The Villain Is Obsessed With His Fake Wife

As soon as she returned to Duchy Blanchet’s residence, she asked Patricia to investigate the Empress.

‘What kind of secret is there between the Duke of Libertan and the Crown Prince?’

Judging from the way the Empress was angry at the Crown Prince, it seemed to be a pretty important secret. The trees chattered while she was going up to the studio.

– Are you going up to the studio right away?

“Yes. Rune is sleeping right now.”

– You almost always go to the studio when you come back from the palace. You really like it.

– It was a gift from your husband. Do you think you’d like it?

– It’s a good time, it’s a good time.

Even the trees, who always had a negative view of things related to John, only left positive comments about the studio.

“Rather than that, I’m going to meet Mr. Isidor and talk about the power of fairies.”

She liked the atmosphere of the studio that John made. If she sat alone in the studio and looked outside, she felt like she could just sit there and rest. But the studio had many other uses.

‘Because it’s a space that only John and I can enter.’

There was no better space to train my fairy powers.

“Then I’ll go see Mr. Isidor. If something happens, you have to wake me up even if it means making a big fuss.”

She grabbed the tapestry that was hanging as decoration in the studio and tore it in a familiar way. The moment she felt the light from the tapestry enveloping her, she saw a familiar landscape.

Blue rose petals fluttered in the spring breeze.

Eden Rose?’

The familiar Eden Rose was in full bloom in the place where the green lawn used to be.

“You came.”

Isidor came over with his arms linked.

“Did you do well on the assignment I gave you last time?”

“Yes. It wasn’t easy as I practiced here, but I was able to distinguish the objects I was looking at with the power of the fairy!”

“It was worth teaching you hard.”

“But what is this Eden Rose here? Weren’t there other flowers blooming here originally?”

Isidor said as he looked at the blue Eden Rose.

“The Eden Roses that bloomed here were all created by your power.”

“…You say it bloomed by your power? I didn’t use my power here either.”

“It seems that you’ve been coming and going here often and have been influenced by your power. That’s what it means.”

Isidor, who was about to say something, paused for a moment and reached out to the tree. The tree, which had always been more talkative than Isidor, was unusually quiet.

“Is the tree sleeping?”

“No. It’s gone.”

“Huh?”

“Unlike me, this guy didn’t come here by his own power.”

Isidor’s face was calm, but his eyes showed sadness.

“So, Mr. Isidor was always alone?”

“It was nice to rest since there were no noisy people.”

Isidor shrugged and looked back at me. His gaze took me in between the Eden Roses.

“Do you know what power Eden Roses have?”

“…They weren’t just rare flowers?”

“Now, as you know, they are just rare flowers. However, the Eden Roses are originally a flower that was created by the tears of God. They have that much mysterious power.”

“What power did they have?”

“The power to grant wishes. It’s extremely rare, but if you put a very earnest wish into a flower, it’ll grant a miracle that would be difficult to achieve.”

She was listening intently, but before she knew it, she lost energy.

“Hey, it’s just a legend. And you said that the current Eden Roses don’t have that kind of power.”

“The Eden Roses you’ve bloomed are the same flowers as the Eden Roses of the past.”

The Eden Rose that I had bloomed seemed amazing.

‘Then is there a reason why I made the Eden Rose bloom in my garden?’

“Of course, pouring all the power of the fairies into it or making a wish doesn’t make it come true. It’s said that it mostly just makes the power of the fairies manifest strongly. However…”

Isidro looked into her eyes.

“I felt like it was something you needed, so I really wanted to tell you.”

Isidro’s long hair swayed in the wind. Sometimes Isidro would leave her with strange advice as if he had seen her future.

“Okay, I’ll definitely keep that in mind.”

When she readily nodded, Isidro smiled with satisfaction.

“Come to think of it, isn’t there a way to see the truth that the other person is trying to hide more clearly than through objects?”

“If more clearly, how?”

“Up until now, I’ve only been able to figure it out on my own by looking at objects that express weaknesses. Instead of looking at the clues like that, I think it would be better if you just looked at the situation.”

Isidro frowned.

“If your abilities grow a little more, it would be possible, but right now, your body can’t hold out…”

At that moment, her whole body tensed up, and she sensed a strange air current.

“…ugh.”

A familiar baby sound was heard from afar.

‘Could someone else come in here?’

When she looked around, she saw a familiar baby in the air. Rune was crawling, struggling with his short limbs.

Rune, who had been frowning because he was so absorbed in his work, smiled brightly as soon as he saw her.

“Esteri!”

“…Rune?”

“Esteri! Rung Wasoyo!”

Rune ran to her in one breath and hugged her tightly.

“Run, when did you start talking?”

“Cho-kum?”

Rune tilted his head and mumbled.

“But why haven’t you been talking?”

“Tell me! I told you, but you can’t hear me!”

“That kid…”

When she looked back, Isidro was squinting his eyes. He was staring intently at Rune.

“Ah, Rune, the spirit baby. Undine Tier…”

“I know. It seems that he was able to enter this space because he was a spirit connected to you.”

Rune hugged her neck tightly, surprised to see the unfamiliar man, Isidor. Isidor watched her reaction closely and said.

“Can I hold that kid for a moment?”

“Rune?”

“I have something to check right now.”

At that, Rune’s eyes widened. He rolled his eyes to show his refusal.

“That old man, Shiro.”

This was the first time Rune openly disliked someone.

‘He’s not like this.’

Of course, when she looked closely at Rune’s eyes, they didn’t seem hostile. If she had to pick, they were sharply pouting.

