The Male Lead Is Going Mad Searching for His Dead Wife, and I’m That Wife - Chapter 20

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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 Male Lead goes mad searching for his dead wife, but that wife is me. Chapter 020
The dining hall of the Grand Duke’s Castle was absurdly large. Seated at opposite ends of the long table, we would have had to raise our voices just to hold a conversation.
But tonight, for the first time, we sat close enough to face each other.
The table was laid with the finest dishes the chef had poured his heart into: steak, lobster, pears simmered in wine… It seemed the chef had gone all out for Lucian.
And right in the middle sat one plate that looked entirely out of place.
Chunky wedges of potato, roasted with a spicy seasoning, alongside a creamy pumpkin soup. I had made them myself.
Spicy food calls for something sweet, right? I wonder if he’ll appreciate the sweet-and-salty balance.
“…”
Lucian stared down at my food, knife still in hand.
I swallowed hard and waited for his reaction.
Lucian paused, fork in midair, and looked at me.
“…It’s delicious.”
“Really? Isn’t it too spicy? And the soup isn’t too sweet, is it?”
Lucian nodded.
He chewed, swallowed, and set down his utensils.
“Excellent. These are exactly the sort of dishes one needs to get through winter.”
Even as he said it, the corners of his eyes were flushing red.
So he can’t handle spicy food? Heat was spreading across his face as he forced down the sting without a word.
It was the first time. Since I’d set foot in this castle, it was the first time we had sat down to a meal together like a real married couple.
I had a feeling that the winter we were about to spend in this castle might be warmer than I’d expected.
* * *
The scream shook the castle on the night Lucian returned, shortly after midnight.
I lifted my head, a half-finished piece of sewing resting on my lap.
At first I took it for the wind. Winter gales in the North often let out sounds like an animal crying.
But when a second scream came rolling down the corridor, I realized it was no wind at all.
“…Lucian?”
I threw a shawl over my shoulders and went out. The corridor outside Lucian’s bedchamber was already crowded with people.
“Duchess!”
The Head Maid was wringing her hands and stamping her feet, while even the armed knights stood at the door with pale faces, exchanging glances.
Theodore stood directly in front of the door. In his hand was a glass vial no longer than a finger.
Inside it, a murky green liquid sloshed, catching the lamplight. It was probably the medicine that calmed Lucian’s madness.
From beyond the door, another scream tore out. It sounded like something clawing its way up a beast’s throat.
“Sir Theodore. Didn’t he take his medicine today?”
Theodore tightened his grip on the vial.
That medicine must have been made by the mage who once served the Ducal House. But as far as I knew, that mage had died in battle two years ago.
The recipe had survived, but no one else could brew the same medicine. Fortunately, the mage had made a considerable stock before his death and preserved it with magic, which was the only reason it had lasted this long.
Even that supply was nearly gone now.
“No, Your Grace. He took it after dinner, on his way upstairs.”
If he had taken the medicine and still ended up like this, it meant he had already built up a tolerance to it.
I bit my lip. Not long after his tolerance builds, the Female Lead shows up. So tonight is the turning point.
I turned my gaze toward the room.
In the original novel, it was the Female Lead who calmed his madness and ultimately healed him.
The Female Lead finds a new herb in the Rear Garden and adds it to the medicine. And that herb… Actually, I already know what it is. On the day I was scrounging through the garden for something to eat, I found it beside a patch of thistles.
I had not the slightest intention of getting involved. Soothing Lucian’s wounds was the Female Lead’s job.
But the one standing at this door now was not the Female Lead. It was me.
I let out a sigh.
My heart was pounding hard. The breaths mingled with those agonized groans seemed to gnaw away at a person’s very core.
The Head Maid burst into tears, unable to hold back.
Are we really supposed to just endure this? Lucian would have to bear it, but is it right to turn away from it?
I swallowed. No matter how I looked at it, this didn’t feel right.
“Sir Theodore, please stay right here. I’ll be back in a moment.”
“Duchess? Where are you going!”
I ran down the corridor.
Outside, a cutting wind was howling across the grounds. The cold bit straight through the skin.
I dashed across the courtyard, where the snow had piled up to my ankles, toward the Rear Garden. My feet sank with every step, but I couldn’t stop.
