Translator: Nox

My Husband Was Clearly a Paladin

Chapter 4

It wasn’t just Irene who was shocked.

“Wh-who…!”

“Aaaah! Bl-blood!”

Everyone in the banquet hall recoiled in horror at the sight of Michael, who was covered in blood from head to toe.

While others couldn’t recognize the blood-stained man, Irene knew him instantly.

‘Michael.’

The moment she realized it was him, Irene’s mind spiraled into further confusion.

‘This can’t be happening.’

Since her new life began, the major events from her past life had been occurring exactly as before.

The only things that had changed were minor details directly related to her.

Therefore, Michael should have appeared today exactly as he had in her previous life.

Irene recalled the time Michael had arrived back then.

‘It was definitely toward the end of the banquet.’

It hadn’t been a mistake. He had intentionally arrived late to the banquet.

Though he was a man of strict punctuality, he had a reason for it that day.

‘Because he had no intention of meekly following the Kingdom Alliance’s demands.’

The Kingdom Alliance was extremely wary of Michael.

Michael would enter dungeons alone—places other knights wouldn’t even look at because they weren’t profitable—and dispatch the monsters within.

The commoners who regained their livelihoods thanks to Michael tried to show their gratitude, but every time, Michael would say:

“God has simply led me. Therefore, all glory belongs to Him.”

As a result, people visited the Temple to make donations and offer prayers. Naturally, as Michael’s fame grew, so did the Temple’s prestige.

The Temple redistributed the donations and goods received from the people back to those suffering because of the dungeons.

This led to even more people sincerely following God, and among those whose lives were saved, an increasing number offered up their lands.

The Kingdom was extremely wary of this point.

“The Temple’s territory is constantly expanding. At this rate, they’ll be able to establish their own country!”

“The Temple was on the verge of vanishing, yet it’s being revived because of a single Holy Knight. Isn’t there some good way to handle this?”

“Since that one Holy Knight raised it up, wouldn’t the Temple fall on its own if we simply bring that one man down?”

Thus, the Kingdom Alliance plotted to ruin Michael by any means necessary.

However, it was impossible to assassinate a man who boasted the greatest martial power on the continent, and it would be a waste to kill someone who could single-handedly deal with high-ranking dungeons that ordinary knights struggled to clear.

“Actually, it would be enough just to destroy the faith people have in him.”

So, the Kingdom Alliance decided to bring disgrace upon him instead.

A single instance wouldn’t be effective. But if they continuously spread rumors that he was doing things unbecoming of a Holy Knight, eventually, he would lose the people’s trust.

‘Then we can bring him in as a knight for our kingdom.’

With their respective schemes in mind, the Kingdom Alliance notified Michael.

They claimed that a Continental Law had been enacted, agreed upon by all, stating that knights without a pair could no longer enter dungeons.

Even a Holy Knight could not be exempt from this law, so Michael was told to come to the fortress and find his pair.

It was an insulting demand.

A Holy Knight was essentially a noble being, no different from a priest.

Naturally, Michael refused the Kingdom Alliance’s request. Then, as if waiting for the chance, the Kingdom Alliance dispatched a knight order to block him from entering dungeons.

Meanwhile, the cries of the commoners suffering because of the lowest-ranked dungeons—which no one else would enter—grew louder and louder.

In the end, unable to bear their suffering any longer, Michael sent word to the Kingdom Alliance.

He would attend the banquet to find his pair.

‘That was today… and he came late on purpose. He intended to attend after all the other purifiers had already found their pairs, so he could request to operate alone until the next banquet since there would be no purifier left to pair with him.’

This was all information Michael had told her in her past life.

The words he had murmured on the bed when he was not in his right mind.

「But because you remained…」

Michael had said that as he moved.

Crying out at the intense pleasure and pain that struck her body from head to toe, Irene had thought:

‘Ah, if only I hadn’t been here, he would have kept his honor.’

Her throat tightened as she recalled the self-loathing thoughts she had repeated countless times in her previous life.

‘I don’t know why Michael’s state is different from my past life, but…’

Now, she would not get entangled in his life.

So, she wouldn’t ruin him either.

Irene bit her lip and tried to take the hand of the knight she had been negotiating with.

At that moment.

Step, step.

Michael, who had been standing still and scanning the banquet hall, turned his gaze toward Irene and walked straight toward her without hesitation.

“Wh-what. Why so suddenly…!”

As he approached, looking like a blood-soaked demon, the knight beside her recoiled in terror and backed away.

Unlike him, Irene did not flee as she watched Michael approach.

‘Michael.’

No matter how blood-stained he was, his golden hair, revealed in patches, was dazzling.

So were his deep, clear blue eyes, which had never been tainted by demonic energy.

Just seeing these was enough to know it was Michael at a single glance.

As memories of him surfaced, a corner of her chest ached with a dull pain.

In her past life, Irene had respected and loved him.

‘I couldn’t help it.’

To him, she was the one who had caused his honor to be tarnished.

The man who would have walked back out and continued his life as a noble Holy Knight if Irene hadn’t clung to him, weeping.

She had embraced him, claiming she would save his life, but that act ultimately led to his excommunication and the death of his soul.

Even so, he had been courteous to Irene until the very last moment.

Any other person would have left behind insults and curses, but he was a man who had bowed his head, fulfilled his knightly etiquette, and departed.

How could she not have loved such a man?

While her throat was tight with past emotions, he stood before Irene.

The moment the nauseating scent of monster blood rushed over her, she snapped back to her senses.

“Why…”

Why did you appear here in such a state, unlike in the past life?

Before she could ask, he knelt on one knee before Irene and spoke.

“Please, grant me the grace of purification.”

At those words, shocked voices erupted from all around.

Those were the words knights typically used before forming a contract with a purifier.

“Pardon? Why to me…?”

Irene was also stunned.

It made no sense.

There were still so many purifiers left in the banquet hall.

So why was he demanding a contract from her immediately?

At Irene’s question, Michael raised his head.

“…!”

In that instant, Irene flinched. In her past life, he had always looked at her with eyes like a calm lake.

But now, behind his eyes, there was a flickering light like a storm-tossed sky.

Something close to a kind of madness. It was similar to what she had seen in those poisoned by demonic energy…

As a startled Irene tried to take a step back, Michael’s blood-stained hand grabbed her hand.

Then, trembling, he pressed her hand against his face.

“I… need you.”

At those words, Irene recalled her past life.

In the past, at the banquet, he had told her:

「I do not need you.」

He had definitely said that.

So why was the same person saying something completely different?

In this life, she hadn’t become entangled with him yet. Why?

Irene looked down at the hand slick with blood that was holding hers. The thickening scent of monster blood brought her to her senses.

She had to let go.

She couldn’t become his disgrace in this life as well.

The moment Irene tried to pull her hand away.

“Please.”

Michael clutched her hand and rubbed his face against it, pleading like a man who had nothing left in the world to hold onto but Irene’s hand.

“Please purify me.”

At his voice, which bordered on desperate, Irene froze, unable to move.

Just why had he come straight to her?

‘Could it be that Michael remembers something too?’

But she quickly realized it was a foolish thought.

If he remembered the past, he would have stayed as far away as possible, not approached her like this.

‘Of all these purifiers, why on earth…?’

Irene suppressed the dozens of questions rising in her heart and spoke.

“Why… are you asking this of me?”

Then, Michael gave a faint smile and answered.

“Because you are the closest purifier.”

“…”

It was an incredibly hollow answer.