I Healed my Husband, the Leader of the Underworld

Can I trust him?

 

As Jane was about to make a decision after weighing her options, a voice, both hurried and desperate, rang out.

 

“JANE!”

 

Simultaneously, both pairs of eyes turned towards the door. The moment the door creaked open, Jane felt something shatter, as if a giant piece of glass had been broken.

 

Soon after, she started hearing the ticking of the clock again. The frozen time had begun to thaw.

 

And then… breathing. The sound of breathing, clear and sharp, echoed right above Jane’s head as a cold hand clamped down on her neck.

 

Jane’s breath quickened as her eyes, high above her head, met the intruder’s.

 

“Franz.”

 

At the sound of the voice, Jane’s green eyes swept over Milena, who was standing behind the door.

 

Seeing the familiar face, Jane let out a sigh of relief.

 

“Milena,” she called desperately.

 

Did Milena just undone the time magic? Jane briefly marveled at Milena’s magical abilities.

 

Milena, on the other hand, was panting, as if she had run a long distance. She looked…very painfully distraught.

 

“Let go of Jane.”

 

Franz’s gaze slowly drifted over Milena’s swollen cheeks before letting out a low scoff;

 

“…I see.”

 

His voice, dripping with biting sarcasm, made Jane look up at him once again.

***

 

“We have to leave Roam,” Bartholomew said, his voice urgent. “I told Franz… if anything happened.”

 

His red eyes trembled anxiously as they locked onto mine.

 

“I told them I’d use all my strength to break Roam’s barrier and that’d be the signal.”

 

“Did you tell him where to go?” I asked, trying to stay calm.

 

“Of course. I told him to come here….” Bartholomew nodded with certainty.

 

“No.” I grabbed his arms tightly, raising my voice. “Did you tell Franz exactly where to go?”

 

Bartholomew  couldn’t answer, and soon a loud voice rang from afar.

 

“An intruder. Everybody, move!”

 

Without waiting for my brother’s reply, I quickly dashed out of the room.

 

I could feel an abnormal surge of magic coming from Jane’s room.

 

“Milena!”

 

Bartholomew’s deep voice called out, but I ignored him and rushed toward Jane’s room.

 

If something were to happen to Jane…

 

Countless dark possibilities flashed through my mind.

 

A strange force restrained me, blocking my way, but I pushed through with my own magic, fighting to reach the door.

 

Frankly, I don’t know how I managed to do it. Under normal circumstances, it would have been impossible, but this time, my desperation didn’t betray me

 

It seemed everyone had already noticed the disturbance. Dark-clad people were gathered outside Jane’s room, but oddly enough, they were frozen in place, not moving at all.

 

It was as if time had stopped.

 

No… this can’t be.

 

Shoving through the crowd, I finally stood in front of the door and, without hesitation, threw it open with all my strength. At the same time, a sharp crack echoed through the room as something unseen shattered, knocking the wind from my lungs.

 

“Jane!” I called as a terrible pain gripped my heart.

 

God, what had I just done?

 

Even when I poured all my healing magic into something, I had never felt pain like this.

 

‘How did you…?’ Franz’s face seemed to ask that question.

 

“Franz,” I muttered his name.

 

With great effort, I held onto my fading consciousness and shouted at him.

 

I couldn’t collapse now.

 

Not when he was gripping Jane by the back of her neck.

 

So, I forced myself to stay focused and met his gaze.

 

 

A cold smirk played on his lips as he looked me over. He slowly removed his hand from Jane’s neck as I commanded and walked toward me.

 

And just as my body was about to falter, an iron grip clamped around my wrist. A small gasp escaped my lips as Jane’s eyes, standing behind him, trembled.

 

“Well, well… Living the high life, are we?”

 

His voice oozed venom, each word twisting like a blade.

 

“…Who would have guessed you’d be living like this, getting slapped around?”

 

Slapped around? I repeated to myself, confused. Oh, my cheeks. He must be referring to the marks I left when I slapped myself hard earlier.

 

Just as I was about to explain, my mind went blank from all the insults he started to spit out.

 

Then he grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the balcony.

 

Throughout all this, my lips categorically refused to move.

 

And in that moment, I knew.

 

I didn’t need anyone to tell me—the real Milena’s terror of her brother was carved into this body, bone-deep.

 

No matter how hard I struggled to regain my composure, this body’s ingrained instincts wouldn’t cooperate.

 

“Franz,” I forced myself to call his name again, but he didn’t respond.

 

“It hurts!” I shouted, shaking off his hand. He turned to me with a cold glare.

 

“Really?”

 

A crooked smirk tugged at his lips.

 

“Then go ahead and do whatever you want.”

 

As his fingertips sent out waves of magic, Jane’s eyes fluttered closed and open slowly.

 

In the sharp silence, the ticking of a clock echoed, but before I could fully grasp the situation, the door burst open with a bang. My eyes darted around, landing on the faces of Roam’s servants.

 

They stood there like an unbreakable wall for a moment before parting to the sides, allowing three people to walk forward; Roam’s phoenix emblem gleaming on the brooches pinned to their uniforms.

 

The senior mages.

Their magic resembled black smoke, and as invisible waves spread from their hands, Franz coughed and spat up blood.

