The Fake Wife of the Strongest Husband Wants to Survive - Chapter 1

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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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Episode 1
“What on earth are you talking about?”
The man’s low voice scraped against the floor, as if mirroring his foul mood.
He’d always been taciturn, but she’d never seen him this angry before.
Because of it, Pesha pretended not to notice as she studied his expression.
The man—with sunken eyes harboring a sharp gaze, a prominent nose, and masculine features—twisted his carefully sculpted face into something ominous.
Pesha, who’d been gazing at him absently, suddenly snapped to attention.
‘No, wait. Why am I tiptoeing around him? How much have I done for this territory all this time!’
She clenched her fists hard to steel herself.
Then she brought up the words she’d been dying to say since the day they married.
“I’m saying we should get divorced now.”
The decision to divorce had been made long ago.
Since the day they wed.
No—since before the wedding!
She’d been thrust into marriage against her will, but she believed their window-dressing of a marriage had run its course.
The man himself couldn’t want to prolong this dishonorable union.
Ever since the marriage, Pesha had worked tirelessly to rebuild this barren territory.
There were various reasons, but primarily it was for the alimony she’d demand upon divorce.
‘Once I receive the alimony, I’ll live carefree and alone.’
That thought remained unchanged even now.
Of course, nothing had been agreed upon beforehand. Yet the man before her had never been stingy with spending, even when the territory’s finances were meager, and her role in accumulating the current wealth was undeniably significant—so she was prepared to demand it with confidence.
‘But I didn’t expect to hit a wall before I could even bring it up.’
Her husband Owen, who’d been glaring at Pesha’s resolute face, asked:
“Why?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking why you want a divorce.”
Pesha was taken aback at that.
‘Isn’t it obvious?’
This marriage had been arranged between the two of them without either’s consent.
So she thought it only natural that they each go their separate ways now.
Pesha’s eyes darted about as she formulated her answer.
“You didn’t want this marriage any more than I did, did you?”
……
“And…….”
Should I say this? Pesha hesitated for a moment, then continued.
“And there’s another w-woman for you.”
“……What?”
“I thought the longer I occupy this position, the harder it will be for the woman who’s meant to be your true wife. Isn’t that so?”
Owen’s face went rigid.
He froze as if he’d never expected her name to be mentioned from Pesha’s lips.
‘Did that strike a nerve?’
Pesha, a triumphant smile blooming across her face, launched into her full persuasion.
“I’ll explain everything to the King and Father so there’s no blowback on you. I’m not asking for much alimony either—just a portion of what we’ve earned this time…….”
That was when Owen made a loud noise.
It was the sound of him hurling the divorce documents Pesha had offered into the waste bin.
Pesha’s eyes widened in shock, and Owen spoke with eyes darkened by something deep.
“How convenient for the conversation to proceed when you already know.”
Know what? Ah, the other woman?
As his words finally suggested they might understand each other, Pesha’s expression brightened.
“I’ll make sure the new countess suffers no inconvenience! I’ll handle the handover properly, so don’t worry.”
It was the moment she declared this with confidence.
“Pesha Namoi.”
At the sound of him calling her name like that, Pesha’s shoulders stiffened.
Because it was the first time Owen had ever called her by this name.
And it was also the first time she’d been addressed by her husband’s surname rather than her maiden name.
Unfamiliar as the sound was, Pesha blinked in surprise, and Owen met her gaze, his dark eyes gleaming.
He opened his tightly closed mouth.
“What I wanted from the beginning was you.”
Pesha’s expression turned bewildered at those words.
“I……beg your pardon?”
“I’ve done all this solely to make you Pesha Namoie. And now you want a divorce?”
A thin smile played at Owen’s lips.
“There’s no chance I’ll grant you one.”
* * *
“Lord Namoie. You’ve resolved another Dimensional Rift in the Eastern Region, I hear? Your valor never ceases to astound me.”
The entire kingdom was awash in celebration.
A hero had emerged in the Empire like a shaft of light piercing years of endless war.
The moment Owen Namoie arrived, he drove back the armies of Clapton Kingdom, that ancient thorn in the Empire’s side.
He systematized foreign peoples scattered near the borders who preyed upon small villages, and he exterminated great swarms of Monsters that had reduced the Eastern Region to what was nearly dead land.
He was the symbol of peace and the Empire’s hope.
“To gain such a hero in my reign—there are no words for such joy.”
