Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 43

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 43

Humans.
What better offering could there be?
Especially those possessed of great strength.
Knights with Aura, mages with Magical Power—they drive me mad with longing.
That’s the part that troubles me most.
Of course, I know well enough that even if I do nothing, things end in a happy ending.
That’s precisely why I take such pains to ensure fate doesn’t veer completely off course.
The greatest reason is that I don’t want to be caught up in that danger, and I don’t want to become the one bearing all the responsibility for it.
I simply want to live.
If I’d wanted to be a hero, I never would have dreamed of a comfortable life in the first place.
‘A hero? Not a chance.’
I’m going to live until I’m a bent old woman!
To become a graceful old woman who reads books and watches flowers every day—that alone is joy.
My dream is to age beautifully, to laugh softly now and then, and give the village children treats!
But in the days to come, many people will become sacrificial victims to that offering…….
Am I really right to pretend not to know?
Is this really the right choice?
“Pull yourself together.”
Without thinking, I slapped both my cheeks hard, as if breaking free from a trance.
I look like I’m about to die right now!
At first, I even wondered if Kailrus Hadid, the true villain, might be the medium through which the final Dark Schemer descends.
But it wasn’t.
‘It’s certain that before Kailrus Hadid could deal with the final Dark Schemer, he was already overrun by Zed and Lili and disappeared from sight.’
The day the final Dark Schemer revealed itself.
I remember that description clearly.

Crack!
The earth split open, and the surrounding air filled with black smoke. My ears went numb, and silence fell.
Soon a whirlwind of such intensity pressed against my body that I could barely stand.
A chilling sound of scraping drew closer and closer.
The Demons gathered for the King’s descent scattered and vanished as if by prior arrangement.
Then came a thunderous boom, and a massive claw-like black hand clawed its way up from the ground.
The wind blew again.
Knights’ bodies were pushed back by Magical Power so thick it was suffocating.
Zed held trembling Lili in his arms to protect her.
Every hair on my body stood on end, and cold ran down my spine.
Then a monster shrouded in a vast, tent-like form revealed itself.
Its body was wreathed in black shimmer, and it was as massive as a fortress wall.
It reeked of death and dripped black blood.
Life around it began to perish from the sheer force of its presence alone.
The Demon King had descended.

It was not in human form.
Not a state where it dwelt within someone else, but truly as if freshly pulled up from Hell.
Evil itself, drawn up from Hell after devouring hundreds, thousands of sacrifices.
The stench and aura were so overwhelming that even breathing seemed impossible, or so they said.
Kailrus Hadid was a villain, but not a monster.
“…….”
For now, let me wait for Dilan.
That knight who came running didn’t even give a proper report, did he?
He might not have seen clearly in that dark dawn.
A terrified person might have mistaken another Demonic Beast for a follower.
There were other troubling matters.
With Dilan’s help and a stroke of luck, I hadn’t run into Zed and Lili until now, but I had a bad feeling I’d encounter them today.
“Well, I suppose I’ve been thinking I need to meet them and exchange greetings eventually anyway.”
I just have to keep my husband’s identity carefully hidden.
I sat on Dilan’s office sofa and waited for news to arrive.

* * *

In Eggmen’s quarters at that moment.
After his victory in yesterday’s bout, Eggmen had fallen into deep thought.
‘What on earth was that?’
He tried to recall the face of the woman who had come to check on him through Jinger and to help him, but strangely, her features wouldn’t come into focus.
He clearly remembered someone seeking him out, remembered staring hard at their face.
Yet he couldn’t say with certainty whether they’d been a woman or a man.
Their voice was small and soft, yet it carried an undeniable strength.
Or had it been a somewhat higher-pitched man’s voice?
It was confusing.
What could their true identity be?
They’d brought a necklace as a gift for Jinger, so they definitely knew her.
It felt as though he’d been enchanted by someone.
He was certain Jinger was safe—or rather, he could only choose to believe she was.
He couldn’t escape from this place, after all.
But every word that unknown person had spoken remained crystalline in his memory.

‘You’ll fight ten more bouts. You’re going to win exactly four of them. Today is one. Um, what was their name again?’
‘Jen and Matis.’
‘Ah, that’s right. Then there shouldn’t be a problem. Whether you win or lose today is up to you, but remember this—you must win exactly four times total. That way you’ll stay in the top five. You can calculate that much, can’t you? If you drop below that, you’ll be sent to the Provinces.’

