The Male Lead Is Going Mad Searching for His Dead Wife, and I’m That Wife - Chapter 3

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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, and that wife is me. Chapter 003
I threw a shawl over my shoulders without a second thought and left the room.
The corridor was silent.
The maids I passed pressed themselves against the walls the moment they saw me, their eyes a mix of revulsion and fear. They acted as though they’d spotted a cockroach.
But I’m not one to be cowed by that sort of thing.
Doesn’t it hurt their eyes to glare like that?
I slipped out of the castle and headed for the Rear Garden. The front gardens were trimmed to razor-straight precision, but the garden behind the northern tower was a wild jungle through and through.
With the war drafting even the gardeners, the weeds were dancing as if they’d finally been handed the world.
Across the Hermian Empire, war with the Demon Beasts was raging.
The conflict with the Demon Beasts had dragged on for nearly a century, but in recent years it had escalated into an all-out war.
In a world where whoever commanded the larger private army held the power, every able-bodied man was being conscripted.
Of course, the Actes Grand Ducal House was in a somewhat different position. It had to defend an enormous stretch of land, from the Northern Front all the way to the capital, so its ranks were woefully thin. We were at the point where we’d gladly take help from anyone, even a cat’s paw.
And through it all, the Emperor kept babbling about power while busying himself with checking the Actes family.
It was hardly surprising that young able-bodied men were running dry.
Most of the men working in this mansion were either boys or old men.
I hitched up my skirts and pushed through the tall grass. Wild rose thorns scraped at my stockings, but I didn’t care.
The original novel said there were plenty of abandoned vegetable patches back here.
I had one goal: find something edible.
I must have rummaged around for quite a while before I spotted something familiar between the thistle patches, a wonderfully lovely cluster of leaves.
“…Got you.”
Potatoes. And not just any potatoes, but a sturdy plant that was practically guaranteed to be hiding fat, hefty tubers underground.
The very same potatoes Lisana used to swipe from the imperial vegetable patch now and then.
I swallowed hard. Anyone who knew how valuable a potato was as a famine crop would understand.
I glanced around.
No one’s watching, right?
The cold, damp soil crept between my fingers. I dug with a stick I’d picked up nearby, and after a good while something heavy caught on it.
“Oh… A ginseng! A ginseng, I’ve found one…”
I wonder if this is how a ginseng hunter feels when he stumbles upon a wild root. What I’d unearthed was a potato the size of my fist. It was caked in dirt, yet to my eyes it gleamed more brilliantly than any diamond set in a crown.
Giddy, I dug deeper. Surely I hadn’t drooled without realizing it? I wiped the corner of my mouth. This garden might be a gold mine after all.
“This should last me at least three days.”
I gathered the potatoes carefully into the folds of my skirt. Dirt tumbled off them and dropped here and there across the fabric, but I didn’t mind. The solid weight pressing against my chest was enough to set my mind at ease.
One I’ll steam, one I’ll roast, and another I’ll fry? I wonder if there’s any oil.
I sneaked in through the back door of the kitchen. Perhaps because dinner preparations had wrapped up, the kitchen stood completely empty.
I hurried in and rinsed off the dirt, and the potatoes slowly revealed their creamy white flesh. When I rummaged through the stove, there were still embers left smoldering.
Compared with sneaking into the imperial kitchen, this is nothing.
I poured water into a pot and tossed the potatoes in.
Bubble, bubble. The sound of boiling water rang out like the most beautiful symphony in the world.
Just then, a voice I hadn’t expected reached my ears.
“…Your Highness?”
Who could that be? I hadn’t sensed anyone at all. I swallowed hard. Maybe I’d been too absorbed in the potatoes. I cautiously turned my head.
In that brief moment, all sorts of thoughts raced through my mind.
Knock her out before she sees my face? How would I even do that? Or run before our eyes meet? As if I had that kind of quick reflex.
I clenched my teeth. If worse came to worst, I’d charge headfirst.
