The Military Doctor Excels at Being a Contracted Duchess - Chapter 62

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 62】

‘Hm…?’

Was it because of the alcohol? Or was she just seeing things?

‘Something is calling… me?’

It looked like a person at first, but the semi-transparent form flickering about seemed ghostly.

Yet to call it a ghost outright felt wrong—its presence was too vivid, too unsettling.

Ebel narrowed her eyes, trying to focus.

The moment the double and triple afterimages finally merged into one, she locked eyes with an old woman with graying hair beyond the crowd.

“!”

Suddenly, the surrounding noise grew distant.

As if in this vast town square, only the old woman and she remained—just the two of them in an eerie silence that made Ebel shudder.

‘What, what is this?’

The old woman looked easily over 100 years old.

She wore several layers of necklaces laden with beads and a poncho of blindingly vivid colors, beneath which her wrinkled hands gestured toward her.

Slowly, deliberately.

As if beckoning her to come, as if waiting for her.

‘I feel like I must go. Victor!’

Feeling unsettled, Ebel turned to call for Victor, only to be startled when she realized people had stopped moving.

Frozen in the act of drinking beer, locked in laughing embraces.

Everything around them had stiffened as if time itself had stopped.

Only the old woman and Ebel were alive and moving.

Instead of speaking, the old woman raised her hand and pointed west. Toward where the sun was setting, where the horizon burned red between sea and sky.

‘What’s there, if I go that way? Why are you calling me?’

No voice came out.

No matter how hard she tried to shout, it was useless.

The old woman smiled at Ebel once, then created incomprehensible characters in the air before slowly disappearing.

“Ebel?”

In an instant, Victor’s low voice from beside her made Ebel’s shoulders jump in surprise. When she turned to look at him, Victor’s eyes were focused solely on examining his wife’s complexion.

“The alcohol must be getting to you. Your face is flushed.”

“No, no. Over there….”

Ebel urgently pointed to where the old woman had been. But there was no colorful poncho, no strange beaded necklaces. Only drunken sailors stumbling about and workers carrying fish.

Victor’s gaze swept over the empty space she pointed to, but only slight puzzlement creased his brow. He seemed to see nothing.

“What is there?”

“Just now… there was an old woman in very unusual dress. She was gesturing at me.”

Victor didn’t ask twice and quickly scanned the surroundings. With a light flick of his index finger, several onlookers who had been grinning and laughing quietly slipped away.

Ebel thought only the two of them had come, but that wasn’t true.

Naturally, guards were mixed in among the crowd.

The agents who received orders to investigate quickly dispersed, and Victor wrapped his arm around Ebel’s shoulders, drawing her into his embrace.

As if doing so would prevent anything from happening.

Listening to his heartbeat and calming her startled heart, Ebel looked once more at where the old woman had been.

‘She was definitely looking straight at me. And those characters at the end. They were the same as the ones on the hourglass. They didn’t have that dark feeling like the ones carved on the statue, but….’

The alcohol sobered her instantly.

Though no one was there, the calling seemed to linger, so Ebel let her gaze drift westward.

“For something like a ghost, it seemed like she knew me and came looking for me. As if she’d known me for a long time.”

Ebel bit her lip gently, then released it and spoke a single word.

“Baba Elpa.”

She had gypsy-like attire, was very old, and used mysterious magic.

Didn’t she fit all the conditions?

“I was going to let you enjoy the trip a bit more before telling you.”

“Is this really where Baba Elpa is?”

“That’s right. She won’t let you enjoy your honeymoon, it seems.”

The day after Ebel first brought up ‘Baba Elpa,’ Victor had collected all information about the gypsy-born shaman.

Though tracking her movements was difficult, he had found traces that ‘an old woman presumed to be Baba Elpa’ had come to Tarifa about three years ago.

The problem was that after prescribing medicine at the port several times, no one had seen Baba Elpa since.

She would be too old to travel to other regions, so if she was alive, she would likely be in Tarifa—that’s why he had chosen this place for their honeymoon.

“I was going to tell you once I found her more definitively.”

“I never thought Baba Elpa would come looking for me first.”

“Neither did I. However… if she’s calling, there’s no reason to wait any longer.”

The moment Victor made that decision, Baba Elpa appeared in Ebel’s vision again.

This time farther away, in an alley, gesturing toward her.

“Over there. I can see her.”

“Let’s go.”

This time the people around them didn’t stop.

As if such a miracle could only happen once.

Step by step.

Their footsteps echoed. At the same time, the commotion of the port grew more distant.

“We need to turn this way now.”

The alleys were quite complex, making Ebel somewhat anxious.

What if that apparition visible only to her eyes was fake? And… even if they found her, what if it was all pointless?

Well, being a gypsy, she would naturally live deep in the tangled alleys, in places one would never think to visit, but as the path grew increasingly damp and gloomy, she couldn’t help but worry.

As if to put an end to her worries, when they turned the fourth corner.

Ahead, they could see a house with soft light seeping out.

The door was hung with curtains strung with colorful beads, and the windows were also covered with brightly colored cloth.

It was strange how it showed no signs of fading or wear.

“Baba Elpa is looking at me again. This is the right house.”

“I’ll go in first.”

As for Victor, he wasn’t nervous at all, actually.

Because he thought all this was nothing but trickery.

But since Ebel seemed to genuinely believe in magic, he let it be.

There was no point in him stepping forward to call it all an act—that would only be embarrassing.

Placing his hand on the door handle, he suddenly looked back at Ebel.

She was right beside him, so there was no chance of losing her, but still, just in case.

“!”

“No matter what happens, don’t leave my side.”

He absolutely wasn’t being shameless.

Right?

What was so unusual about a husband holding his wife’s hand?

But the hand he held was unusually hot.

Feeling all his nerves drawn to where their hands joined, he clicked his tongue softly.

It was just holding one hand, so why was he losing his composure like this?

“Let’s go.”

Pretending to be unaffected on the outside, Victor took a step forward.

‘Oh, goodness.’

Meanwhile, Ebel felt like she had become a fool.

‘My pulse… my pulse is too fast.’

Inside Baba Elpa’s house was filled with the damp smell of incense. Dried flowers and stuffed squirrels hung densely from the ceiling, and sacks of unidentifiable seeds sat about.

The thick book on the desk showed signs of long use, and beneath it, papers were spread with those same mysterious characters.

“This seems to be the bedroom. The door is open as if inviting us in.”

Victor never once let go of Ebel’s hand. Even as sweat formed between their clasped palms.

And the same was true for Ebel.

The two carefully lifted the curtain and entered the bedroom.

Normally this would be rude, but this time Baba Elpa had invited them.

“Finally… finally you have come.”

That’s when it happened.

From inside the bed surrounded by colorful fabrics, a voice mixed with wheezing breaths flowed out.

“I have waited long. So very… very long years…”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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