Chapter 8
Husband is the Protagonist of Another World Chapter 8
“That’s what I don’t understand. How could Alex, who grew up so wealthy without lacking anything, say he’d find a house….”
Following my sister-in-law, my mother-in-law clicked her tongue and shook her head.
It seemed my mother-in-law was worried because Alex had never earned money through labor himself.
As a duke, he had only ever collected money from tenant farmers.
I wasn’t expecting much from Alex either.
But I knew he wasn’t one to talk nonsense.
‘Maybe he went to get a job at an office or accounting firm?’
Alex was incredibly good with ledgers.
Even at the beginning of our marriage, the Brent Ducal House’s territory was vast, boasting the largest scale among the territories owned by nobles in the empire.
There were thousands of tenant farmers to manage.
After Alex inherited the title, he reviewed all the ledgers from the previous duke’s time and uncovered corruption and malpractices.
It was just a small topic in our family, but I was thrilled to discover his genius-like, science-oriented side.
If he got a job at an office that needed his skills, he might be able to get an advance on several years’ salary to secure money for a house.
Even if he didn’t have enough money to buy a house, he could move into a place with monthly rent.
But as I considered the option of employment, I shook my head.
‘Anyone who accepts or sympathizes with that idiot duke will lose their life.’
It was due to the tyrant’s strict order not to accept our family.
We couldn’t endanger the lives of others for our livelihood.
I took a sip of tea, but my heart was uneasy, and I couldn’t taste anything.
As I shifted my gaze absentmindedly, I saw the shadow of someone entering the inn’s garden.
A towering height and extraordinary physique, as if a celestial god had descended.
And the contours of a face meticulously sculpted by a legendary artisan, along with a beautiful neckline.
There was only one person I knew with such a silhouette.
I lifted my head sharply.
Like a lie, Alex was entering.
“…Alex!”
As I jumped up, my mother-in-law also sprang up like a coil.
“Alex! Where have you been without a word!”
“Honey! Do you know how long we’ve been waiting?”
I quickly scanned my husband’s appearance.
Is that really my husband?
How long has it been?
I was worried if he was hurt or if he had been dirtied by eggs thrown by children.
But he was neat, unlike someone who had been away for several days.
He was radiant, as if absorbing all the surrounding light, and even his naturally disheveled black hair seemed like a beautiful performance.
Despite the fuss of me and my family, his attitude was very calm, almost cold.
“Have you been waiting long? Everyone, pack your bags quickly.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ve found a house for us to live in.”
“What? Is that true, Brother?”
“Really, Alex?”
“Really, how did you… Alex?”
We all couldn’t hide our surprise.
Even my sister-in-law, who usually didn’t speak to my husband first, was amazed.
My husband slowly gazed at our reactions, as if it were an unexpected scene.
He moved his lips as if to say something, then made a sound.
“…You all seem very surprised. But don’t worry. I didn’t take someone else’s house.”
“…Pardon?”
No, that’s not it.
I was speechless once again.
His attitude was so gentle and elegant.
That serious yet noble posture.
The way he stood with his shoulders and waist straight, and his cool yet articulate tone, as if he had become a different person.
I was stunned, as if hit hard on the head with a hammer.
‘Has he become too different while I wasn’t looking…?’
Sensing something similar, my sister-in-law jumped up.
“Eek! I’ve got goosebumps! Brother, say something again!”
But he didn’t hear my sister-in-law’s words, or pretended not to, and said while looking at his pocket watch.
“We should leave quickly to arrive before sunset.”
“……”
Indeed, a fluent tone flowed from his mouth.
My sister-in-law and mother-in-law’s jaws dropped simultaneously.
“Wow, amazing.”
“Oh, Alex…?”
My sister-in-law looked like her tongue would fall out, and my mother-in-law put her hand on her chest as if her heart was pounding.
At their unusual reactions, Alex also seemed stiff as he stared at them.
“……”
I, too, stared intently at Alex, unable to even blink, like a person who had lost their soul.
Could it be, could it be?
It was a way of speaking that hadn’t been cured even with a lifetime of effort.
It took him three years to pronounce my name, which was only three syllables: ‘Luise.’
But suddenly, his stuttering disappeared?
