The World Mistakes Me for Terminally Ill - Chapter 51

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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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The World Thinks I’m Terminally Ill Episode 051

 

Problem: Describe your feelings when you open your eyes and immediately see your contract husband crying pitifully.

 

‘What else could it be? It’s bewildering.’

 

Who would have thought I’d witness a fully grown adult man shedding tears like this right before my eyes.

 

After only seeing men who considered crying shameful, seeing a man from a great noble family like this was very bewildering.

 

Without realizing it, I reached out my hand and wiped around his eyes.

 

“Hey, why are you crying? Stop it. Quickly.”

 

Since my only experience comforting crying people was with the young children I saw during orphanage volunteer work, I ended up speaking as if soothing a child.

 

Shubel looked down with a forlorn expression.

 

“I thought you wouldn’t wake up, my lady…”

 

“What do you mean I wouldn’t wake up?”

 

“But this is already the third time you’ve coughed up blood. Even once would be serious, but you’ve vomited blood three times.”

 

I had nothing to say to that and closed my mouth.

 

I thought I wouldn’t get caught this time, but of all people, Shubel had to catch me. When did he come back after saying he couldn’t come for several days?

 

“Anyway, I’m fine, so calm down. I opened my eyes just fine, didn’t I?”

 

“My lady—”

 

Then Shubel, who had been rubbing his face against my hand like a big dog—since when?—gave me a look as if asking whether that was really something to say right now.

 

It was exactly the kind of look you’d give the most cold-hearted and ruthless person in the world.

 

I was about to tell him to stop and move away, but that gaze made me unconsciously avert my eyes.

 

‘Wait. Why should I be reading the room?’

 

It wasn’t like I was really sick, and it wasn’t my fault either, so I felt wronged.

 

“Um—”

 

While I was grumbling internally, I heard an unfamiliar voice from behind me.

 

“Are you feeling a bit better?”

 

Startled, I pushed away my clingy husband—Shubel looked hurt—and turned around to see a cute girl wearing priest robes.

 

Seeing her light green hair, I recognized who she was.

 

“Priest Nety helped me. Thank you.”

 

“Not at all! It was my job.”

 

I didn’t know why my husband who had gone out and the healing priest who should have taken another week to arrive were together, but I’d ask about that later.

 

We laughed together and decided to meet in the drawing room rather than the bedroom, which was too much of a private space, and headed toward the door together.

 

Just then.

 

“Ugh, my whole body aches.”

 

Rustle.

 

Suddenly, something that had been crammed in the corner started moving.

 

Nety screamed.

 

“Eek! Good kidnapper sir! The evil kidnapper sir has woken up!”

 

…Kidnapper?

 

As I tried to turn toward that direction, Shubel immediately struck the back of the neck of the man who was trying to get up.

 

Thud.

 

The man fainted again.

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

After silently looking at the chaotic room, I turned to look at Shubel, and this time he was the one who quietly averted his gaze.

 

I smiled slightly and spoke to Nety.

 

“Priest Nety. I’m not feeling well, so could we perhaps talk tomorrow? I’ll have the butler show you to a room so you can rest comfortably.”

 

“Yes, of course! Rest is important for recovery, so don’t worry about anything and rest comfortably! Excuse me.”

 

The twelve-year-old girl, who seemed more dignified than a twenty-three-year-old man, bowed and left.

 

Only Shubel and I remained in the room. I crossed my arms and turned around.

 

When I tilted my head with an expression that said ‘let’s hear your excuse,’ Shubel immediately put on a pitiful expression.

 

“My lady… Well, you see.”

 

“You said it would take several days, but you came back quickly? How did you meet the priest, and what’s with that outsider?”

 

I emphasized the last word.

 

“And what’s this about kidnapping?”

 

In the end, Shubel spilled everything about why he had gone out.

 

‘He went to bring a healing priest?’

 

…If that’s not kidnapping, then what is?

 

Honestly speaking, I felt good that he did it for me and not for some other reason.

 

I pressed down hard on the corners of my mouth that were trying to turn up.

 

No wonder it was quiet—he was bound to cause a major incident.

 

“So you picked up that outsider too?”

 

“He looked suspicious…”

 

My husband who went for a walk had not only politely kidnapped a papal candidate but also brought back a poisonous fox he found rolling around outside.

 

I glanced at the outsider man I had seen earlier.

 

‘Why on earth is Naintail here?’

 

The leader of the underworld, Naintail.

 

One of the masterminds in the original story who later… assassinates Jerkhal.

