Translator: Nox

20 - How to Survive as the Wife of a Monster Duke

How to Survive as the Monster Duke’s Wife

Episode 20

In the blinding light that filled her vision, all she could see was the shadow of her hand.

At that moment, Illyin realized she wasn’t holding Mille’s Flower.

「Huh?」

Aden’s hand, which had been holding hers, was gone too.

She looked around.

Without the three elders or Aden, she was alone in the Sunlands.

Without thinking, Illyin looked down at the ground.

Her thick winter clothes had vanished, replaced by a white dress she now wore.

Between her feet, clad in summer shoes, grass of just the right height swayed gently in the breeze.

And that warm wind softly rustled her long silver hair.

When she lifted her gaze, a vast field stretched out before her.

In the distance, she could see hills meeting the sky.

Covered in fine green grass and nameless wildflowers, it wasn't the edge of the field.

She was standing in the middle of a dirt path.

The path, winding as if naturally widened by people’s footsteps, stretched through the gaps between hills all the way to the distant ridge.

It was spring.

The sky was a shade of blue never seen in Biften.

Feathery clouds spread wide, extending beyond the hills with no end in sight.

「……?」

Just as Illyin turned her gaze, the surroundings suddenly grew.

Startled by the movement at her feet, Illyin stumbled backward.

After a few more steps back, a sprout where she had been standing rapidly grew into a small tree.

“……!”

Instinctively, she retreated several more steps.

As if waiting for this, the tree grew even faster.

In mere seconds, the vibrant-looking tree grew several times taller than her.

The healthy tree, having grown in an instant, cast a large shadow over her, shielding her from the harsh, pouring sunlight.

Yet, it couldn't block the occasional rays of sun that reached her through the swaying branches.

Illyin looked up at the leaves.

Perhaps the sun was directly overhead, as even the silhouetted leaves were hard to look at directly.

It was bright.

Lowering her gaze, Illyin looked out over the field again.

Colorful wild grasses, now much taller than before, caught her eye among the lush greenery.

「Huh……?」

But something else stood out more than the wild grasses.

At first, Illyin thought she was mistaken.

Bathed in sunlight brighter than Dazzling Elo’s golden hue, was the Biften mansion.

The vines, which she had always wondered were originally pale or had become pale from freezing, now enveloped the mansion in a fresh, vibrant green.

Glistening in the bright sunlight was the light of life.

「Ah…….」

Illyin walked towards the mansion.

What she was seeing was Biften’s summer.

\\

Countless scenes passed before Illyin’s eyes.

Seasons more vivid than those seen in the Sunlands brushed past her vision.

With each step she took, the scenery changed rapidly, as if some giant being was shifting the painting laid out beneath her feet.

「Ah…….」

Where Illyin stopped was summer again.

A great sound reached her ears.

It was the sound of white foam breaking along a long stretch of coastline.

Before her was the sea, which would have long frozen and disappeared in Biften.

The white sandy beach darkened as it was soaked, then accepted the water again.

The water that had rushed up to the shore wet her ankles before receding.

Then, meeting the next incoming wave, it created a small surge.

Illyin stared blankly at the sight, then reached out and touched the sand.

The pouring sunlight was hot, and the water was surprisingly cold.

She looked at her own shadow, wearing a straw hat, then reached up and touched the hat on her head.

A hat she had truly never seen before was there.

「…….」

Unable to believe it, she took off the hat to examine it.

As soon as she removed the straw hat, the bright sunlight flooded her eyes, making it hard to keep them open.

Goodness.

In the end, Illyin put the straw hat back on.

Far away, she could see the horizon where the sky met the sea.

Turning around, behind the wide expanse of sandy beach, blue-green grasses were sprouting, and in the far distance, cliffs were visible.

It was an unfamiliar place, but she knew instinctively.

This, too, was Biften.

A summer seaside.

「Ah…….」

Illyin looked around carefully.

She examined trees with lush leaves, from those far away to those nearby.

Then, she meticulously scanned the top of the cliffs, which were hard to see clearly due to the distance.

But what she was looking for wasn't there.

After that, Illyin saw many more things.

Biften’s winter also flashed before her eyes, but it wasn't the brutally harsh winter where survival was difficult.

The heavily falling snow wasn't enough to bury anyone.

Children played, running and rolling on the soft snow.

They wore clothes that, in the current Biften, would only be worn indoors.

A blizzard blew as well, but it wasn't cruel enough to freeze people to death.

「Wow…….」

It was a winter so warm it could bring a smile to one's face.

How much more of Biften’s scenery had she seen? The next moment, Illyin felt her body floating.

She was going to wake up.

It was time to return to the harsh winter.

Her body was telling her so.

A deep sense of regret remained.

\\

The white light on the ceiling.

Illyin blinked.

Even after blinking, the ceiling remained the same.

The white light was always dimmer than she wanted.

It was just bright enough that closing her eyes would let her sleep.

That light always reflected the pattern on the ceiling.

The ceiling, untouched since she was seven, showed its age.

Where the wallpaper had bubbled and peeled, the ceiling light cast a distorted shadow that always seemed like something alive, making her afraid on windy days.

She was also scared when people entered.

Thud, when the door closed, that shadow would shake.

Illyin got up from her spot.

“The Master is asking for you.”

Just then, the door burst open.

