The Returned Husband Refuses to Divorce - Chapter 1

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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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Prologue
His wife was dead.
Zekard Evanhardt could not accept this fact.
When he first saw her corpse, he thought it must be a cruel nightmare.
Why, in God’s name, why?
Confronted with the horrifying tragedy laid bare before his eyes, his heart shattered into a thousand fragments.
Zekard’s marriage had never been good, to put it mildly.
Yet despite this, he loved Ines. Even though she did not love him in return, even though she had attempted to betray him countless times, he forgave it all.
“It wasn’t me. Please, believe me.”
Whenever he saw his wife pleading with tears glistening in her eyes, it felt as though his own heart was being torn to shreds.
Perhaps he had needed to believe her.
If he truly acknowledged his wife’s guilt, he would be forced to cast her out.
That was something he could never bear.
“I will watch over her myself. From now on, this matter is never to be spoken of again.”
Those words to his retainers and subordinates were a desperate, clawing refusal to let his wife go.
He didn’t know then what was to come.
Zekard knelt before his wife’s corpse and carefully lifted her body into his arms.
She lay with her eyes closed as if merely sleeping.
Had it not been for the deathly pallor of her complexion and the single drop of blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, he could have believed she was merely resting, so much did she resemble herself in life.
“Ines……”
Zekard whispered her name and bit his lip raw.
The moment he finally accepted his wife’s death, what little humanity remained in his heart crumbled entirely away.
He could not accept this reality.
From that day onward, Zekard went mad.
Abandoning his domain and his duties, he became a savage murderer, tearing through the land.
He ransacked the entire Empire, seeking revenge against the one who had killed his wife.
All lamented the fall of Zekard Evanhardt, once a great hero who had saved the nation.
“What did that woman mean to him?”
Ines Evanhardt, Zekard’s wife, was widely known throughout the Empire as a wicked woman.
In the past, rumors had even circulated that the Duke Evanhardt loved not his wife but a saint. Though people feared the man he had become, they could not fathom why he had descended into such madness over the mere death of a vile woman.
Years passed in this manner.
At last uncovering the secrets surrounding his wife’s death, Zekard slaughtered without mercy all those who had driven her to her grave.
Countless people died.
The innocent priests who had tried to stop him, the heroes who sought to punish evil—all fell beneath his blade. Everyone recoiled in horror at the brutality and savagery of the carnage.
No one remembered Zekard Evanhardt as a hero anymore.
“There is no method in this world to resurrect the dead.”
A priest, dragged before Zekard and forced to look upon Ines’s corpse, spoke with trembling voice.
“All my Holy Power can do is preserve her body as it is, preventing further decay.”
According to the priest, death was entirely the domain of God, something no mortal dared to touch. Moreover, even that great God himself could not guarantee he could truly resurrect a person.
“So please, now……let your wife go.”
But Zekard could not accept this truth.
No. Ines had to be saved.
I still owe her……
In the depths of anguish, staring at his wife’s pallid face, Zekard made a vow.
If only God held the answer, then he would find that God himself and bring his wife back from death.
Of course, all who learned of his plan were horrified.
‘Zekard Evanhardt has lost his mind entirely.’
Even the subordinates who had remained at his side until now protested.
God, no less.
It was questionable whether he could even meet such a being, let alone petition it.
Even if he were fortunate enough to gain an audience with God, there was no guarantee the deity would grant his request.
Yet Zekard succeeded in meeting God.
It demanded countless sacrifices.
For a mere mortal to meet God was itself a reckless undertaking.
But Zekard was prepared to sacrifice everything, and he did precisely that.
Thus at last he came face to face with the divine.
[What remarkable determination you possess.]
Beholding Zekard, ravaged and bleeding from countless wounds, the God spoke with genuine admiration.
[What is your purpose in seeking me out at such cost?]
Zekard spat out his words as though grinding them between his teeth.
“Please, save my wife.”
Ines’s corpse lay cradled in his arms. Despite the terrible ordeals she had endured, her body bore not a single scratch.
[Truly, a love most savage.]
Zekard Evanhardt’s eyes gleamed as he gazed up at the divine being. Even in the presence of an absolute power, his gaze never wavered.
The Priest smiled at the sight of him.
[But it is impossible. Such matters lie beyond my authority.]
At those words, Zekard Evanhardt’s killing intent surged as though he would split the heavens themselves. Yet before he could move, the Priest’s voice resonated once more.
[However, there is another way.]
“……What is it?”
The Priest spoke with benevolent warmth, smiling.
[I shall turn back time for you.]
His heart plummeted.
[To that very moment before all else unfolds, when you might still correct your mistakes.]
As the meaning of those words took hold, Zekard Evanhardt’s entire being convulsed with shock.
Before his wife’s death.
Back to an age when Ines still drew breath.
[What say you? Will you attempt it?]
Zekard Evanhardt bit at his lip unconsciously.
“……What must I do?”
Meeting the Priest alone had already exacted countless prices.
He could not begin to fathom how much more he would have to sacrifice to bring about a miracle of such magnitude—to turn back time itself.
Yet the Priest merely smiled.
[You need do nothing. In exchange, however, I shall take what you hold most dear.]
The Priest’s long fingers pointed to Ines, cradled in Zekard Evanhardt’s embrace.
[Upon your regression, she will lose all love she bears for you.]
Love.
Zekard Evanhardt’s arms tightened reflexively around Ines, gripped by a terror at the thought of ever losing her.
She will no longer love me…….
The mere possibility of imagining it crushed his heart.
In truth, when Ines had lived, Zekard Evanhardt had not known that she loved him.
Only after his wife’s death, when he had uncovered the truth, did he belatedly learn that she too had loved him all along.
After awakening to that reality, Zekard Evanhardt burned with regret. He came to understand that his own foolishness and blindness had caused her suffering.
And so, should he ever meet Ines again, there was something he desperately wished to tell her.
The truth—that he too had loved her…….
[Decide. What will you do?]
At the thundering voice of the Priest, Zekard Evanhardt lifted his head.
He did not deliberate further.
“……I will do it. Please, turn back time.”
At the sound of his resolute voice, the smile on the Priest’s face deepened.
[Very well. I grant you time for a final farewell.]
Zekard Evanhardt gazed upon his wife’s face, held in his arms.
Now everything would be set right.
Though when he opened his eyes again, she would love him no longer.
After lingering long upon Ines’s face, Zekard Evanhardt bowed his head and pressed a solemn kiss to her brow.
“……Next time, I shall reach for you first.”
Soon their bodies were enveloped in holy radiance.
Zekard Evanhardt felt his consciousness gradually slipping away.
Memories with his wife flashed through his mind like a lantern show.
Though the years had been brief and arduous, they too had known moments of happiness.
They had not laid bare their hearts in words, yet in their eyes and in their deeds they had loved each other.
But those days would never come again. The price of regression was that Ines would love him no longer.
‘……It is well. Now I alone bear the burden of setting things right.’
Zekard Evanhardt, feeling his consciousness fade, pulled his wife close one final time.
And so Zekard Evanhardt returned to the past.
Leaving everything behind.
The past, now forgotten by all others, would live on only in Zekard Evanhardt’s heart…….

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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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