Marriage With A Suspiciously Demure Husband - Chapter 88

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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 88

For the next fortnight, I remained in the Capital, spending time adapting to the residence.
I heard that the servants and Syde, who had suffered through extended treatment at the Baron’s residence, were gradually regaining their senses one by one.
Still, I shouldn’t have harmed innocent people.
The guilt weighed on me, so I sent a servant to the Baron’s residence with a few useful items.
Along with several Purification Stones I’d accumulated carefully in the safe.
In the meantime, I received invitations to visit the Duke Dayworth Residence, and in turn, Lily came here to have tea.
The story had completely diverged from the original narrative.
The disappearances in the Capital were becoming increasingly frequent.
It seemed the numbers were growing not only in the Capital but throughout the provinces as well.
When I reviewed the list of missing persons the Crown Prince had sent, a sigh escaped me unbidden.
While it could have been crime or mere accident, the sharp increase in disappearances suggested a high probability of Monster involvement.
What made it impossible to dismiss was seeing even nobles on the missing list—a group with remarkably low disappearance rates under normal circumstances.
“Carrion Molly? Where have I seen that name… I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere.”
It was probably just my imagination.
Enough time had passed since the disappearance that it likely had nothing to do with current events.
In any case, I hoped everyone on this list would return safely to their homes.
After reviewing the entire missing persons list, I turned my head to examine other documents.
Since Dylan occasionally asked me about the Guild’s atmosphere, I had no choice but to begin looking into Guild matters one by one again.
“Come to think of it, that person hasn’t been taking on commissions lately. I wonder if he went to a different region.”
Gobi Eres.
A mercenary who carried away the most S-Rank commissions—I’d paid him considerable attention.
Looking through the records, his name had been absent for nearly three months.
I didn’t think the employee had approached him casually without reason.
I’d originally planned to treat him to a meal, but after hearing Noah—or rather, Kailas—I changed my mind.
When I spoke to him in a friendly manner, his visits to the Guild became less frequent, so I settled for a slight increase in commission fees.
He seems to have disappeared right around that time.
I didn’t want to visit the Guild directly to verify, as it would feel like I was losing to Kailas.
“The overall revenue has increased, though….”
Certainly, Ferrarium’s commissions for Monster elimination had grown.
If even Ferrarium, once a clean region, faced this level of activity, Mablen, where I used to be, must have required near-constant preparation.
Monsters were genuinely appearing in waves across multiple areas simultaneously.
Disappearances were multiplying, and on top of that, Monster sightings were increasing.
The problem was that in the past, whether we found a missing person or their body, the case would typically conclude. But now, they were vanishing without a trace.
In the original story, it said blood was offered… but did it end there alone?
“Come to think of it, when ‘it’ had captured me, ‘it’ referred to itself that way.”
It also said it had deliberately shown me to a cult member.
At the time, I simply thought the matter was resolved and worried I might cause misunderstanding, so I forgot about it.
It didn’t seem likely they’d simply throw such a difficult-to-obtain sacrifice to Monsters as food.
Otherwise, things wouldn’t be handled so cleanly.
With this many disappearances, even disposing of bodies after sacrificing them would certainly be problematic, yet I couldn’t understand how everything was being managed so neatly.
Lily’s Holy Power continued to grow, and Jade was diligently doing his best in his role.
Even the troublesome Northern Region issue was resolved when the mastermind had a change of heart….
I hadn’t done much myself, but I lent a hand in capturing cult members, and when I met Lily this time, I subtly leaked useful information.
Why.
Why does it seem like they’re becoming more active?
Combining newspaper articles and information Lily had given me, the cult members seemed obsessed with finding something.
This seemed quite different from the original story.
Rather than the cult members and Monsters searching for something, they were said to pour all their effort into expanding their territory in order to accelerate the Demon King’s perfect descent.
The stronger the dark forces in this land, the more fully the Demon King could descend with its original power.
So according to the records, they focused on gathering worshippers and forming groups among Monsters to expand their influence.
Then what could they possibly be searching for?
Judging by frequency, it seemed Monsters appeared more often in places like the Capital, Mablen, and Ferrarium than in the Northern Region, which had more Monsters overall.
The numbers alone showed the North was overwhelming, but compared to the appearances recorded previously, it was different.
What was I missing?
What could I be overlooking….?
I furrowed my brow and decided to examine the collected newspaper articles more carefully. There might be something I’d missed.
It was today’s newspaper, which I hadn’t had a chance to check due to a brief outing this morning.
“…What are you talking about?”
A cool, fresh scent wafted over me before he sidled up beside me and rested his chin on my shoulder—at which point I deliberately looked away.
“Just wondering what my wife was looking at.”
His hair hung over his forehead, still damp from the bath he’d apparently just taken.
Surely he hadn’t deliberately left his hair half-dry just because I’d once mentioned wet hair looked attractive.
His behavior was so suspicious I was starting to worry I’d catch his axe-crazy tendencies.
“Dry your hair. And close your robe properly.”
“Mm. Hmm…….”
“You didn’t catch a cold, did you?”
I glanced up at him as I asked.
“What?”
“You were coughing just now.”
Kailas, who’d been casually toweling his hair dry, went still.
“Hmm, hmm. Must be a cold.”
“That’s what happens when you don’t dry your hair. Why are you coming closer?”
“Check if I have a fever.”
“…People usually know better than anyone else whether they’re sick.”
“Come on, just check my temperature.”
I pushed his face away with my shoulder and reached for the newspaper.
“No, I’m not a doctor or anything…….”
My eye caught on an unusually large headline, and I began to read.

