MHR 33

Chapter 33

“Are you… living well?”

At Ian’s question, I nodded as if to ask why he would even wonder such an obvious thing.

“Don’t I look healthier than before I got married? Oh, right! Damon has been sick lately, so I’ve been under a lot of stress. He’s very ill right now, Ian.”

“Really?”

“Mm-hmm. Actually, not long ago Damon was struck by a poisoned arrow. It must have been Ingis’s doing. The arrow flew in from across the Lite River and hit him straight in the heart. Sob… I thought I was going to lose him.”

I pressed a handkerchief to my dry eyes, pretending to cry.

Ian, watching me, suddenly straightened his back. As if he had been waiting for this moment, he opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“No one survives being shot in the heart with a poisoned arrow, Clarissa. Could it be that Damon Craig used black magic?”

“Black magic? Does Damon look like a sorcerer to you?”

“……”

“Damon is a capable merchant guild master, the richest man in Midtown, and he’s very close to His Highness Crown Prince Valentine. That’s why His Highness used the finest medical treatment to save him.”

Trying to defend Damon, my tongue almost got twisted. I nearly bit it.

When I snapped at him, Ian scratched the back of his head.

“I just… I thought if Damon Craig was a sorcerer using black magic, you might be in danger…”

“Do I look like someone in danger? Look at this face—can you really say that after seeing it?”

I shoved my face toward Ian and turned it left and right. His gaze fell on me, filled with pity and affection.

Ignoring it, I continued speaking so Ian wouldn’t interfere in my private life.

“You’re my friend, Ian, so you shouldn’t speak badly about the man I love. And you may be important to me, but Damon is family. I will never forgive anyone who insults my family!”

I hadn’t planned to defend Damon this fiercely. The words simply poured out of my mouth without passing through my brain.

Ian sighed and stared blankly for a moment before looking at me again. His eyes were filled with sadness.

“Clarissa, you don’t have to lie just to reassure me.”

“L-lie? What are you talking about?”

“I already know everything. That’s why I hurried back. To save you.”

“Save me? What exactly do you think you know? And why would you need to save someone who’s living perfectly fine?”

I blinked as if I had no idea what he meant, though my face felt strangely itchy.

It seemed Ian knew everything about how unhappy my marriage had been and how Damon treated me.

‘Even if I were the real Clarissa, I would have denied it.’

The original Clarissa never wanted Ian to know about her miserable marriage. That’s why she refused to meet him when he returned, and whenever she had no choice but to see him, she acted cold and cruel.

From Ian’s perspective, his first love must have seemed to turn into a terrible woman. But it had all been intentional.

If the real Clarissa were here now, she might have said this to him:

Ian, I wasn’t love to you. I was only warmth given to someone who had no one. You were just grateful.
Have you met someone you truly love? When you fall in love, you gain a heart big enough to embrace them even if they hurt you. That’s what love is.

But I didn’t want to say such cliché things to Ian.

“Ian, saving me? That’s ridiculous. If something happened to me, do you really think Damon would stay still?”

Even if Ian believed my marriage was unhappy, I was determined to deny it to the end.

“Clarissa, do you know a woman named Jane?”

“Uh… which Jane?”

“Jane who used to work at your house. She said her hometown was in the Berg Empire. I saw her at the Berg Longfellow pier. While waiting for a carriage home, she was telling people all kinds of stories about what happened in your household.”

Jane was the maid I had fired. She always made a face when told to work and never finished anything properly. Then she was caught stealing my belongings and was dismissed.

“Jane had sticky fingers, so I fired her. She must have made things up out of spite.”

“I hoped that too. I wanted to believe she was lying.”

Ian continued, looking utterly distressed.

“That’s why I got worried and came back by ship. On my way from Foret Harbor to your baronial estate, I ran into Evelyn, Lady Aileen’s maid.”

Evelyn was one of the maids who approached me when I was sitting alone at Aileen’s engagement party.

The same maid who accused me of stealing Aileen’s jewelry and got hit in the forehead with bird droppings afterward.

‘That nasty woman must have badmouthed me endlessly!’

I insisted firmly that Ian had misunderstood.

“Evelyn only ever says bad things about me. She’s jealous because I married capable and handsome Damon and live happily with him. You shouldn’t believe her, Ian.”