 

He’s one of the few S-rank individuals on the continent, and his nine shadow daggers dance and slice enemies to pieces, which looked like fox tails, earning him the nickname Naintail.

 

For reference, Jerkhal was called the ‘Eternal Fortress.’ As expected of our father.

 

‘Though he’s weak in direct confrontation as befits an assassin, when hiding in shadows, he was evaluated as having no match, capable of assassinating even father.’

 

How did Shubel, an A-rank mage, capture him alive?

 

Of course, in the original story, he did get smashed by Shubel along with the shadows he was hiding in.

 

I began to suspiciously eye my contract husband, growing doubtful of his abilities.

 

Shubel made a dejected face like a scolded dog, having expected praise but getting scolded instead.

 

“My lady, I was wrong.”

 

The problem was that someone with such tremendous abilities probably wouldn’t act so submissively like now, which made me puzzled.

 

Usually, people hide their power to gain some advantage, but what advantage would Shubel gain by hiding it from me…

 

‘There isn’t any, is there?’

 

Since I’m an ordinary person, I probably would have felt some distance if Shubel had been S-rank or higher. That’s just how it is with beings that are too far removed.

 

But aside from that, there really was no benefit at all. It couldn’t be good to appear weak to me and get treated harshly.

 

“Sigh. What’s done is done about what you picked up. Don’t kidnap anyone next time. Put that fox—I mean, outsider—under surveillance and lock him up. We should tell father about this.”

 

“Yes…”

 

So I suspended judgment for now and nagged him, and Shubel obediently nodded.

 

I didn’t like how dejected he still looked, so I turned my head away and said somewhat irritably.

 

“Well, I’m still grateful that you cared about me.”

 

Having someone care about me this much.

 

That was clearly goodwill.

 

I muttered with my arms crossed.

 

“Now, could you please leave? I think I need to wash up and change clothes.”

 

I couldn’t stay in blood-stained pajamas, so I was saying that when—

 

Whoosh—

 

Suddenly, large arms embraced me from behind.

 

Startled, I turned to the side, and Shubel very naturally slipped a wedding ring—where did he find it?—onto the ring finger of my left hand.

 

“Yes, my lady. Just let me stay like this for a moment.”

 

“Wh-what?”

 

“I’m recharging with my lady.”

 

He whispered in a voice tinged with laughter.

 

I shrank my head, feeling awkward about another person’s warmth and heartbeat, the firm arms wrapped around my waist, and the quiet breath settling by my ear.

 

The touching bodies felt strange. I fidgeted and pushed him away.

 

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

 

“I haven’t seen my lady for a whole day, so my energy has weakened.”

 

“That’s probably just because your meals were inadequate. That’s why leaving home means suffering.”

 

“My lady… Isn’t that a bit too cold?”

 

“It’s realistic. Just, step, away.”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

“What?”

 

Last time he acted all dignified saying ‘I refuse,’ and now it’s just ‘I don’t want to.’ I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t speak.

 

Somehow it seems like this man is becoming more disobedient as time goes on, or am I imagining it?

 

“Maybe I should just return you.”

 

“My lady, abandonment is a serious crime.”

 

“Do you think you’re actually a real dog?”

 

“Runein’s symbol is a wolf. So you adopted me, my lady. Please take good care of me.”

 

“Don’t say such strange things so casually!”

 

We bickered again for a while over nothing important.

 

In that room, fragments of the broken crystal butterfly sparkled gently in the morning sunlight.

 

The man’s embrace, carrying the faint scent of winter upon his return, was unexpectedly warm—

 

Before we knew it, morning had dawned with bright, heavy snow falling instead of the night’s torrential rain.

 

The long-awaited next day.

 

“Then I’ll begin the diagnosis.”

 

In the hall where most of the Duchy’s people—including servants and knights—had gathered, Nety, the healing priestess, spoke in a solemn voice.

 

The people, all wearing equally serious expressions, nodded their heads.

 

“We’re counting on you.”

 

“Please, we beg of you, Priestess.”

 

‘How did it come to this?’

 

Only I, who had become the protagonist of this diagnostic ceremony, couldn’t adapt to this atmosphere.

 

As a priestess, Nety could ask questions to the gods and hear their answers.

 

This was why people sought priestesses for mysterious illnesses, and while I had agreed to this diagnosis wanting to shed my sickly image—

 

‘I didn’t want it to be this grand though.’

 

From my parents-in-law to the servants and knights, and even my husband.

 

Everyone stared intently at Nety alone.

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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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