My Contract Husband Demands a Divorce - Chapter 79

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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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The gathered vigilantes vanished in an instant. Guided by the landowner, we moved toward the mansion.
At the landowner’s command, the kitchen burst into a flurry of activity.
Watching the people stream into the mansion’s hall, Shan let out a short laugh.
“Money truly is a wonderful thing.”
It was the voice of a man who had finally realized the value of something he had long neglected.
The joke-like comment eased the tension a little.
As I offered a small smile in return, our eyes met.
Shan’s gaze swept down my cheek, brushed past my shoulder, and settled on my hands.
“Your trembling has stopped.”
“So it has. Even though we might die.”
Beside my hand, I saw his, resting parallel to mine.
Soon, this village would turn into an absolute shambles. The probability of anyone surviving was slim at best. My heart was still hammering wildly, yet my head grew remarkably clear.
I lifted my face to look at him.
Wearing a rare expression of surprise, he gave a gentle smile.
“You speak of dying so casually now. For someone who couldn’t even utter the word unless she was utterly consumed by terror.”
“Did I really do that?”
“You did. Whenever someone mentioned death or dying, you would turn pale and freeze.”
The backs of our hands touched. I slipped my fingers between his.
Shan relaxed his grip as if about to pull away, but then tightly clasped my hand.
And with that, he led the way forward.
We assisted the servants and maids who were hauling the supplies from the carriage into the hall.
The mercenaries had gathered to share strong liquor and offer their prayers.
As for the monk… he was nowhere to be seen.
“Where did the monk go? Has anyone seen him?”
“Oh? We set him down right here when he fell asleep earlier, but where did he wander off to?”
“Should I go find him?”
“No. Leave him be.”
Seeing him pray made him seem like a genuine monk, but his true identity remained entirely elusive.
There was no rule saying Yulisian’s subordinate couldn’t be a fake monk.
Demonic beasts were weak against holy things, so he might have hired a clergyman on purpose.
Though none of that really mattered anymore.
I rummaged through the baggage to find Saint Karkov’s Stone, cradling the entire box against my chest as I surveyed the hall.
Food arrived, and the hall quickly filled to capacity.
Unaware of the impending horror, the villagers chatted peacefully, sharing their meals.
Only thirty minutes remained.
I sought out the landowner, who was mingling among the villagers.
As I approached, he beamed broadly and bowed from the waist.
“Baroness! Welcome. Allow me to offer you a drink!”
Exceedingly flushed with excitement, he raised a goblet. I shook my head.
“Step outside with me for a moment.”
“Yes! Right away.”
The landowner rose compliantly. Side by side with Shan, I headed out of the mansion.
The landowner followed behind us, with the mercenaries trailing after him.
Sensing the strangeness of the situation, the landowner began to grow tense.
“B-Baroness. Have I committed some sort of blunder…?”
“No. I simply have something to show you.”
Leading the landowner up onto the border wall, we looked down at the village.
It was too far to see clearly yet, but toward the boundary of the village, grotesque monsters with glowing crimson eyes were gathering like a black tide.
“W-What on earth is that!”
“Demonic beasts,” Shan answered curtly.
The mercenaries drew their respective weapons and took up positions across the wall and at the main gate.
The landowner’s face turned completely ashen.
“T-Then those words were actually true?”
“They were. It would have been best if you had evacuated when told to, but it’s already too late.”
“Even so, the villagers are gathered in one place, so we only need to protect this area. Assemble everyone who can fight and bring every weapon you have.”
Despite Shan’s words, the landowner shook violently, consumed by dread.
“We’re going to die. E-Everyone is going to die.”
As the landowner threatened to collapse entirely, Shan caught him by the arm and yanked him upright.
I also grabbed the landowner firmly by both shoulders and shook him.
“Pull yourself together! We have lit the signal fire. Reinforcements will arrive by tomorrow morning at the latest. We have plenty of provisions, medicinal herbs, and weapons! Even if that were an army from an enemy nation, would you just sit here shivering like this?”
“T-That’s…”
“Look. Look what happened while you hesitated for just a moment.”