“I don’t fully trust Evelyn either. But when she said you had your hair grabbed by Lady Aileen, I couldn’t ignore it. Aileen is more than capable of doing something like that.”

“…..!”

“And Damon Craig went to have tea with Aileen afterward, even though you were hurt?”

I bit my lip, remembering that day. Ian watched me sadly.

“I know better than anyone that you love Damon Craig. That’s why I didn’t stop you when you said you’d marry him. But what about you? Who loves you?”

“……”

“How can you endure such treatment? Don’t you think you’re precious at all?”

Ian looked as if he were suffocating. Each time his fist clenched on the table, the muscles in his arm twitched.

Seeing no other option, I forced a bright smile.

“This morning Damon apologized on his knees. He even cried.”

“Damon Craig isn’t the kind of person to do that.”

“Tch. That’s why you’re still a child. You don’t even know what love is.”

I teased him like a kid. In truth, Ian was two years younger than me. He was the same age as Clarissa’s younger brother Rotain, so things got complicated whenever the three of us were together.

I slapped the back of his hand.

“What married couple doesn’t fight? Things get good, then bad—that’s life. Anyway, thanks for worrying about me, but you don’t need to save me. Live your own life, Ian. That’s the best way to help me.”

“……”

“Oh my! I forgot to prepare Damon’s noon medicine.”

Just as I was about to stand, the owner brought two glasses of sparkling soda.

“Ian, finish those and take your time. I’m leaving now.”

I stood and went to pay the owner, since Ian wouldn’t have any money.

As a wandering knight, Ian survived by hunting monsters and receiving apples or potatoes as thanks. Occasionally a kind lord paid him bounties, but Ian always gave everything to the poor and sick.

Until he was officially recognized as a holy knight, Ian would walk a long road of hardship and poverty.

It was the mission God had given him—so he had to go his own way.

“I’ll pay for the drinks and the window repair. How much is it?”

At my words, the owner pointed behind me.

“He’s already fixing it.”

Bang, bang—Ian was hammering the window frame back into place with his fist.

“Then once he’s done, could you serve him some food? He’s probably been starving all day. I’ll pay in advance. And please give him this too.”

I handed over a small pouch of gold coins.

“My, that young man is lucky to have such a thoughtful friend.”

“You must be quite the businessman. You’re busy even in the middle of the day.”

“There are just more people with nothing to do lately.”

“Tsk. People should work instead of loafing around. Alcohol tastes best after honest labor. By the way, I heard the Mahatad Empire is recruiting knights. Apparently a dragon appeared.”

I sincerely hoped Ian would take the money I gave him, board a ship to Mahatad, and disappear far, far away—just like in the original story.

“Shall I pass that message on to him?”

“Now I see why this place does good business. The owner is clever.”

“Haha, thank you. By the way… are you Baroness Craig? One of the workers said he saw you leaving the Cyan Guild warehouse office.”

He pointed to a corner seat. A dark-skinned, bearded man jumped up and bowed.

Recognizing him vaguely, I nodded.

“……Yes, I am.”

“Oh dear! I had no idea. We all live thanks to Baron Craig, yet I failed to recognize his wife. Please forgive my rudeness.”

Commoners didn’t know Damon and I were on bad terms. They were terrified of offending me in case Damon punished them.

‘So Damon’s influence reaches even back-alley taverns.’

I clicked my tongue.

“There was nothing uncomfortable. No forgiveness needed.”

I glanced at Ian, still fixing the window. He didn’t look at me once.

‘He must be hurt. But what can I do?’

As I left the tavern, I muttered to myself.

“Even if I divorce Damon, I’ll have to keep it secret for a while.”

Walking back to the carriage, I laughed bitterly.

‘Just when the villain husband starts to regret things, the childhood friend returns? What is this, some perfectly scripted romance fantasy?’

Except I wasn’t even the heroine.

‘Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.’

The real heroine was Astea Rochen—Damon’s younger sister, believed to be dead.

Shaking off Clarissa’s negative feelings toward Astea, I hurried my steps.

“Madam! Where on earth have you been?!”

As I reached the carriage, Millan came running with the escort knight.

“Millan. Why are you here?”

I shot him a cold look.

“Master ordered me to guard you, madam.”

“Ha! Guard me?”

I let out a humorless laugh.

‘So he’s placing a watcher on me now? If he’s going to act like this, then fine—I’ll act the same way.’