The Emperor seated upon the throne lavished praise upon Owen’s accomplishments, yet his voice remained utterly flat and colorless.
Owen Namoie, the man kneeling on one knee before the throne still clad in military armor, answered briefly.
“You honor me too greatly, Your Majesty.”
“Such modesty after such deeds is unnecessary. The moment I heard news of your victory, I began pondering what reward would be fitting.”
……
“Then it occurred to me that you, well past the proper age for marriage, remain unwed.”
The Emperor’s words sent a tremor through the hall where the party was unfolding.
At the same moment, the crowd’s gaze turned toward a woman standing rigid as stone.
The Emperor, indifferent to the stir, continued.
“Much of the blame for your unmarried state falls on me, for I have constantly burdened you with grave duties. Thus, I have conferred with trustees I can rely upon.”
The moment word spread that Owen Namoie had reclaimed the Eastern lands, rumors had been circulating in the depths of high society.
Whispers mixed with scorn and pity—that some noble lady would become the wife of Owen Namoie, a man of common birth.
“After hearing various opinions, the decision I have reached is thus……. My friend, Raidel.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
At the Emperor’s summons, Raidel stepped to his side.
The Emperor patted Raidel’s shoulder as he spoke.
“This Duke Raidel has graciously offered his own daughter.”
In that instant, Pesha—Raidel’s daughter, dragged to the party by her father as though being led to a slaughter—squeezed her eyes shut.
“Therefore, I bestow upon you as your wife the Lady Pesha Raidel, daughter of Duke Raidel.”
The Emperor’s announcement, which she had dreaded over and over, had become reality.
‘Absolutely not!’
Pesha, who had been mingling in the crowd at the party, strode forward toward the Emperor, bowed her head, and cried out without hesitation.
“Your Majesty! Please, I beg you to take back those words!”
It was an unexpected turn of events.
The Emperor’s eyes widened, and the nobles who had been murmuring quietly began to roar with agitation.
“Pesha!”
The most shocked among them was Pesha’s father, Duke Raidel.
He seized her arm and dragged her, rebuking her sharply.
“What do you think you’re doing? How dare you refuse the Emperor’s command?”
To defy the Emperor—
It was unthinkable for a man who was both the patriarch of the illustrious House Raidel and a loyal subject of the Crown.
‘But he is loyal, not I.’
Pesha had a reason she could not back down from.
“Your Majesty! I do not wish to marry Lord Namoie. I……I will become a nun instead of marrying!”
Duke Raidel, incensed beyond measure, gripped Pesha’s shoulders so tightly it brought pain.
“How far will you go to disgrace your father?”
He cried out as though no greater shame could possibly befall him, then turned to apologize to the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, I have failed in my daughter’s upbringing. I will educate her properly and send her forth. Please do not withdraw your command.”
The Emperor, who had seemed momentarily flustered by Pesha’s refusal, received Raidel’s apology and let out a hollow cough.
“Hmm. Then I take it that House Raidel consents, as we discussed beforehand.”
It was a one-sided decision that paid no heed whatsoever to the pleas of the person most concerned.
In an effort to nullify the marriage promise that had proceeded against her will, Pesha had played her trump card—only to see it rendered utterly useless.
In desperation, Pesha turned her gaze and suddenly noticed Owen Namoie, who had remained kneeling on one knee with his head bowed all the while.
Pesha’s shoulders flinched. So he had heard everything after all.
Summoned to the party straight from the battlefield in little more than hunting garb, it must have been sufficiently humiliating for him—and now she herself had refused the marriage. He could not possibly be pleased.
Yet despite the disgrace of it all, he remained motionless, rooted to the spot.
His back stirred something like pity in her, though truthfully it was rather like a mouse pitying the cat.
It could hardly be otherwise.
‘Owen Namoie might very well kill me.’
And it was terrible and ruthless.
The Strongest Husband’s Fake Wife Wants to Live
Author: Cho Sa
Editor: SY
UCI: G720:N+A262-20260811111
Price: Serialization Rate
E-book Publication Date: 2626-09-03
Publisher: MZ Family Co., Ltd. (Nightingale)
Address: 1009-1011, Ace High-Tech City 3rd Building, 130 Seoniu-ro, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul
Submissions and Inquiries: [email protected]
This book has been published as an e-book by MZ Family Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder.
Unauthorized reproduction of the contents of this work is prohibited by copyright law.

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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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