I am Being Chased by My Husband

Fagan looked around quickly, speechless.

Even if it was a luxury inn, it was still an inn. People were glancing at Heloise, Fagan, and Selena standing in the hallway with curious eyes.

‘This…’

In particular, the people working at the inn were already taking their steps slowly because of the word ‘proposal’.

Fagan let out a low groan, presuming that in an hour or so this conversation would have weighed several times more and would be circulating in the capital as gossip.

“I fell in love with the Duke at first sight when I happened to see him from a distance in the past. But at the same time, the conditions the Duke gave while looking for the bride suited me so well… I like living in the north, and I like not being a hostess.”

Whether or not she knew Fagan’s heart, Heloise continued as if she were speaking to the sun.

“Besides, the duke… I’m okay with him not being a man!” (tl/n: she’s talking abt the comment the duke made a while back saying he doesn’t have the ability to 69 heh)

For a moment, silence filled the hallway.

The staff of the inn, who were wiping the dust from the paintings hanging in the hallway as slowly as possible, hardened. Even Selena had to bite her lower lip to hold back her laughter for a moment.

Just then, as if noticing something strange, Heloise blinked her eyes and added again.

“Well, that doesn’t mean it’s good… Anyway, I don’t think it’s a big deal. He has a stable successor anyway. As a result, it is good that there is no room for controversy.”

Then she made a serious declaration in a tone that was even brave.

“If you’ve ever played the role of a man at least once in your life, why do you need to do it so many times? I’m not getting married because I want to sleep with the Duke, so I’m fine!”

Of course, no matter how detailed she tried to explain the meaning of her own words, it didn’t clear up her situation. Selena was trembling, breathing heavily to contain her laughter that was now bursting out.

“Ah, no… Heloise… Wait, wait…”

Even Fagan himself was too busy holding back his laughter. Heloise’s serious words continued.

“Really. I’m not just saying this, I really respect it. I have no choice but to fall in love with the Duke once again because the courage and spirit to openly publicize one’s great weakness that he can’t play the role of a man is like a symbol of the strength of the North…”

It was then that Johannes’ door opened as if he could no longer hear.

Johannes looked at Heloise, who had already repeated the words three times.

“…Come in and talk to me, young lady.”

Even Fagan and Selena flinched.

“Thank you, Duke.”

But Heloise didn’t feel the slightest bit of terror, so she gently lifted the hem of her skirt up as she had done to Fagan, and then she went into his room in a lively manner.

~*~

As the door slammed shut, Fagan asked Selena with a bewildered look on his face.

“This… How did this happen?”

Selena shrugged her shoulders and answered briefly.

“As you see…”

All of a sudden, the servants who were diligently cleaning the paintings in the hallway disappeared. They must have gone to talk about what happened to everyone they knew.

“…Sigh.”

Fagan blinked his eyes and let out a bewildered sigh. Selena was looking at him like that, then she asked, pointing to the report in his hand.

“What’s this?”

“Ah, this is a report on ‘Blue Ruby’, but I was too embarrassed to take it out.”

“Can’t I take a look too? What is it about?”

“Well… you wouldn’t be interested. It’s not a report on attack patterns or weapons, it’s a guess on the ‘blue ruby’s’ life.”

As Fagan said, Selena’s eyes quickly lost interest. She held out her hand though, as if she would still read it.

“Just… If ‘Blue Ruby’ is in their 40s or in their 20s, they guessed it by dividing it in this way. The Duke wouldn’t really be interested.”

Selena’s eyes quickly scanned the report.

The first possibility is that the age of the ‘blue ruby’ is in their 40s or 50s. In this case, it is highly probable that he lived while hiding his divine power and joined as one of the founding members of the illegal organization ‘Ace’. Then, after the organization was disbanded due to the explosion at the headquarters of ‘Ace’, they would have started their individual activities.

It was a correct reasoning as it has been about 15 years since ‘Ace’, to which ‘Blue Ruby’ belonged, has been active.

The second possibility is that the age of the ‘blue ruby’ is in their teens or 20s. In this case, there is a high possibility that he was only trained as a simple weapon and used as a weapon after being discovered by ‘Ace’ that he had divine powers as a child. Then, after surviving the explosion at the headquarters of ‘Ace’, they would have dispersed with children in similar circumstances.

As he read the report over her shoulder once more, Fagan clicked his tongue and muttered.

“If it’s the second one, it’s too pitiful. As a child, being kidnapped by an illegal organization and used only to become a bounty criminal. If he had worked hard to hunt down evil spirits, he would all have been ripped off by the organization. There is even a reward in chasing after him.”

