I Accidentally Revived My Deceased Husband

 

 

 

Prolog

 

: No matter what I did, my husband’s body wouldn’t decay.

 

Today marks the 49th day since my husband died.

 

Judith looked down at her husband’s body, which seemed as if it was still alive. She tried everything—keeping it warm, making it moist, and all sorts of other things—but her husband’s body didn’t decay, not even a little.

 

“I hear the wails of a soul trapped in the prison of its flesh.”

 

The psychic, whom she had painstakingly tracked down through a friend of her husband’s, gave off the aura of being somewhere between a fake shaman and a fraud.

 

It didn’t inspire much confidence, but…

 

“Erne, I’ll get you out of there. Can you hear me?”

 

Well, since the one paying seemed satisfied, she decided to go along with it.

 

“We will now begin the ritual to open Lord Erne’s body and guide his soul to its rightful destination.”

 

As Judith listened to the psychic’s explanation, her eyes scanned Erne. He lay on the hastily prepared altar, naked, looking as if he were merely in a deep sleep.

 

“Madam, please come closer.”

 

Judith furrowed her brow. She didn’t want to get closer. Who would want to approach a corpse that wasn’t decomposing or even dressed in burial clothes? It would have been better if something had at least covered him.

 

What’s more, the spot the psychic had designated for Judith was near Erne’s lower body.

 

“Hurry, madam. Erne is crying from within. Can’t you hear his sorrowful cries?”

 

As if the psychic himself could hear anything.

 

Judith glanced at her husband’s weeping friend and took a big step forward. She wanted to get rid of this ominous body as soon as possible.

 

The only reason she had agreed to participate in this ridiculous ritual was that she wanted to dispose of the body—whether by burial or cremation, it didn’t matter!

 

People already called their house cursed, and the value had plummeted by half. If rumors spread that there was a strange corpse in the house, the value might drop even further.

 

What a nightmare.

 

“The things that should disappear will vanish, and nothing will remain,”

 

The psychic motioned, and her husband’s friend extended his hand. The tip of a sharp dagger grazed his fingertip, and a drop of blood trickled down onto her husband’s forehead.

 

At that moment, Erne’s long eyelashes twitched as if they moved slightly, but neither the psychic nor her husband’s friend reacted.

 

Did I imagine it?

 

It’s a corpse, after all. There’s no way the eyelashes moved.

 

“Madam, please extend your hand. You must let the blood drop precisely onto Lord Erne’s root.”

 

The ‘root’ was the first of the three gates on the body, the place where life is born. In other words, it was right in the middle of Erne’s most private area.

 

Judith hesitated for a moment, but for the sake of the house’s value, she had no choice but to proceed.

 

“The ones who should leave will leave. This is not their destination. If they cannot leave, they will only suffer.”

 

The psychic turned toward Judith, and she, anticipating the pain to come, extended her hand. A sharp sting pierced her finger.

 

If a few drops of blood could solve this problem, then it was worth it.

 

Judith bit her lip as she brought her bleeding hand closer to her husband’s groin.

 

As soon as the blood fell onto his skin,

 

“……..?”

 

The muscles in his thigh, as strong as those of a stallion, twitched. This time, she was sure she hadn’t imagined it. A chill ran down her spine.

 

As Judith instinctively moved back, a hand flew out and grabbed her wrist.

 

“…What…are you?”

 

A deep voice, long unused, broke the silence.

 

“What have you done to me?”

 

Eyes as deep as a dense forest swept over his own naked body and then over Judith. Her husband’s brows furrowed slowly.

 

His voice, filled with confusion, shattered the frozen stillness.

 

“Were we actually in the middle of ‘that’?”

 

Judith’s legs gave out, and she collapsed on the spot, still gripping his wrist.

 

Her dead husband had come back to life. And, just like a character from a 19+ rated novel, he’s making the most absurd misunderstanding about this situation.

 

***

 

49 days ago.

 

Judith Harrington, the young lady of the fallen baron family, was dragged to a shabby temple by her brother, Leon Harrington—more specifically, she was pulled by her hair.

 

Frightened by Leon’s violent actions, she stood on the wedding aisle with only the simplest explanation.

 

The groom’s name was Erne Rainland, an illegitimate child and the last surviving member of the Rainland family. By marrying him, Judith would become the Countess of Rainland.

 

As soon as the explanation was given, a veil was placed over her head, and an unnecessarily extravagant bouquet was forced into her hands.

 

Her head spun, and she felt nauseous.

 

Judith was pushed forward. The wedding aisle was short, and the man who was to be her husband was slumped in a chair.

 

Is he even alive?

 

Judith glanced sideways at the man. Even in such a strange situation, she couldn’t help but admire how beautiful he was.

 

For a brief moment, she forgot about reality and her fear, focusing only on admiring the man. The ceremony proceeded, with the officiant being the only one speaking—neither the bride, groom, nor anyone else responded.

 

It was a hastily arranged wedding, but it seemed they still wanted to end it with a final gesture, as the officiant requested a kiss of vows.

 

Trembling with fear, Judith bent over. Cold sweat dampened her back, and her chest felt tight. As she leaned in to kiss her groom with a pale, ghostly face, his neck suddenly snapped.