A condition that had persisted throughout his life since he first started speaking?
“What happened to you suddenly? Your way of speaking….”
“Yes?”
I pressed down on my pounding chest with one hand and took a step towards him.
“How can you become so fluent like a different person?”
“Ah, that’s….”
He lowered his gaze and stroked his chin.
He seemed to be thinking about how to answer my question.
He even furrowed his brow slightly, as if it were a difficult problem.
It was as if heaven and earth had turned upside down.
That’s how smoothly and effortlessly his pronunciation was.
Everyone was waiting for his words, but he only moved his lips for a while, unable to speak easily.
Soon, his eyes wavered once, and he spoke as if resigned.
“…Actually, I don’t know what happened either.”
“Yes?”
He doesn’t know?
How could he not know?
It wasn’t like he improved little by little; he suddenly changed. But if he himself doesn’t know, what could be the reason?
I don’t want to think about it, but could the tyrant’s shock therapy really have worked?
People sometimes show different signs after experiencing severe shock.
I tried to recall if anything had happened recently that could have shocked him greatly.
Being stripped of his title and wealth by the tyrant, and most recently, drinking rat poison himself—there were countless shocking events.
…Rat poison.
Suddenly, I remembered the poison he had drunk a whole bottle of.
Yet, he survived unscathed even after drinking that deadly substance in a lethal dose.
When he first woke up, I was so focused on the fact that he was alive that I didn’t think about anything else, but now that I think about it, it was truly a miraculous event.
I just thought he was lucky to have a very unique constitution and brushed it off, but could that poison have worked in a positive way?
This was also a baseless assumption.
Muttering, I said, lost in thought.
“You don’t know why you’ve changed either?”
“…Yes.”
He nodded belatedly, answering with a slightly cautious attitude, as if hesitant.
In the end, I revealed the possibility I had been thinking about alone.
“Then, could it be because of the rat poison you drank?”
“…Yes?”
“Sometimes poison can become medicine. Since poison isn’t fatal to you, maybe it had a positive effect.”
It was like a cow stepping on a rat by accident, but for now, it was the most reasonable explanation for Alex’s condition.
Alex’s lips parted slightly, and my mother-in-law sighed in agreement with my words.
“Oh, my goodness.”
“Rat poison…?”
While my sister-in-law was bewildered, I spoke again.
“If not, how could you suddenly speak so well like a different person? You haven’t accidentally drunk poison before, have you?”
Right?
As far as I knew, he had no reason to come into contact with poison.
Only then did he nod reluctantly, as if forced to. He had a rather stiff attitude.
“I don’t think so….”
“…!”
So, this was the first time he had ingested poison!
If it wasn’t because of the poison, there was no way to understand my husband’s condition.
Until now, he had tried almost every medicine and rare medicinal herb to treat his symptoms.
Of course, he never even considered using rat poison, which has a high concentration of poison, as a treatment.
Next to me, my mother-in-law exclaimed in a trembling voice.
“Oh, that’s it. That’s what it was. The rat poison killed the rat-like germs in Alex’s tongue.”
“……”
My eyes welled up with tears.
I clenched my fist tightly and focused my strength on my eyes.
His symptoms really did improve.
It was like a lie that it disappeared all at once, but seeing him now, I couldn’t help but believe it.
I can’t fully guess what state of mind he was in when he drank the poison, and it’s a bit strange to be happy about this outcome.
But one thing was clear.
“Alex.”
I called him with moist eyes and moved closer.
It was a distance where I could reach out and hug him.
“I’m so glad. You’ve had such a hard time.”
I reached out with both hands to gently embrace him.
But Alex, who had momentarily paused at my touch, flinched back.
“……”
Was he surprised because there were so many people outside?
I was a little embarrassed that he seemed to be rejecting my hug, but anyway, I was once again moved and pursed my lips.
“It seems the world hasn’t abandoned us yet.”
“……”
Instead of hugging him, I grabbed one of his arms.
“Now, no one will ignore you. They won’t misunderstand you as stupid because of your speech.”
How much he had suffered because of it.
I was glad that there would be fewer unfair things happening to him in the future than before.
He would be less hurt.
“So, let’s not die and start anew.”
