Surviving as the Wife of the Swordsmanship Clan’s Troublemaker - Chapter 121

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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 121

I slipped out of the Main Building where Cardia and her entourage were staying and made my way toward the Annex.
Throughout the walk, the spirit perched on my shoulder chattered incessantly.
[Hallara, wasn’t the original plan to help that girl escape the Family?]
“That’s right.”
[But what if you create a scene of reconciliation? What if the young lady decides to reconcile with her father too?]
Junel fired off questions rapid-fire. I wanted to protest, but there was truth in those words. After all, both Docheop and I were in the middle of helping Elise escape the Family.
But still.
“What else could I do? The Duchess said she wanted to become a real family with Elise. You saw it yourself—she was willing to do it even with her eyes swollen from the garlic. How could I pretend not to see that sincerity?”
Perhaps it was meddlesome of me—K-auntie’s tendency to poke her nose into others’ affairs—but I wanted to help.
“Besides, it’s better for Elise to leave knowing Eva’s heart.”
[Tch, you softhearted thing. That’s exactly why I like you, though. Your husband would be delighted to hear this!]
“I’m keeping it a secret from Docheop.”
I shot Junel a warning glance and carefully opened the Bedroom door. But my flimsy secret-keeping shattered the moment I stepped inside.
“A secret?”
Docheop, who had been leaning against the moonlit window, spoke in a drowsy voice.
“My lord! Why are you sitting here without even turning on the light?”
I had assumed he’d gone out or fallen asleep since the lights were off when I left.
“What secret?”
Docheop approached slowly.
“Well, it’s…”
“We agreed to have no secrets.”
“Yes, but you see…”
I rolled my eyes and took a small step back.
[I knew it. I want nothing to do with this!]
I tried to signal Junel for help with my eyes, but he had already flown out the window.
Only complete silence remained, punctuated by the alternating sound of Docheop’s breathing and mine. His eyes were heavy with fatigue—apparently he’d been training with Casio again today.
Fresh scratches were visible on his already scar-covered hands.
‘This makes me look like I’m really betraying him.’
I felt a pang of guilt.
I couldn’t hide it.
“I wasn’t trying to betray you. Please understand that.”
“…Betray?”
“The Duchess simply wanted to cook for Elise, and I couldn’t bring myself to pretend I didn’t know. I was only going to help her grill the meat and leave right away, but…”
Worried he might be angry that I had weakened Elise’s resolve and jeopardized our plan, I rushed to explain. We weren’t truly married, and yet we were together only for the sake of this plan.
“But?”
“I think I ended up helping the two of them reconcile!”
I squeezed my eyes shut.
But what came back was not a cold rebuke.
“Pfft.”
A low, soft laugh escaped between Docheop’s lips. As I quietly opened my eyes, he reached out his large hand and gently cradled my cheek.
His thumb slowly traced across my cheek.
“Are you angry?”
“Why would I be angry with you?”
Docheop’s dark eyes rippled deeply in the moonlight, then curved like a crescent moon.
“Thank you for creating such a memory with Elise.”
His unexpected answer made me catch my breath. His voice seemed to carry an emotion I couldn’t quite explain.
“…Thank you? I might have planted regrets in her instead.”
He shook his head.
“You didn’t plant regrets in Elise. You gave her the assurance that no matter what adventures lie ahead, there is a place to return to.”
“Do you really think so?”
“Yes. My tender wife has done what I could never have done.”
Docheop pulled me close and held me gently against his chest. As my cheek touched his broad chest, his rich, deep scent enveloped my senses, washing away the anxiety that had lingered moments before.
Thump, thump, thump. Between our pressed chests, a heartbeat—I couldn’t tell whose—raced rapidly. Every time he was this tender to me, even though we weren’t truly husband and wife, my heart trembled helplessly.
I carefully wrapped my arms around his back in return.
“I’m relieved. I thought you’d be angry.”
“I’m not angry, but I am a little jealous.”
“Jealous?”
Docheop slowly drew me away from his embrace and lowered his head. As the distance closed and his breath nearly touched me, his lips grazed past mine and came to rest lightly on my forehead.
“I’m your husband, yet you went and filled the bellies of strange guests instead of mine.”
“Ah… Are you… hungry? Should I grill some leftover meat for you?”
