Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father

Translator and Editor: Effe and Lili

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Chapter 71

Just as Shaula reached out to lift the cloth, a tremendous amount of murderous energy struck her.

“Ugh!”

Shaula was used to being attacked so in an instant, she swiftly moved back 10 meters.

Shaula raised her head and her face became contorted.

After a moment, she recognized the man who had attacked her and she rubbed her eyes.

“This is strange. How come you look just like a person I know? But that person has never come all the way out here…”

“…”

“He’s not a great person to attack without warning like this.”

“…”

The man didn’t respond to what she’d said as a joke, but the waves of murderous intent directed at her made it clear that the man would never let this slide.

The scent was blown away by the man, so Shaula was able to shake off her strange feelings of possessiveness.

Well, some of them at least.

Laying down her sword with her numb hand, she meekly declared her surrender.

“You’re really mad….Is it because of that thing? I won’t touch it! I was wrong! I know my life is wasted!”

Aedis walked over to the cloth-covered thing, not easing his momentum in the slightest.

As if he was not at all curious about its identity, he turned away from it as soon as he had made a new barrier and covered it with soil again.

“You. Follow me.”

He left no room for refusal.

Shaula just shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her sword.

As soon as she realized that Zaha had regained energy and Aedis had recreated the barrier, Shaula knew that she wouldn’t be able to get that item no matter what she did.

And that wasn’t the case just for Shaula either.

It was safe to say that this was now the safest place in the world for it.

Shaula estimated that when Aedis appeared, more than 30% of the beasts that swarmed the quarry had died instantly.

And he didn’t even do anything other than release his murderous energy.

“Is the expulsion order lifted, my Lord?”

This time, Aedis didn’t answer. It was then that Shaula realized that Aedis’s behavior was strange.

His face was filled with contemplation and he looked as if he had been through something so terrible that it was hard to put into words.

“Did the empire fall?”

“That would have been better.”

Aedis, who replied dryly, transported them out of space.

It seems she’s gotten to see two rare sights today.

* * *

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I was confused. Someone kept calling me.

“…Your Grace, Your Grace! Open your eyes!”

It was Sarah’s very familiar voice.

I wanted to tell her not to cry, that everything was okay, and not to scream into my ears, but my body didn’t move as I wanted.

All I could do was vomit blood and groan.

Strangely, each time a lump of blood came up, someone immediately changed my position so that my airway wouldn’t be blocked. But the hand was as big as a man’s, so it definitely wasn’t Sarah.

The day I separated from the beast, I had asked what would happen if the contract was broken.

「-It will hurt a lot.」

And when I asked how much it would hurt, the old beast just smiled sadly.

At that time, I thought that I could endure anything but death, but I regret it.

It was difficult to gauge how much time had passed, but I slightly opened my eyes after a while.

Only Sarah and the doctor were in the room.

Sarah spoke while looking into my puzzled eyes.

“The Grand Duke is not in the castle.”

…I didn’t expect that.

I pulled up the blanket and covered my lips to hide my disappointment.

The shock from being betrayed by Aedis was actually far greater than my physical pain.

Having only one wife — though it would be a big deal even if he had two — but anyway, I collapsed from vomiting blood and he still left the castle?

I didn’t expect treatment from him, but isn’t this too much?

Should I be saying thank you just because he didn’t erase my memory? Huh?

My stomach swelled up.

I can’t just lie down like this.

Sarah screamed.

“Your Grace?! You can’t get up!”

“No, I don’t like it. I’ll.…”

I managed to squeeze some words out, but neither Sarah nor the doctor respected my wishes.

“I’m sorry Your Grace, please forgive my rudeness!”

Sarah grabbed me tight as I wanted to get up.

“I know! Everyone else knows! It’s too much! There’s no way an ordinary person can safely sign a contract with a spirit…! To save the people and the forest, sniff, you sacrificed yourself. …!”

This was as ridiculous as when Paimon misunderstood me for having poor intelligence.

“Don’t….”

“ ‘Don’t mind’? No! I can’t!”

Don’t talk nonsense….

I barely spoke a few words and struggled to get up, but I was already out of breath.

When I stopped trying to move with the little strength I had, Sarah sighed and put the blanket back on top of me.