I pointed a finger toward the village.
Before we knew it, the wave of beasts was surging forward, filling the spaces between the village buildings.
Turning deathly pale, the landowner leaped down from the wall and screamed.
“Bring every weapon immediately! Everyone with working limbs, take up arms!! An enemy attack! Raise the gate, raise the main gate! Defend the wall!”
Shan drew his sword.
“Amarynthis. Get inside the mansion.”
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
“Shan, keep this with you.”
Opening the box, I thrust the stone into his embrace.
“I checked on the way here, and if you hold it while praying, your attacks will actually work against the demonic beasts. I don’t know the exact range, but it’s better than nothing.”
“…”
He gripped the stone tightly.
I cupped his hand with both of mine.
“…Please don’t die.”
Unable to look at his face, I immediately turned around and hurried down the wall.
Whatever the landowner had told them, the vigilantes and armed villagers were rushing out with terrified expressions.
It was at that exact moment.
Thud!
A single demonic beast dropped down inside the wall.
“Lin!”
Shan’s voice echoed in my ears.
Yet, I couldn’t move.
A pair of brilliant crimson eyes was flashing right before my face.
I’m going to die.
The thought flashed through my mind.
* * *
“Has everyone heard that rumor? They say Princess Lucretia digging up the corpse was the Baroness’s handiwork.”
“Could that really be true? A woman so adept at calculating her moves would never keep her hands out of politics.”
“A swan simply cannot play with mud-dwelling toads, after all.”
“She doesn’t even flaunt such accomplishments; she’s so magnificent I think I might fall for her.”
“Wake up from your dream! Do you have any idea how close she is with the Baron?”
“It was the Baroness who transformed Baron Huniswald in the first place, wasn’t it?”
High society was as splendid and clamorous as ever today.
Melis Haller stood sandwiched among them like an outsider.
The time she had spent with Princess Lucretia had become a poison to her.
Melis felt terribly wronged.
‘I was the one who uncovered the truth behind the dress incident!’
Hovering near the clusters of people laughing and talking, she stealthily attempted to interject.
“I-I am actually quite close with the Baroness, too—”
“Did you see the dress she wore to the flower show banquet? How can anyone possess such exquisite taste?”
The moment someone cut Melis off, the others subtly turned their bodies, blocking her out.
Biting her lip, she stepped backward.
Though she peered into various groups, everywhere she went, the conversation was solely about Amarynthis.
And absolutely no one would include her.
For hours, Melis floated through the ballroom like a rotting leaf trapped in a lake.
Hoping for a chance, she drifted toward the spot where the Duchess, the Count’s Wife, and the Marquis’s Daughter were gathered, but that circle was even colder.
“Is that not Miss Haller, who repaid the Baroness’s kindness with betrayal? What business do you have with us?”
“I saw her openly throwing herself at Baron Huniswald. Have you no shame?”
Unable to utter a word, Melis fled the spot as if escaping and ducked into the terrace.
Hastily pulling the curtains shut, she collapsed to the floor and burst into tears.
“Ugh, sob! Why is everyone doing this to me!”
She felt utterly wronged.
Longing for a glamorous life, she had strained her resources to come up to the Capital.
And there, she had always watched Amarynthis, who shone at the very center of social circles.
Amarynthis appeared beautiful, gentle, wealthy, poised, and universally beloved.
The Family Head of the massive financial Rootsild Clan cherished her like a biological sister, despite being only her cousin.
Even the husband she secured through a contract marriage seemed to have stepped straight out of a romance novel, never holding back his public displays of affection.
She envied that. She wanted to be like her. She wanted to become close with her.
However, Melis possessed neither innate nobility, a clan of immense authority, nor a vast inheritance.
Amarynthis occupied a position far too elevated for someone like her to approach.
From that point on, her gaze had begun to drift toward Scheit Huniswald.
Because he was the only thing Amarynthis possessed that hadn’t been hers by birth.
She felt that, with a bit of luck, he was something she could possess too.
“I just happened to fall in love with him because of that, so how is that so wrong?”
To her tearful monologue, someone replied.
“It isn’t wrong at all.”

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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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