At my foolish response, Docheop laughed aloud. He gently tucked my disheveled hair behind my ear and spoke in a drowsy tone.
“No. I can’t trouble my wife because of jealousy.”
A playful heat flickered in his eyes.
“You’ve worked hard, Hallara. Rest well now.”
Yet despite that heat, the words he spoke were a simple, unadorned greeting.
​
***
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A massive carriage of the Northern Imperial Family, passing near the Bloodmere Domain, came to an abrupt halt without warning.
“I will proceed to the Bloodmere Domain from here.”
Inside the carriage, Johannes—a fallen angel wearing Prince Aurel’s skin—opened his mouth with deliberate slowness.
Maximus, seated across from him, spoke with hesitation and alarm.
“The Bloodmere Domain, you say? But why would you suddenly wish to go there…?”
Johannes did not answer Maximus’s question. He merely turned his gaze toward the thick darkness beyond the window, his brown eyes fixed solely upon Bloodmere Castle hidden within the shadows.
In the end, it was Maximus who could not bear the silence, lowering his head. He possessed no authority to voice opinions regarding anything Johannes chose to do.
“…Understood. Then I shall proceed to the Capital first and attend the conference.”
“Very well.”
Once permission was granted, Maximus emptied the carriage that had been following behind. Then, as Johannes transferred from the Emperor’s carriage to that one, he set it in motion as if he had been waiting for precisely this moment.
Watching the Emperor’s carriage recede as though fleeing from him, Johannes withdrew something from his breast.
“…Lara.”
A gleaming silver ring. The very ring he and Hallara had exchanged when they pledged eternity to one another. Johannes slipped it onto his ring finger, then buried his face deep into his hand and drew a breath.
His body began to tremble violently. An uncontrollable, aching longing seized him, raising goosebumps across his skin.
“Hgh.”
The last bloodline of Brinihanta. The sole human who had ever understood him, he who cursed human selfishness.
Veins bulged across the back of Johannes’s hand as he gripped the ring. His eyes twisted with a cruel gleam of joy at the prospect of reunion.
“Go.”
He commanded suddenly in a savage voice.
“Shatter the barriers and slaughter the humans. I must turn the eyes of those wretched hounds away from this place.”
As Johannes’s order fell, a black gate tore open from the ground, and a flood of monsters began to pour forth.
With grotesque shrieks, hundreds of monsters surged toward the Bloodmere Domain.
​
***
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Soft, rhythmic breathing filled the darkness.
On the bed, Hallara slept deeply, oblivious to the world. It seemed she had exhausted herself thoroughly—watching the guest’s mood, preparing meals, and even helping broker peace between Elise and the Duchess all in a single day.
Docheop sat beside the bed and gently brushed away a strand of hair from her cheek.
She had blushed and fidgeted whenever speaking with him, yet the moment she lay down, she collapsed into sleep like the dead. It was endearing beyond measure.
‘I wish your exhaustion stemmed from me alone. But is it too selfish to hope for that?’
A tender smile was just beginning to bloom at the corners of Docheop’s lips when it happened.
“Young Master.”
A cautious voice called from beyond the firmly closed door.
Docheop rose quietly so as not to wake Hallara and opened the door, revealing a Soldier from the Manor he had never seen before.
“The Viscount has stepped away, so I bring this message to you, Young Master. The barrier at the outer edge of the Dominion has been destroyed. Unknown monsters are pouring through as we speak.”
Docheop’s eyes grew cold and sharp.
‘A monster attack at this moment?’
Something felt wrong about this.
Before the regression, no such incident had ever occurred.
“I heard Helbeorn had arrived.”
That was why Docheop had intended to remain at the Bloodmere Estate. He had family and comrades to protect.
“Young Master Helbeorn has also stepped away. If we do not act now, the civilians will suffer casualties!”
But the Soldier shook his head, his words tumbling out urgently.
Docheop hesitated for a moment, his gaze lingering on the deeply sleeping Hallara. Then he layered several protective barriers around her before slipping from the room.
It was not long after he left.
Black mist began to coil and thicken throughout the room.

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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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