“Don’t worry about anything for now, just focus on your recovery. Your Grace, everything will be fine.”

“I…”

“ ‘I get it’, even if I don’t tell you?”

I’m not okay!

* * *

Aedis was there when I woke up. I had forced myself to fall asleep because my repressed anger was about to explode.

When I thought about the last time I had a conversation with him, my heart started to beat faster.

But the sweet scent that lingered on the tip of my nose calmed my heart down almost forcibly.

It was a scent I had never smelled before.

As I inhaled the scent, I felt the pain in my throat subside.

My jagged breathing was also getting better.

For a few minutes, I just focused on breathing.

It was quick but after basically tasting it, the effect from sniffing the scent through my nose seemed insignificant, so I had to inhale it through my mouth.

Where did Sarah find these flowers?

I moved my body little by little.

Aedis just sat proudly while chewing something that looked like gum, looking unbothered as to whether I was conscious or not.

…I don’t know what time it is, but I know that I’ve starved for at least 24 hours.

The words “Can I eat alone?” came up my throat, but Aedis suddenly laughed at me with a devilish look on his face.

“They said the Grand Duchess was going to die, but that was obviously a lie. She looks fine.”

You’re going to leave now, right?

I slowly raised my upper body. A popping sound came from my back.

Still, my body seemed to be in better condition than before I had gone to sleep.

It was fortunate that it didn’t deteriorate and leave this husband who doesn’t even know when or where to run.

While I sat up grunting, Aedis spit out what he had chewed and put it in an empty vase.

Excuse me?! No, why put it in a vase?

He even added more water and shook it to mix it well.

Amid my shock and fear, an unknown flower bloomed in the vase.

Its five petals opened and closed like the fingers of a baby playing with their hands, and they were sprinkled with spores.

The sweet scent I had smelled was that flower.

Aedis put the vase down on the table.

On the table were three more vases of flowers that looked exactly like the ones Aedis had just bloomed.

…I’m not even going to try to think about it.

Should I sleep more? Will Sarah be here when I wake up?

Aedis didn’t take my mental state into account at all and just said what he wanted out loud.

“Divorce.”

It was a request that left no room for negotiation. But I did notice one of his eyebrows trembling slightly.

What? Do you want a divorce or not?

And would unintentionally seeing your husband in a dream be accepted as a reason for divorce?

Well….I guess it’s different when the husband is also the Emperor’s aide who acts like a loyal servant. Even if he insists on getting a divorce because I can’t whistle, I think he’ll get the result he wants.

I cleared my throat and opened my mouth.

“I keep my promises until the end.”

Ugh, my throat hurts.

I spoke so softly that my ears could barely hear it, and my voice was choppy too

But Aedis, who has extraordinary hearing, understood it well.

“It’s a daily life that I can’t continue.”

It’s not that I don’t want to keep it, but I can’t.

I remembered the boy I had seen in my dream.

Ah really. It’s a foul to weaken the patient’s heart.

“That dream, I forgot all about it.”

Of course, that was a lie. How could I forget it?

Maybe Aedis knew that too and expressed his will again to make my heart stronger.

“I’m sorry. I’ll contact the Marquisate, so go back.”

It was a typical example of when an answer is set and you just have to accept it.

I wrinkled my nose.

“If you want a divorce, give me the whole fortune of the Kallakis family.”

“I’ll send it in a carriage to the Capital.”

I was annoyed at the fact that Aedis would really do it.

“I’m going to say you’re a eunuch.”

“Who’s an eu….No, do whatever you want.”

Isn’t it too early to give up already?

“On the subject of you being a eunuch, I think I’ll say that you’re more of a pervert.”

“…You can say that as well.”

“Every night, you tie me up and XXXX…”

“Cough, cough.”

Aedis suddenly started coughing. In an instant, I could tell my ears were heating up.

“Where the hell did you hear that?”

“In a previous life.”

“…..”

Why do you have that surprised look on your face? Now you’re acting as if you’ve lost your mind in front of your wife.

It’s not true anyway, I just said that without thinking first.

—

tl/n: I don’t know what the XXXX was since they did not give a clue or an uncensored word. Like in the f*** they gave a letter so I knew that meant f***, but not in this XXXX. Let’s just assume that it was something…quite surprising.

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