Despite having nothing to do with this world, they seemed to know its mechanics perfectly.
Unless you were a newly acquired slave, dropping outside the top five meant being transferred to another Province.
Among the slaves, they called it being discarded.
Even identical victories brought vastly different betting payouts.
You could return if you became a top gladiator again in another region, but transfers were never good.
He never knew when Jinger might arrive, and their paths could never be allowed to cross elsewhere.
Eggmen had nodded as if under a spell.
Their tone was light, yet they carried no contempt for a slave—none at all.
The mysterious figure before him seemed to count something on their fingers for a while, then nodded and turned their gaze toward him.

‘Before the eleventh bout, I’ll send someone to you. At that time, they’ll tell you the next plan. The password is “Bread is said to taste better when it’s French bread—is that really so?” Can you remember that?’
‘What does that mean? French?’
‘It’s just a combination of words these people don’t use. Anyway, I’ll send someone soon to give you the exact details. So hold on as long as you can. I’m doing my part, and so is Jinger.’
‘Are you leaving?’
‘Is there anything you want me to tell Jinger?’

Eggmen fell silent for a moment, his lips moving soundlessly before he finally spoke.

‘Just tell her… not to get hurt.’
‘Understood. I’ll make sure to pass on your regards. I wish you luck.’

The woman—or perhaps the man—left, and silence settled in once more.
The fact that no commotion arose outside suggested that no one else had noticed the visit.
Not even the overseer who’d been standing right at the door had said a word.
Jinger Perian.
He’d met her in this very place.
Jinger Perian was much like a defector—someone who had willingly walked into a life where even leaving the grounds was forbidden.

‘What’s your name?’
‘……’
‘Ah, here it is. Eggmen. I’m Jinger Perian, and I’ll be your keeper for now. It’s temporary, but I look forward to working with you.’

One could hardly say his original intentions had been pure.
Ever since arriving here, Eggmen had always dreamed of escape.
He was simply biding his time.
Jinger Perian was an extraordinarily good opportunity for him.

‘You’re hurt. Are you all right? Wait. I’ll call a doctor.’
‘Jinger Perian.’

He took a wound in the first duel that took place after she arrived as administrator.
He had deliberately allowed himself to be cut.
To stir Jinger Perian’s compassion.
He couldn’t afford to waste an opportunity he’d manufactured.
It was a gamble.

‘You heal me.’
‘…What? I’m an administrator, not a physician…….’
‘That’s fine. I don’t need anyone else.’

After that, Eggmen and Jinger spent increasing amounts of time together.
From the afternoon when training ended until the evening duel began, and all the way until the Gladiatorial Arena gates came down after the fight concluded, they were nearly always in each other’s company.
Jinger Perian, who at first had maintained her boundaries and given nothing of herself away, grew more talkative and began to worry about Eggmen more and more.

‘What if you told them your condition wasn’t good today? I can report it and have you withdrawn.’
‘I’d only be deeper in debt.’
‘…This opponent coming tonight. He looks dangerous.’
‘Dangerous or not, what else is there but death?’
‘Don’t talk like that!’
‘If I’m hurt, you’ll heal me.’

Winning a woman’s pity was far simpler than he’d expected.
The problem was that he, too, had begun to pity her.
She was a person of Duke Hadid’s Faction, which controlled this entire world, so whatever she said carried little weight with him.
What life she had lived, whether it was truth or lies, mattered to him not at all.
But he was a man, and he had started to soften toward Jinger Perian.
When she complained that her legs ached, he wanted to massage them; when she rested on her bed, he wanted to let her sleep there.
The moment he began to recognize these feelings, he refused to look at Jinger Perian—afraid that he would botch the entire plan.

‘I know why you did what you did to me.’
‘…….’
‘Are you afraid it will all fall apart? If that’s not it, then take my hand. I’ll get you out of here. I already know exactly how you look at me.’

Jinger Perian had known everything all along.
He thought he had behaved calculatingly, that he had seduced Jinger Perian—but he was wrong.
It was the opposite. Eggmen had somehow already fallen to her.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————