The Male Lead Is Going Mad Searching for His Dead Wife, and I’m That Wife - Chapter 7

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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 007
Meanwhile, in Lucian Actes’ study at the Grand Duke’s residence.
It was a time of war and chaos, and so the mornings of the Ducal House tended to begin early.
“Something’s off.”
Theodore, his aide, flipped over a page of the report as he spoke.
“Oh?”
Lucian asked absently, his pen still moving across the document.
“It’s about the Duchess. A report just came up from the kitchen. Apparently she broke a dish.”
“And?”
“The odd part is that she wasn’t even in the kitchen when the dish broke.”
Lucian’s pen stopped dead.
“…So she took the blame for something someone else broke?”
“It appears that way. I think she’s shielding a young maid. Didn’t she also cover for the Head Maid the other day?”
Lucian set down his pen and leaned deep into his chair. Then he went back over everything Lisana had done since she arrived at this house, one step at a time.
This marriage had not been of his choosing.
He had known from the start that the Emperor had sent over an illegitimate princess to keep his power in check.
Still, he could not refuse the Imperial Decree. To be precise, he could not bear the price that would come after refusing it.
The Northern Front, where they battled the Demon Beasts, depended on support from the Imperial Family.
With so much of his troops and military supplies requiring Imperial approval, a direct clash with the Emperor would fall squarely on the soldiers at the front and the people of his territory.
He could not gamble the lives of so many people on a marriage of his own.
So he had accepted it.
Yet the woman the Emperor had sent turned out to be nothing like he’d expected.
Under the open mistreatment of the servants, she quietly hauled firewood, and now she was even covering for the maids’ mistakes. And she never once made a show of it.
“I can’t tell what she’s thinking.”
And that image of her doing laundry in the rain would not leave him.
If she had been mistreated to that extent, she should have been sobbing with indignation and sending word to the Imperial Palace to stir up trouble. Instead, it was far too quiet.
Considering Lisana’s original temperament, she was being far too rational now.
‘This is the best choice I can make in my situation.’
‘I think circumstances make the person. And I don’t want to make my situation any worse.’
Lucian’s gaze darkened. He couldn’t tell whether she was still concealing some other scheme, or whether the person she showed him now was the real one.
He would have to keep watching for a while.
Still, there was one thing he was certain of.
Lisana was nothing like what he had imagined.
“…Any movement from the Imperial Palace?”
“None at all.”
Lisana was truly living like a ghost, holding her breath the whole time.
Lucian rubbed his face with his hand.
Whenever he faced that woman’s dull-looking face, his attention kept slipping away from him.
* * *
After the kitchen incident, the food situation improved. That was because the Head Maid had started pushing the meal cart to my room herself.
Had her mind changed since that day? Or perhaps it was that I didn’t like communicating with the others.
But I’m not so easily won over by mere food. I’ll keep doubting and guarding against her until the very end.
A wound from being betrayed doesn’t heal easily. It was far safer not to open my heart from the start.
The Head Maid pushed in a tray and set out my meal.
“Madam, here is your lunch. Chicken stew and rye bread.”
“….”
I looked down at the table. The smell was incredible. They were really going to keep serving me like this? To the eyesore of the house, no less?
Only a short while ago, the servants of this mansion had been filled with hostility toward me. Their hearts couldn’t possibly have changed in an instant.
No matter how much I had saved the Head Maid, isn’t this kindness a bit excessive?
I stared at the Head Maid with eyes full of suspicion.
“…Do you want something from me? As you know, there’s nothing to squeeze out of me even if you turn my pockets inside out.”
The Head Maid avoided my gaze.
“I know that.”
I asked, deep in thought.
“So this is a personal debt of gratitude, then.”
“…That’s right.”
The Head Maid’s face flushed faintly. She let out a faint sigh.
A personal debt of gratitude means something that can vanish at any time, swept away by other people.
Just like when our orphanage was abandoned.
A poor orphanage, a director who swindled the funds and ran off, and the volunteers who poured in for a while. After the support dried up, we were discarded from the world’s attention.
“……Could you tell me how long you intend to keep showing that kindness?”
At my words, the Head Maid whipped her head around and stared at me.
“What do you mean by that, Madam?”
“I mean I’d like at least a rough idea of how long your goodwill is going to last.”
At that, the Head Maid raised her voice.
“Madam, that’s absurd. This is a right you’re entitled to as a member of the Ducal House. I’m not asking for anything in return. There are no conditions attached.”
Her words filled me with dread. I knew all too well that there was nothing more frightening than kindness without a price.
I sighed and picked up a piece of bread. She might call it a right now, but who knew what she would demand in exchange, and when. Above all, I was afraid of growing used to this kind of kindness and this comfort.
Besides, wasn’t this the sort of kindness that could be cut off the moment her heart turned?
I was someone who had to be used to being alone, if only for the sake of what was coming.
“Thank you, I’ll eat it. But you don’t need to worry about me so much.”
I tore into the bread. Only then did the Head Maid let out a breath of relief and bowed her head.
Who knew when I might be left out in the cold again? Staking one’s survival on another person’s kindness was a foolish thing to do.
“…And if your mind changes, I’d appreciate it if you’d let me know ahead of time.”
At my words, the Head Maid’s face crumpled. She let out several sighs, as if she had something to say, and only then did she leave the room.
I gave the Head Maid’s retreating back a brief glance.
* * *
Once the Head Maid had shut the door, she let out a deep sigh. Lisana’s request lodged in her mind like a nail.
Don’t worry about it?
And let her know beforehand if she ever wanted to withdraw this kindness?
The Head Maid bit down hard on her lip.
‘Why on earth would a person even…’
She turned and stared at Lisana’s door.
Something in her chest throbbed for reasons she couldn’t name. Just as she let out another heavy sigh, Lucian appeared before her.
Lucian fixed the Head Maid with a frigid stare. She quickly lowered her head.
Ever since the incident in that room, things between her and Lucian had been frosty. Lucian glanced past the Head Maid’s shoulder and spoke.
“What brings you here? I clearly said I would recognize the Duchess’s rights.”
It was an instruction he had given the Head Maid privately when he assigned the room. It was a warning in the guise of a request: do not infringe on any of the Duchess’s rights any further.
‘Don’t make me doubt your loyalty to the Actes house.’
The Head Maid flinched.
“I-I only saw to her meals myself.”
“Yourself?”
“…Nobody still welcomes the Duchess, that much hasn’t changed. Even if my own feelings have shifted, everyone else will…”
Only after she had said that much did the Head Maid understand why Lisana had been so skeptical. Lisana had been more realistic than anyone. A heart that could turn back at any time.
Leaving the Head Maid, who had snapped her mouth shut mid-sentence, Lucian opened the door.
He had come to see for himself whether Lisana was managing well here.
He suspected that if he pushed her back into that cold storeroom, she would accept it without a word, and so he had come to check with his own eyes. And what Lucian found before him was yet another scene that left him speechless.

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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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