A young maid, who looked like a kitchen assistant, stared at me with eyes so wide they seemed ready to pop out.
The moment our eyes met, every ounce of my fighting spirit drained away. How could a face holding not a trace of malice look at me like this? In that startled gaze was a shabby-looking me reflected back.
The maid’s eyes darted quickly between my hands, the pot, and the streak of dirt on my cheek.
“Um…”
The maid stammered.
I sized up the situation in an instant. If I got kicked out of here, I’d have to eat half-raw potatoes.
Please, just twenty minutes. No, ten minutes!
I forced the sweetest, most harmless smile I could manage.
At that, the maid’s mouth fell open, and her face drained from white to a shade that was nearly blue.
Why is she so shocked? Is she worried I’ll burn the pot?
“Don’t worry, I’ll wash up before I go. Could you just look the other way this once? Did you come because you’re hungry? Want me to share a potato with you?”
I said it with every ounce of earnestness I had.
“No, that’s not it… Your Highness, did you… from the Rear Garden…? We’ve run out of potatoes in the food storeroom…”
“Yes. I dug these up myself.”
I said it with considerable pride.
“Those were set aside as livestock feed! They’re not food fit for someone of your station! They’re the lowest grade, the inferior ones, we only use them as animal fodder!”
The maid shrieked, as though her voice had been wrenched out of her.
Ah. I looked down at the potato dancing in the pot.
“Mm.”
Does that even matter right now? And a noble guest? I’ve never once been treated like one.
No matter what anyone says, I wasn’t giving up this potato. My stomach was still churning. Even if I ate it and dropped dead right here, this potato was mine.
“Humans are animals too. Would you mind thinking of me as livestock?”
“Huh?”
I really wouldn’t mind, you know.
* * *
Rita stared, dumbfounded, at the Ducal Lady blowing on a perfectly cooked potato as she ate it.
Rita let the Ducal Lady’s not-quite-improper lapse slide, and at the same time, she quietly lent a hand.
‘Dip it in this salt, my lady. It’s precious salt.’
‘What a saint you are. I was wondering where I could find some salt. Thank you.’
It was also the moment Rita realized that just a pinch of salt could make someone a benefactor.
“Carbs really are the best! I feel like my brain cells are waking up.”
“Th-that’s enough for you?”
The Ducal Lady mulled over Rita’s question before breaking into a bright smile. Judging by that smile alone, she looked as gentle and harmless as the puppy Rita had brought home to look after.
“It’s fine, thank you. You don’t have to worry about me. This is a hundred times better than the cold bread scraps I used to eat at the Imperial Palace.”
“Huh?”
“The mere fact that there’s no poison in it makes this potato a perfect score out of a hundred.”
Poison? What on earth is she talking about? Wasn’t she the noble Imperial Princess who came from the Imperial Palace? I’d heard the princess who was a scapegoat for everyone was coming, but she’s still a princess, isn’t she?
She’s nothing like a maid like me, from the very cradle.
It was the moment when the definition of a princess that Rita had held until now began to waver.
On top of that, she put out the fire with practiced ease, washed the dishes spotless, and then smiled with satisfaction.
“That’s tidied up as if nothing ever happened, right? Thank you for the trouble.”
Rita stood there vacantly watching the Ducal Lady’s back as she left, clutching the potato to her chest as if it were something precious, and then she swayed on her feet.
What did I just see? A ghost?
It wasn’t until Lisana’s footsteps had faded away entirely that the realization hit her.
“S-she used honorifics with me…?”
Ever since I came here as an apprentice kitchen maid, I’d only just gotten used to being called “you there” and “hey, you” instead of by my name. Just when I’d grown accustomed to it, it felt as though my name had become “that stupid wench.”
It was the first time anyone had treated me like a person since I came here.
‘Humans are animals too. Would you mind thinking of me as livestock?’
Though the person herself was the one asking to be thought of as livestock, that is.

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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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