Chapter 14 – My Wife Had A Man
‘Scared? Didn’t you try to swallow my mouth earlier?
‘But now you are afraid?’
Something in his chest tightened.
People feared Karikas territory because it was part of the Demon Realm in the past.
So did she?
‘Is that why you mentioned divorce? Do you want to escape from this place that used to be part of the demon realm?’
In the first place, Gerald didn’t want to get married either.
If the nobles had not consistently suggested killing Theodor to the Emperor4, Gerard would never have married like this.
But the Emperor stepped up.
He commanded Gerard to marry Sinclair, Marquis Michael Owen’s second daughter, Empress Kennes’ younger sister, and the head of the nobility’s social circles.
If he married Owen’s daughter, the flower of the aristocracy, by arrangement, the voices of the aristocrats arguing over Theodor’s right to life or death would be diminished.
“That Curse! Cursed, cursed!”
‘My sister and her partner died because of someone. And cursed by the same person, who do you think you are to talk about Theodor’s life and death?’
Didn’t she die trying to seal it and left a puddle of blood behind?
However, it was impossible to reject the Emperor’s wishes and turn him and the nobles all into enemies. It was a wedding he reluctantly accepted.
Sinclair also did not express much intention, so he thought she had calmly accepted this political marriage.
Looking back on what he said in the carriage, this marriage was a chance for Sinclair to get out of the Owen family.
‘What the hell happened there?’
Even in a marriage that the Emperor and the Marquis were backing, how could she insist on her duties as only a mother?
‘How could she say she will only do her duties as the hostess? Don’t you usually want your husband’s love? She even already said that she wouldn’t stand in my way? A wife who didn’t even want his love…’
If she was afraid of the Demon Realm, shouldn’t she rely on him, the man once called the conqueror of the demon land?
‘How dare you talk about divorce on the day of our wedding…’
Nevertheless, I liked her declaration. The declaration of not seeing Theodor as a seed of evil and doing her best as a mother was not ordinary.
“I don’t want to be used by anyone. It’s my life.”
Moreover, the cruel wounds on her back hinted at a heavy life that he did not know.
Eventually, he couldn’t leave behind his fearful wife.
Sinclair was in a deep sleep, holding his hand tightly and snoring low. Sometimes, she frowned and even mumbled in her sleep.
He was curious about what she was saying, so he tried to hold her face close but stopped midway.
He wasn’t confident of being entangled with her pitiful breath and her small white face.
To straighten the frowning forehead, he moved his index finger forward. As he softened her eyebrows slightly, his fingertip caressed her soft eyebrows, passing her temples and going down to her cheeks.
‘You can’t cross the line.’
He just decided to stay to protect his fearful new bride.
Having any more feelings for the person who mentioned divorce was dangerous.
He quickly put his hand down and covered her with a thin blanket.
Then Sinclair turned to the side and curled up like a child in a womb, with her slender arms and legs, she embraced the blanket like a lifeboat.
Suddenly she kicked with one foot.
“You cockroach bastard, run away. Run away!”
And started crying.
“Live… Live somehow… unnng…”
‘Run away? Cockroach bastard? Who is it?’
Not knowing that Sinclair’s sleep-talk concerned the Chairman’s son who caused an accident in her previous life, Gerard suspected she might be talking to the man she loved.
He felt like his blood was heating and rushing up.
‘There was a man? Did she get married to save that man’s life? Is that why the Marquis hit his daughter so brutally?’
No matter how hard it was, the Empire was a place where free love was allowed…
He smiled bitterly.
‘I see… I see.’
Only then did he understand a little.
‘That’s why she doesn’t need me as a man and husband, and she’s going to live only as Theodor’s mother and the manor’s hostess.’
She didn’t want him to ever become in-laws with the Marquis’ family.
Gerard’s face sank like lead. He laughed out loud. Soon, he pressed his lips in a straight line, slammed the door, and went to his room.
But he couldn’t sleep.
After angrily trying to read a book, he eventually grabbed a sword and swung it until he was sweating profusely
Kung, kung!
The sound of a strong clash and the floor vibrating caught his attention, and Gerard opened the door.
The hallway was filled with a yellow fog, and he couldn’t see an inch ahead.
The strong smell of sulfur filled his nostrils.
It was embarrassing. He was perplexed. It was the mist of the demon realm. That strong smell of sulfur filling his nose.
A mysterious source of evil that he encountered in the battles to conquer the Demon Realm.
The demons maliciously created a fog that possessed people. The mist travels through the nasal passages of those who breathe and penetrates the brain, manipulating memories and creating hallucinations.
He and the knights who conquered the demon realm were trained using their mana to avoid falling for such tricks of the mist, but Theodor and ordinary guests wouldn’t be able to stay safe.
Gerald rolled his thumb and forefinger into a circle, put them in his mouth, and whistled.
Fweeeeet–!
The high-pitched sound ran through the dark, calm corridor. But somehow, the Castle was silent. Gerard’s heart pounded with anger.
‘How dare you send fog to the sacred Schlezen Castle? How could this be?’
The magic stone lamps in their sconces had long been turned off in the fog-filled hallway, and the knights standing in the hallway were asleep.
‘My gosh, is it a sleep fog?’
Gerard ran to the other side, to Theodor’s bedroom. Fortunately, Theodor was sleeping soundly.
Then he saw a faint shadow through the window.