 

I had never seen blood so dark before. It was also mixed with magic.

 

Crimson lines spread across his pristine white suit as the blood soaked through it.

 

“How dare you defy the forbidden law and disrupt the order in Roam?”

 

As the old man’s stern voice filled the room, Roam’s knights raised their guns, aiming them at Franz in unison.

 

They weren’t bluffing.

 

Time manipulation magic was forbidden in the Empire, and those who broke this law could be executed on the spot without consequence.

 

“Not bad for a rookie,” the old man said coldly, “Such a shame.” His silver eyes fixed on me as he finished his sentence.

 

“Madam, are you alright?”

 

“Damn it,” Franz cursed as he coughed up another mouthful of blood, clutching his chest.

 

The overwhelming force from the mages had created a powerful barrier around Roam, much stronger than the one before.

 

This is it. We’re fucked.

 

This new barrier would be nearly impossible to break or bypass.

 

“Stop,” I said, forcing my voice to rise above the tension. “This man is my…”

 

“How amusing,” Franz’s voice, like nails on a chalkboard, cut me off, drawing everyone’s attention to him.

 

He was wiping the blood from his mouth with his white sleeve, while still smirking coldly.

 

Then, he raised his head defiantly, meeting the gazes of Roam’s staff.

 

“…Such a splendid welcome. Yes, it’s nice to meet you all.” Franz smiled innocently, slowly raising both hands.

 

He glanced at Roam’s knights, who had their guns aimed at him, maintaining his calm demeanor.

 

As he levitated slightly off the ground, stepping back, drops of blood fell to the floor, marking his movements.

 

“Lower your weapons. He’s just here to see how I’m doing…” I tried to reason.

 

“Don’t bother, Milena,” Franz said lazily. “Why would the orphaned Duchess be in league with someone destined for immediate execution?”

 

The knights hesitated, their faces betraying their desire to shoot him, but they turned to look at me instead, their guns still aimed at Franz.

 

“I’m fine with this,” Franz said, his voice calm as Jane’s anxious gaze followed the trail of blood on the floor.

 

Without looking at what was behind him, Franz floated in the air, landing gracefully at the edge of the balcony railing, casting a sweeping look over all of us.

 

I felt nervous watching him, as it seemed he might fall from the marble floor if he moved back even slightly.

 

As his body leaned precariously, his platinum hair fluttered in the air.

 

While Roam’s people, gripping their guns, trembled with unease.

 

Then….

 

“…I’m leaving ,” Franz suddenly announced.

 

At that moment, my body was lifted by an inexplicable force.

 

“Take only what you need.”

 

Then a firm arm wrapped securely around my waist.

 

As my head leaned into the unfamiliar embrace, a mischievous laugh echoed above me.

 

Bullets flew toward us—more specifically, toward Franz.

 

“Hold on tight.”

 

Before the intense wave that was trying to pull me away from him could reach me, gravity yanked us both downward.

 

And I instinctively struggled against it.

 

Franz Rochester, you crazy son of a bitch!

 

I couldn’t even open my mouth as my long golden hair whipped through the air.

 

Is this how I’m going to die?

 

I reached for the railing, but it was useless. The last thing I saw was Jane’s face, nearly fainting in shock, and the stunned expressions of Roam’s staff beside her.

 

They looked as if they had never witnessed such a disaster before.

 

Well, I wasn’t doing much better.

 

I had fought so hard to live, only to meet such a meaningless end…

 

As that thought crossed my mind, a blinding light engulfed me, and my vision blurred. I felt as if time and space were folding in on themselves, shaking me violently and making me feel extremely nauseous. And just when I thought I couldn’t bear it anymore, I screamed, shouting my desire to live.

 

 

“Yeah, I get it. You want to live,” a low chuckle echoed above me.

 

In the endless darkness, as I was wondering, “How is this possible?” a bright light flooded in front of my closed eyes.

 

“Open your eyes,” Franz said.

 

I slowly lifted my trembling eyelids from his firm embrace. And there, at our feet, was…a bustling city???

 

Countless people were moving like ants as he gently lowered me to the ground, still cradling me lightly.

 

“Ahhh.”

 

My legs buckled as soon as I touched the ground, and I collapsed. Yet, people still passed by as if they didn’t see us.

 

Shocked, I tapped the stone floor with my hands and then gazed around in confusion. Everything felt too vivid for me to be dead.

 

The birds slicing through the sky.

 

The clouds.

 

The sunlight.

 

I squinted, then opened my eyes again, only to see Franz Rochester’s platinum hair.

 

“This is the best I can do. Damn old f*ckers,” he cursed as my gaze shifted to his blue eyes.

 

“Get up. We need to take a carriage home.”

 

“Home?”

 

“…Yeah, the Rochester estate.”

 

Franz pulled a small vial out of his suit pocket and popped the cork off with his thumb, shaking it vigorously. To my astonishment, a hood popped out of the vial. He placed it around me and carefully tied it, making sure it was secure.

 

“Can you walk?”

 

Is this a dream? I thought, pinching my already bruised cheek.

 

No, it was real.

 

“Get up. There’s a limit to how long you can hide like this,” he continued, extending his hand to me.

 

Didn’t he… despise me?

 

More importantly….

 

Who’s going to clean up this mess?