I Woke Up from Hibernation and Found a Husband - Chapter 4

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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 4
“How do you do a job well?”
Before entering the Mansion, I had once asked Angela for advice on navigating professional life.
“It’s not difficult.”
Angela confidently shared three rules in total.
First, always honor your contracts. Trust is everything.
Second, the employer’s safety must be your absolute priority.
Third, don’t just see the trees—see the forest. Enemies can lurk anywhere.
I nodded with an impressed expression, absorbing every word she said.
‘Good. I’ve memorized it all.’
But what I had overlooked was that Angela had spent her entire life as a Mercenary Profession specialist in protection work—an industry far removed from conventional employment.
* * *
Leave. Get out. Disappear.
These were the words I heard most often from Theodore, and the commands I most frequently ignored.
“Pardon me.”
I wrapped Theodore in blankets as he charged at me with bestial shrieks, then remained at his side until he calmed down.
As his body became restrained, his bloodshot eyes blazed with murderous intent as he glared at me. Yet rather than fear, I felt only pity.
‘My eyes must be aching.’
He probably needed to blink more.
As I hesitated briefly before gently closing his eyes with my hand, Theodore’s shrieks grew even louder.
‘Hmm.’
I began rhythmically opening and closing Theodore’s eyelids.
‘He’s so fragile that he can’t overlook even these trivial things.’
Recalling a raccoon with an eye infection, I decided to bear the extra effort and protect the raccoon’s eye health.
After about ten minutes of this.
I finally felt the strength drain from Theodore’s body as he seemed to calm down.
“······Now stop. Take your hand away.”
A hoarse voice, as if resigned, echoed through the room. I shrugged and withdrew my hand.
“Yes.”
I rolled Theodore over and unwrapped the blanket restraints.
He stared at me with a furrowed brow, as if he had much to say, but soon fell silent and merely sighed, running his hand across his face.
“Does your head hurt?”
“Enough.”
I poured him a glass of water and handed it to him. His hair was damp with sweat from being trapped in the blankets.
Theodore drained the water in one gulp, then returned the cup while gazing at me intently.
It had now been a month and a half since I began attending to him.
It was the longest record among all his dedicated servants.
“Would you like another glass?”
Theodore shook his head and lay back down on the bed.
‘It would be better if he got up and exercised.’
Claire’s eyes narrowed as she observed Theodore’s gaunt neck, her tongue clicking softly in disapproval. She had come to recognize the patterns of his madness through her months of attending to him.
‘When the madness doesn’t strike, he’s lethargic but otherwise ordinary.’
Theodore suffered approximately three episodes per day. Though calling them “episodes” seemed inadequate—what Claire actually witnessed was an uncontrollable torrent of raw emotion erupting from within him.
Like a massive dam filled to its breaking point, forcibly ruptured, sweeping away everything in its path—a devastatingly destructive affliction.
‘He becomes someone else entirely.’
The Theodore I observed was weary in body and spirit, possessing a certain sharpness, yet he showed no inclination to deliberately harm others.
But when the madness consumed him, he transformed into a beast—a different personality devouring his own, radiating nothing but murderous intent.
‘At least he returns quickly once I restrain him. That’s something to be grateful for.’
When I subdued his thrashing form and waited, the turbid blue of Theodore’s eyes would brighten once more, and he would become docile again.
Just as he was now.
“Shall I wipe away the perspiration with a damp cloth?”
“No need.”
His voice emerged hoarse and fractured from the force of his screams. Theodore turned away from me, who sat on a simple chair beside the bed, and lay back down. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
“It’s been about a month and a half since you arrived.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
I gazed at Theodore’s back with calm eyes, feeling his breathing gradually slow from the frantic pace of his episode.
“You’ve witnessed this state for over a month and still haven’t left. You must be desperately in need of coin.”
My eyes widened in alarm.
‘I’ve only received my first month’s wages.’
A warning light flashed in my mind—I had planned to work here for at least six months.
“It’s not so difficult. I can continue working for as long as needed.”
At my words, Theodore’s shoulders tensed slightly.
He curled his body, clutching the blanket, and closed his eyes as he spoke.
“Leave before you get hurt.”
No. Not this.
Here it comes. I bit the inside of my cheek hard, despair flooding through me.
‘Could he be… firing me?’
