I Picked Up My Amnesic Ex-Husband - Chapter 15
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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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I picked up my ex-husband, who had lost his memory.
Chapter 15
The girl described in the novel had wavy purple hair, certainly. Her eyes without pupils suggested something devoid of reason—a form close to a true monster.
Yet the girl before me now didn’t look ominous at all. If anything, she seemed as delicate as a feather. One touch and I wondered if she might crumble.
Though wrapped so tightly by the tree that she couldn’t move, the girl’s expression with her eyes closed was gentle and serene. As if the tree were protecting her, rather than binding her.
“Mm, mmm…….”
Could I just leave her and go?
Fretting and deliberating, I drew closer to the Sacred Tree. That’s when my foot caught on a root hidden beneath the grass.
“Ack!”
I let out a pathetic cry and fell flat on my face. Fortunately I caught myself on my hands, but my scraped fingers stung terribly against the rough bark.
“Ow, ow…….”
As I grimaced and tried to push myself up, a brilliant light flashed above my head. The moment I looked up, I gasped.
“Huh?”
The vines wrapping around the girl began to glow, then grew thin like frayed rope before snapping clean. The small body they’d bound came tumbling through the air toward the ground.
I ran with all my strength and barely caught the girl’s falling body, then rolled with her across the grass.
“Huff, huff. What is this?”
Checking her body for injuries, I found my eyes meeting those of the girl as her lids slowly opened.
The moment I saw those vivid purple irises, a chill ran down my spine. Wait—was this real? Was she really that boss monster?
Had I really just made a massive blunder?!
“Um, well…….”
Unable to form words, I froze as the girl stared at me intently. Then she raised a small, bracken-like hand and grasped my arm before her eyes gently closed again.
I stared at the motionless sleeping child in bewilderment, then carefully lifted the arm she was holding and stopped short.
The scrapes on my palm had vanished.
“Miss! Miss! Where are you—!”
Fiona called desperately for Wendy as she circled through the forest.
The wind had suddenly gusted, and she’d only closed her eyes for a moment—yet Wendy, who’d been walking ahead, had vanished without a trace.
She’d assumed Wendy had simply gone further ahead, but after searching all the usual paths and finding nothing, it was clear something had happened. At the very least, they’d gotten lost.
“Oh, what should I do? Should I tell the master?”
Fiona’s mind conjured the image of a handsome man with a cold expression, and her face fell.
Whatever they said about it being a marriage of political convenience, the Duke and Duchess were hardly close. Nearly three months had passed since the wedding, and Fiona had never once seen the two spend a pleasant evening together.
They hadn’t shared a bed since the first night, and the Duke showed no interest whatsoever in his wife’s daily life. To put it bluntly, they lived like strangers under the same roof.
With a master so cold-hearted, the news of the mistress’s disappearance might merely elicit an indifferent “Is that so?” before he moved on.
Whispers had already begun circulating among the servants and maids, though Fiona always shut down such gossip whenever she heard it.
From the moment she’d become Wendy’s lady’s maid, Fiona had thought her mistress was beautiful and graceful. Her temperament was as warm and tender as her appearance, she was bright and generous, and she was pleasant to serve.
As they said—a handsome apple tastes good too. Serving a mistress both lovely in face and kind in nature was a blessing beyond measure.
Even if she was a bit unusual.
Just then, Fiona spotted a figure approaching in the distance and her eyes went wide. Wendy, seeing Fiona running toward her, tilted her head in confusion.
“Fiona?”
“Miss! Where have you been!”
As Fiona opened her mouth to cry out her relief, she caught sight of the child on Wendy’s back and her eyes widened further.
“My goodness, who is this child?”
A girl in a white one-piece dress that resembled a shimise hung limply across Wendy’s back, sleeping peacefully.
“I don’t know either.”
Wendy’s expression, which was rarely complicated, darkened as she sighed.
“Let’s head back to the Village for now.”
* * *
“There’s no danger to her life. She’s simply sleeping.”
The Physician chuckled softly once his examination was complete. Watching anxiously throughout the consultation, I asked quietly.
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. Once she’s had sufficient rest, she should wake on her own.”
With that, the Physician prepared to send me a simple herbal remedy and kindly explained what food to give the child when she woke, then took his leave.
In the quiet room that had settled into silence, I gazed down at the girl sleeping on the inn bed.
Except for her unusual hair color, the gently breathing girl looked no different from any human child.
