I Picked Up My Amnesic Ex-Husband - Chapter 3

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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 3

Kaien de Siegfried Elysion.
He had a wife he married ten years ago. She was the daughter of the Dermis Duchy, and he lost her three years into the marriage.
But once a thread of fate has been woven between two people, it’s not easily undone.
Even after his daughter’s death, the Duke of Dermis had persistently sent people to him or tried to cultivate a friendship. In name it was friendship, but in reality it bordered on harassment.
At times he even made remarks and gestures designed to provoke Kaien’s guilt. More than once or twice, Kaien had nearly been dragged into whatever schemes the Duke of Dermis was running, simply because she had been his wife’s family.
Readers who had suffered through this weren’t few in number. All they’d done was criticize—why all this trouble over one dead woman, demanding when this man would finally be dealt with?
Of course, if this were a setting attached to the protagonist, it would have been a scandal. But he wasn’t a main character, was he?
In the novel, that wife was mentioned only to that extent.
A necessary existence for the story’s coherence, yet a useless one—like a chicken rib.
“The problem is that I’m that wife.”
Ha—I let out a hollow laugh and rolled across the bed. The bed was so wide that I could roll from one end to the other at least three times over.
I slowly touched my face with both hands, feeling it carefully. Unlike usual, nothing caught on anything.
When my thoughts had settled, the first impression I’d had surfaced.
“Not needing glasses really is wonderful…”
Remembering the days before, when myopia that had developed since middle school made it difficult to take a single step without them, a sense of awe washed over me.
“I’ll have to treasure these from now on.”
My small, precious eyes—I’ll do my best to see only beautiful and good things. I’ll make sure to eat things that are good for the eyes too.
If they fail even after that, then it’s not my responsibility.
“…But I really don’t understand.”
How did I end up dying?
In the original work, it was only mentioned that the Grand Duke’s wife died young. And all that was described was how much our family tormented the Grand Duke through that connection of being his wife.
Though it was called a terminal condition, to chalk it up to simply catching some illness seemed unlikely—I was in remarkably good health now. I caught a cold maybe once every two years, if that.
If this were reading a novel, the process of deduction would be entertaining. But with my life hanging in the balance, I couldn’t find it amusing.
My frustration leaked out in a constant stream of muttering. Yet somehow, I had to vent this confusion at least a little in order to breathe easier.
Yes, there’s no one around anyway. Even if someone saw me, they’d just think I was mad.
“Maybe there’s some external factor involved after all.”
Could I be poisoned? Food laced with poison, or assassination—that’s possible too. Or maybe something develops suddenly within three years.
Just to be safe, I should ask a physician for an examination later. It could be magical in nature too, so I’ll keep that in mind.
But even if I somehow managed to discover the cause and survive, there was still the most important problem remaining.
However, I was honestly too tired and drowsy to think about it any further.
The exhaustion of rising early for the wedding, dressing up, putting on a heavy gown and jewelry, entering the ceremony hall, and spending the entire day in a flurry of activity came crashing down all at once.
Lying on the plush bed, had my tension finally released once I’d shed the dress?
“Living beautifully really is hard work…”
Muttering worries I’d never once considered back when I was Ju Ha-yeon, I closed my eyes slowly.

