Sickly? Husband's Contractual Wife

EPISODE 3

 

In the original work, the supporting character, Celené, was the daughter of a destitute noble family.

 

Her parents, who had Celené and five younger siblings when she was young, died.

 

Her father, who had led a fairly large household, died in a shipwreck on his way back from abroad, and her mother died from shock after giving birth prematurely to her fifth sibling.

 

Everything happened so suddenly, too abruptly.

 

All that was left was the visits from the debt collectors, and with her father, who had been in debt and died, there was no way to repay the debts.

 

So she did whatever work came her way.

 

Cleaning, cooking, even sewing at night.

 

She sold all the household goods, but still couldn’t solve the debt problem.

 

Interest upon interest piled up, and the debt grew like a snowball, and her siblings cried because they were hungry.

 

Celené did everything she could.

 

Cleaning, laundry, nursing, dishwashing, cooking, all kinds of errands…

 

She worked as a salesperson in a shop and also did serving and kitchen work in a tavern.

 

She worked tirelessly.

 

Then one day, the Lady of Ifret came to visit.

 

In the moment of astonishment at the unexpected visit of the noble lady, Celené heard an even more surprising proposal.

 

“Give birth to my son’s heir.”

 

The Lady had a weak son.

 

He was the only heir of the Ifret family, who could die any day.

 

If he died, it would mean the end of the Ifret family line.

 

But there were no noble families willing to marry their daughter to a weak man who could die at any time.

 

Even if they boasted of being the best bloodline in the empire, with all the wealth and power.

 

So the Lady chose an alternative.

No money, but marrying into a noble family with a good status.

 

Plus, looking for a woman with no parents opposing a marriage to a weak man, even if the family is financially stable.

 

The one who met all these conditions was Celené, the daughter of a fallen noble family.

 

“If you give birth to our family’s heir, we’ll pay off all your debts, guarantee a living for your siblings.”

 

There was no reason to refuse.

 

Celené immediately signed the marriage contract and headed to the duke’s house.

 

If Celené, who married into the family, had given birth to an heir and lived well, it would have been a happy ending.

 

…Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.

 

Becoming a “poisonous lady” who killed her husband and stood on the gallows was her final moment.

 

“I didn’t do it, I didn’t!”

 

“Poisonous lady”

 

Celené reportedly shouted until the end.

 

But all the evidence pointed to Celené, and she ultimately disappeared into the mist of the gallows.

 

Even on the gallows, Celené vehemently claimed her innocence.

 

And that sight was very dreadful… as described by the protagonist of ‘Lady Crown,’ Veronica.

 

Veronica was also present at the gallows.

 

…The body of the Lady of Ifret was beyond description.

 

Decaying flesh, oozing sores, the Lady of Ifret seemed like a completely different person from the one I knew.

Celene and Veronica had met before.

 

Although the details are not clear, it seems that Celene had a few encounters with her, seemingly admiring the princess. Even though they weren’t close friends, they had met a few times, and Veronica seemed quite gloomy about it.

 

I prayed for her. Even if her actions were wicked, I hoped for the salvation of her soul.

 

The memoirs, written in an incredibly elegant style, vividly describe the dreadful scene at the time.

 

The reason the princess was present at that dreadful place was because the deceased Amud was from a noble family with royal blood mixed in.

 

The beginning of the Ifret noble family was the brother of the emperor who founded the empire. And they were just as noble.

 

Many aristocrats and nobles gathered at the execution ground of the wicked lady who killed the weak duke, as her blood was also mixed with that of the prince.

 

The prince and princess themselves watched the end of the wicked duchess who killed the weak duke.

 

They lamented as they watched Celene’s grotesque transformation.

 

They seemed to shield their gaze with fans and hats, but their eyes were gleaming with another madness.

 

While undergoing investigation and imprisonment, Celene’s body had transformed into something like a ghost.

 

It was because she had been tortured to confess and had been imprisoned in a place where not a single ray of sunlight entered for a long time.

 

Even the place where she relieved herself was contaminated with rat droppings.

 

All the food given to her was spoiled.

 

All of this was at Camilla’s command.

 

Originally, even if nobles were imprisoned, they were relatively well-treated until their execution, unlike commoners.

 

But Celene was not given such mercy.

 

She was imprisoned in the worst place in the prison, where only the most heinous and sinful were kept.

 

Naturally, it was Camilla’s doing.

Camilla bribed the prison guards to make the already terrible conditions in the prison even worse.

