I Woke Up from Hibernation and Found a Husband - Chapter 45

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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 45
Foré, a small city in the Northern Region located beneath the Laten Plain. As the last city before entering the plains, it had developed a thriving commercial district despite its modest size.
“There is a small village before the Laten Plain, but with so few households, it will be difficult to secure proper supplies.”
Kenneth was organizing emergency rations and medicines he’d purchased in Foré into his bag.
“It’s late today, so let’s spend the night here and depart early tomorrow. We should reach the entrance of the plains around midday.”
Claire found herself thinking anew how mature he appeared—someone so adept at long-distance travel. Though he was usually playful, when circumstances demanded it, he guided situations with such natural ease and competence.
‘Perhaps one must reach that level to secure a position in the Guild.’
Claire imagined her future after leaving House Voltier. Yet no matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t see herself possessing Kenneth’s resourcefulness.
‘Perhaps being a hunter or gatherer would suit me better.’
While she unconsciously continued pondering her path forward, Theodore watched her with an uneasy expression. Seeing Claire gaze at Kenneth with such admiration left him feeling suffocated.
‘To feel jealousy even in a moment like this.’
Theodore bit his lip firmly, concealing his true feelings as he spoke while looking at Anthony nestled in Claire’s arms.
“Anthony, once we reach the village, will you be able to find your home?”
At those words, Anthony nodded eagerly, his small beak moving with excitement. To avoid any possible pursuit, the child still in bird form remained wrapped in a blanket like a burrito, nestled against Claire’s chest.
“Just a little longer and you’ll be home.”
Claire gently stroked the small head. According to what she’d heard on the swift vessel, fortunately the child’s parents were alive and well.
‘It’s a relief he won’t have to return to the village alone.’
Soft down tickled her fingertips. Watching the fluffy little creature play, Claire smiled faintly.
* * *
“There it is! That village!”
Having spotted the Village Entrance in the distance, Anthony grinned with his mouth open wide as a basin.
“Once we reach there, I can go home!”
The child, now in human form, couldn’t fully retract his wings, so Claire had given him her own clothes to hide them. Though the back bulged slightly where the wings protruded, the oversized garment concealed them well enough.
“Your home is in that village?”
“Um, well, not exactly…”
Anthony’s hurried steps came to an abrupt halt. The child hesitated, repeatedly crumpling and releasing his sleeve.
‘I shouldn’t tell just anyone where my home is.’
He recalled his father’s warning from long ago.
‘But this sister saved me. She said she’d take me home too.’
Caught in sudden deliberation, the child’s small head spun with conflicting thoughts.
‘Wouldn’t it be okay to make an exception for good people?’
Just as his lips were about to open with a childlike conclusion—
“Anthony?”
At the Village Entrance, now drawing near, someone appeared who recognized the child.
“Are you Anthony?”
“Sister Hannah!”
A woman with short gray hair wearing large spectacles dropped the basket she’d been holding and rushed urgently toward Anthony.
“You! How did you—are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m okay! I was scared, but this sister here saved me.”
The woman, Hannah, lifted the child into her arms and carefully examined him before letting out a relieved sigh. Pushing her slipped glasses back up, she turned her gaze toward Claire and her companions.
“Me… me?”
Hannah’s eyes trembled as they met Claire’s gaze at the front of the group. The man before her stood a head taller, his striking red hair and refined features unmistakably beautiful—a level of elegance entirely out of place in a rural village, leaving her momentarily speechless.
‘He’s clearly a man, but which noble house does he belong to?’
She held Anthony close to her chest, her wary expression scrutinizing Claire’s identity.
“Hmm. Are you Anthony’s family?”
“Not family, but we are close.”
Claire felt a quiet relief wash over her. She’d found a caring adult who seemed to treasure Anthony, and that was enough.
“Where did you find Anthony?”
“At the Black Market. The child had been taken there.”
Kenneth barely had time to stop him before Theodore’s blunt answer spilled out.
“Wait, you shouldn’t say it like that….”
“The Black Market…? Surely you didn’t… purchase Anthony from there, did you?”
