The Husband I Thought Was Dead Has Returned - Chapter 78

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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 Husband Who Should Have Died Returns Episode 078
At that very moment, Borgus lay hidden in the darkness of the Temple, holding his breath.
The pounding of his heart echoed in his ears.
Both inside and outside the Temple lay silent as darkness itself. Only the crimson moonlight flowed across the marble of the Temple.
By now, would the Duchess have safely made her escape?
‘I entrust Hayden and Roana to you.’
The bitter expression on Cherez’s face as he spoke those words came unbidden to mind. In all the years he had known Cherez, he had never seen such a look.
Cherez, whom he had served as a friend and lord his entire life, had revealed regret for the first time.
‘How regrettable.’
‘What troubles you so?’
‘Time is far too short.’
He had spoken those words while watching Roana and Hayden pass by the window.
His gaze had followed Roana intently—the pen rolling between his fingers, and Cherez’s eyes fixed upon her.
All of it had felt unfamiliar.
‘I regret the things left undone, and regret what must remain undone.’
‘I confess I do not understand, my lord.’
‘I regret that I can offer her nothing.’
‘Speak more plainly, I beg you….’
‘It is my own regret, you see. What if that brief memory causes Roana to waste her entire life?’
‘These words are truly beyond my comprehension….’
‘I wish to spend my life sleeping beside that woman, waking to greet each morning with her.’
Those words were utterly incomprehensible. Cherez was a man accustomed to concealing his emotions.
Perhaps that was why.
He had never revealed his feelings toward Roana until the very end. In that final, ultimate moment, those words were all he had uttered.
‘So I ask of you. Ensure that Roana and Hayden remain safe and live well.’
‘Do not speak as though you will not return.’
‘Life is uncertain, after all.’
That woman who had become Cherez’s regret would by now be riding in a carriage.
Roana was far more intelligent than one might assume. She seemed exceptionally skilled at grasping situations. That was why she had agreed to depart.
‘I will not reveal where we are going. If I make one promise, it is this: Hayden will grow up safe and happy. I entrust the Southern Region to you until my lord returns.’
Should the war drag on, or should some calamity prevent Cherez from returning, the Southern Region would fall into chaos. And that chaos would consume Hayden.
‘I will leave traces. When the carriage explodes, it will be easier to conceal our whereabouts. I thought to use that circumstance to our advantage.’
‘But what if the moment comes when I must find the Duchess and Hayden? Should my lord return?’
‘My lord will know where we are. And should there arise a reason for us to return, we will do so of our own accord.’
Borgus let out a bitter laugh. The future of the Southern Region rested upon Roana’s shoulders. As Borgus harbored such thoughts.
He sensed a presence and cast aside the musings that had occupied his mind.
Shadows appeared in the darkness. They moved toward the Sacred Relic Chamber. A door that should have remained sealed stood slightly ajar. Just as they were about to cross its threshold.
“Halt.”
Borgus’s voice echoed against the stone walls.
Knights burst forth from all directions.
“Damn it all!”
While the men scrambled in confusion, the Bereidan Knights subdued them with practiced efficiency.
The barrels they had brought clattered across the floor. When Borgus lifted one and opened its lid, a caustic stench erupted that made his eyes water.
Hydrochloric acid.
Borgus sealed the lid shut. The breath he’d been holding for hours escaped in one desperate rush.
“Are there only you?”
The masked men thrashed without answering. In that moment, my eyes met one man’s gaze. Despite being restrained, he was smiling.
Borgus tore away the man’s mask. The smile playing at his lips only deepened.
Cold sweat traced down my spine, and my skin erupted in goosebumps.
“You’re finished.”
The man’s lips twisted into a sneer.
If being captured had been the objective all along.
A tremor rose from beneath my feet—originating from deep underground.
My body reacted before my mind could.
“Everyone retreat! Run!!”
Cracks spiderwebbed across the stone floor. The fissures raced up the walls and spread toward the ceiling. One of the Corridor’s pillars snapped, and the arch collapsed inward.
Heat surged upward from the depths below.
Borgus and the Knights bolted toward the exit. How could I have missed this!
The explosion lifted the entire Temple. The blast wave hurled my body through the air, and I crashed violently against stone. My breath stopped, then returned in gasps.
I lifted my head. Blood from my split forehead streamed into my eyes, turning my vision crimson.
Searing flames and the explosion tore through the sky. By some miracle, I alone had survived.
I clenched my teeth and breathed heavily. The inferno consumed the Temple, devouring evidence and everyone trapped inside.
I remembered the hand that had pushed me from behind at the last moment.
The cries of the Knights, their groans of agony stifled.
‘Run!’
The voice that had shouted at me.
I staggered to my feet despite the searing pain and lurched toward the roaring flames.
“Damn it.”
This foolish bastard. I had known Countess Caslit was no easy woman—yet I had been careless!
I collapsed to my knees.

* * *
At that very moment.
The explosion at the Temple was visible even from here.
The sky above the heart of the Territory split open, and a pillar of fire erupted into the heavens.
The screams of refugees echoed from outside the carriage.
It had failed. What Countess Caslit had prepared was far more than hydrochloric acid alone.
Then what of Borgus?
The Sacred Relic would be destroyed. As in the original story. No matter how desperately I struggled, it seemed I could not change fate.
Yureain grasped my arm.
“My lady!”
That voice sounded distant, as if calling from beneath water.
I needed to breathe, yet I seemed to have forgotten how.
Cherez… where was he?
The curtain had risen on the Seven Years’ War. He would not return. That chilling certainty threatened to consume me entirely.
Had Hayden not cried out in that moment, I might have been swallowed by despair.
“Waaaaaaah!”
His wail pulled me back to myself. I clutched the child tightly to my chest, released a shuddering breath, and whispered.
“…It’s all right, Hayden. It’s all right.”
The entire refugee procession had stopped, all eyes fixed on the Temple. Then the carriage door opened carefully. It was Mila.
“Now, Duchess!”
The signal I had been waiting for. There was no room for hesitation.
With Mila’s assistance, I descended from the carriage. Yureain and Robin followed close behind me. With all attention drawn to the Temple’s explosion, no one spared us a glance.
The procession descended into chaos. The calamity at the Temple felt to them like a harbinger of catastrophe.
There would be no better moment than this. There was no time to surrender to despair, no time to grieve.
I gritted my teeth and held Hayden close. Outside was pandemonium. Once we had safely concealed ourselves in the Forest, Dorpin and Mila nodded in acknowledgment.
Dorpin moved toward us while Mila returned to the driver’s seat and took up the reins.
Mila would rejoin us after disposing of the carriage.
After confirming the carriage’s departure, we moved deeper into the Forest. Horses waited at the appointed location, along with the provisions we had prepared in advance.
“From here, it will take roughly two days on foot. Follow carefully.”
I nodded at Morphin’s words.
We had walked for some time when another explosion sounded in the distance.
Boom!
Our journey was only now beginning. My feet, weighed down by regret, were heavy, yet I could not stop walking.

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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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