VHRTDM 05

Chapter 5

His wife kept acting strangely, but Kahinel tried not to pay attention.

He thought that if he reacted, he would be losing to her.

“May the fruit I thought was ripe turn out to be bitter instead! And may your tongue go numb!”

“……”

He really was trying not to react.

“May you be desperately needing to use the bathroom, get stuck in traffic, and end up soiling yourself inside the carriage!”

Kahinel’s hand slipped off the office door handle.

He turned toward the direction of his wife’s voice.

When he reached the open doorway, he leaned against the frame at an angle and silently stared at her.

What is she holding?

Looking more closely, it was a curtain tie.

He had no idea why she was running around holding that.

Kahinel’s gaze moved past his wife and toward the doll placed on the mantel above the fireplace.

On the grotesque face—hardly even worthy of being called a doll—the name “Athios Deil” had been written.

As he tried to understand what was going on, his wife shouted again.

“May the person who’s supposed to be seen clearly in that carriage be riding with you, even while you’re having diarrhea!”

“Haa.”

Kahinel gave a self-mocking laugh.

Why am I the one hearing this?

Having confirmed with his own eyes that his wife was indeed acting strangely again today, Kahinel planned to ignore her as he originally intended and go about his work.

“……Kahinel!”

His wife called his name loudly.

For some reason, she even waved at him and smiled.

That only made Kahinel’s mood worse.

We are not close enough to be waving and smiling at each other.

But she acted as if none of that mattered, which irritated him.

Kahinel turned his back on her and went into the office.

“Taylor, lock the door.”

“Yes? Ah, yes.”

The moment Taylor locked the office door, the handle rattled from the outside.

“Oh? The door’s locked!”

Rishua, who had been too late to get into the office, would undoubtedly be standing there flustered.

For a brief moment, Kahinel felt oddly satisfied—but that feeling quickly turned unpleasant.

Damn it.

He knew exactly what her strange behavior meant.

It was a curse ritual used in the Eastern Continent.

His wife was cursing Marquis Deil—meaning, his father.

What are you plotting?

Was she staging a protest, trying to make him believe that she really wanted nothing to do with Deil anymore?

Even if that was true, Kahinel had no intention of letting her off so easily.

“Taylor.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Find out whether my wife has been secretly exchanging letters with the Marquis.”

“Understood.”

“And if she shows no suspicious movement, try transferring the authority of the mistress of the house to her as well.”

Humans always revealed their true nature the moment they grasped power.

That was simply what humans were, and it was a trait Kahinel knew better than anyone.

“What authority would you like me to give her?”

“Personnel rights.”

This time, Kahinel intended to uncover why his wife had abandoned her secluded life and started approaching him.

“Let’s see whether she starts bringing Deil’s bastards into Hyrent or not.”

Rishua

Aslan Melburn came to visit.

After introducing himself as a doctor affiliated with House Hyrent, he examined me.

I was completely bewildered.

Why on earth was a doctor suddenly examining me?

The reason became clear soon enough.

“Why the sudden health checkup?”

“It was His Grace’s order.”

Why was that man worrying about my health?

No matter how hard I tried to understand, it simply didn’t fit into any logic I knew.

He had ignored me, gone straight into the office after seeing me greet him, and locked the door.

There was no way a man like that would actually care about my health…

Don’t tell me he figured out my curse?

I had absolutely no intention of telling anyone that I was under a curse.

Because my cure was Kahinel.

If this fact were revealed in the current worst-case relationship between Hyrent and Deil, it would do me no good at all.

Like hell Kahinel would help me.

That man was the kind of person who wouldn’t care one bit whether I was sick, or even whether I died.

Since that was the situation, I would have to endure this curse without letting anyone notice.

That was why I hadn’t even told Anna.

Words had a way of spreading in unpredictable forms, so I had to be careful.

After finishing the examination, Aslan smiled kindly and gave me the results.

“In my opinion, my lady’s mental health is excellent.”

“……Pardon?”

Hold on, let me just take a break and process that.

Mental health?

What was he talking about?

“There is nothing that would lead me to judge you as mentally unstable, so please don’t worry.”

Wow, that was practically six-sense level insight.

Kahinel had been worrying about my health—meaning he had been worrying about my mental health?

I was so stunned that I nearly forgot how to breathe.