“Okay, okay.”

She said, patting Rune on the back.

“I don’t think it’ll work because Rune doesn’t like it.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Isidro shook his head, ruffling her bangs.

“Then you should carefully protect her with your power.”

“With my energy?”

“Yes. Since it’s a spirit created by your energy, it might be able to maximize your power without any side effects.”

Rune’s eyes met hers. She cautiously asked Rune’s permission.

“Run, can you help me?”

“Peck!”

She playfully pinched Rune’s soft cheek, and brought out the fairy’s power in a familiar way.

‘Today feels a little different than usual.’

Maybe because she heard about Eden Rose earlier, the fairy power that felt like an intangible energy felt like countless rose petals.

‘Very carefully.’

Rune was a baby spirit, so even a small force can hurt her. She slowly embraced the baby’s cheek with her fairy power, as if wrapping it with rose petals.

“Wooooow…”

Rune closed his eyes tightly, his small lips like a bird’s beak.

At that moment, the scenery around her changed along with the sensation of countless roses blooming inside me at once. The red-haired woman, Duchess Rosaria Libertan, laughed hysterically in front of the empress.

[Your Majesty, here is the jade seal.]

The empress gulped as she looked at the jade seal Rosaria had placed in front of her.

[There won’t be any problems if I grab this jade seal, or if His Majesty the Emperor will find out right away, right?]

The Empress crouched like prey being chased by a wild beast and watched Rosaria’s expression. Rosaria’s eyes became fierce.

[Are you going to say such weak words now? Your Majesty the Empress asked me to have a weakness so that I could protect your position as Empress from His Majesty the Emperor.]

[…]

[If you want to step down now, you can. But just know this. If we can’t hold hands, we can’t guarantee Your Majesty the Empress’s safety either.]

[I just asked just in case.]

The Empress grabbed the jade seal with a hardened face.

[I know too, there will be no more going on.]

The Empress let out a sigh of relief after confirming that nothing had happened. The empress, looking at the faded jade seal, smiled faintly.

[How funny, this small jade seal is proof that the royal family had made a dirty deal with the devil. The emperor of this great empire is trembling because he couldn’t get rid of this one thing…]

* * *

Stella sat calmly in the temple room.

“Saint.”

“Simon, what’s going on?”

Stella, dressed in a white dress, looked worthy of being called a noble saint. Cardinal Simon could see once again why the saint’s status was so solid in the Holy Nation despite countless accidents.

She looked too noble to be suspicious of Stella. When Simon remained silent, Stella frowned at Amy and worried about Cardinal Simon.

“Is there a big problem?”

“They say that all the holy relics protected by the Holy Nation have been stolen.”

“A holy relic?”

“Yes. I don’t know what kind of idiot he is, but he seems to have unusual powers, so I think you should be careful, Saintess.”

As a saint, Stella always carried a holy relic bracelet on her body.

“Oh my. Who on earth would steal the holy relic, and why?”

“I don’t know why. However, this is the first time that all the holy relics that can fulfill the blessings of the god Atea have been stolen, so we are all doing our best to track down the culprit.”

Stella fluttered her long eyelashes and fiddled with her holy relic bracelet.

“Maybe this is an opportunity given by the god Athea.”

“Yes?”

Simon asked back, unconsciously, at Stella’s meaningful words.

“What do you mean?”

“Ah, Athea said that this was a trial sent by the god to test our faith. This difficult trial will also be a way to prove our faith.”

Cardinal Simon looked at Stella with a calm expression and was lost in thought.

‘Really?’

There was nothing suspicious about Stella’s words. However, Simon was very concerned about the saint’s behavior of fiddling with the holy bracelet.

At that moment, Simon remembered the secret letter sent by Erich, the aide of the Duchess Blanchet.

The secret letter that he had hidden by the bedside while trying to burn it right away, but for some reason, he felt that he had to look at it.

* * *

The sun was already setting.

When she came down from the studio, John was waiting for me in the bedroom. John opened a few pages of <Beautiful Monster> and turned his gaze toward her.

“Have you read this book?”

There was an incomprehensible emotion in John’s red eyes.

“I haven’t finished it yet because I’m reading slowly.”

“You didn’t like the content?”

When John asked in a sly voice, I quickly shook my head.

“No. The illustrations were pretty and good. The content was also very thought-provoking.”

What part did you like the most?”

“I…”

Of the parts she had stopped reading, the one that bothered her the most suddenly came to mind. She couldn’t think of anything to make up.

“The part where monsters and humans look no different on the outside was what I liked the most.”

“That’s interesting. Why did you like that part?”

“It’s just that it’s very different from the image you usually think of when you think of monsters. I’m not sure why this author made monsters so beautiful and no different from humans if they hide their secrets.”

Her mouth was strangely dry.

“Maybe there are monsters right now among us.”

“A monster this beautiful?”

“Yeah. A monster like that.”

John pointed at the painting of <Beautiful Monster> with his index finger. It looked like a blond, blue-eyed prince. John tapped the prince with his index finger.

“Would you mind if I were a monster?”

“I don’t care.”

John and she were face to face. She clenched her hand and asked John.

“Would you mind if I were a monster, John?”

“I don’t care.”

John smirked and pulled her from where she was standing in front of him. He looked down at her as if he was admiring her as she collapsed on the bed.

He reached out and gently caressed her cheek that was lying underneath her.

John’s warmth created a strange tension. When his thumb finally brushed her lips, he raised the corners of his mouth and said.

“Estelle, should we have a baby?”

 

—————————————————————

Translator Note: