I Became the Wife of the Hero Who Killed Me - Chapter 8

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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 8

I thought it would take at least a few hours to assess the damage, but how much time had passed that he was already coming outside?

‘He’s not planning to scold me, is he?’

Finding fault with things like the disaster response not being handled properly or something being inadequate.

Looking at his bewildered expression upon discovering me, it doesn’t seem like that’s the case.

If that were really the case, I was prepared to show him the most legendary level of wickedness that would go down in Lombard history.

“The disaster response was handled well. There was hardly anything for me to instruct separately.”

“Is that so.”

“This time, I’m indebted to you, madam.”

“…Wait a moment.”

I thought I had just heard something wrong, so I poked at my ear.

But the sound I heard remained clear, and when the Duke’s expression twisted upon receiving my gaze, it became certain that it wasn’t a hallucination.

He was speaking while making a face as if he didn’t want to acknowledge it.

I found myself muttering without realizing it.

“Why is Your Grace praising my hard work? That’s not like you at all.”

“Being indebted is being indebted. If you hadn’t happened to stop by here, the damage would have been much greater.”

“…”

I couldn’t continue speaking at his unexpectedly honest answer.

Thanks to that, in the somewhat awkward silence, the Duke who avoided my gaze cleared his throat awkwardly.

Then he immediately changed his expression.

“I’ll finish the remaining work on my end. So there’s no reason for you to stay here any longer.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean you should return to the castle first.”

The Duke’s expression as he gestured toward the exit was resolute. It was a face that wouldn’t accept any objection, as if the subtle atmosphere from earlier had been my imagination.

Business is business and personal is personal.

It seemed like he was drawing a line, worried that I might misunderstand and cling to him like the real Elisia would.

‘Who’s going to cling to you? You’re quite delusional.’

As I was inwardly scoffing, I felt subtle gazes from around me.

To see off me, the Duchess, everyone who had struggled together at the clinic, including the monks and nuns, had all come out.

‘Did I show my displeasure too obviously…?’

A newly married ducal couple moving separately was not good for the family’s reputation.

It was no different from exposing the disgrace of discord both internally and externally.

Moreover, conflict between the lord and his wife could increase the anxiety of the territory residents just from the rumors alone.

So I made an effort to act regretful.

“It’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped. I’ll go in first, so take your time with your work.”

“You were really waiting for me when I thought that couldn’t be possible?”

I was making an effort to act while being conscious of the surrounding gazes, but the Duke looked at me as if I were crazy and added with a disgusted expression.

“This kind of obsession is a bit burdensome.”

“Huh?”

“To think you would personally wait for me in this cold weather, it was good that I came out to check just in case. If you had frozen to death outside, even I would have had difficulty avoiding the Imperial Palace’s censure.”

What kind of nonsense is this?

If I played along appropriately, he should have understood appropriately too, but what is he greatly misunderstanding again!

I immediately changed my words.

“No, no, unfortunately I wasn’t waiting for Your Grace. I have other company.”

“Hmm?”

The Duke still looked down at me with suspicious eyes.

Of course, the knights standing behind him were the same.

As a common citizen, I was a bit intimidated but tried to act nonchalant as I mumbled an answer.

“I was waiting for Count Baron.”

“Count Baron, you say.”

“…”

“Your taste is like that… uh, hmm, well then.”

I thought he would tactfully back off by now, but the Duke touched his chin with a somewhat confused face and came up with this dog-like answer.

I could even feel a somewhat pitying emotion in the way he looked at me!

‘What is it, what kind of misunderstanding is he having right now?!’

Unless his eyes were attached to the soles of his feet, where exactly could he find charm in Count Baron!

This was a tremendous insult to my eyes.

I absolutely couldn’t stand it. Just as I was about to firmly protest to the Duke about his recent insult.

“Madam, if you don’t want the Baron to suddenly disappear from this world one day, wouldn’t it be better to exercise restraint?”

“…”

“I’m telling you to think about your reputation.”

At this unprecedented nonsense, I was once again left speechless.

I looked up at the Duke with the meaning of protesting how far he intended to insult my eyes, but he didn’t withdraw his pitying gaze toward me.

I quietly turned around.

‘Fine, what’s the point of getting involved with such a person.’

It wasn’t because even the knights were looking at me with sympathetic eyes. It was because I felt no need to bother talking with the Duke.

Really.

Anyway, receiving everyone’s disgusted gazes, I climbed into the carriage, abandoning not only the Duke but also Count Baron who was approaching as if it were natural.

* * *

As the Duchess’s carriage moved away from the monastery, the Duke’s eyes, which had been quietly watching its retreating figure, hardened coldly.

“Monastery Head Filio.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Monastery Head Filio, who had come out to see off the Duchess, bowed his head.

