Sickly? Husband's Contractual Wife

Episode 71

Even now, those unfamiliar words intimidated me, like a dress too burdensome to wear, too expensive and luxurious.

I wanted to quickly shed that name and find clothes that suited me.

Above all, I wanted to avoid death.

I didn’t want to be beside a husband who would be poisoned, flipping the guilt onto me.

I wanted to escape this mansion where everyone ignored me.

That was my only goal.

What would he think of me, the one who spent the night with him?

Now that I had finally achieved my goal, even if he saw me as a cunning woman waiting for the day to conceive, there was nothing to say.

Especially since I went so far as to bring alcohol.

‘It can be seen as determination.’

Since that night, I hadn’t had a proper conversation with Amoide, and I couldn’t even make proper eye contact.

If I saw his shining golden hair from afar, I took backward steps.

And when he seemed to appear, I quickly ran away as far as possible.

He didn’t particularly chase after me.

He simply observed the scene of me rapidly distancing myself from a distance.

As a result, people started to notice this peculiar spectacle.

In places where he appeared, inevitably, as I hid, it became increasingly difficult for people to see Amoide and me together.

A strange hide-and-seek game within the mansion.

I dodged him as if my life depended on it, and he seemed to follow me but then stopped.

Days passed like this.

The only fortunate thing was that there were quite a few busy tasks, which allowed me to distract myself.

Handling the affairs of the Duke’s estate required a lot of decision-making.

I nodded as I tapped the ledger with a feather pen.

“And with the master…”

“Rona.”

I quickly interrupted Rona.

“Can you bring me some snacks? And ‘that’ too.”

“Yes, of course.”

Rona quickly left the room.

In the meantime, I checked the ledger again and raised my eyebrows.

“…Something’s odd.”

No matter how I looked at it, something was off.

Greta’s ledger was perfect, but something felt strange.

With Colton’s help, deciphering the writing that was like a code proved to be no challenge.

After doing so, I finally discovered something.

“…I completely overlooked this.”

The amount of money that Greta had quietly embezzled from the Duke’s estate was significant.

Individually, each instance seemed inconspicuous, but when combined, it added up to a considerable fortune.

Of course, in the overall scale of the Duke’s estate, these amounts weren’t significant enough to raise suspicion.

Most importantly, as Greta held this ledger, there was no fear of being caught.

“…Should I investigate this a bit more?”

The reason for not exposing the snake incident and leaving it as a snake from the garden was the need for solid evidence.

Above all, the culprit needed to be off guard.

To understand the intention behind raising such a snake in the Duke’s estate.

While Greta was a strong candidate, getting a chance to sneak into her room was not easy.

“But now might be different.”

“Now that I can freely manage everything in the mansion.”

“I brought what Madam asked for.”

In Rona’s returning hand, there was more than just snacks.

“Are these the keys to the mansion?”

“Yes.”

The bundle of keys in Rona’s hand was attached to a round ring, and the keys were packed so tightly that there was almost no empty space.

“So many?”

I felt overwhelmed by the weight and number of keys as I observed the bundle.

“Just the keys for the maids’ quarters are like this.”

Rona picked up one cluster and shook it in front of me.

“It’s incredibly heavy.”

What was despairing was that none of the keys had any markings.

In other words, there was no way to know which key would open which door.

“You have to try opening each one to find out.”

“All of them?”

“Yes, otherwise, it’s impossible to open.

It’s really challenging.”

The thought of having to insert and turn each key for every door was momentarily daunting.

“Still, it should be easier to open than people’s hearts.”

Eventually, they will open.

But a person’s heart…

“What?

What are you talking about?”

“No, nothing.”

* * *

The maids’ quarters were quiet during the daytime.

They were busy working in their assigned areas.

“Greta’s room is the third on the right.

She uses the largest room.”

Using Rona’s information as a guide, I located Greta’s room.

“I found it, but…”

How should I enter?

I looked at the bunch of keys in my hand, then at the keyhole, and back at the bunch of keys.

During the time it would take to insert and turn all these keys, there was a higher chance that the room’s owner would return.