 

As a result, Celene’s skin was diseased, covered in ugly sores and inflammation, and her body was emaciated.

 

The execution took place in the square, in front of everyone.

 

Celene was originally supposed to be burned at the stake, but because she was a noblewoman and hadn’t divorced, she was still legally referred to as the “Lady of Ifret.”

 

The judges in charge of her trial, for that very reason, ruled to keep her body intact.

 

“Respect the dignity of the sinner, and do not separate any body parts from the body.”

 

But for Celene, it wasn’t a beautiful death.

 

Camilla couldn’t bear to see her daughter-in-law, who had killed her son, die a peaceful death by hanging.

 

Camilla bribed the executioner to make Celene suffer as much as possible.

 

To torment Celene for as long as possible, Camilla went to great lengths until the very end.

 

She left Celene hanging for three days and nights, just to ensure she didn’t die quickly.

 

Even after Celene’s breath was cut off, she had to remain hanging on the scaffold for a long time.

 

Celene was only taken down from the gallows when her neck was almost completely severed.

 

It was a result of strictly adhering to the ruling to preserve the body intact.

 

That was the end of Celene that I knew.

And then.

 

The Duke of Ifret naturally declined after losing his successor.

 

Camilla searched among her relatives for a successor, but he was nothing but a swindler who coveted the Duke’s property.

 

Camilla cruelly avenged her daughter-in-law who killed her son, but it was just a release of anger, and she couldn’t bring her dead son back to life.

 

In the end, she watched her family decline and suffer from mental illness, and she died in agony.

 

… Veronica wrote in her memoir.

 

* * *

 

So, in the end, it meant that I had blinded myself with money and walked towards my own death.

 

Even when I read it in a book, I thought it was terrible, but when I realized it was my future, my whole body trembled.

 

To play such a villainous role, of all things.

 

I had no luck whatsoever.

 

I spread my hand out and looked down.

 

“Did I kill my husband with this hand?”

 

Just the thought of it was terrible.

 

“How did I end up like this?”

 

Early one morning, on my way back from work, I was hit by a car and died.

 

What a pathetic death.

 

I was young at the time.

 

In my bag was the novel “Lady Crown.”

 

That was the last thing I remembered as “me.”

 

The book I read and my past self.

 

All of this came to mind two weeks ago, and I wanted to believe that I had simply dreamed or been caught up in a fantasy.

 

But as one by one, the events I saw in the book became real, I had to admit it.

 

For the past two weeks.

I looked carefully.

 

The events described in ‘Lady Crown’ were all becoming a reality.

 

From the trivial weather events, like rain and a rainbow on a certain day, to the big and small incidents within the capital, and even the gossip from high society, everything put together, it was just like the world of ‘Lady Crown.’

 

I used to think that when people die, they either go to a completely different world or something like that, only in books.

 

But why is this happening to me…?

 

Well, whatever.

 

But why do I have to play this role?

 

Killing my husband and then dying myself.

 

Shouldn’t I live a little longer?

 

“I shouldn’t have accepted Camilla’s deal.”

 

I blamed myself as I tore my hair out.

 

But I had no choice.

 

At that time, there was no other option for me to choose.

 

Well, there was one.

 

“Your face is quite decent.”

 

Madame Louise said that.

 

She was the owner of the salon “Opium.”

 

When I was in the prime of my dressmaking days, there was a high-class salon that only the top nobles frequented for their clothes.

 

It was called a high-class salon, but in reality, it was a place that arranged relationships for selling oneself.

 

However, the guests were either royalty or high nobles.

 

They were perfect in terms of status, power, and wealth.

 

All the women working there were called “ladies,” and in reality, they were not easy to meet.

 

I also made their clothes and earned money, but I never met them in person.

 

Then one day, I heard that Louise was calling for me.

 

“You made this dress, didn’t you?

I was lucky that my favorite dress turned out well thanks to my skills.

 

She called me to give me a special reward.

 

Louise had red hair and wine-colored eyes, and she was a woman who oozed charm at first glance.

 

It was a difficult dress to handle, but I did a good job with the alterations, and that caught Louise’s eye.

 

After becoming familiar with my face, Madame Louise often looked at me with quite an interested gaze.

 

Then one day, after scanning me from head to toe, Madame Louise said this.

 

“It’s a waste for you to just touch our kids’ clothes with that face and body. How about trying to become a lady of Opium?”

 

“A lady of Opium…?”

 

“If you want, you can come anytime.”

 

“But…”

 

“But what buts? You have to seize the opportunity when it comes.”