The Duke recited without giving him a single glance.

“Tell me everything that happened today.”

“Everything… you say?”

“From the moment the Duchess set foot in this place, without missing a single detail.”

The Elderly Monk had lived his entire life serving people according to God’s will.

Thus, he had thought he had learned how to read people’s hearts in his own way.

But right now, Filio couldn’t read anything from the Duke’s eyes.

It felt like facing a pitch-black forest.

* * *

It was late at night.

Under the dim lamp of the clinic, hushed voices echoed.

“Phew, we finally caught our breath.”

“I’ve never seen such a big accident since I was born. Patients kept pouring in without a break, and I was so scared my body stiffened on its own.”

Those having the conversation were workers from the clinic.

They had been running around since daytime without eating properly and only now had a chance to sit down.

Even so, instead of resting, they were busy sharing thoughts they had held in all day.

“Without that woman, it would have been difficult to handle properly.”

“I hate to admit it, but thanks to her we survived. She immediately supplied the lacking medicine and medical equipment, and most importantly, she brought those physicians from the inner castle walls. Those arrogant noble gentlemen who won’t even listen to orders from the Castle Keep.”

“I agree. That was really amazing.”

It still felt like being under some kind of spell.

Normally, they would never have followed orders from such a woman, even if it killed them.

But today was different. My body moved on its own according to that woman’s commands.

“Doesn’t it seem strange somehow? It’s completely different from the rumors.”

“For it to be just idle gossip, her misdeeds were supposedly terrible…”

“But strangely enough, I’d say she’s actually decent. She acts up all she wants, but when you listen to what she says, it’s all so reasonable that you find yourself oddly convinced.”

This was exactly the problem.

Seeing her spout unheard-of profanities without hesitation, her foul personality was certain, but if you listened carefully to the substance of her words, they were so reasonable that there was nothing to criticize.

It meant that even when cursed at, we didn’t feel particularly bad.

“That woman even… shed tears when she saw the dying miners.”

“What?”

“I definitely saw it. That woman secretly wiping her eyes while making donations. She looked deeply sorrowful and grief-stricken.”

“Come to think of it, when Thomson spat at her, instead of getting angry, she calmly tended to the other patients.”

The more we thought about it, the more incomprehensible it all was.

That woman performed good deeds without showing off in the slightest.

She was completely different from other noble ladies of territories who tried to build good reputations and impressions as mistresses.

Why was that?

‘Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.’

Suddenly, a passage from scripture flashed through everyone’s minds.

“But still!”

“I really don’t know. But I’m starting to think she’s not as worthless as the rumors say.”

“Actually, I also…”

The workers confessing one by one looked embarrassed.

It was a moment when they felt ashamed of having gossiped based solely on rumors.

“If anyone speaks ill of her, I should set them straight. Her mouth is fouler than the rumors, but her heart is surprisingly kind.”

“Alright, I have some shame too.”

“I hope we can be of some help to her.”

It was the moment when their way of addressing Elisia changed from ‘that woman’ to ‘the lady with a foul mouth but a strangely warm heart.’

* * *

After returning from the monastery, I collapsed into bed that very day.

Due to muscle pain, I couldn’t take a single step outside the bed, and in the middle of the night I even developed a fever, causing House Lombard’s personal physician to come and go.

To end up like this after just one day of work – what an inefficient body this was.

“Hah, I thought I was going to die.”

By the time I finally felt somewhat better, several days had passed.

I blinked vacantly while looking out the window. A snowstorm was raging, turning the entire world pure white.

‘In the past, I would have been mobilized to clear snow, shoveling from dawn.’

Now I was lying in a soft bed, hugging a warm hand warmer.

My changed circumstances felt both unfamiliar and blissful.

‘I wonder if the injured miners are okay?’

I was about to close my eyes to sleep more, but for some reason all sorts of random thoughts began floating around in my head.

The sight of the injured collapsed on the floor groaning, the treatment center that was no better than ruins, and the inner wall physicians who only watched my mood.

‘Those physician bastards… surely they didn’t run away when I wasn’t looking?’

The fact that it wasn’t impossible made me even more irritated.

Even when mine accidents happened in the past, I had sent cooperation requests multiple times in the name of the castle keep, but everyone was busy trying to avoid responsibility.

There was no guarantee this time would be any different.

‘I really should go there myself and give them hell—’

I was startled by my own thoughts and shook my head.

Let’s not think about it anymore. It has nothing to do with me now.

I’m just going to laze around and eat. I’ll empty my brain and enjoy only irresponsible pleasures like an idiot!

…Having made that resolution, I ruffled my hair and shouted irritably.

“Damn it, I need to go out! Prepare the carriage!”

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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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