.

I had no desire to contact the Imperial Court first and get entangled in troublesome affairs.

‘Ah, it’s burning.’

Was it because the Duke had traced the wound? The spot where he had held me felt strangely hot.

As I was fidgeting with my wrist for no reason, I saw knights hesitantly approaching us.

They had very sheepish faces.

“So, sorry for interrupting the good atmosphere.”

“It wasn’t intentional, but the timing just happened to be like this…”

Letting their nonsense go in one ear and out the other, I looked up at the knight in the lead.

It was a familiar face.

“You are?”

“Ah, yes, I was indebted to the Duchess yesterday. Please feel free to call me Stefan.”

It was the knight who had put on an interesting fight show in the central courtyard.

“Nice to meet you. But what brings you here suddenly? Yesterday in the dining hall, you seemed to pretend not to see me.”

“Did such a thing happen?”

The Duke, who had been quiet all along, suddenly interjected out of nowhere.

But since it was bothersome to respond, I decided to just pretend I didn’t hear. The knights would answer for themselves if necessary.

Stefan, receiving both my and the Duke’s gazes simultaneously, immediately dropped to his knees.

“I have no excuse for yesterday’s incident! But today I’ve come with an even more shameless request.”

“Can I refuse before hearing it?”

“Actually, there are mountains of unprocessed administrative documents piled up in the knight order, and we simply cannot solve them on our own… So shamelessly, I would like to ask Madam for approval.”

“Now that I’ve heard it, can I refuse?”

“Please spare us! We do have consciences, so we really, truly only selected the most urgent matters to bring!”

“Brought? What did you bring…?”

No way, right? Surely they wouldn’t use such underhanded tactics as ambushing me in the dining hall?!

But contrary to my hopes, the knights standing around Stefan slyly pulled out documents they had been hiding behind their backs.

Receiving my horrified gaze, they smiled bashfully.

Though to my eyes, they only looked like muscular beasts baring their teeth!!

‘Oh, but it really has been piling up for a while.’

The documents I glimpsed contained proposals regarding budget increases for the Knight Order’s medical expenses.

Looking at the dates, they had been pending for nearly over a year without being processed.

Since the Knight Order was the group defending the Northern Wall, the Castle Administration couldn’t carelessly delay core budgets like weapon maintenance and supplies.

But medical expenses weren’t as urgent as the Northern Wall while simultaneously being less visible to Duke Lombard, making them perfect for behind-the-scenes power struggles.

‘The morale of the military camp would improve if they felt that even injured knights were being protected with utmost care.’

Significantly increasing the number of military doctors, and introducing the latest treatments and medicines popular in the Holy Capital.

Ah, of course I absolutely didn’t want to do anything that would benefit others, but medicine was a separate matter.

It was a matter of human decency, I suppose. Something along those lines…

In the end, I couldn’t resist the temptation and reached out my hand.

“Sir Stefan? I’d like to read through those documents you’re holding.”

“Th-thank you, Madam!”

“I’m only going to read them.”

It was a declaration that would never be fulfilled.

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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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