[Count Gardiel and the Countess Gardiel’s patronage business, which they have been conducting for several years, has been exposed as a means for embezzling business funds, causing a major scandal. ……The Countess Gardiel, who also received the Laurel Award directly bestowed by His Imperial Majesty, forcibly……children at the orphanage. Regarding whether the Award should be recovered, this reporter visited the Imperial Palace…….]

“Hazel?”
“…Just a moment.”
…….
I studied the newspaper more carefully.
Had it been two weeks since I last saw the Countess Gardiel at the Imperial Palace? She’d seemed perfectly fine then.
Judging from the article alone, this was a serious scandal. The fact that the entire family’s residence was being searched was proof of that.
It seemed they were still forcing the children to believe in their faith.
The article also mentioned evidence of child abuse had been discovered.
There was debate over whether His Imperial Majesty’s Laurel Award should be revoked.
Reading further, it appeared investigations had spread to all collateral business operations as well.
They were being thoroughly exposed, like dust being shaken from a rug.
It was strange that such an article had surfaced so soon after my brief encounter with her.
“Why are you staring like that?”
Kailas was trying to rest his chin on my shoulder again, this time more subtly.
“…It’s nothing.”
Seeing nothing more to read, I folded the newspaper in half and set it aside.
But my gaze drifted back to it.
I hadn’t experienced it myself, so why did this feel so satisfying?
Perhaps it was because I’d been plagued by nightmares for over a year.
But there was something odd about it.
The revelation that Count and Countess Gardiel harbored perverse tendencies so extreme they couldn’t even be spoken of aloud was unexpected—I’d never known about that part.
They always wore modest clothing that covered their skin, even on summer outings.
The Countess Gardiel especially made a habit of wearing gloves whenever she went out, and I’d never seen her in a dress that exposed her ankles.
Except for her strange efforts to eliminate Dark Magic, she’d always presented herself as a paragon of virtue within the home—hardly the picture of someone with perverse inclinations.
But perverted, nonetheless.
Pushing her own beliefs on others, giving strange injections meant to suppress Dark Magic, confining someone in a pristine white room and forcing them to copy scripture over a hundred times—it was too much.
And forcing Holy Water on a child who couldn’t properly control their Dark Magic was equally wrong.
Even though I hadn’t experienced it myself, it was no excuse to treat a child that way.
I was grateful they were facing consequences for their sins.
In the midst of my thoughts, Kailas tilted his face toward my lips, and I placed my hand on his forehead instead.
And this man.
To be honest, my fear of him has diminished to a surprising degree lately.
When he played these awkward pranks while I was on guard, he sometimes seemed almost pathetic.
Just like now.
At this point, I couldn’t tell if this was Kailas wearing a Noah mask or Noah wearing a Kailas mask.
A cold, indeed.
Dark Magic resistance, immunity to toxins—what kind of cold could possibly affect someone like that?
“No fever. I don’t think it’s a cold. Even if it were, sleep should take care of it.”
I gave a cursory diagnosis and rose from my seat.
But the moment I took a step, my hand was caught again.
“Hazel.”
“What now?”
“Make time for me tomorrow.”
“Are you going to the Imperial Palace?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“I want to go on a date with you.”
“I’m busy…….”
“I know you have nothing scheduled. We haven’t been on a single date since arriving in Elkard.”
…….
“Come on? We’ll go somewhere nice.”
I considered for a moment, then gave a short nod.
Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t properly rested in ages.
Besides, if I went out alone, guards would trail after me anyway, so it hardly mattered whether I went with this man or not.
“…Fine, now let go and get some sleep. I need to rest too.”
“Yes, my wife.”

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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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