The Returned Husband Refuses to Divorce - Chapter 38

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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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Royce’s eyes widened as he caught that subtle shift in her expression.
Just as he thought.
Her gaze on that necklace had been peculiar from the start.
“Then perhaps I could offer you a special price…….”
“No.”
Ines cut him off.
“I didn’t say I wanted to buy it.”
“……I beg your pardon?”
Royce’s face fell visibly.
Ines turned her attention back to the necklace, leaving him to his disappointment.
Dark crimson gemstones and intricately worked silver filigree.
To the eye, it was merely a beautifully ordinary ornament.
But Ines saw something else entirely.
Dark Magic.
And the concentration was quite high.
Dark Magic erodes a person’s body and mind slowly, relentlessly.
The more potent it becomes, the more it spawns nightmares, insomnia, hallucinations—and in the worst cases, it compels people to make choices they would never ordinarily make.
‘He said the owners died off one after another.’
Could that all have been coincidence?
She couldn’t be certain.
But at minimum, this was no ordinary necklace.
“You mentioned you acquired this somewhere near Berton, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Precisely which direction?”
Royce paused to think.
“The southwest. There was a small city before the road to Berton itself……the name was, I believe…….”
He snapped his fingers as the memory returned.
“Ah, yes—Rajet.”
Ines’s expression tightened almost imperceptibly.
‘It’s closer than I thought.’
Berton lay not far from May’s birthplace.
The Pendant that May’s mother had left behind.
The plague.
And now this necklace before her.
Add to that the Knight Order members still carrying Dark Magic in their bodies.
She couldn’t yet claim that all of this was connected.
And yet……
‘It’s all happening in the north.’
There was something about this that nagged at her too much to dismiss as mere chance.
“Do you not believe in curses?”
He laughed dismissively.
“I’m merely a merchant, after all.”
Royce shrugged.
“As I mentioned before, a curse is nothing once you receive Purification. In fact, when I return to the Capital, I was already planning to visit the Temple.”
A different light kindled in Ines’s eyes.
The Temple.
‘This might work better.’
Buying the necklace herself and having it purified would have been straightforward enough.
But then she would learn nothing.
If instead she left this object to the Temple’s care……
‘I could observe how they handle it.’
Whether the Dark Magic lingering in the Knight Order members was merely an oversight, or whether there was something fundamentally wrong with their Purification methods themselves.
This necklace could serve as a small test.
“Then I have one favor to ask of you.”
“A favor?”
Royce straightened in his seat.
“Please, just say the word.”
“When you have that necklace purified, don’t entrust it to an ordinary priest.”
“……Pardon?”
“If possible, ask one of the senior priests to handle it.”
Royce’s eyes widened.
“That much?”
“That’s what it looks like to me.”
Ines answered matter-of-factly.
“Once won’t be enough.”
“How many times will it take?”
Ines examined the necklace again.
The density of miasma layered thick upon thick.
At this level, merely scraping away the surface would only allow the miasma to rise back up in no time.
“At least five times.”
“Five…….”
Royce’s expression hardened.
“Purifications?”
“Periodically. Until the lingering traces disappear completely.”
Ines added the qualification.
“Five times is my conservative estimate.”
“So much…….”
Royce’s voice trailed off.
His expression alone told her exactly what he was thinking.
‘He’s calculating the cost.’
Commissioning a high priest to perform Purification carried no small expense.
Do it multiple times, and even if he sold the necklace at a premium, he’d likely end up with almost nothing.
Royce asked cautiously.
“Is there a particular reason it must be done that way?”
“You understand, I suppose, but I once received training at the Temple.”
Ines replied calmly.
“I’ve seen many cursed objects in my time.”
It wasn’t a lie.
“Of course, I’m not definitively saying your piece is cursed. But if there is a problem, a single ordinary Purification doesn’t seem sufficient.”
“Hmm…….”
He didn’t look convinced.
Ines understood.
From his perspective, she was asking him to spend money without any real proof.
So she didn’t press the matter.
“The choice is yours.”
…….
“But a merchant’s goods are also the merchant’s name, aren’t they?”
Royce’s eyebrows twitched.
“If word spreads that you sold a cursed necklace and the buyer suffered ill fortune, the damage would be far greater than whatever coins you save.”
“That’s…… true, I suppose.”
“If you’re determined to sell it, you could always pass it on to a collector who specializes in cursed items.”
Ines paused for a moment.
“But even then, you’d eventually face the Temple.”
Royce’s face stiffened a little.
The finest merchant in the Capital.
A reputation that valuable meant a single scandal could deal him tremendous harm.
“I’m not trying to force you. I have no right to meddle in your business.”
…….
“Still, I’d appreciate it if you’d remember what I’ve said today.”
Royce looked down at the necklace for a moment.
The face that had regarded it as a curious trinket moments before had grown somewhat serious.
“I understand.”
At last he bowed his head.
“I’ll give it thought.”
I’ll give it thought.
That meant, in other words, he hadn’t yet decided to do it.
Still, Ines didn’t push further.
‘This is all I can do.’
Performing the Purification herself would be simple enough.
But she couldn’t reveal her Sacred Power.
Above all, she wanted to see what judgment the Temple would render once this object entered its halls.
Ines rose from her seat.
“That was enjoyable.”
“The honor was entirely mine, madam.”
“Mind yourself on the way back.”
Royce scrambled to his feet, startled.
“Of course, madam.”
Ines cast one final glance at the necklace.
She hesitated for a moment, then brushed the gem’s surface lightly with her fingertip.
Just barely.
The faintest breath of Sacred Power, so subtle it left no trace.
The dark aura shuddered for an instant.
She did not purify it completely.
Only enough to suppress the Dark Magic seeping outward, and only for a time.
At this level, merely carrying the necklace posed no immediate danger to its owner.
Though of course, it wouldn’t last long.
‘Hopefully they’ll reach the Temple before then.’
Ines withdrew her hand as if nothing had occurred.
“Well then, I should be going.”
* * *
“A peculiar woman.”
Inside his carriage, Royce murmured to himself as he left Evan Hart Castle.
The Ines Evan Hart he’d heard rumors of was nothing like what he’d imagined.
She was far too composed to be called a shrew, and rather than indulging in luxury, she’d actually recoiled from the jewels her husband kept buying her.
Well, setting that aside.
“Five times……”
Royce stared at the box beside him.
The box containing the problematic necklace.
Five purifications from a High Priestess.
Just thinking about the cost made his head ache.
‘That would leave me with nothing.’
The reason he’d bought it cheap in the first place was the rumor of a curse.
He’d thought that after having it purified appropriately, he could sell it at a much higher price and turn a decent profit.
But if he had to commission a High Priestess multiple times over, the calculation changed entirely.
“Ah.”
Royce shook his head.
“Surely it’s not actually cursed?”
Just because a few people died couldn’t mean it was all the necklace’s fault.
The Capital was full of antiques with stories attached to them. And just as many people loved those story-laden objects.
With the right presentation, he might even sell it for more.
But then.
‘Isn’t what a merchant sells also the merchant’s name?’
Ines’s words echoed in his mind.
……
Royce felt an inexplicable chill and touched his collar.
‘What is this.’line>
Why couldn’t he stop thinking about it?