 

Louise took something out of her bosom and before I could say anything, she slipped her hand through the loose dress.

 

Looking at my surprised expression, she smiled as if finding it cute and said, “It’s not something I give to just anyone. You know, right?”

If you just hand that over, I’ll arrange for you to meet me without any complicated procedures.

 

Louise gave a sly smile with one eye squinted.

 

Then she swayed and went inside.

 

I stood there as if struck by lightning, and I put my hand into my chest and pulled out what she had stuck in there.

 

What I held in my hand was a business card with a gold frame.

 

The paper, sprinkled with real gold dust, was a paper used by nobles, even the ones with surplus money, and it sparkled.

 

I stared at the business card for a long time.

 

It was a business card with the name of the salon “Opium” and Louise’s name stamped in pure gold.

 

If I worked here, I could feed my siblings.

 

I could pay off all my debts and escape from this tedious labor.

 

I couldn’t know the exact amount, but just what I heard from the salon women about the process of exchanging clothes I altered for money was enough.

 

The amount of money exchanged overnight was something I couldn’t even imagine, even if I altered a hundred dresses, scrubbed dishes until my hands bled, and did laundry.

 

So I was on the verge of accepting the offer.

 

If Camilla hadn’t come to see me a few days later, I might have really done it.

 

At that time, I couldn’t definitely say that the choice was better than my current one.

 

Even if I worked there, there was no guarantee of a happy ending.

 

On the contrary, a more desperate end could be waiting.

 

But at least I’m alive now.

 

I can explore other possibilities.

 

Rather than selling myself for money, I can find a better path.

 

But if things continue like this, I will die.

In the book, my role was that.

 

To kill the husband, and as the wife, I die too.

 

No matter how hard I try to ignore it, the memory comes back vividly.

 

Thankfully, memories from my past life returned, or else I would have died just like that.

 

“Lady Crown” starts with the heroine, an orphan adopted into a loving family, becoming a cherished daughter.

 

After her debut in high society, she falls in love with the male lead, who will eventually become the emperor, becomes the empress, and finally ascends to the position of queen.

 

The novel’s main story was the palace intrigue, the scandals of the nobility, and the lives of the aristocrats depicted in it.

 

These elements played a big part in why the novel was called a “melodrama” during its heyday.

 

Every page was filled with stimulating and sensational stories.

 

That was the only entertainment in my tiresome life.

 

So, I read that book, over and over again.

 

It was an out-of-print book, and as the due date for returning it to the library approached, I kept extending the loan period repeatedly.

 

So, I practically had every detail in the book memorized.

 

Veronica overcomes all dangers under the reliable protection of the prince in the palace where such melodramatic stories unfold, and finally ascends to the position of queen.

 

In short, the novel was an alpha to omega story where the heroine becomes happy.

 

…And I am just there to embellish what she saw, heard, and experienced in the palace.

 

So, that was the problem.

 

The reason the subtitle of “Lady Crown” is “Veronica’s Memoir” is because everything in it is written from the perspective of the heroine, in the form of a memoir.

 

So, there’s no way to know what happened outside of Veronica’s perspective.

 

Selene poisons her husband.

I couldn’t figure out why it happened.

 

There’s no detailed description in ‘Lady Crown’ about concrete evidence or testimonies.

 

She only heard the stories, so she didn’t know the ins and outs of the incident.

 

There were only rumors floating around.

 

The rumors Veronica heard from high society were as follows:

 

“She tried to seize the inheritance. She went in to give birth to a son, but since the child didn’t come out, she went crazy.”

 

“The marquis had a frail body, so it would have been easy to disguise the murder as an illness.”

 

“It’s really cunning. How can a person do that?”

 

“If only the husband dies, then all of the property becomes hers…”

 

“The dead marquis ended up pitiful. He didn’t even know she was a poisonous woman and lived with her as his wife…”

 

However, these were just rumors, and couldn’t be confirmed as the truth.

 

How could the mother-in-law, with her piercing eyes, get away with poisoning her husband so blatantly?

 

Why would I, no, why would Selene want to kill her husband?

 

No matter how loveless the marriage, why?

 

Even after thoroughly examining all my memories from past and present lives, I couldn’t find a reason.

 

Ah, there was one thing that bothered me the most among those rumors.

 

“They say she had a lover.”

 

“Oh my, how scandalous.”

 

“Was she planning to elope with a new man?”

 

“Elope? She was probably trying to kill the marquis’s wife and swallow the entire family.”

 

A man, a man?

 

Did that really happen?

