Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 116

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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 116

Syde withdrew the object as casually as if he carried it every day.
…A collar?
Anjela had been targeting me?
Before I could even process my confusion, Syde fastened a white metal collar around Anjela’s drowsy neck.
The white metal collar gleamed and clung snugly to her throat.
It was similar to the light that had just emanated from Kailas’s ring.
Not long ago, when an additional ring appeared besides my wedding ring, I’d simply thought, ‘Another ring.’ Nothing more.
It must have been acquired sometime after my visit to the Imperial Palace.
“Lock her underground. I’ll send her to the Magic Tower directly. Then we’ll know who she really is.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Syde and a nearby servant dragged Anjela away.
Because of the collar around her neck, Anjela was hauled along without the strength to resist.
“…K-Kailas.”
How long had he been preparing for this?
Anjela had been here longer than me.
What was happening here? Anjela seemed to know us well.
If someone had used Dark Magic, I would have noticed long ago.
“I’m sorry for startling you.”
“No, that’s not it…”
I looked up at Kailas, who was trying to steady me.
“When did you start suspecting Anjela? What is that ring?”
“…From the day you collapsed. I’ve been suspicious of everyone around us.”
“From that day?”
Kailas looked down at me and moved his lips silently before gently drawing my shoulders close.
“Hazel, there’s something I need to tell you.”

* * *

Kailas led me all the way to the bedroom.
I kept my eyes on him the entire walk.
Kailas knelt on one knee and looked up at me.
“…You can tell me anything at all.”
“Hazel.”
“Yes. You can tell me.”
“What you drank that day…”
Kailas trailed off, his lips moving soundlessly.
Seeing him struggle to find the words, I brought my hand to his cheek.
“It’s all right. You can tell me anything. If it comes from you, I’ll believe it.”
Kailas’s eyes widened slightly, then dimmed again.
“The water you drank contained the blood of a Follower Beast.”
“…The blood of a Follower?”
“Yes. It had the power to trigger a Rampage when reacting with Dark Magic.”
“…A Rampage?”
Kailas let out a low sigh.
“Someone seems to be targeting us, so I’ve been hunting down the culprit this whole time. I couldn’t tell you right away because I didn’t want you to be shocked.”
“……”
“I didn’t want to cause more confusion while things were uncertain, so I planned to tell you once I found the perpetrator.”
I blinked, searching for words amid my panic.
So did that mean Anjela had been targeting me all along since the banquet?
Or was there someone else besides Anjela?
Then what about Lily’s composure that day?
“Kailas, so when I collapsed that day…”
“It wasn’t from pushing yourself. There was a danger that your own power would Rampage for a moment.”
As I heard those words, something surfaced in my mind.
Without thinking, I reached out and pulled down the collar of Kailas’s shirt.
It had faded now, but the wound I’d seen back then came flooding back, vivid and whole.
“That wound from back then—surely I didn’t…”
My words scattered, trailing into silence.
I couldn’t have hurt Kailas.
I wouldn’t have tried to harm him.
My fingertips had gone cold.
Kailas’s warm, large hand covered mine as it trembled.
“Even in your unconscious state, you held back the Rampage and did everything you could to protect me. A scratch like this is nothing compared to that.”
He assured me it was fine now, that the Rampage had completely subsided.
Kailas explained that things were no different than before, yet I couldn’t seem to shake the shock.
And then there was everything he’d done to stop the Rampage—his trips to the Imperial Palace and the Magic Tower.
I learned about the special Ring and Metal Collar he’d created, moving between the Temple and Magic Tower to protect me from danger.
Those items could seal not only ordinary Mana and Dark Magic, but even the power wielded by Cult Members and intelligent Monsters.
But since they couldn’t track anyone, Kailas had to find the culprit alone.
“I’m sorry, I had no idea…”
“It’s not your fault. I should have resolved this sooner—I’m the one who’s sorry.”
Kailas had nothing to apologize for.
I’d thought it strange that I’d been unconscious for four days, but Lily said there was nothing wrong, so I’d accepted it as fact.
Around that time, I’d even entertained the terrible suspicion that he might be connected to the Cult Members.
Guilt and regret cut through me like a blade.
“And the nightmares I’ve been having every day lately…”
“I heard those aren’t from the Rampage, but if you’re worried, I can look into it more.”
It’s not your fault. Everything will be fine.
Kailas soothed me, but my mind was still awash with a torrent of confusion.
Seeing my state, Kailas drew me into his embrace.
In his solid, supporting arms, my mind began to settle rapidly.
Once I’d gathered my scattered thoughts, I asked. This wasn’t the time to be trapped in chaos.
“Was Anjela originally here, at the residence?”
“Yes. But seeing her try to use magic, I’m not even sure if it’s really Anjela. I’ll need to investigate that further. For now, I’ll interrogate her and send her to the Magic Tower.”
Kailas rose from his seat.
“Rest for a while. I’ll be back soon.”
I grabbed his arm and stood up with him.
“I’m coming with you.”
“…Are you sure you’re up for it?”
“They were targeting us anyway. And I want to see for myself.”
It was an odd sense of familiarity, even though the face was unmistakably Anjela’s.
The moment the Metal Collar was placed, her skin turned pallid, and something alien seemed to crumble within her flesh.
As though she weren’t a living person at all.
What Kailas had just said matched that feeling—I needed to see with my own eyes.