Hannah’s voice shook noticeably, heavy with misunderstanding. The way she grasped the situation from merely hearing “Black Market” made it clear she understood Anthony’s species and the circumstances of the demi-humans.
“No, it wasn’t a purchase.”
They’d simply destroyed the Black Market and extracted the trapped child. While Claire pondered how to explain this clearly, Theodore smoothly interjected.
“The full details would be difficult to convey, but we simply freed the child who was imprisoned while dismantling the Black Market. Since we have urgent matters to attend to, we’d be grateful if you could return the child to his family.”
Finding Anthony’s guardian had concluded far more quickly than expected. She’d anticipated it would take a day, but the situation suggested they could head toward the Laten Plain immediately.
‘Since Angela is missing, I don’t want to waste any more time.’
Knowing of Claire’s concern for Angela, I had no desire to delay further. Yet it was Hannah, unexpectedly, who stopped them from leaving.
“Wait, please!”
Having heard Anthony’s whisper, she stepped close in front of Claire. With her hand covering her mouth, she whispered her question.
“Are you truly a demi-human?”
“Yes, I am.”
At Claire’s answer, Hannah’s eyes widened. After a moment of hesitant silence, as if she’d made a decision, she looked up at Claire and spoke.
“Then come with us for a moment. I think I can repay you.”
Claire immediately shook her head.
“That’s not necessary. I didn’t do this expecting a reward.”
But Hannah didn’t give up. Confirming that no villagers were nearby, she stepped so close to Claire they were nearly touching.
“But I heard you’re heading to the Laten Plain. The truth is, ‘we’ live there.”
Her fingers curled to shield her eyes, and between them, a white feathered mark briefly appeared on Hannah’s eye before vanishing.
‘A white owl demi-human, just like Anthony.’
Claire’s mouth slowly opened.
* * *
“Erika, where are you? My beloved sister.”
Within a delicate and beautiful small castle perched atop a towering cliff, a woman in her late twenties with long, lustrous deep blue hair cascading to her ankles sang as she walked down the corridor.
“Erika, it’s time for your brushing.”
An emerald-hued jeweled hairbrush spun playfully in her hands.
Creak—
A beautifully ornate door carved with birds and lakes opened with an aged, creaking sound that belied its elegant appearance. Inside lay a room decorated with soft rose-pink carpeting.
The woman who had been coldly surveying the room with wide eyes soon found whom she sought and smiled.
“Oh, there you are.”
“Yes, Eris.”
The brown-haired woman hastily withdrew her hands from the windowsill, her smile strained and unnatural. She was none other than Angela.
“I was in that room.”
Cold sweat trickled down her trembling lips, forced upward in a grimace. The sight of a woman nearly forty years old calling someone so much younger her senior was profoundly unsettling.
‘Damn it. I’ve been caught. I should never have accepted that commission back then.’
Just before disbanding in the Northern Region after completing the escort mission for the Merchant Caravan, a request for extension had come through the client.
A seemingly ordinary request—since goods needed to be delivered beyond the Plains, they asked to extend the escort.
‘I should have known when the first shipment dragged on.’
I’d known it was a Plains with an ancient legend, but I’d accepted the job without much thought, assuming the reward was simply better than rumor suggested.
‘Wasn’t it supposed to work if we just offered a woman as a sacrifice?!’
‘I don’t know! It was supposed to work that way!’
‘We had the sacrifice, so why?! Aaaaargh! My arm!’
Only later did I realize the Merchant Caravan’s owner had been using the goods delivery as a pretext for something else entirely, but by then it was too late.
‘I shouldn’t have trusted that man! He said all we needed was one old woman! This son of a—!’
In that moment, a violent gust of wind tore across the Plains, scattering their group.
The fog that came with the tempest obscured their vision, making it impossible to see what was happening. They could only infer from the scent of blood and the horrific screams echoing through the darkness that their companions were dead.
“Erika, why were you at the window?”
The woman approaching with a comb asked the question.
“You weren’t thinking of leaving, were you?”
Beneath the gentle inquiry lay a palpable murderous intent. From her darkened face came the ragged breathing of a beast.

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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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