Why Is My Husband the Villainous Schemer! - Chapter 72

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

Chapter 72
My mother-in-law’s brow furrowed.
“Oh… I’m sorry. If it was any trouble.”
“No! I was quite moved by it.”
Mother looked down at Linea with a smile that, to anyone’s eye, appeared distinctly sinister, and whispered.
“Now it’s just the two of us, won’t it? My little pup.”
“Mother? It won’t be ongoing. Just for today…”
“From today on, you belong entirely to me.”
At those words, Linea drew a sharp breath, startled.
I hastened to interject.
“Just today, please! If something comes up, only until tomorrow!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll play with my little pup all day long.”
“Thank you.”
Having entrusted Linea to Mother’s care, Carcel and I stepped into the Reception Room where Isaar was waiting.
But almost immediately, I couldn’t help turning my gaze toward Carcel in alarm.
“Is he… dead?”
Unable to bear the brief wait, Isaar lay sprawled across the sofa, fast asleep.
His neck was exposed at length, his shirt collar hung open, and his entire appearance was defenseless and disheveled.
But unlike me, Carcel answered calmly.
“Ah, he has the habit of sleeping flat on his face anywhere he goes.”
“Wow. His breathing is barely audible, and his face is so pale—I honestly couldn’t tell if he was alive.”
“I’ve actually had to save his life on a battlefield while he slept like that.”
A battlefield?
“Carcel, did you go to war with Isaar?”
“It was when I was young.”
“How young do you have to be to go into battle? Aren’t you twenty-four now?”
Startled, I looked at Carcel, and he nodded.
“Actually… I went on Monster Subjugation Campaigns with my father from the age of twelve onward.”
“I see.”
“That’s when I met Isaar.”
I blinked.
‘So the story about him going to boarding school might have been entirely fabricated information.’
Carcel had mentioned being on meal duty back then, and how the licorice-flavored snacks his mother sent him were his only joy.
Perhaps the information about Carcel’s true identity was classified, and even my Master had given me false information.
“I see.”
Content with that explanation, Carcel and I sat on the sofa across from Isaar.
Even after waiting a minute, Isaar remained asleep in the same position, like a wax figure.
“How much longer will he sleep?”
“Could you close your eyes for me for just a moment?”
“My eyes?”
Before I could even speak, Carcel covered my eyes with his palm.
“Just keep your eyes closed for exactly one minute.”
I nodded at his gentle, almost coaxing tone.
The moment Carcel’s hand left me and I heard him rise—
Thwack.
A dull sound came from somewhere, and startled by whatever was happening, I opened my eyes.
“What—what is it?”
“Nothing at all. He’s awake now.”
As Carcel stepped back slightly, Isaar pulled himself up, visibly annoyed.
“Why are you beating on people like this?”
“Asha’s here. Mind your tongue.”
“…Why did you kick a sleeping man awake and cause all this fuss?”
I turned to Carcel in surprise.
“You kicked him?”
“No.”
“Well, if you ever do, please don’t do it again?”
“…Understood. I will absolutely never kick Isaar again.”
Carcel, sitting beside me like a large hound, nodded obediently, and I couldn’t help but laugh with eyes wide open at how cute he was.
Just as I was about to praise him for being good, a cool voice cut between us.
“This is pathetic.”
“Isaar.”
As the warning left Carcel’s lips, Isaar grumbled in response.
“Did you come here to be lovesick? Let’s do some business.”
“State your business quickly and leave. Linea was just recovering from being ill, so both Asha and I are on edge.”
“I bought a company.”
I couldn’t help but be taken aback by that statement.
“I’m sorry—what?”
“It was taking too long, so I just bought one to speed things up. I came to ask if we can start mining operations tomorrow.”
“So… Isaar will be running the mining company? And also handling his duties as a mage?”
“Yeah.”
Isaar nodded as though asking what the problem was.
“Then I just need to draw up the contract with Isaar?”
“Give me another 500 Gold. You lot draw up the contract yourselves. Too troublesome.”
So this truly is a man sincere only toward Salgu.
The bored face of this man who did nothing but yawn like a cat—his sole love in the world being monsters.
“Well… understood. I’m grateful, actually. Isaar will likely handle it more professionally.”
