My Husband Was Clearly a Paladin
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Irene looked back on her past life.
In a word, it had been a life of misery.
As a child, she lost her parents when they were caught in a Dungeon. Afterward, Irene was immediately sent to an orphanage.
A priest who came there to volunteer noticed that Irene possessed the power of purification.
It was an era where purifiers were in high demand alongside the emergence of Dungeons.
Irene was eventually adopted into the house of Count Rodiam, the orphanage’s largest benefactor.
“Whatever the case, keeping a purifier pays off. Grow up quickly and make yourself useful.”
The Count’s eyes were filled with greed as he looked at Irene while saying those words.
For anyone intending to enter a Dungeon, a purifier who could heal wounds and cleanse demonic energy was an absolute necessity.
Only a purifier could treat injuries inflicted by monsters and neutralize the demonic energy they exhaled.
Thus, the Count believed that once Irene became an adult and could form a pair with a knight, he would be able to make a fortune.
However, after she reached adulthood, the purification rank Irene received from the Temple was the very lowest.
The Count, who had been eagerly anticipating the money Irene would bring in, flew into a rage upon hearing she was ranked at the bottom.
There were no knights willing to pair up with a purifier of the lowest rank.
In fact, one would have to pay a knight just to take such a useless, bottom-tier purifier off their hands.
“Useless wretch! At least you have a decent face, which is a relief! Thanks to that, there is someone willing to buy you.”
Sensing a loss on his investment, the Count intended to send Irene to an old man who had already gone through six wives.
She wanted to run away right that second, but as long as she bore the name Rodiam, Irene was no different from the Count’s property.
“Please give me just six months! I’ll find a pair to enter the Dungeons with and pay back my debt!”
“Who would ever pair up with a bottom-tier trash like you? Even if such a foolish knight existed, do you think you could earn back the money I spent bringing you here? Besides, what about the cost of feeding and housing you all this time?!”
“We won’t know until I try. Please, just give me one chance!”
After begging and pleading, Irene managed to buy herself six months from the Count.
There was only one thing she could do during those six months.
Find a knight to form a pair with at the Night of the Contract. Then, enter a Dungeon together and share the rewards.
Beyond that, there was no way for her to earn the massive sum of 100,000 gold in just half a year.
Irene headed straight for the Fortress where the Night of the Contract was held.
The Fortress was a massive stronghold built by the Kingdom Alliance in areas where Dungeons appeared.
Once a month, purifiers who had come of age would gather there to find knights to be their partners and enter into pair contracts—the so-called ‘Night of the Contract.’
‘I might be able to find a pair here somehow.’
With that thought, Irene held onto a sliver of hope. Unfortunately, things went exactly as the Count had predicted.
“A bottom-tier purifier… That means I’d get no help and still have to split the rewards. I’d rather enter the Dungeon alone.”
No matter how much a purifier was needed, Irene’s power was so weak that the knights refused to pair with her.
The few knights who did offer to contract spoke as if they were granting her a great mercy.
“Well, if we only stick to safe, low-level Dungeons and I take 99 while you take 1, I suppose I could sign a contract. And…”
The knight scanned Irene from head to toe, licking his lips.
“I’d expect us to be together every night. That’s the only way the purification will be effective, after all. Oh, and of course, right before entering a Dungeon, and whenever else I want.”
Irene bit her lip at the knight’s demand.
It was a fact known to every pair that intimate contact was more efficient than simple touch for purifying demonic energy.
This knight was merely demanding a natural right. However, looking at the glint in his eyes, it was clear that his demand was fueled by a desire for his own pleasure.
Furthermore, splitting the Dungeon rewards 1 to 99…
No matter how weak Irene’s abilities were, this was nothing short of exploitation.
‘And… he might just take the contract and not even properly participate in the Dungeon raids.’
That knight might simply take his pleasure and disappear.
But such hesitation was a luxury Irene couldn’t afford. If she didn’t accept even this contract, she would be sold off to that old man immediately.
Just as Irene was caught in her dilemma, someone appeared.
The Holy Knight revered by everyone on the continent, Michael.
He was the only righteous knight on the continent who entered Dungeons not to satisfy his own greed, but solely to save those suffering from monsters.
His participation in the Night of the Contract was not of his own will.
The Kingdom Alliance had summoned him specifically to keep him in check, as he was becoming a hero across the continent and gaining immense prestige.
The pretext was that if he wished to enter Dungeons, he had to follow the Continental Law established by the Alliance and find a purifier to share his body with at the Night of the Contract.