We descended at once to the Underground where Anjela was being held.
Rather than confined, she was bound beside the Gate Portal so she could be moved to the Magic Tower immediately.
Moaning in apparent agony as the Metal Collar bound her body, she whimpered softly.
Though I’d seen her often lately, I’d assumed she was just the youngest servant running errands, so I hadn’t suspected anything.
Her face contorted grotesquely before smoothing over again.
A chill crept up my spine for no reason.
“I should have taken her then.”
As I approached, Anjela stared directly at me and, though clearly in pain, let out a twisted laugh.
“Then?”
“What a shame. I thought you were just a country bumpkin.”
At those words, my brows drew together.
There was something familiar about the way she spoke.
This was what had felt off all along—as if I’d met this before…
Could it be.
Even as I thought it impossible, my mouth opened.
“…Fay Martin?”
That couldn’t be.
I’d been told she’d been executed at the Imperial Palace.
Her being here made no sense.
Anjela’s face twisted into something even more grotesque, brightening with glee.
Hours ago she’d seemed like an ordinary person, but something had changed after Syde placed the collar around her neck.
“How did you recognize me in this face?”
Her playful tone gave me the certainty I needed.
“Fay Martin.”
It was you.
How in the world had she managed all of this?
Fay Martin, wearing Anjela’s twisted features, let out a thin, chilling laugh.
Even with the situation turned against her, she radiated an unsettling calm.
“But it’s already too late.”
……
I looked uneasily at Kailas.
“He waits for you.”
Fay Martin bowed her head low, then raised it slowly, her gaze fixed on Kailas as her voice dropped to something sinister.
“Answer his call. How much longer will you pretend not to know? Acknowledge him and lend your strength for his descent.”
She claimed to have targeted me—so why was she looking at Kailas?
Kailas’s face showed the same confusion I felt.
Then it came.
Blaaare—
From outside, the shrill blast of an alarm horn and the clanging of bells cut through the air in chaos.
Kailas and I turned toward the door in unison.
“Kekeke, they’ve arrived.”
Fay Martin’s mouth gaped wider still, drool streaming down her chin as she laughed with teeth bared.
……
……
“Let’s see how well you can protect each other. If you manage it at all.”
The bells rang from every direction as if to split our eardrums.
Without hesitation, Kailas and I rushed up the stairs and out into the open.
It was the loudest alarm we’d ever heard—a warning like nothing before.
We burst past the main gate to find countless Knights already hastily fortifying the castle walls.
“Raise the gates!”
“Block the breach!”
The bells tolled without ceasing.
We ran toward the Duke Dayworth Residence’s outer wall.
……
…What in the world—
I stared at my surroundings in disbelief.
The sky darkened as countless black shapes surged toward us from the distance.
The number of monsters encircling the Duke Dayworth Residence seemed to number in the hundreds, at least.
It was as if every monster in the entire Northern Region had gathered in one place.
It was a nightmare made flesh.

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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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