I Am Trying to Divorce My Villain Husband, But We Had a Child - chapter 32
Chapter 32
At first, I thought it was someone whose soul had been consumed. However, unlike the soldiers with black auras in human form, it was merely in the shape of a human, but entirely engulfed in darkness.
Sensing an unsettling aura from it, Richard halted the knights who were about to approach.
“I’ll go check it out, you all wait here.”
“We’ll check it out first. It’s dangerous for you to approach recklessly.”
“No. I’m faster than you all.”
The knights were uneasy about Richard’s decision but couldn’t argue.
As expected, Richard, with the power of his lineage, was overwhelmingly faster than them in avoiding attacks and attacking.
Leaving behind the worried knights, Richard approached the humanoid monster.
The creature also sensed his presence and turned to look.
When their eyes met, Richard stopped in his tracks.
Though it had no eyes, he felt as though it was looking back at him.
“…Are you human?”
The creature remained silent. Instead, it slowly approached Richard.
Watching its approach, Richard spoke, stirring the wind around him.
“If you possess reason, stop.”
“….”
“If you don’t stop, I’ll consider you to have lost your reason and give you eternal rest.”
But the creature ignored Richard’s words and continued its approach.
Richard created a storm, lifting it into the air, then mercilessly slammed it to the ground.
The creature convulsed from the impact but didn’t scream.
Thinking it was a mute creature, Richard stabbed it with his sword.
At that moment, a voice, as if about to be cut off, emanated from the creature.
“Waited… so long. My… wish….”
As Richard questioned those words, the creature’s body dispersed without a trace.
Thompson and the knights who witnessed the scene hurried over.
“Your Highness, are you alright?”
“Yeah. Seems like there’s nothing special, let’s go back.”
Richard turned back with the knights. However, the creature’s last words continued to linger in his mind.
‘My… wish….’
Strangely, it felt like those words were directed at him.
Ellisa, who had been suffering from a cold and body aches, finally managed to get out of bed after enduring four whole days.
As she regained her senses, Ellisa asked Anne while having breakfast, “Anne, what’s been happening lately? The atmosphere seems a bit tense.”
“It’s been revealed that the recent frequent monster appearances were due to the Devil’s Soul Stones. That’s why His Highness went to investigate the contaminated land personally.”
“The Devil’s Soul Stones?”
Ellisa’s expression froze in surprise.
The fact that Devil’s Soul Stones came from monsters meant that someone with malice had obtained them and injected them into monsters.
‘Who on earth would do such a thing…’
If Rubelin’s monsters became ferocious, the residents of Rubelin’s territory would inevitably tremble in fear.
Then rumors of dangerous lands in Rubelin would spread, and people would leave the territory after hearing those rumors.
‘If Rubelin’s population decreases, Rubelin’s influence will weaken.’
There would be many such people, but perhaps the most desired one would be…
‘The Emperor.’
Ellisa clenched her lips.
Richard, who she had hoped would die in the war, returned as a war hero and became the leader of Rubelin, making her uneasy.
She was angry at the Emperor’s schemes to undermine Rubelin and Richard, but at the same time, she felt a sense of pride.
Among the countless nobles, Richard was the only one restraining the Emperor.
In other words, it was proof of Rubelin’s strength.
‘Anyway, so that’s why Richard wasn’t around.’
Even while suffering from a high fever, there were moments when her mind cleared. Each time, she hoped to see Richard.
The events in the cabin hadn’t caused any change between them.
She wanted to see if his attitude was still the same as before.
But every time she opened her eyes, Richard wasn’t there. This secretly made Ellisa anxious.
But knowing that something had happened, she felt a bit relieved.
“Have this too.”
After finishing her meal, a small bowl was placed in front of Ellisa, containing a teacup with a red flower floating in it and small seeds resembling sunflower seeds.
Ellisa looked at the items in front of her with a puzzled expression.
“What’s all this?”
“This is a tea that warms the body. Her Majesty insisted that you should have it because the cold can weaken your body.”
“And this black one?”