I glanced around while considering the keyhole beneath the handle.

Then, I reached out and took the hairpin from my hair.

“Could it be that this old-fashioned method actually works?”

Trying to insert all these keys seemed impractical, so why not try the simplest method first?

Click, click.

I inserted the hairpin into the keyhole and began turning it.

“Please, just open.”

It might seem a bit primitive, but sometimes these straightforward methods worked surprisingly well.

Clack.

Just like this time.

“Did it really open?”

I looked around with a perplexed feeling.

Naturally, no one was watching.

Creak.

The sound of the latch made my heart tighten involuntarily.

Upon opening the door, the interior appeared ordinary.

A bed, a chair, a table, and a wardrobe.

And one peculiar box, excluding everything else.

The room seemed perfectly normal, except for that suspicious box.

Towards the north of the room, where the sun didn’t shine, there was a box covered with black cloth.

I tapped it with my foot, prodded it with my hands, and sat down to investigate, but found nothing noteworthy.

The box itself seemed secure.

Finally, summoning courage, I grabbed the black cloth and started to pull it.

Swoosh.

The cloth was swiftly removed, revealing the box inside.

“….”

I stared at the box for a long moment.

“Just a box?”

Indeed, it was just a box.

Without any lock, a simple wooden box, suitable for storing odds and ends.

Holding a long rod, I cautiously lifted the lid, anticipating any potential appearance of a snake.

“Oh.”

Inside, there were just a few sets of clothes and some books.

“This is…”

Unexpectedly, it was a collection of ordinary items.

In other words, there was no snake.

Unless it was secretly taken away.

If the snake was the only individual she was raising, then it might not be here, as I had caught it and given it to Valter.

“Hmm.”

Perhaps I had made a mistake.

I closed the lid again and turned away.

Exiting the room as I came in, I swiftly surveyed my surroundings.

* * *

To avoid catching someone’s attention, I moved quickly.

Thunk.

In my haste, I collided with someone and had to come to a stop.

“Oh, sorry…”

As I raised my head, a broad chest came into view.

To appear like this at my eye level, the person must be tall and well-built.

Thinking about which staff member had this physique, I slowly lifted my head.

“…?”

As soon as I raised my head, I was met with cool blue eyes.

I couldn’t move in the same stiff posture.

“Uh, um…”

I didn’t expect to encounter him face-to-face at such a close distance.

How did I manage to avoid him until now, only to be this close!

“Selene.”

He took a step towards me, and I instinctively stepped back.

“…”

As I retreated, Valter, who saw me stepping back, halted his approach. Seizing the opportunity, I swiftly turned and ran.

Until now, whenever I ran away like this, he would stop following and just watch from a distance.

But today…

‘Why is he chasing me?’

Thinking it would be enough by now, I turned back to look after reaching what I thought was a safe spot, only to be astonished.

He was walking towards me with slow, deliberate steps. While not exactly fast, it was no match for my occasional sprint.

Even when he took one step, I had to walk at least two steps to keep the distance relatively equal.

“Hey, wait!”

With a desperate whimper, I gathered my dress and started running as if my life depended on it.

The sound of footsteps from behind gradually faded away.

“Pant, gasp.”

While running away, I couldn’t figure out why I was running.

Encountering him in this mansion was inevitable, but I couldn’t stand seeing him right now!

‘At least not right now!’

Though I understood it in my head, my body automatically prepared to escape upon seeing him.

So, even now, I was running away frantically.

I almost stopped when I felt like throwing up.

Yet, the sound of footsteps had not been heard for a while.

Despite that, when I quickly turned around, as expected, no one was in sight.

I urgently scanned my surroundings, but within the visible distance, there was no one.

I spotted a bench in a corner of the garden and staggered towards it.

However, before I could sit down, my legs gave out, and I collapsed.

I wiped away the sweat from my forehead and caught my breath.

Feeling like my body had completely collapsed due to this untimely chase, I sat there for a while.

As I was catching my breath, suddenly, a voice reached me.

“Madam?”

 

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Translator Note:

Hello there! This is Sid. I hope you liked it<3

Next post will be released on February, 8.

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