Despite my expressionless face, my eyes trembled uncontrollably.
‘Have I not been doing my job well?’
I opened my mouth, doing my best to conceal my panic.
“If there are areas where I fall short, I will improve them.”
“Hah. You’re not listening.”
Theodore sat up irritably. His bloodshot eyes fixed on me.
“I’m telling you to leave before blood is spilled. I don’t want to dispose of a corpse.”
“I beg your pardon?”
I was genuinely taken aback. My usual composed expression crumbled, my mouth falling slightly open.
His fierce demeanor wasn’t the issue. There was something fundamentally wrong with what Theodore had just said.
Unable to contain the flood of questions overwhelming my mind, I finally spoke them aloud.
“How could the Young Master possibly hurt me…?”
Did he truly believe he was capable of harming me?
With such thoughts occupying her mind, Claire examined the thoroughly parched raccoon from every angle. He showed no signs of fever, yet his complaints were rather endearing.
‘At this rate, he could probably handle ten Young Masters without breaking a sweat.’
Theodore’s face flushed crimson the moment he noticed Claire’s pitying gaze.
“You, you.”
His brow furrowed deeply as he attempted to speak, but his words caught in his throat. Instead, he struck his own forehead and threw himself back onto the bed with a rough gesture.
“Leave! I’m going to sleep.”
‘Then the dismissal talk is off the table, yes?’
Claire rose from her seat before Theodore could add another word. Just before opening the door to leave, she glanced back at the bed.
The raccoon buried beneath the blankets, stretched out limply, somehow appeared dejected.
‘I let my guard down. I thought we were becoming closer.’
Her counterpart was small, frail, and temperamental—a raccoon through and through.
Claire closed the door, resolving to remain vigilant and become an even more meticulous maid.
* * *
“You.”
“Good evening, Miss Isabella.”
As Claire carried Theodore’s dinner through the Corridor, she encountered Isabella. Since their first meeting, Isabella had frequently sought her out, though she rarely had anything of importance to discuss.
“Are you really going to see my brother in that shabby apron again? What if you spread some illness?”
“I wash it thoroughly every night, and I have a spare. There’s no need for concern.”
Originally there had been two spares, but one had been torn when Isabella had wrapped it around her foot previously, leaving only one usable.
The memory surfaced in Claire’s mind, and she glanced down at Isabella’s feet. Fortunately, today’s shoes appeared to fit her properly.
“And. And.”
Seemingly intent on finding fault, Isabella grasped the hem of her own skirt and rolled her eyes about restlessly.
‘But there’s nothing to fault me for. I’m an excellent maid.’
Claire gazed down at the small red raccoon with its fur bristling indignantly, her expression warm and affectionate. The siblings of this household were both prickly yet harmless—they truly resembled each other.
‘How can such bloodkin belong to the House of the Border Count.’
Was the empire’s border truly being protected properly? Lost in such irreverent thoughts, Claire stood vacant-eyed until Isabella, her irritation reaching its peak, suddenly lashed out with her foot toward the trolley.
“Oh my.”
Snapping back to attention, Claire swiftly pulled the trolley away. In the same instant, she caught Isabella’s arm as she stumbled from missing her target, steadying her upright before speaking firmly.
“Miss, this is the Young Master’s meal.”
“So what!”
Isabella extended her nails toward Claire’s wrist, which held her left arm.
Though her small hand trembled with the force she exerted, Claire’s expression remained perfectly serene.
‘Not even itchy. She really does have the grip strength of a baby raccoon.’
“The Young Master’s dinner time is approaching soon. Will you help me ensure I can deliver his meal safely?”
With a single finger, Claire effortlessly removed Isabella’s hand and reached into her pocket, producing a single candy.
Pop.
The candy landed in the child’s small palm.
‘This is a bribe.’
A modest bribe it was, yet Isabella stared intently between the candy and Claire before clutching it tightly and retreating backward.
“I-I’ll let it slide this time!”
Isabella huffed indignantly and spun on her heel, hurrying away down the Corridor in quick, eager steps. Watching her adorable retreat, Claire pushed the trolley forward and resumed her own pace.
I was glad I’d kept the candy Angela gave me. But still…
Claire kept her face forward while letting only her eyes drift sideways.
Another Passage branching off from the Corridor where she’d encountered Isabella. A presence lurking there.
Why was someone watching her?

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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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