“It’s a medicine to restore your depleted energy. It’s made from the seeds of an extremely rare flower or something. Anyway, you have to have them all!”
Anne was determined to watch Ellisa until she finished taking the medicine.
Ellisa stared at the cup and seeds brought by Richard, then picked up the teacup.
‘He was worried about me…’
He had always pretended not to care, even when she was a child. Yet, the fact that he was worried and taking care of her now felt surprisingly new.
After finishing the tea, Ellisa subtly asked Anne about Richard’s condition.
“Anne, how did His Highness seem?”
“Hmm… He didn’t seem good.”
“…Not good?”
“Yes. He muttered to himself, calling himself a ‘crazy bastard,’ then left.”
Anne, who didn’t know what had happened between them, reported everything she had seen and heard.
Ellisa’s expression hardened her words.
‘As I suspected, that incident bothered him.’
In her gloominess, Ellisa suddenly felt unjustly treated.
‘No, but! I just, just… and then!’
Of course, her memories were fragmented due to the alcohol, but even so, Richard in those memories had skillfully comforted her, leading her through.
As Ellisa bit her lip with a flushed face, inwardly grumbling, a maid knocked and entered the room with news.
“Milady, the Duke has returned.”
Upon hearing this news, Ellisa quickly got up from her seat and headed straight for Richard’s chambers.
As she approached the staircase, she caught sight of him heading towards his room.
“Richard!”
Meeting Richard’s gaze as he turned around, Ellisa stopped in her tracks.
It was the first time since the incident in the cabin a few days ago that she faced him while sober.
Looking at his face, memories of that night flooded back, and her fever spiked. Even the usual greeting of ‘welcome back’ felt embarrassing to say.
“Welcome back.”
As Ellisa awkwardly greeted him and took a step closer, Richard, who had been silently observing her, seemed to realize something a beat late and hesitated in his steps.
“…Next time.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s talk next time.”
“Oh… okay.”
Ellisa’s steps toward him halted.
Richard glanced at her for a moment and then turned back, entering his room.
Ellisa gazed at the closed door for a moment before turning away.
***
Richard headed straight for the bathroom.
His discarded coat was stained with an unknown black liquid.
It was from the process of dealing with the infected soldiers and monsters.
Having examined the corpses and remains, Agayle cautioned him.
“It would be wise to avoid contact with others for a while. Healthy individuals shouldn’t have any issues, but there have been cases where bad energy has transferred to weaker ones.”
In truth, as soon as Richard returned to the castle, he wanted to meet Ellisa.
He wanted to check on her condition first and talk about what had happened that night.
But because of Agayle’s caution, he had no choice but to avoid Ellisa.
He stripped off his undershirt, revealing his muscled body covered with black bloodstains, possibly from the monsters’ blood seeping into his skin.
Seeing this, memories from the ravine surfaced.
“I’ve… I’ve been waiting… long.
Wish….”
What was the creature’s true identity?
As he washed away the bad energy with water, Richard couldn’t help but think about it.
But unbeknownst to him, while he was washing, the black energy didn’t wash away but seeped into one side of his back.
After finishing his bath and returning to his room, Agayle was waiting for him.
“Your Highness, we examined the broken badge found near the ravine and found the name ‘Rohas’ when we wiped away the bloodstains on the back.”
“Rohas? Is it from the Rohas family?”
The Rohas family was a famous noble family loyal to the Emperor.
More precisely, they were famous for carrying out missions on behalf of the Emperor’s son-in-law, Marquis Felis.
The connection was suspicious.
“I will send people to investigate the Rohas family.”
“No, there’s no need for that. I’ll go to the Rohas family myself.”
“Then I’ll make preparations. When do you think the preparations should be completed?”
“Within three days.”
“Understood, Your Highness.”
Agayle bowed to Richard and turned to leave.
As Agayle’s retreating figure caught his eye, Richard added belatedly, “Also, inform Ellisa that she will be accompanying me to the Rohas family. Prepare her as well.”
If the Emperor started targeting not only him but the entire Rubelin, he couldn’t leave Ellisa in a vulnerable position.