“…Ma’am.”
“Mm…”
Something kept nagging at me. Like swatting away a mosquito, I raised my arm slowly to brush it away. But there was nothing to catch.
“Ma’am!”
“…Huh?”
I opened my eyelids sluggishly, and by then, sunlight was streaming through the windows of the now-bright room. The chirping of birds drifted in from far away.
As I turned my head toward the ceiling from where I’d been blankly staring to the left, my eyes met a red-haired woman looking down at me with wide, round eyes.
Blink, blink.
Blink, blink.
We stared at each other as if competing over who blinked less, until finally it was I who opened my mouth first.
“Who… are you?”
“Oh!”
The woman broke into a bright smile, still in that exact posture.
“Good morning, ma’am! I’m Fiona, and I’ve just begun attending to you. I look forward to serving you!”
Her greeting was as cheerful as the sunlight streaming through the window. At that, I finally gathered my wits and sat up in bed.
As I took in the unfamiliar room, the memories of the previous day came flooding back all at once.
The chaotic wedding, the sudden return of memories from my past life, and my cold husband.
Looking at how sleep came to me so easily in that situation, I suppose I’m rather unflappable after all.
“I’m in your hands, then.”
I rubbed my half-open eyes and nodded, and Fiona, quick-witted as ever, asked back.
“Shall I prepare washing water for you?”
“Yes, please. And could you also bring me a change of clothes? We can see to breakfast after that, yes?”
“Of course! Oh, and His Highness had business this morning, so he left early.”
“Did he?”
Leaving for work the day after the wedding—the man was certainly industrious. If it were me, I’d have seized that excuse for at least a week’s rest.
In any case, this worked out well.
“Fiona.”
“Yes!”
I broached the subject lightly.
“Would you mind showing me around the castle?”

After changing into suitable clothes and beginning my tour, I noticed more than a few servants’ eyes lingering on me. But the moment I glanced back, they’d quickly look away and pretend to be occupied with their tasks.
The Grand Duke’s Castle was quite large and beautiful. Then again, the residence of one of the empire’s most powerful men wouldn’t be anything less than grand.
There were an enormous number of rooms, and by rough count, the staff seemed to number well over a hundred.
After thoroughly exploring the castle, I sought out the butler, Ollendo. A man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties, with his hair swept back to reveal a neat forehead, greeted me with utmost courtesy.
“Welcome, madam. Did you sleep well last night?”
“Thank you—I slept most soundly.”
I smiled and replied in kind, and he regarded me with something like bemusement. Indeed, for a bride on her first night, I was rather too spirited.
“His Highness the Grand Duke informed me in advance. Should you require anything at all, please do not hesitate to ask.”
Despite his affable manner of speaking, a hint of caution flickered in his gaze toward me. Of course, I had no intention of causing him trouble, so I got straight to the point.
“Perfect, then! Might I ask for your help right away?”
I clasped my hands together demurely and looked up at him slightly, hoping to appear as composed and ladylike as possible.
“It’s simply this…….”

* * *

“Welcome home, sir.”
Ollendo greeted his master with due ceremony as Kaien returned to the castle after a fortnight away. Taking off his cloak and handing it over, Kaien released the button that had been tight at his throat.
“Did your business conclude successfully?”
“It did.”
Kaien’s cloak bore only the scent of wind—scarcely what one would expect from someone who had just finished settling a localized conflict at the borders of the Grand Duke Territory.
Strictly speaking, it hadn’t been a matter requiring his personal intervention, but any excuse to escape the castle would do.
Whether the duke threw a fit was of no concern to him. All he had promised was marriage to the Dermis Duchy’s daughter; nothing had been stipulated about his conduct thereafter.
Suddenly, Kaien recalled the silver-haired woman who had stared at him so fearlessly. And the shamelessly bold words she had uttered.
Kaien posed the question casually, as if in passing.
“So, how is the woman getting on?”
“That is to say…….”
Ollendo cleared his throat softly, then spoke without hesitation—as if he had been waiting for this very moment.
“She has been studying, sir.”
“Has she.”
His reply was unremarkable up to that point. It was what the butler added next that caught him off guard.
“Yesterday she tidied the flower beds with the gardener, and today she should be in the kitchen learning to cook. Some days ago, she studied arithmetic with me—her grasp is remarkably quick.”
Words tumbled from the butler’s mouth that made no sense whatsoever. Kaien needed a moment to process what he was hearing.
“……What?”
“I report only facts, without exaggeration.”
What in the world was this about? After a brief silence, Kaien asked gravely.
“Is she mad?”
“That is……uncertain.”

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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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