My Husband Lives in a Painting - Chapter 64

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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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My Husband Lives in a Picture — Episode 64
‘Without meaning to, I treated him like I do Camille!’
I caught myself and looked over, but instead of growing angry, Basaria simply smiled beautifully, his eyes curved with amusement.
I jerked my hand back as though I’d touched something burning.
“I’m so, so sorry, Lord Basaria.”
“You have quite a strong grip, don’t you?”
“Ah…….”
Watching him smile leisurely with flushed cheeks, heat crept up my own face unbidden.
“And?”
“W-well, that is…….”
Why was I so helpless against this face of all faces?
Even as self-recrimination washed over me and I worried my lower lip between my teeth, I gestured him closer with a slight wave of my hand.
“Hmm?”
“A little closer, please.”
Basaria tilted forward without hesitation, blinking his eyes innocently.
I leaned carefully toward his ear and whispered my plan to him.
After hearing it, Basaria blinked blankly for a moment, then burst into laughter as though he could no longer contain himself.
‘What on earth is he laughing about?’
I couldn’t fathom his amusement, but I pressed on anyway.
“……So, would you mind helping me with this?”
There was no reason to be surprised if he refused.
Asking a Priest to dig into someone’s past under the flimsy guise of doing background research for a remarriage was not only a thin excuse but hardly a task befitting his station.
Yet I couldn’t keep the hopeful look from my eyes.
“My father is pushing the marriage talks, and I think I’ll need solid grounds to refuse him convincingly…….”
“Mm.”
Basaria gazed down at me for a long moment, as though savoring something slowly.
Then, after a pause, his gracious acceptance came.
“Of course I must help you. Shall we go right now?”
“Really? Are you sure? It doesn’t have to be today, you know.”
“Oh no, no, no.”
He seemed oddly delighted.
“I was just growing terribly bored, as it happens.”
* * *
Apparently his boredom was genuine, for Basaria moved with surprising haste.
I waited in the courtyard before the Temple, and before long he reappeared.
He hadn’t changed his clothes, however.
Instead, he carried two Black Robes in his hands.
“I didn’t have prepared attire, so I brought these instead.”
He handed one robe to me and draped the other across his own shoulders.
“You have black ones?”
“These are cloaks for covert movement. They’re light and breathable, so they’ll be quite comfortable.”
The moment we stepped out of the Temple and into the alley, I pulled the robe he’d given me over my body.
Once I’d drawn the hood down low, my appearance was entirely concealed.
And shortly after.
In the shadowed gap between buildings, I held my breath and watched a tavern bearing the sign “Sillakwon” across its entrance.
“……How much longer is he going to be in there?”
Thirty minutes had already passed since Basaria disappeared inside.
My lips were beginning to go dry.
‘But is this really all right?’
Bringing Etherion’s Priest into a place like that meant my fate after death was as good as sealed.
I was almost grateful that Camille would be the one to claim my soul.
‘I really have gone too far, haven’t I.’
If anyone from the Temple witnessed this scene, or if even one worshiper inside the tavern recognized his face, it would leave an irreparable stain on his career.
The fact that he’d volunteered to help me despite that risk made me wonder…….
“Is Temple life really so tedious?”
Before my murmur had even finished, a voice pierced through the darkness behind me.
“It certainly is rather dull.”
“Eek…….”
I started violently and curled in on myself with a gasp.
As I turned my head slowly, sure enough, Basaria stood there watching me with an odd, vacant expression.
Just as before, he shed the priest’s vestment and tied his hair back, then spoke with a composed expression.
“Ah, I came out through the back entrance to be safe.”
……
“Feel free to praise me as much as you’d like.”
Watching him smile with such artless expectation of compliments, I felt a sudden swell of emotion.
“You did well. Very well.”
I felt the rigid tension at the back of my neck as I forced the corners of my stiff lips upward.
In any case, Basaria’s report followed after that.
“First, as you instructed, I posed as a customer and inquired about the recent atmosphere. When I probed whether they had many regular patrons, I learned the establishment operates exclusively under a membership system.”
I tilted my chin thoughtfully, processing his words.
“A membership system…….”
So that’s why I’d never heard rumors of Densum frequenting the tavern.
The unexpected constraint made my brow furrow slightly.
“That’s troublesome, then. Extracting information won’t be as simple as I thought.”
“Ah!”
But the answer that came back sidestepped my expectation entirely.
“There’s no need to worry about that. I asked quite thoroughly.”
……Asked thoroughly about what, exactly?
I looked up to find Basaria’s face wreathed in a graceful smile.
“I found out who the Duke specifically requests at Karangko. Here—the name and address.”
“Wait, you’re telling me you actually managed that?”
“Of course.”
I narrowed my eyes in disbelief and snatched the paper he offered toward me.
‘No, that can’t be right.’
There’s no way he would have freely handed over that kind of information to a foreigner he’d just met today—
“……No, it’s real.”
The note bore the name “Illos” in precise characters, along with a detailed map of the location.
“There are truly many kind-hearted people in this world, don’t you think?”
Basaria asked me gently.
……
‘Is this what they call the Seduction Technique?’
A moment later, I came to my senses and examined the note again.
‘It’s not far from here, so I can visit today. But before that…….’
Uncertain whether I should bring Basaria along, I studied him with a searching gaze.
As if reading my hesitation, he offered a proposal before I could.
“If you’ll permit me, I’d like to accompany you.”
Basaria smiled brightly, as if he truly wanted nothing more.
I gazed at him in silence for a moment.
‘……Right. Sending him back now would be strange anyway.’
Besides, if we went together, there would be fewer people inclined to cause trouble.
Weighing those practical advantages, my mind grew lighter—yet at the same time, an odd feeling stirred.
‘Am I trusting this man too easily?’
But there was no time to linger now. I cleared the tangle from my head and answered briefly.
“Then let’s go together.”
* * *
To reach the address written on the note, we had to cross through the ramshackle Slum District.
Along the narrow alleyway, wooden shacks pressed close together, and haphazardly hung cloth awnings and clotheslines scrambled our view.
‘The stench is awful. I had no idea such a place still existed in the heart of the Capital.’
In such a place, even though we were covered head to toe in robes, we foreigners in neat dress couldn’t help but stand out.
Shameless stares followed us from all directions.
Then, just as I’d feared, grasping hands began to approach.
“I’m starving to death. Won’t you spare a coin?”
“Just one copper piece, just one.”
“Please, kind lady, show mercy. My children are going hungry.”
At any other time, I might have yielded to the requests for alms, but now I had no such luxury.
“I’m sorry. I don’t have any spare money right now.”
But the moment the words left my mouth, a rough hand seized my arm.
“Please, lady……!”
……
Yet even as my arm was grabbed, my gaze remained unwavering.
The man who had been slightly excited flinched when our eyes met, his body trembling.
A moment later, his grip loosened.
I offered them a slight bow before moving on.
Basaria didn’t speak until we had put enough distance between ourselves and them.
“You’re fearless to a frightening degree.”
“Pardon?”
“Was it always your nature to be this way?”
His voice, uncharacteristically serious, seemed to settle the air between us.
“……I’m not sure.”
I left the answer deliberately vague and turned away quickly. Though Basaria’s gaze seemed to follow me with stubborn persistence, I pretended not to notice and quickened my pace.

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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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