His pupils dilated. On the other side of the fortress railing, he saw pajama-clad Sinclair walking dangerously.
He opened the window and looked around, but there was no movement around Sinclair.
‘Why?’
Using the window sill as a stepping stone, he flew toward Sinclair.
It was terrifying, the view looking down through the air.
The knights guarding the fortress and those guarding the Castle were all asleep.
‘Who dares to neutralize the Castle with such a magical mist?’
The Demon Realm had rarely attacked the Empire. The demons did not have the cohesion or unity for an offensive of such scale.
‘What happened over the river?’
No one had ever reported any change.
‘After submerging in the study for over three years trying to break the curse, was discipline neglected?’
Besides, the fog warning bell he had installed wasn’t working.
Gerald tried to snatch Sinclair quickly, fearing she would fall.
However, Sinclair swiftly passed by him, hovering like a fallen leaf swept away in a whirlpool. And, helplessly, she bumped into the walls of the castle tower while falling.
Bam! Bam!
It was a shocking plight in which an ordinary person would have died.
He looked around for the being who cast the spell, but there was nothing but fog, fog, and even more fog.
Instantly her body plummeted to the floor. As he went down to catch her, like lightning, she soared into the sky.
Enraged, Gerard jumped and finally managed to grab her. Holding her with one arm, he shouted with all of his strength. An angry, strangled scream pierced through the intense haze.
“Who are you?!”
Gerard was sure someone was making fun of him, tossing and twirling Sinclair through the air and the ground like a rag doll.
The thick fog, unreal as it seemed, disappeared abruptly.
As if someone had covered Schlezen Castle with a large white cloth then removed it.
Landing safely, Gerard examined her.
“Sinclair, Sinclair!”
Gerard tried to wake her.
Then he noticed blood oozing from her nose and lips. It was a fatal injury.
She must have injured both her lungs and brain.
‘Ah… that shouldn’t be…’
The bride died on the first night.
It was impossible to wage war with the Emperor. He hurriedly called the courtier and healer.
But when they arrived, they declared her alright and found no wounds on her body. She was just in a deep sleep.
The fog had long since disappeared. No one in the Castle knew anything of last night’s fog.
‘Did my eyes see something wrong?’
But the bloodstains on his chest confirmed that the encounter was not a dream.
Suddenly, someone called him.
“Your Highness Archduke.”
Only then did Gerard come to his senses. Across the desk, Schmidt stood still, bowing.
“So? How did it go?”
“No barriers have been lifted, and the warning bell appears to be working fine.”
“Really?”
Gerard bit his lip, slowly got up, and walked to the window. He studied the ice and snow of Todai mountain through the window for a minute.
“What about Todai mountain? Have the barriers or magic circles ever been broken?”
“Yep.”
He crossed his arms in displeasure and looked at Schmidt.
“Did you do your research properly?”
A chill emanated from Gerard’s low, smooth tone. Schmidt shuddered as the air around him seemed to freeze.
“Yep.”
‘Yeah, the seal from five years ago, no matter how they try, it won’t break through. But what if there is a group of people helping from the outside?’
Herace declared all the remnants of treason had been destroyed.
Then, he killed all the demons who were residents of Karikas.
Ha…
“Did they say they’re fine?”
“Well. The answer is always the same. I’m worried about you, Grand Duke. Should I go there myself?”
“No. Let’s set the trap first.”
After Herace became Emperor, Karikas’ enemy became an empire, not the Demon Realm.
The Empire tried to shake Gerard, whether it wanted to somehow destroy this territory, or they wanted to destroy him.
This marriage was also one of the ways they used to shake him.
Sinclair.
It remains to be seen whether or not she is a shackle, but what if they were aiming for his wife’s life from the first day of marriage?
He pondered whether he should conduct a secret inspection in the Demon realm.
“Do you have another command?”
Gerard hesitated for a moment.
“Umm…”
Schmidt was bewildered by Gerard’s mumbling. Besides, he blushed, so he was curious about what order he was going to give. Gerard never hesitated when giving orders.
“…”
“No. Get out.”
“Yes.”
And when he was about to leave,
“Wait a minute.”
“Yes?”
Schmidt looked back. He glanced at Gerard fidgeted with his earlobe, averting his eyes,
“See if my wife had a man before marriage.”
“Are you talking about the Grand Duchess?”
Schmidt was startled and barely managed to suppress his voice from going up.
“I will follow your command.”
As Schmidt left, Gerard felt his pride hurt and exhaled heavily.
Who would have thought that the one who gave orders for the Empire in the battle against the Demon Realm would have to run political errands like this?
The pain in his stomach burst.
‘Damn it.’
He quietly pressed his solar plexus. The gastritis nervosa that plagued him when he was stressed had returned.
Deciding to stop thinking about his wife, he took a pill from the desk and swallowed it.
Then, he took out a book about curses and calmly crossed to the window chair to settle down.
Knock, knock.
“What’s going on?”
At Gerard’s words, the door opened and butler Thomas entered.
“The nanny begs to see the Grand Duke.”
“The nanny? Why?”
“She says that she wants to discuss some matters about the Grand Duchess’ duty.”
“Grand Duchess’ duty?”
Gerard rubbed his eyes as if tired.
He tried to erase her from his memory, but in a second, Sinclair came back to him like a high tide.
“Let her in.”