The Search for the Duchess’s Husband - Chapter 96

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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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In Search of the Duke’s Husband – Episode 96

In that moment, clarity struck me like a thunderbolt.
If I did nothing, nothing would change.
My young daughter would grow up watching her mother—the woman she loved most in the world—accept this fate.
Fear and despair would cloud those innocent green eyes, and eventually they would become like Frigia’s eyes, and she would say the same words.
You have to endure it even when beaten. Mother did too.
“No, I can’t….”
I didn’t know what else to do, but I couldn’t let my daughter live like this.
Even if I became a woman condemned by the entire world, even if my husband subjected me to terrible retaliation, I had to try everything within my power.
For my young daughter.
Frigia’s voice trembled as tears welled in her eyes.
“I’ll report it.”
Just speaking a single word made my body stiffen as though I had committed some grave sin. Yet Frigia opened her mouth once more.
“Please help me, Artia.”
Her voice was raw with desperation.
Artia clasped Frigia’s hand and nodded.

* * *

The next day, Count Elysium arrived at the Edenberke Estate—though I couldn’t fathom how he’d learned of Frigia’s whereabouts.
I found it curious that Frigia, who seemed to harbor little affection for me, had come here, but I dismissed it as inconsequential. The dynamics between two women held no interest for me.
Count Elysium broached the subject without preamble.
“I’ve come to retrieve my wife and daughter.”
Yet I shook my head with unwavering resolve.
“Frigia was deeply shaken by whatever transpired. She asked me to convey that she wishes to remain here for a few more days.”
A married woman staying away from her own home—was he mad? And bringing his young daughter along, no less!
Count Elysium barely restrained himself from crying out.
He had no desire for sordid rumors to circulate—that he’d caused a scene at another’s house over a runaway wife.
He and his wife must always appear beyond reproach.
Count Elysium forced a smile onto his face.
“In truth, we had a minor disagreement. My wife was greatly distressed by our differing opinions. She possesses such a delicate temperament, you understand…”
It never occurred to him that Frigia might have disclosed yesterday’s events to me.
She despised appearing unseemly before others far more than anything else.
Knowing this, Count Elysium carried himself with supreme confidence.
“Though I long to see my beloved wife, I shall exercise patience and return home. A devoted husband must allow his cherished wife time for her heart to settle.”
Before departing the estate, he added one final remark.
“Duchess Edenberg, I must implore you to keep Frigia’s presence here confidential. I fear idle gossip might tarnish my wife’s reputation.”
His tone suggested Frigia had committed some shameful act.
As if he hadn’t considered his own conduct.
I barely restrained the urge to strike that audacious man across the mouth, feigning ignorance as I nodded in agreement.
“Of course. As Frigia’s friend, I shall do everything in my power to protect her honor.”
As Count Elysium climbed into his carriage, he remained blissfully unaware.
That I would act upon every word I had just spoken.
The moment Count Elysium departed, Frigia and I put our heads together and began drafting documents.
A formal complaint detailing Count Elysium’s habitual assault of Frigia since their marriage.
“This isn’t a private diary or a letter to a friend. This is a document submitted to a legal institution. You cannot be vague. You must not appeal to emotion. You need precise dates and factual accounts. Evidence attached would strengthen it further.”
At my words, Frigia looked up in astonishment.
“How do you know all this?”
“I’ve written something similar before.”
A petition to separate from a worthless husband or a plea to stop a violent one—there was little difference between them.
The following day, we went to the Court together.
Frigia, dressed in a darker gown than usual, presented the documents we’d labored over all night to the Junior Judge.
Because the woman filing the complaint was none other than the wife of Count Elysium—a figure of considerable standing—the judge read through the papers immediately.
Yet as time passed, his expression darkened. Once he’d finished reading, he spoke with evident discomfort.
“Countess Elysium, this court does not mediate private domestic matters.”
I stepped forward from beside Frigia.
“You’ve read the entire document, and yet you still say such things? This is not a simple marital dispute—it is a clear case of assault. The Imperial legal code explicitly states that damaging another’s body is a grave crime punishable by imprisonment.”
The Junior Judge was taken aback by my confident invocation of the law, but his expression quickly hardened with resolve.
“Regardless, the law cannot intervene in every family matter. Such issues must be resolved within the household.”
“Since the matter couldn’t be resolved within the family, that’s why we’ve come to court.”
“Nevertheless, I cannot accept this petition.”
The Junior Judge’s stance was far more rigid than I’d anticipated. This was what happened when women being beaten by their husbands were treated far too lightly.
‘What do I do? Should I beg him just once more to help us?’
It was just as Frigia bit her parched lips that I opened my mouth.
“Then there’s no choice.”
Did that mad woman finally intend to give up? The Junior Judge’s expression visibly brightened—until my voice continued to his ears.
“We’ll have to request assistance from Palenta, Frigia’s homeland.”
“…?!”
At the mention of Palenta, both Frigia’s and the Junior Judge’s eyes widened simultaneously.
“Frigia is the King of Palenta’s most cherished daughter. Should His Majesty learn of this, he would be greatly angered, and it could very well escalate into an international incident.”
I continued with a sinister expression.
“Perhaps even war might break out?”
Contrary to rumors, Frigia was not actually the King of Palenta’s most cherished daughter. Even if war did break out, Palenta’s national strength was incomparable to the Empire’s.
Yet the phrase “a foreign king’s cherished daughter” and the word “war” were more than sufficient to intimidate a mere Junior Judge.
Without missing the moment when the Junior Judge’s face turned pale, I leaned toward Frigia and whispered (loud enough for all to hear).
“When the King of Palenta asks who caused you suffering, tell him not only Count Elysium’s name, but also the names of everyone who ignored the princess being assaulted.”
For instance, the name of a certain judge who had dismissed an assault report that someone had mustered the courage to file, calling it a marital dispute….
The Junior Judge, whose eyes met mine, let out a strangled gasp.
Being dragged before an enraged King of Palenta and having one’s neck severed versus being scolded by one’s superior for why such a report was accepted. Which of the two was the better option was abundantly clear.
The Junior Judge practically snatched the documents from Frigia’s hands.
“I will formally accept this report. A thorough investigation will be conducted regarding this matter, and an appropriate judgment will be rendered.”
Frigia’s expression shifted from surprise to a radiant smile.
“Thank you.”
“…!”
The Junior Judge’s face, which seemed as though it wouldn’t bleed even if pierced, flushed crimson in an instant.
Seeing this, I let my lips curl upward.
Now the real game begins.

* * *

The next day, Count Elysium arrived at the Edenberke Estate. Gone was the composure he’d displayed yesterday—he shouted as he entered.
“Frigia!”
Bibi blocked his path. And beside her stood Artia.
“How unbecoming of the Count renowned as the gentleman among gentlemen—barging into someone else’s home without permission and raising your voice like this.”
Count Elysium didn’t respond to Artia’s words; instead, his eyes darkened with malice.
“Did you manipulate my innocent wife into reporting me?”
“Ah, so that’s why you’ve come. But it seems the husband doesn’t know his wife very well. Frigia isn’t foolish enough to be swayed by my manipulation.”
Artia continued, her pronunciation crisp and clear.
“Frigia acted of her own volition, having thought it through herself.”
No, that couldn’t be right.
She was a woman who had grown up in servitude her entire life—obedient to her father in childhood, to her husband after marriage.
So she must still be under someone’s control now, under Artia’s.

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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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