It was ridiculous.
He’d worked with gems his entire life. What could a woman who’d only ever received education at the Temple possibly know that he didn’t?
‘And yet……’
His gaze drifted back to the box.
Just moments ago it had bothered him not at all, but now he found he didn’t want it nearby.
“……I’ll decide when we reach the Capital.”
In the end, that was all Royce could mutter to himself.
He resolved at least not to sell it immediately.
* * *
‘I’ve done all I can.’
She’d placed even a minimal seal on the necklace.
Even if Royce didn’t go to the Temple right away, nothing would go catastrophically wrong immediately.
Beyond that, she could not be responsible.
‘The truly important thing is something else.’
The village where the plague had spread.
Objects contaminated by Dark Magic found in that vicinity.
And the Knight Order, still bearing traces of Dark Magic despite having undergone Purification.
There still weren’t enough clues to say they were connected.
‘I need to look into this a bit more.’
Ines quickened her pace back toward her room.
Then.
“Ugh…….”
A low groan reached her ears, and Ines stopped short.
Beyond the corner of the corridor, someone stood leaning against the wall.
“……Joi?”
The woman who lifted her head started badly.
“M-madam?”
It was Joi.
Her usual cheerful face was nowhere to be found.
Cold sweat beaded her brow, and her lips had gone pale.
More than anything.
Ines’s eyes hardened.
The black miasma coiling around Joi’s body had grown far denser than before.

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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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