Unable to believe it, Illyin turned to look.

It was the maid she always saw.

Though not her personal maid, this maid spent the most time by her side.

The reason was simple.

She hadn't been working at the mansion for long.

And she disliked the person she was assigned to serve.

“Miss?”

At the maid’s repeated call, Illyin thought of the people of Delos.

‘Miss?’

When they called her that, their voices held concern.

But the maid’s voice held none of that.

It was closer to annoyance at her lack of response.

“……Ah.”

The voice from her throat felt alive.

It rang clear in her ears, unbelievably so.

Illyin looked out the window.

A broad-leaved tree, unseen in the Winter Territory, covered half the window.

Illyin thought of Biften’s summer scenery.

It was different from that bright and vibrant place.

Dust kicked up outside made the sunlight appear hazy and blurred.

Illyin covered her mouth with her hand as a cough burst forth.

The sound of that cough, and the way her body shook with it, felt overwhelmingly real.

“Miss!”

The maid slapped the bed loudly.

Startled, Illyin turned to look at her.

“Aren’t you going?”

“I’ll go.”

The words left her mouth without thought.

Getting up from the bed, Illyin realized the clothes she was wearing weren't nightwear but an outdoor dress.

There's no way I slept in this.

“You mustn’t act like this in front of the Master, you know?”

The corridor of the Baron’s residence, seen after so long, felt unfamiliar.

And it looked terribly shabby.

Compared to the mansion from her dream.

“You mustn’t not answer like this!”

The maid suddenly thrust her face forward.

Startled, Illyin leaned back.

She clearly heard the maid’s grumbling voice.

“Acting all high and mighty after being divorced.”

The word 'divorced' stabbed deeply into her heart.

Ah.

Her heart felt so pressed it seemed to make a sound.

No.

Illyin thought of the Biften scenery.

Everything she saw there wasn't a dream.

I married the Duke of Biften, became Illin de Bifelten, spent the night with him, and even went through the succession ceremony.

‘If you do that, you’ll get sleepy.’

That red fresh flower, Mille’s sacred relic Setoz, remained vividly in her memory.

And the hand that had covered that flower.

So, this is the dream.

And a very poor-quality one at that.

Illyin thought so.

She decided to think so.

The maid quickly led her up the stairs of the mansion.

Perhaps because she had seen Biften’s mansion, the place that once seemed so spacious now felt narrow.

The worn-out parts were especially noticeable.

It was shabby.

Even as she followed, Illyin kept looking around.

The scenery passed by, feeling strangely new.

“Hurry up, hurry.”

The maid used polite speech that didn't sound polite at all.

The contemptuous glances, the people who flinched and backed away as if touching her would curse them.

It was all familiar, what she always saw.

Her heart was stabbed again.

But it was still okay.

“Master, the Miss is here.”

“Tell her to come in.”

It was Earl Arlen’s room, seen after so long.

As the door opened, the maid immediately withdrew, leaving Illyin alone to face Earl Arlen.

“It’s been a while.”

Even after so long, his lack of welcome was the same, she thought.

“Yes.”

“So, did you finally flap your mouth to the Duke?”

There was no customary offer to sit.

Right, it was always like this at the Baron’s residence.

Illyin clenched the hem of her dress tightly.

“What… are you talking about?”

“I heard you were divorced. There can only be one reason, can’t there?”

What could the Arlen family possibly lack?

Even if dormant now, it's a family with a long history.

The Baron, who had once boasted at length about his family's roots, pointed his chin at her.

“Didn’t you go on about those strange dreams being real again?”

‘Be careful of the avalanche.’

“…….”

Illyin didn’t answer.

She wanted to say it wasn't true.

It was true she had told Aden about the Precognitive dream.

But what she wanted to deny was something else.

She wanted to say she wasn't divorced.

Or that even if she were divorced, it wouldn't be because of the Precognitive dream.

Even in a dream, she wanted to say it.

That I am not cursed.

Illyin realized for the first time that she could feel this choked up.

Words she had buried for nearly 20 years rose to her Exposed neckline.

I don’t just see death.

That day, if I hadn't foreseen the avalanche, the knights of Delos would have suffered great losses.

I foresaw the accident, and because of that, it could be avoided.

I am not cursed.

She wanted to say that.

It's just a dream anyway.

Even though it was a dream, her mouth wouldn't open.

She had always been at her limit here at the Baron’s residence.

What she feared most was Earl Arlen when he wasn't in his right mind.

Usually when he was drunk on alcohol or excited.

At such times, he often gave impulsive orders.

So Illyin was afraid then.

He had never liked her.

So she had always lived holding her breath in the farthest corners of the Baron’s residence.

If she hadn't foreseen her first night with Aden, the Duke of Biften, she would have lived like that forever.

Because she thought there was nowhere else for her to go.

“You didn’t possibly tell him about what happened when you were a child, did you?”

Earl Arlen asked with a serious expression.

He was talking about Sid’s incident.

My first Precognitive dream.

Illyin bowed her head and closed her eyes.

The floor, more familiar to her than any person in the Baron’s residence, appeared before her eyes, then blurred and faded from view.

It's a dream, this.

It's not really happening.

She thought of the appearance of the Baron’s residence as she followed the maid.

There was no Mobile.

Even in such a vivid dream, as long as there's no Mobile, it's fine.