“Hah! ……Ha, seriously!”

I felt terrible.

But the funny thing was… no, not funny—was it sad?

From his perspective, it was more than reasonable to suspect me.

I show up after two years and say, “Let’s get along now.” Of course he would be suspicious.

And on top of that, Rishua—the woman who had lived like Deil’s dog—was now suddenly running around saying, “I hate Deil!”

…it would be strange if people didn’t find that odd.

Fine. I understand all that. But to think I’m crazy? Really?

This was absolutely not a good situation for me.

I was trying to get on Kahinel’s good side, and instead he thought I was a lunatic!

But did my curse-cursing performance really make me look that insane?

That was something I hadn’t expected…

“I’m so relieved, my lady!”

Meanwhile, Anna clasped her hands and even applauded when she heard Aslan’s diagnosis that my mental condition was perfectly normal.

I feel even weirder now.

I stared blankly as Aslan put away his medical tools, then asked him:

“You’re going to report this to Kahinel, right?”

“That is correct, my lady.”

“Then could you tell him something for me?”

It seemed I had already been branded as mentally unstable by Kahinel, but I wanted no part of this misunderstanding.

If I could clear it up now, I had to clear it up now.

“Please tell Kahinel that I am not insane, and that everything I said and did was completely sincere.”

“I will do so. But, my lady—”

Aslan set his medical bag down again.

What was he about to say that made him look so serious?

“I’ve been wondering about this and wanted to ask. Do you often feel chest pain?”

“……Pardon?”

I had tried not to panic, but I couldn’t help it.

Chest pain was one of the symptoms of my curse.

Perhaps realizing how flustered I was, he looked even more serious.

“It’s just that your pulse was unstable. So I thought I should ask.”

Aslan didn’t directly say that I might be under a curse.

Was he testing me? Or had he truly not realized it was a curse?

Either way, the only answer I should give was to act like I knew nothing.

“I don’t usually feel uncomfortable. The unstable pulse was probably because….”

I quickly searched for a plausible explanation.

“Because I was thinking about Kahinel.”

“Are you saying your pulse became unstable because you were thinking about His Grace?”

“……Oh dear!”

Aslan looked puzzled, and Anna, who had been standing by, reacted a beat later.

Anna’s gaze toward me became strange, but I was too busy focusing on Aslan to care.

“Sometimes it happens. When I think about Kahinel, my heart starts beating really fast.”

That had just happened a little while ago too.

The moment I found out Kahinel thought I was a crazy woman, my blood practically ran backward.

That was enough to make my pulse abnormal.

That’s it. That must be the reason. Not the curse.

Sigh. Even thinking about it again was ridiculous.

Kahinel

Thud.
Thud.

After hearing Aslan’s report, Kahinel idly tapped his desk with his index finger.

If she’s not mentally unstable, then what is the reason?

He had thought he’d found the cause of his wife’s change, only to end up back at square one.

“And there was one more thing my lady asked me to relay to Your Grace.”

Kahinel’s gaze shifted to Aslan.

He gave a small nod, silently telling him to continue.

“She said that she is not insane, and that everything she says and does is sincere.”

A short laugh escaped Kahinel.

“Everything was sincere, she says….”

If that claim were true, then wanting to get along with him and saying she had abandoned Deil would both be sincere as well.

That was exactly why Kahinel couldn’t believe his wife’s words.

That woman simply was not that kind of person. It was absurd.

Kahinel crossed his arms and leaned back deeply in his chair, closing his eyes.

That was his habitual pose when deep in thought.

“……Ah!”

Aslan suddenly made a short sound, remembering something else he needed to tell Kahinel.

His expression became a little more cautious than before.

“My lady’s mental health showed no issues, but her pulse was somewhat unstable.”

Kahinel’s eyelids slowly opened.

The red eyes hidden beneath them flashed.

“Her pulse was unstable?”

“Yes. That is why I asked whether she had been feeling physically unwell.”

“And?”

“She said she hadn’t been unwell at all. However….”

Aslan drew out the sentence.

“What are you hesitating for?”

“She said it was because she was thinking about you, Your Grace.”

“What?”

Kahinel’s brows furrowed in a less-than-graceful way.

“My lady told me that whenever she thinks about Your Grace, her pulse becomes unstable.”

What the hell kind of crazy talk is that?