 

“……..!”

 

Judith let out a gasp—whether it was a sob or a sharp intake of breath, she couldn’t tell—and collapsed.

 

That was Judith Harrington’s last memory.

 

 

“…So that’s what happened.”

 

The soul of Yujin, who had taken over Judith’s body, muttered in pain as a throbbing ache rose from her scalp.

 

The memories of Judith’s life flooded her mind like a tidal wave, leaving her with a splitting headache.

 

From what she could gather from Judith’s memories, she’d been trying to escape when her brother caught her by the hair, which caused lasting pain. Her bruised arm still ached from being grabbed, and her twisted ankle was sore from being dragged here.

 

‘Damn it, what a cursed life.’

 

In her previous life, she’d been hit by a truck and died, and now she had been resurrected into another terrible existence. Yujin thought about what she’d left behind in her past life.

 

All the things she had worked hard to achieve, the tiny apartment in her name (despite the mortgage), her savings, and deposits. When she remembered the beef she’d bought to celebrate—never even getting a chance to eat it—her eyes welled up with tears.

 

She had thought she’d escaped the debt-ridden life to walk on a path of flowers, but instead, she ended up on the path to the afterlife.

 

“And my husband’s name was Erne Rainland, right?”

 

The officiant had definitely said so.

 

No wonder the name felt familiar—Yujin had been reincarnated into the world of the novel <Just as it is above, so it is below.>

 

The only book she had ever bought and read in her life was <Just as it is above, so it is below,> so it wasn’t difficult to make the connection.

 

Out of all the characters, she’d ended up in the body of a poor woman from a fallen family, who wasn’t even part of the original cast. It felt like some kind of punishment.

 

“No, this must just be a coincidence.”

 

She wanted to believe it was just a coincidence. She hadn’t lived her life entirely virtuously, but who does? Besides, getting hit by a truck had surely paid off any karma she owed in her previous life.

 

“Madam, are you coughing?”

 

A low voice called from outside the door.

 

Yujin—or rather, now Judith, the Countess of Rainland—replied in a hoarse voice.

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

Soon, the door opened, and a middle-aged man with graying hair entered.

 

“It’s time to attend the funeral.”

 

He placed the mourning clothes he had brought carefully in his hands and left without offering any further explanation. Judith slowly changed into the mourning attire.

 

Her mind was still a mess, but she couldn’t stay locked up in that small room any longer. So, she attended what was a very modest funeral, with no mourners in sight.

 

***

 

The fact that the Countess of Rainland was invited to the funeral of the Count was odd, but there was no better word to describe it than an invitation.

 

After all, everything for the funeral had already been prepared. The only thing Judith had to do was lay flowers on the coffin that was already in the ground.

 

‘Strange.’

 

It seemed as though the funeral had been prepared in advance. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been arranged so quickly.

 

Erne had passed away late yesterday afternoon, and now it was dawn. Sure, maybe the grave could have been dug at first light.

 

But what about the gravestone?

 

This world doesn’t have laser engraving technology, so how had they managed to carve such an elaborate family crest on the gravestone in that short time? It didn’t make sense.

 

‘The family crest, the name, the birth date—they must have had it all engraved beforehand, only leaving the date of death to be added later. Hmph, suspicious.’

 

Erne, Judith’s husband, was quite an important figure in the original story, unlike Judith, who didn’t appear at all.

 

He was a famous knight and a war hero who had initially sided with the antagonists but later joined the protagonist’s side, surviving all the way to the end of the story.

 

‘So, this must be after the conclusion of the original plot.’

 

But wait a minute, when did Erne become the Count of Rainland? He was supposed to be the Count’s illegitimate child.

 

“Madam, we briefly met yesterday—do you remember? I am Cliff Ackerman.”

 

Just then, someone appeared to resolve Judith’s doubts. Cliff Ackerman, the Rainland family lawyer.

 

“I will escort you to your new residence, Madam. I’ll explain the inheritance on the way.”

 

“Inheritance?”

 

“Yes. Didn’t Leon explain it to you?”

 

Well, he had, but it was more threats than explanations. Things like, ‘If you don’t do as I say, I’ll kill you,’ or ‘I’ll shave your head bald,’ among others.

 

Judith had even had her leg broken by Leon once, so she had been scared and obediently gone through with the suspicious wedding.

 

“The Rainland family line ended with Erne’s death. You are now the only person who bears the Rainland name.”

 

“What?”

 

Cliff continued with a polite explanation as he watched Judith’s shocked reaction.

 

“Erne was an illegitimate child, but with the death of the rest of the family, he became the primary heir.”

 

But, Cliff trailed off, implying that Erne had died as well.

 

“Now, you are the primary heir. You will inherit everything of the Rainland family. You will become the head of the family and the acting Countess.”

 

That meant the mansion, the title, the property, and all rights and responsibilities were now Judith’s.

 

What? Did a fortune just fall from the sky? A mansion is real estate, right? Does that mean I’ve been given free real estate?

 

Judith was more stunned than pleased. As far as she knew, nothing in this world came for free, and this marriage seemed suspicious above all else.