“But I have one condition for the contract.”
“What is it?”
“I’ll take just 500 Gold to cover the minimum mining costs, and every Mutant Mana Stone is mine.”
Isaar’s eyes sharpened in an instant.
Then Carcel frowned and objected.
“We don’t even know how many Mutant Mana Stones will be found. Isn’t that condition crossing a line?”
“Besides, Mutant Mana Stones aren’t needed by anyone but me anyway. You’d have trouble disposing of them, so you might as well give them to me.”
“Their value might change in the future.”
I agreed with Carcel’s point.
Of course, even ten years from now in the setting of this world, Mutant Mana Stones would still be useless.
But further down the line, perhaps new research findings might emerge.
Before Carcel and Isaar could argue further, I interjected.
“Then, Isaar, you won’t take them forever. How about you have them for ten years? But I have a condition.”
“What is it?”
“Research the Mutant Mana Stones for me. There might be something useful about them, or ways to develop them further, right?”
“…You’re trusting me too much, aren’t you?”
Indeed, he might conduct the research and then clam up completely if he found anything meaningful.
I shrugged.
“To someone out there, those Mutant Mana Stones might feel like a lifeline. Even if Isaar hides the research results, if a single life can be saved, that has value too.”
Isaar’s eyes widened at those words.
It was a decision I could make precisely because I knew they’d be useless for ten years.
“For now, I don’t know how things will change in the future. But in any case, since you’re not simply pursuing your own ambitions, I can do at least that much.”
“…What?”
Isaar’s eyes narrowed slightly, almost cat-like.
Then he simply spoke.
“If that’s the case… I’ll conduct the research as a special favor. But every Mutant Mana Stone that comes out over those ten years is mine.”
“Fine. Then we’ll draft the contract tomorrow morning and begin full mining preparations.”
As I said this, Isaar spoke.
“Yeah, I already brought all the equipment over and briefed the workers anyway.”
“Already?”
“You make money sooner, you don’t lose anything, right? We’ll sign the contract tomorrow morning, Teleport right away, and start work immediately.”
I opened my mouth wide, but I nodded in agreement.
It works fine for me.
‘Even in the story, Isaar doesn’t reveal his thoughts easily, but he’s the type who finds lying tedious and avoids it.’
He’s more the type to be direct.
The deal was struck.
* * *
“By the way, Carcel. I’m saying this out of concern.”
After Isaar left and Linea, still recovering, had fallen asleep early, I sat in the Bedroom with Carcel and talked.
“You mentioned the Emperor brought up our marriage.”
“Yes. But don’t worry about that. I’ll confirm the Mana Stone Mine site tomorrow morning and then visit him right away.”
“Oh, I don’t need to go, right?”
“If Asha wishes to come, I’d be happy to take her, but His Majesty the Emperor is…”
Carcel swallowed what he was about to say.
“…Well, he’s rather cautious by nature, so taking Asha would not be… advisable from my perspective.”
“It must have gotten worse after the Empress passed away, I imagine?”
He nodded with a bitter expression.
The current Emperor had severe paranoid tendencies and was highly nervous.
He was always suspicious that his wife’s death wasn’t from simple illness.
But precisely because he couldn’t identify the cause, it must have driven him nearly mad.
On top of that, there were constant assassination threats against Lusian, his only son.
‘Each day must have felt like walking on thin ice, cold and sharp.’
“Then I won’t go. I’ll stay here with Linea and wait for you.”
At those words, Carcel let out a quiet laugh.
“Won’t my mother be a bother for you? I was thinking of having Mother return to the Duke’s Residence tomorrow.”
“No!”
I shook my head quickly.
Though her manner of expression was quite forceful, she was fundamentally a person who had affection for both Linea and me.
“If she were like some former mothers-in-law I’ve heard of, I might’ve asked you to do something about it.”
“You’re free to ask, even now.”
“No. I think your mother is a good person. Just like you are.”
At those words, Carcel’s expression became uncertain.
“Is that praise? Being compared to Mother—it somehow sounds like an insult.”

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