I Woke Up from Hibernation and Found a Husband - Chapter 22

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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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Chapter 22
The words fell from his lips with casual indifference, as though discussing something utterly worthless. Yet Theodore’s breath caught in his throat as if a blade had pierced him.
“…Like Father?”
The image of a gaunt-faced man with crimson hair flickered through Theodore’s mind, then vanished.
To him, his father was an ambiguous presence—closer than a stranger, yet more distant than family. Leopold had already earned the title of wastrel when Theodore was still in single digits, and the Count had separated the siblings from him for the sake of their education.
“What do you mean by that?”
Theodore, abandoning even the pretense of courtesy, ground out the question toward Gregory, who lifted the corners of his mouth in response.
“You already understand, yet you ask again.”
Gregory stepped back a few paces from Theodore. The boy’s face, visible at a glance, bore a striking resemblance to his father.
“A weak man. One who despised conflict and always yearned to flee from the battlefield.”
He fell far short of the name House Voltier—the spear and shield of the Empire—yet Gregory had offered him a chance.
“I thought awakening his ability might change him. If he could become even slightly more worthy of House Voltier, I would have gladly served him. But in the end, he was consumed by the dead.”
The same experiment applied to Theodore. Leopold could not escape from the grasp of the dead that slowly extended toward him. A fragile soul was seized by immense malice, corrupted, and ultimately extinguished.
‘What am I hearing right now?’
Theodore’s breathing quickened gradually. He had grown up his entire life beneath the disgrace of being the son of a wastrel. Since childhood, he had neither seen nor called upon his father.
‘But Father… Father was merely being used as well?’
His chest tightened. He could not recall his father’s face clearly. The same crimson hair as Isabella. The face beneath those locks wavered like mist.
“…If I had failed to overcome it and died, would you have done the same to Isabella? Continuing until the family’s ability manifested in someone?”
At those words, Gregory waved his hand dismissively.
“Of course not. If you were to die—”
He shrugged, meeting Theodore’s piercing gaze directly.
“Isabella would need to bear a grey-haired Voltier.”
‘Ah.’
Before the man’s words even finished, something within Claire snapped.
Crack.
A fist drove down where Gregory had stood. The marble floor caved inward, and the impact sent cracks spiderwebbing across the window glass, but Gregory had slipped away by the narrowest margin.
“There is no need to hear more.”
The knights hastily swung their blades at Claire, but she ducked beneath their strikes and seized one knight’s ankle.
“Aaaagh!”
The knight, hurled like a whip, tangled with his companions and crashed to the floor. Claire snatched up a discarded sword and leveled it at Gregory’s throat.
“Let us dispose of this madman and escape this place.”
Veins had already risen prominently across her forehead and neck.
‘This worthless bastard.’
For a moment, she regretted comparing him to a wolf. An alpha wolf fights to protect its pack, but the man before her was a contemptible wretch who twisted the necks of the young for his own amusement alone.
“Claire!”
“I will slit this creature’s throat.”
Claire now teetered on the precipice of rage, her reason about to evaporate. Yet Gregory seemed utterly unafraid of her fierce gaze, laughing with ease as he spoke.
“You resemble Veronica so much in that moment.”
At the familiar name, Claire’s eyes widened briefly. But that was all.
“A short epitaph, for last words.”
Claire thrust her sword directly at Gregory. He twisted his body with swift agility to evade it, then seized another blade that lay nearby. The metallic clash of two swords echoed through the Corridor.
“Hmm? You don’t find it strange that I know your mother?”
“So what.”
“What?”
“What does it matter if you do.”
Claire’s expression darkened with irritation. He was a man who manipulated people with cunning words, toying with them through ambiguous remarks. She had no intention of listening to whatever story flowed from his lips.
‘It’s better to dispatch this nuisance quickly and hear the truth about Mother from Angela.’
Once I closed my ears to his words, my hesitation vanished. My attacks no longer held back.
‘He’s strong, certainly, but not unbeatable. I may need to sacrifice a hand or two, but.’
Gregory met her assault with an expression of delight. His face bore a look of longing, which only infuriated Claire further.
‘Claire, I knew you were strong, but to this extent?’
Theodore watched their battle unfold with a stunned expression. The two moved so rapidly that their forms blurred before his eyes.
‘How foolish must my promises to protect her have seemed.’
He felt heat rising to his face.
When their blades clashed once more, neither could withstand the force—the swords shattered into fragments. Without hesitation, Claire discarded her weapon and unleashed a punch. A vicious sound accompanied the eruption of dust.
“Veronica preferred her fists to a blade as well.”
“The fact that you can wield a sword suggests you learned combat from a mercenary?”
“Can you control your nature properly?”
Claire, who had been ignoring his incessant chatter, finally halted her movements at his next words.
“In some ways, you resemble Ian quite closely.”
“Ian?”
For the first time, Claire’s unwavering gaze wavered. Delight flickered across Gregory’s eyes.
“Yes, you resemble him so much that you must be curious. Your father.”
He superimposed the face of a man over Claire’s auburn eyes. Golden hair that stood slightly on end. A man with a frail body, yet eyes that burned with clarity.
‘If the Imperial Palace learned that Ian’s traces still remain in you, there would be chaos.’
He examined Claire from head to toe with covetous eyes. Though she had not yet awakened to her true power, she was already a priceless gem whose value could not be measured.
“Your father was….”
“No!”
At Claire’s sudden shout, Gregory’s words caught in his throat for the first time.
“I could never resemble my father!”
For a moment, Gregory’s expression went blank.
‘She said her father was different.’
Yet Claire was quite serious.
Unlike the fierce mother-and-daughter pair, her father had been warm and gentle, like sunlight given human form. If this man knew her father’s face, he could never think she resembled him.
“I don’t know how you learned my father’s name, but your scheme won’t work. Do you really think I’d fall for such a transparent lie?”
Gregory blinked for a moment.
“Not appearance, but rather what lies within.”
“Shut up!”
Now enraged for a different reason, Claire drove her fist toward his face. Theodore felt his own fury dissolve into bewilderment.
‘You really are something.’
Theodore wore a bitter smile as he surveyed his surroundings. While Claire occupied Gregory, he needed to find something—anything—he could do.
‘First, I must contact Grandfather.’
The Head of Household’s Study. If he could reach that room, there would be a communication stone capable of contacting Ludwig at the Border. Ludwig carried an emergency artifact for spatial displacement—if he could summon him directly to the Mansion, this entire ordeal would end.
‘Can I shake off all of them and reach the Study safely?’
The sound of armored footsteps echoed from below. More knights were clearly converging on their position.
‘The Mansion itself—perhaps the entire House—has fallen into my uncle’s hands. First, I must escape this confined Corridor.’
Theodore swallowed hard and seized the abandoned sword. The Study lay at the end of the Corridor one floor above. Not far at all. If he and Claire could restrain only Gregory before the other knights arrived—
A spark of hope ignited in his eyes.
“Well, the game ends here.”
The moonlight filtering dimly through the Window was suddenly obscured by clouds. As Gregory’s form seemed to blur into shadow, a sharp, metallic screech pierced the air.
“What—?”
Before Theodore could comprehend the source of the sound, blood erupted from Claire’s mouth.

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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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