Thankfully, I didn’t wander for long before the thistle patch came into view.
I knelt and pushed the snow aside. I scraped at the frozen soil with my fingernails and turned over the leaves buried beneath the snow, one by one.
Where is it? Don’t tell me it’s all died off in winter. That can’t be right.
They say it’s a plant that survives all four seasons. That its vitality can save a life.
Then my fingertips caught on a stiff stem. When I brushed away the snow, a leaf appeared, exactly as the original novel had described it.
It had wilted a little from the frost, but the root was still alive.
I dug it out by the root. In the frozen ground, I had found a glimmer of hope, just as the Female Lead in the original novel had. I tucked it against my chest and ran back.
I stopped by the kitchen and crushed the rinsed leaves to wring out their juice. My numb fingers refused to cooperate, and more than once I nearly lost my grip on the mortar.
Remembering how much the Female Lead had mixed into the existing medicine in the original novel, I poured the juice into a small cup and carried it back to the corridor.
The Head Maid took one look at me, mud and snow streaked all over, and her jaw dropped.
“Madam, what on earth—!”
I caught my breath and spoke slowly.
“Pour the medicine into this cup.”
“What is that?”
“It’s an herb that calms the nerves and eases pain. I gathered it from the Rear Garden.”
Theodore’s face hardened in an instant.
“That won’t do.”
Of course.
“The medicine His Highness takes has barely any left. I can’t allow you to mix in an herb whose effects haven’t been confirmed.”
It was a perfectly reasonable reaction.
I would have reacted the same way.
I looked down at the cup. Of everyone here, I was the only one who knew this herb would enhance the effects of the existing medicine. But I could hardly say I’d read it in the original novel.
“It isn’t poisonous.”
“How would you know that?”
The words caught in my throat.
I’d found it while rummaging through the Rear Garden for something to keep us fed. If I claimed I’d seen it in the original novel, people would only think I’d lost my mind.
After a moment’s hesitation, I tipped the cup and dabbed a little of the herb juice onto the tip of my tongue.
“Madam!”
A bitter, astringent taste spread through my mouth.
I grimaced and set the cup down.
“At least it isn’t poison.”
“That’s not the point. Even if it isn’t toxic, there’s no guarantee it’s safe to mix with Your Highness’s medicine…”
Bang!
At that moment, the sound of something shattering burst out from beyond the door.
A muffled groan followed.
Everyone in the corridor froze at once.
I bit my lip too.
“Open the door, Sir.”
In the end, Theodore stepped aside from the doorway at my insistence.
The moment the door swung open, a biting chill rushed out to meet us. The hearth had gone cold, and the room was a wreck.
Shards of glass scattered across the floor glimmered faintly, catching the moonlight that spilled in through the window.
Something was crouched at the foot of the bed.
It was Lucian.
He had curled his body into a tight circle and was perfectly still, enduring the pain. His broad back rose and fell sharply with each ragged breath. The sight was closer to a wounded beast than to a man.
I stepped around the glass and approached Lucian.
Just then, Lucian lifted his head.
My breath… stopped.
His pupils had contracted into a narrow, vertical slit, and a crimson glow was spreading around them like embers catching fire. If a dragon had eyes, I imagined they would look exactly like that.
A shiver crawled up my spine. It felt as though I were stiffening from my toes upward.
“…Get out.”
His voice was hoarse and cracked.
I knelt down in front of him. The hem of my skirt swept across the broken glass, but I paid it no mind. When I held up the cup, Lucian’s eyes followed it.
The instant I reached out, Lucian’s hand shot forward and clamped around my wrist.
The grip was strong enough to feel as though it might snap my bones. A scream rose to my throat, but I clenched my teeth and swallowed it.
If I cried out here, I might only provoke Lucian further.
“Princess.”
Cold sweat soaked Lucian’s forehead. The hand gripping my wrist was trembling violently.
“I don’t know what I might do right now. So please, just—”
“I know.”
I whispered gently, coaxingly.
“Just drink this medicine, and I’ll leave.”
The moment Lucian caught the scent rising from the cup, his eyes wavered violently.
“It’s not all right, is it? You’re in terrible pain, Lucian.”
Lucian’s eyes trembled.
Beneath the moonlight, those slit-like pupils stared into me without blinking.

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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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