He had intended to make a brief, formal appearance and leave immediately. That is, if Irene hadn’t stopped him.
The moment Irene saw Michael, she knew instinctively. He was the only one who would offer her a fair contract. So, she approached him and pleaded.
“Please, enter into a contract with me.”
Irene clung to him and begged, solely for the sake of survival.
The crowd watched the two of them with keen interest.
Michael was a Holy Knight belonging to the Temple.
If he accepted Irene’s request, he would break the nobility of a Holy Knight—who was little different from a priest—and become a vulgar, fallen man who shared his body with a purifier. If he refused, he would be seen as a cold-hearted man who turned his back on someone begging for their life just to preserve his own honor.
No matter which path he chose, he would lose his reputation. Irene knew this as well, but she had no choice but to cling to him.
“Even if I form a ‘pair’ with you, I will not be receiving any help from you.”
In the end, he chose to save Irene.
“But to purify the demonic energy of the Dungeon…”
However, he immediately added in a cold voice.
“My holy power will allow me to endure the demonic energy somehow. So, you need not concern yourself.”
After saying that, he turned away instantly. It was as if he didn’t need Irene’s help in the slightest.
Afterward, he truly never requested purification from Irene.
Those who had initially mocked Michael began to praise him again, and in turn, they hurled contemptuous ridicule at Irene.
The woman who tarnished a Holy Knight’s honor just to save herself.
Even hearing such things, Irene couldn’t say a word.
Because it was all true.
Michael would occasionally visit her to give her a share of the Dungeon rewards.
It wasn’t as if he knew the price of her freedom, but the money steadily piled up until it neared 100,000 gold.
‘At this rate, I’ll be able to escape the Count soon.’
Once that happened, she vowed to find a way to repay him this money, no matter what it took.
Not long after she made that vow, a top-tier Dungeon appeared in a danger zone.
Before many knights and purifiers could even react, they lost their lives to the attacks of a massive monster.
Only Michael survived alone, slaying the monster and collapsing the Dungeon.
The problem was that he had suffered fatal wounds and was poisoned by demonic energy to the point where self-recovery was impossible.
That night, Irene shared her body with him to save his life. Though he was unconscious, perhaps due to a survival instinct, he clung to her frantically.
“Ah, please, please, slowly…! Ahnn!”
Whether it was a blessing or a curse, while the purification continued, Irene had to writhe not in pain, but in pleasure.
Michael spent several days and nights lost to his senses, ravaging Irene’s body.
Then, Irene clearly saw his expression when his reason finally returned.
“Why are you… Don’t tell me I…”
Realizing he had broken the taboo, he dressed as if fleeing and left the room immediately.
In the place where the two had spent days together, Irene was left alone.
After that, Michael never came to see Irene even once.
And not long after, news arrived that he had been excommunicated from the Temple.
‘I… I completely ruined him.’
Irene was devastated. No matter if it was to save his life, such a thing wouldn’t matter to him.
In the meantime, the Dungeon entered its extinction phase.
It was time for the purifiers and knights to sever their ‘pairs’ and return to their respective homes.
In the Fortress, from which everyone else had returned home, Irene searched for Michael, carrying the money she had received from him.
He was now a man who had to leave the Temple and live as an ordinary knight. Since he was such a powerful knight, he wouldn’t have trouble surviving, but…
‘I want to apologize, even if just a little.’
She wanted to return everything she had received from him.
The Count would sell her off the moment she returned, but that was no longer the important issue.
A man who had lived his entire life as a servant of God had been expelled from the place he had dedicated his life to because of his actions, even if those actions were meant to save him.
Irene had no idea how she could possibly apologize for that.
She wandered every corner of the Fortress searching for Michael, but he was nowhere to be found.
While doing so, Irene ran into Princess Cecilia, who had always ignored and despised her.
Normally, Irene wouldn’t have dared to speak to her, but driven by the need to apologize to Michael, she asked if the Princess knew where he was.
The Princess gave a scoffing laugh as if the question were absurd, then spoke after a moment’s thought.
“Do you see that remaining Dungeon over there? Sir Michael went inside to clear it out. This will be your last chance to apologize. Go on in. The monsters should all be cleared away.”
Irene entered that Dungeon alone upon hearing those words. She wanted to meet Michael there and apologize.
But there were still monsters remaining in that Dungeon…
‘I died there.’
Yes. That was definitely what happened.
Then why…
Slap!
“Useless wretch! I’d be better off selling you to a merchant!”
Along with the stinging pain in her cheek, Irene saw the Count raging before her.
Why on earth.
Why was the past unfolding before her eyes once again?