Her limbs were intact, her skin warm, and there was nothing about her body that set her apart from ordinary humans.
Was it really true that this child would become that unspeakably malevolent demon beast in the future?
Yet the power that had healed her wound just moments ago was real. The way her palm—which had been scraped raw enough to draw blood—was now so perfectly unmarred proved it.
So, despite my hesitation, I ended up bringing the girl with me. Who knew what would become of her in the future, but for now, she might still just be an ordinary child.
Besides, abandoning such a frail little girl would be unconscionable!
A bitter laugh escaped me as I recalled my time at the Duke’s Residence. Those days when I was scorned precisely because I was too ordinary, unremarkable enough that I drew the finger-pointing of everyone around me.
Even now, I myself am nothing particularly special. Barely more than a minor character whose name never even earned a single line in the original story.
But surely I’m someone who can at least save one small child.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, I gasped in alarm when I found the girl staring directly at me, her eyes wide open.
“Eeek!”
Really, give some warning. Who just opens their eyes like that without any sign?
One thing was certain—this was no ordinary child. I swallowed hard and spoke as gently as I could.
“You… you’re awake?”
As I greeted her awkwardly, the girl’s violet gaze fixed upon my fingers.
“I’m Wendy. What’s your name?”
“……”
“I found you collapsed in the forest and brought you here. Don’t worry, I’m not a suspicious person! What were you doing there? Do you have a guardian?”
“……”
“If you’re hungry, I can get you something to eat. Whatever you like, I’ll have it brought. If you’ve been fasting for a while, maybe some soup would be good.”
I tried talking about this and that, but no reply came back.
But I’m Wendy, married to a man who’s taciturn to the point of being monosyllabic. This much is nothing to me.
“If there’s nothing particular you want to eat, I’ll have them make bean soup. And if you don’t want to talk about why you were there, you don’t have to.”
Honestly, I wasn’t sure I could even handle the reason if she told me.
“Let’s give you some time to regain your strength, and then we can talk things through slowly. Now, let me prepare—”
“Sheri.”
“Hmm?”
Startled by the bell-like clarity of her voice, I paused as the girl added a single word.
“My name.”
“Oh, so your name is Sheri. What a pretty name.”
There was something about this child’s name that even evoked flowers.
“I can’t remember. Any of it.”
With those brief words, the girl fell silent. Her expression seemed confused, so I excused myself, saying I had something to attend to, and left the room.
At times like that, one needs time alone—I understood that well enough!
Thinking back to when my own memories first returned, I was overwhelmed by how far I’d come. Back then, I’d been at a complete loss for how to navigate my situation.
Fiona, who was waiting outside, clenched her hands tightly and spoke.
“How is the girl, my lady?!”
“She woke up just a moment ago. Could you ask the innkeeper to prepare some simple soup and white bread for her?”
“Of course!”
Watching Fiona hurry down the stairs, I couldn’t help but smile. So she had younger siblings around Sheri’s age—it made sense that she’d grown quite concerned.
But that aside.
“…What am I going to do with that girl.”
Leaning against the doorframe, I sank into thought.
I’d taken the child in, yes, but now came the question of what to do going forward.
It was one thing with objects, but people draw attention. A lot of it. Even more so with a child as delicate and distinctive-looking as she was.
And setting aside whether she might become a demon beast, it was clear she possessed some kind of special power.
It was, frankly, a perfect storm of complications.
“If only my circumstances were even slightly better—”
I buried my face in my hands and let out a series of sighs.
Honestly, I was barely managing my own affairs, and I simply didn’t have the capacity to care for this small girl. I didn’t even know what would become of me three years from now.
They say when you adopt an animal, you should think first about whether its caretaker will outlive it. And Sheri wasn’t even an animal.
On top of that, I wasn’t even confident I could properly care for her in my current circumstances.
After all, Kaien and I were only in a temporary truce; I was already well aware that he didn’t welcome me.
And if I tried to bring in a dependent, no doubt he’d regard it with suspicion.
More than anything, if this girl was likely to become a high-tier demon beast in the future, it was dangerous for me—someone with almost no magical knowledge and no power whatsoever—to keep her. I’d have no way to respond if something went wrong.
And so.
“And so.”
The figure in the black cloak inside the inn room lowered his hood and revealed his face. A man with striking blue hair—Ciel—opened his mouth with an astounded expression.
“You’re asking me to take her in, surely you’re not?”
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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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