The Husband I Thought Was Dead Has Returned - Chapter 83

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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 083
I picked up the withered seedling resting on the table. I had uprooted it from the field today, and its roots were already rotting.
“And truthfully, we need their help as well. But the people of Carencia have lived on this land for generations. Since they have cultivated both sea and soil together, they must know how to resolve our situation.”
I set the seedling back down on the table. Our hope, decaying from within.
“I wish we could ask them for medical treatment, share their food, and request help with farming. At this rate, we might starve to death.”
Dorpin fell into thought. His expression suggested resistance, yet the truth was he too was going hungry. When he finally spoke, his voice was hollow.
“Our location would be exposed. That is dangerous.”
“I understand. There is no need to reveal our true identities. During wartime, no one lives with complete honesty. Are suspicious individuals so rare?”
Dorpin sighed deeply.
“I acknowledge that your words hold merit, madam. However, contact with the village should be made by myself, Mila, or Robin. You must absolutely not venture down to the village. Nor should young master Hayden. I ask that you promise me this.”
In the stern knight’s eyes lay a concern directed toward me. Understanding his heart, I nodded obediently and answered without resistance.
“I understand.”
“Hayden?”
Hayden lifted his head. Recently, the child had developed a habit of responding whenever his name was called. His eyes sparkled as he placed both hands on the table, pushed himself up from his seat, and struck the table with a sharp tap. He had already forgotten his earlier sulk over losing the wooden piece.
“Hayden! Hayden do it too!”
What was he trying to do? Hayden wiggled his bottom before crawling up onto the dining table and standing upright upon it.
Then he stretched both arms toward the sky.
“Hayden, do! Hayden best!”
Since I always told him he was the best, he truly believed himself to be the greatest at all times. My child’s confidence soared beyond the heavens.
“All right. Hayden will do it with us. You understand, yes?”
Hayden nodded with an innocent expression. When I grinned, his teeth showed brightly and completely. I pinched his cheek gently and spoke.
“And Hayden’s birthday is coming soon. I want to let him eat his fill on that day.”
Hayden’s birthday was just a week away. Our precious son had already lived two years since his birth.
As time passed, the child grew steadily. Watching Cherez emerge in Hayden’s features, I concealed my bitterness.
I had now accepted that he would not return.
The shattered holy relic would take time to restore. Seven years. In that span, Cherez would be dead.

* * *
Another lull had settled over the battlefield. The Knights, exhausted from the grueling combat, collapsed onto the sandy beach like felled trees and surrendered to sleep.
But I remained awake, standing at the edge of the Coastal Defense Line, my gaze fixed upon the horizon.
Within my unblinking pupils, violet light rippled and danced. I moved forward with deliberate steps.
Wills followed in my wake.
“Sir! Where are you going!”
“There’s something I need to verify.”
Wills clicked his tongue and pursued me.
“You truly are the spitting image of your parents!”
“Am I?”
“Yes!”
I laughed dryly and murmured.
“If that’s so, it would be an honor.”
“Especially your stubborn streak—that’s identical.”
“That too would be an honor.”
Wills exhaled deeply. I climbed the Coastal Cliff without pause, but this time I took the winding path upward rather than scaling it directly as I had before. Wills diligently followed behind.
The Gate of the Other Side hung suspended in the air above the sea, roughly five hundred meters from the coastline. The waves surging from the direction of the Rift were tinged with crimson foam.
I narrowed my eyes as I reached the edge of the Coastal Cliff and examined it carefully.
The foul stench carried on the sea breeze—it originated from that very place.
Thump, thump.
I could see something pulsing within it.
“Wills.”
Wills stepped beside me, his gaze hardening visibly. He had grasped why I had come to this place.
“What does that resemble to you?”
I asked, my eyes gleaming with intensity.
“…Sir.”
Wills’s voice dropped low. Having served in the Bereidan Knight Order for nearly his entire life, he possessed knowledge of Bereidan’s history that even I did not. He sighed before continuing.
“Your parents also sought to uncover its true nature.”
My eyes narrowed.
“My father and mother?”
“Yes. Your father approached that Rift whenever the red moon rose. He believed there must be a way to seal the Rift itself. He said that once the Gate of the Other Side was completely sealed, this war would finally end.”
I fell silent, studying Wills intently. This was the first I had heard of such matters. It appeared in no historical records.
Wills looked toward the Rift. The wind tousled his hair, the unkempt strands falling across the nape of his neck.
“In the end, they could not discover the answer and returned. They were consumed by it.”
The world seemed to stop for a moment.
“That day long ago, your father and mother boarded a ship together and approached the Rift, seizing a moment when the Demons were absent.”
Wills steadied his breathing before continuing.
“A mist—or perhaps smoke—rose from all directions, engulfing the sea. It seemed to manifest automatically once one drew too close to the Rift. As if it were defending itself.”
“And then what happened?”
Ripples of emotion stirred in Wills’s eyes.
“I cannot say what your father witnessed within that vortex. Both he and your mother returned physically intact, yet they were not themselves. It was as though every ounce of their life force had been drained away.”
Wills paused, his gaze distant as though traversing the corridors of memory.
“Your father regained consciousness half a day later. Your mother… she passed away in that very moment. And then the war ended. The Gate of the Other Side sealed itself as though desperate to conceal what lay within.”
Cherez’s jaw tightened. This was the first time he had heard such detailed accounts of their deaths.
“What dwells in there is terror itself—something no mortal mind was meant to bear. Was your father not the strongest in the Southern Region? Sir, I beg you, abandon this path.”
Wills’s voice trembled.
“Your father’s wish was that we never speak of it again.”
Cherez turned his gaze toward the Rift. It lay submerged in the undulating sea, a festering wound in the waters.
“…One day, Hayden will have to face it.”
“Sir.”
“That boy—with hands still soft as ferns—will have to draw his blade against it. I cannot bear to pass this curse down to him. I simply cannot.”
Cherez turned to face Wills directly.
“If I can end this in my lifetime, I would stake my very life upon it.”
“Sir…”
“I promise to proceed with utmost caution. I will not allow myself to be consumed by it. So spare me that expression—anyone watching would think I’ve already resigned myself to death.”
Wills watched Cherez’s retreating back, noting how his broad shoulders and rigid spine mirrored someone from the past. And Wills had witnessed how that man, too, had ultimately broken.
If only Cherez would not shatter as well.
Wills offered a sincere prayer to whatever gods might listen.
The two descended along the Coastal Cliff. Beneath the Rift, something stirred—as though genuinely, impossibly alive.

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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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