“Hmm.”

Selena looked at the report and then shrugged her shoulders and spoke up.

“If ‘Blue Ruby’ is really in his twenties.”

Pls read only at pinkmuffintl.

And she pointed out one sentence.

“‘Now, even if you try to pretend to be a normal person, you may not be able to properly socialize and sometimes say things that don’t fit the mood and situation…’ This part is even a little sad.”

Her blunt brow furrowed slightly.

“Since childhood, he must have been raised like a weapon in the organization for the rest of his life… I’d rather this not be true. As you said, I don’t feel any remorse from the position of chasing.”

If the second case is true, how strange is the life of the ‘blue ruby’…?

If you were kidnapped by a dark organization and used like a weapon just because you had divine powers as a child…

Even if ‘Ace’ accidentally collapses after growing up, ‘Blue Ruby’ is still being chased by the temple.

Now, even if he goes to the temple on his own feet and confesses, ‘I was the blue ruby, and I was kidnapped by an illegal organization when I was young,’ the temple would condemn him in the most gruesome way.

It was obvious that he would be questioned in a crazy way how he was able to function for such a long period of time while evading the pursuit of the temple.

Because the thing that the temple is most afraid of is that those with divine powers engage in individual activities like ‘blue rubies’.

Whether voluntarily or intentionally, the mere fact that someone had used a power that was not permitted by the temple alone made the “blue ruby” incompatible with the temple.

In fact, the general public had no idea whether only the temple would grind their teeth toward the ‘blue ruby’.

After all, what they hunted are evil spirits, and evil spirits are scary and bad creatures that harm humans. So it could have been more difficult to track.

Fagan was also ordered at the temple, and his master was sincere in the pursuit of the ‘blue ruby’ and cooperated, but he did not have any special feelings for the ‘blue ruby’.

“Even if the second is true… Those ‘Ace’ guys are the ones that will beat him to death. It was good that they were disbanded.”

It was revealed that ‘Ace’, which had held a lot of illegal hunters, had been virtually disbanded due to a sudden explosion recently.

And the members of the organization were scattered individually, making it difficult to track them any longer. After all, all the main leaders died at that time.

However, ‘Blue Ruby’, a hunter belonging to Ace, has been active alone since then.

In the temple, it was possible to trace all the cases where evil spirits were expelled by holy power near the capital. And ‘Blue Ruby’ was always killing only evil spirits near the capital for unknown reasons.

Therefore, if it was reported that evil spirits were being expelled due to unauthorized powers near the capital, it was unconditionally the work of ‘Blue Ruby’.

According to the track record, the ‘blue ruby’ always banished all evil spirits with a single force. It was not easy for high-ranking priests to use their holy powers so neatly.

But these days, strangely, there was no activity, so everyone was wondering. No one knew whether he had left the capital or had stopped working altogether.

“Yeah, probably.”

Fagan nodded slowly and muttered.

“I don’t know what our lord might think.”

“…What does the Duke say?”

“It’s just the same as usual. We don’t have enough knowledge, so we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about anything. We should not make any value judgments based on the given piece of information…”

It was just ordinary lectures. Selena nodded her head as if it was understandable.

In fact, the knights did not dislike the ‘blue ruby’. Rather, they harbored resentment towards the temple that was trying to wield Johannes.

Even someone like Selena secretly admired the ‘blue ruby’.

No matter how strong an evil spirit is, to get rid of it quickly and surely is comparable to that of a high-end priest, and to finish it secretly and cleanly.

As a general knight who had no choice but to fight a hard bloody battle with evil spirits because of her lack of stamina, he was someone she could not help but admire.

Besides, he was angering the temple they all hated. It was difficult to completely dislike ‘blue ruby’ just by that.

However, Johannes has never consistently expressed any emotion, whether like or dislike, for the ‘blue ruby’.

He always said he would put off any judgment until he caught him and had him in front of his eyes. To be able to pursue someone with such tenacity and sincerity without any prejudice was, in a sense, a great tenacity.

“But the duke seems to be a little perplexed now, isn’t he? It’s the first time I’ve seen a face like that.”

At Fagan’s words, Selena nodded her head eagerly. They glanced at the doorway where Johannes and Heloise had disappeared inside with curious expressions.

They couldn’t even imagine what was going on inside.

But one thing was certain. Johannes was not very kind to women. Moreover, marriage was never a welcome topic for him.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be a good atmosphere.”

She shrugged as Fagan murmured.

“Well, that young lady could be in a good mood by herself.”