 

Did I really have an affair with another man in the future, kill my husband, and swallow the family?

 

“Someone as timid as me…?”

 

I just couldn’t understand.

Before the memories of my past life came back, I was just a helpless duchess who had to keep an eye on the maids.

 

A duchess who is only a facade, ignored by her husband and treated even more insignificantly by her mother-in-law.

 

… … Was that why?

 

It’s even scarier when an originally gentle person changes.

 

It is a common cliché in novels that a weak woman suddenly turns dark one day due to an important incident and becomes ‘I will kill my husband and kill everyone!’

 

Even committing all kinds of evil deeds and meeting a bad ending in the end.

 

‘But I’m alive.’

 

You cannot die as ‘Passer 1’ in the original work.

 

Because I’m really alive!

 

I was born and have lived in this book ever since.

 

I am a paper person, I am Nabal, and now this body is my body!

 

If he dies, I die too!

 

I’ve already died once, and I don’t want to die again.

They even have to be tied to a rope until their necks become dangling.

 

I really want to refuse that kind of death.

 

Wait a minute, do you want to go back to your original world when you die?

 

… … That’s not particularly good either.

 

On the way back from my part-time job early in the morning, I got hit by a hit-and-run car and died.

 

Even if I go back and survive, what will the medical expenses be and what will my living expenses be like? … ?

 

I won’t do it, I won’t do it.

 

Above all, there is no guarantee that you will return if you die.

 

What if I die for no reason and the ‘End’ really floats?

 

I can’t kick away the second chance that God might have given me.

 

It is a world without any regrets.

 

Even there, it is the same as having no parents.

 

Living while struggling is the same thing.

 

Now that I know everything about the original, I want to live using that buff.

 

… … Of course, you shouldn’t die before then.

 

<I am not, I am not!>

 

It seemed as if Selene’s screams were ringing in my ears.

 

Selene cried out for her innocence even on the scaffold.

 

I wonder why I shouted so loudly even in a situation where there was no hope.

 

If she hadn’t really poisoned her husband… … ?

Okay, misunderstood.

 

Or falsely accused.

 

I decided to weigh in on it.

 

<Say it again? Get out.>

 

Of course, even though he had an angelic face, he spewed out devilish words every time he opened his mouth.

 

And every time, I got a little feverish.

 

But does that mean I should kill him?

 

Even in his previous life, he was so scared that he couldn’t kill a single bug.

 

Most likely, due to some misunderstanding, Selene becomes the culprit who killed her husband.

 

It will never be arbitrary.

 

As a helpless duchess, I have no choice but to sit idly by and face death.

 

And that too with a hanging neck.

 

<I heard you’re crazy. Are you really crazy?>

 

I smiled softly as I recalled Armud’s words one by one.

 

He would always pour out harsh words like a poisoned arrow whenever he saw me, so there was no need for me to be hurt again.

 

Over the past two weeks since realizing all of this, I have been trying hard not to go crazy.

 

So we can laugh off this much.

Whether it was Camilla’s cold ridicule, her barbed words, or the maids’ hidden sneers, whatever.

 

It was better than hanging on the gallows and swinging around right now.

 

So I’ve been thinking about it for the past two weeks.

 

How can I avoid being killed?

 

How on earth can I survive safely and continue my life in this world?

 

A beautiful face moaning in excitement flashed before my eyes.

 

My handsome but sickly husband.

 

My only lifeline.

 

The one and only person who can save me from a terrible death.

 

A necessary and sufficient condition for my safe and smooth life.

 

When I thought of the lifeline’s face, I felt like everything around me became brighter.

 

He actually had a face like that.

 

A person with a face like a candle that burns itself and lights up the surroundings even in places where there is not a single light.

 

<Turn off.>

 

Ah, of course I have a dirty personality.

 

<You won’t get what you want from me. Don’t even dream about it.>

 

Yeah, I don’t dream like that.

 

Don’t worry.

I nodded and swore to myself.

 

My dream is for this neck to be completely attached to my body.

 

In fact, every night for two weeks, how many times did I dream of being tied by the neck and struggling in the air?

 

I shivered slightly, feeling a chill run down my spine just thinking about it.

 

I never want to experience something like that again, even in my dreams.

 

‘I will definitely leave this mansion alive.’

 

So I, Selene, decided.

 

To save my husband.

 

And I also decided to survive.

 

”The chapters from 4 to 62 are taken from Guavaread novels site translated by Melodee. I’ll be translating from chapter 63 onwards. Thank you. ”