I Picked Up My Amnesic Ex-Husband - Chapter 2

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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 after he lost his memory.
Chapter 2

1. Everything has its season.

A fantasy bestseller that found popularity in a certain platform’s fantasy category and became a hit.
To summarize the content briefly:
The Crown Prince, who is the protagonist of the work, pretends to be an irresponsible wastrel to hide his true identity and solves extraordinary incidents occurring throughout the Empire in this episodic novel.
In the early chapters he resolves incidents caused by demons, but later the work reaches its first turning point when a backstory arc explains why the protagonist hides his identity and began these activities.
The incidents themselves were entertaining, but what made it worthwhile to follow was the precarious tightrope the protagonist walked between the wastrel-acting Crown Prince and the outlaw “Leon” who appears only at night. This kind of thrill is what makes slice-of-life stories compelling in the first place.
The problem was that the content, masquerading as slice-of-life, began to shift genres after it passed the hundred-chapter mark. What started lightly became a story that made readers tear their hair out over the developments from the midpoint onward.
I was one of those suffering readers.
Still, fortunately the original recently concluded, and after reading even the side stories, I closed the book having declared it a beautiful ending.
Fortunately, it seemed the cliché about not remembering the original work’s content didn’t apply to me. Of course, knowing that didn’t solve the problem.
First, I had to grapple with the fact that my family maintained close ties with the Jerban Duchy, which was one of the shadow puppeteers behind all these incidents. In other words, it meant my house would be ruined eventually.
No matter how trendy reincarnating into villain families is these days—did I really need to be this buried in clichés?
Well, at least I’m not a slave. I should look on the bright side. Coming into a world without serfs or slaves is fortune enough, if anything is.
“W-well, I need a bit more time to think…….”
As I hummed and pondered, a faint sound reached my ears. Just as I held my breath at the neat, measured footsteps that spoke to someone’s character, a figure entered through the open door.
A handsome man with pitch-black hair and cold-looking golden eyes stopped in the doorway and looked down at me. We exchanged glances in silence.
The pristine Official Uniform and Cloak trimmed with gold thread suited this astonishingly beautiful man perfectly. Though the novel’s description said he usually wore black clothes.
I lifted the Bridal Veil that had been covering my face and offered an awkward greeting to my new groom—the man who had become my husband mere moments ago.
“Ah, good evening?”
Yes, the real problem was this man standing before me.
Kaien de Siegfried Elysion, the Grand Duke.
The protagonist’s uncle and an aide who had been active since the story’s beginning—a capable and cold-blooded man. In this novel where the Crown Prince’s popularity was overwhelming, he was also my favorite character.
A cool golden gaze turned toward me. Since it had been that way from our first meeting, I wasn’t newly wounded by it.
I knew he bore me no particular ill will. Plainly speaking, why would he harbor any resentment toward a woman he’d only met a handful of times?
It was my family that was the problem.
Even after I greeted him, the man didn’t budge. He neither returned my salutation nor stepped any closer. Uncomfortable though the silence was, I pressed forward.
“Um…….”
“Wendy Remea Dermis.”
His voice, speaking my name slowly, was unutterably refined. It suited him perfectly too.
“How old are you?”
“I turned twenty-one two months ago.”
Betrothed at eighteen, married at last after waiting a full three years. My father, the Grand Duke, had even forced this through when it threatened to be delayed further.
He couldn’t possibly not know my age. As expected, the real point followed.
“Then you are old enough to understand this is nothing more nor less than a union between houses.”
I smiled awkwardly even at this stern warning.
Of course I understood. I’d known about the Political Marriage my family had forced through before my memories returned.
Though I’d only learned just now that it had been clinched using medicine to save a fever-stricken young Crown Prince as bait.
“Live as though dead. I shall extend you the minimum courtesies.”
Don’t expect to fulfill marital duties, in other words. That’s how I was meant to interpret it.
“Then——”
“Wait!”
The man, who had begun to turn and leave, paused at my call. I met his blank stare steadily and unflinchingly.
“Your Grace, would it be too forward to ask just one question?”
“What is it?”
I drew a light breath before speaking.
“What exactly do you mean by living quietly, as though dead?”
“……I beg your pardon?”
“Is it enough if I simply don’t catch your eye? Or must I abstain from all involvement in the Grand Duke’s Residence’s affairs? I suppose I’d need to leave the house together with you for outside engagements? If you gave me a week’s notice, that would work fine.”
Though this is my first marriage in both my past and present lives, I knew well enough that between nobles, marriage carried its own set of obligations.
Father had ordered me to actively use my wife’s privileges to spy on the Grand Duke’s household, but naturally I had no intention of obeying—I’d rather have done the opposite.
“Ah, do you provide a stipend for appearances? I don’t need a large budget, but I’d like to be able to afford a dress or two each month.”
Besides, I’d worked as an accountant at a company back when I was Joo Ha-yeon, so financial matters were never something I could overlook. After all, if you want to make any sort of plan, money is absolutely essential.
When I thought about it, my family had already transferred a substantial estate as my dowry, so raising funds shouldn’t prove too difficult.
Still, it was better to extract as much as I could while I had the chance.
“How often would be appropriate for me to go out? I rather enjoy wandering around, so if you’re uncomfortable with it, you can assign as many guards as you like!”
The moment I realized I’d been chattering away, I noticed Kaien de Siegfried Elysion watching me intently and felt my cheeks warm.
Oh no—had I been talking too carelessly?
“……In public, I shall treat you as my wife. Otherwise, I’d prefer we not cross paths unnecessarily. As for your allowance, I’ll have the steward draw up an account. Your living expenses won’t be strained.”
“…….”
You may venture out as you wish, provided you don’t leave the Grand Duke’s Domain and take at least three knights with you.”
Watching him answer my questions methodically, I felt both amazed and reminded of why I’d come to care for him in the first place.
He was taciturn and sparse with words, yet he’d always placed his nephew, the Crown Prince, at the forefront of his concerns. He was rigorous in all things and cold to his enemies, but he never treated people with emotional caprice.
“Bear in mind that the Grand Duke’s Residence is fundamentally removed from luxury, so be mindful of that.”
As if he were warning me not to even dream of embezzlement. Of course, I nodded without hesitation.
“Of course, and…….”
“Speak.”
“What should I call you?”
“…….”
“Should I just keep calling you ‘Your Grace’ as I have been? Oh, and you can call me whatever feels comfortable—Wendy is fine, or you can call me madam.”
I’d have wanted to call him by his given name, but it was clear he wouldn’t permit it.
“As things stand now is sufficient.”
“Understood, Your Grace. And one more thing.”
“What else remains?”
“I just wanted to say—thank you for being so considerate.”
I smiled softly while still holding the bridal veil, and the man’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“You…….”
Kaien de Siegfried Elysion’s lips moved as if he were about to say something, but in the end, he simply turned his back to me. The sound of his footsteps receding from the bedchamber grew steadily fainter.
I’d been rejected on my wedding night, but strangely, I felt relieved. Right now, I needed time to sort through these impossible memories and devise a plan.
One night would be enough.
“Phew. What a mess, really!”
Only then did I tear the bridal veil from my head and strip off my dress without ceremony before stretching out across the spacious bed, limbs splayed.
My gaze fixed blankly on the pristine canopy above while my mind churned in confused tangles.
Wendy Remea Dermis. To be honest, there’s no record of that name in the original work.
It couldn’t be otherwise—”How to Live as a Foolish Crown Prince” doesn’t begin until ten years from now…….
According to the original plot, I’m a character who dies three years from now.

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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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