ITMHM 01

Chapter: 01

“Then the two of you had a love marriage?”

In some ways, it was a rather rude question.

The ladies invited to the mansion were not concerned with etiquette and began asking whatever they were curious about one after another.

Johannes Schultz, who had disappeared leaving behind countless rumors, had reappeared. And he had done so with a commoner woman as his wife.

There must have been many things they wanted to know.

The gazes of the ladies, openly revealing their interest as they looked at me, felt quite burdensome.

“Of course. I’m completely immersed in newlywed life.”

I showed no sign of being affected by their excessive attention. Instead, I simply gave a suitable answer and sipped my tea.

“To think you married the Duke of Schultz, the idol of the masses. You must be so happy, Duchess.”

“I’ve always dreamed of living in Musen. Musen is such a wonderful place.”

“I’m curious about your first meeting. Where and how did you two meet?”

At the last question, everyone’s attention focused on me.

Surrounded by ladies whose eyes sparkled with curiosity, I fell into thought.

How on earth am I supposed to explain this?

“Our first meeting? That would be… how did we meet again….”

As I hesitated to answer, the ladies lightly waved their hands and pressed me on.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed.”

“That’s right. We all became close in similar ways.”

“I wonder which aspect of the Duchess the Duke, who never kept a woman by his side, fell for.”

They seemed to think of me as someone shy. But I was by no means a timid or reserved person.

Rather, this was simply a situation where speaking carelessly would be truly difficult.

“Haha….”

I answered by taking a sip of tea instead.

They looked slightly disappointed, but brushed it off lightly, saying, “There will be many opportunities.”

At least I had safely gotten through the immediate situation.

I suppressed my unease and smiled lightly at them, hoping they would not ask any more troublesome questions.

Then I cast a faint gaze out the window, a gaze even I could not clearly define the emotions behind. Letting out a thin sigh that no one else noticed, I thought once more about the subject that had disrupted my otherwise perfect daily life.

These days, I was living a flawless married life with a husband who was perfect in every way.

And yet, I had one concern.

I think my husband might be a murderer.

This was not the world I had originally lived in.

I only realized this not long ago.

At a time when I was objectively enjoying a perfect married life, something I would have been better off never knowing suddenly came to mind.

It happened exactly a week ago, during a conversation with my husband.

“What do you think of ‘Prim Wood’?”

My husband wanted to name the mansion. While we were discussing various options, the name that became the root of the issue—Prim Wood—was mentioned.

“Prim Wood…?”

“After your name. And since the mansion is located in the middle of a forest.”

My husband said this with a smile, but I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. I couldn’t remember it clearly, but I was certain I had heard that name somewhere before.

……And not in a good way at all.

Pushing that vague feeling into a corner of my mind, I cautiously tried to stop him.

“My name? But this is the Schultz family’s mansion. And we’ve only just gotten married. We don’t even know how things will turn out, so isn’t this a bit too soon…?”

“Are you saying we might get divorced?”

What came back was my husband’s dry voice. Interrupting my words, he asked again with a slightly stiff expression.

His extreme example startled me, but since, on the surface, we needed to appear perfect, I could understand his reaction.

I calmly soothed him.

“That’s not what I meant. I just think it wouldn’t hurt to take some time to consider it. Besides, naming the mansion after my surname—how awkward that would be for the former duke if he were to find out.”

“Opinions of someone who is no longer in this world are not important.”

“But….”

“Edith Schultz.”

My husband called my name firmly.

I couldn’t understand why he insisted so much on my “original” surname, but it was difficult to sway his stubbornness.

“…Alright.”

In the end, the mansion was named “Prim Wood,” but I still didn’t like the name. Even though it was derived from my surname, it carried a strangely ominous feeling.

I wanted to dismiss it as just a feeling, but the unease that had suddenly taken hold showed no signs of disappearing. Not even when I returned to my room and lay down on the bed.

I tossed and turned all night, trying to find the reason behind the uneasiness the name gave me.

And when the name settled deep in my mind, the fog that had been clouding my thoughts gradually cleared, and memories of my past life came flooding back all at once.

The Kingdom of Docilia, a modern nation leading the railway industry.

Among its cities, the most beautiful one, Musen.

The Duke of Schultz who protects Musen.

And… the Schultz ducal residence, Prim Wood.

“Oh my God. Johannes Schultz.”

My heart, which had been beating relatively steadily, began to race, and I felt as though the ground beneath me was falling away.

Why hadn’t I realized it until now?

This was a novel. To be precise, it was the novel I had read in my previous life.

It was so long ago that I couldn’t remember the details clearly, but I was certain. And my husband, Johannes Schultz, was the male protagonist of that novel.

You might think, “Isn’t that a good thing if he’s the male lead?” But I can confidently say, staking my life on it, that it is absolutely not.

“Johannes Schultz….”

Johannes Schultz was a mad murderer.

Deceived by his kind and perfect mask, no one besides the female protagonist ever noticed—but the number of women he had killed was beyond counting.

Of course, he later falls truly in love with the female protagonist and the story ends in a happy ending. But…

“…that’s not me.”

My expression twisted.

Did I drop the story partway through…? I wasn’t certain, but I remembered there being a lot of discussion about the ending.

I sprang up from my seat and paced anxiously around the room.

“I must have been out of my mind.”

Then I stopped abruptly, hit my head, and resumed pacing, repeating the cycle several times.

“What could possibly be good about walking into this insane place?”

“He has a good family background, he’s tall, and he’s handsome. He’s perfect, isn’t he?”

“No. Johannes is kind.”

“Is he really? Can you be sure? It could all be an act.”

I even found myself asking and answering my own questions, like a madwoman.

But I was truly serious. My life was at stake.

“Maybe I’m the female protagonist.”

At this point, I even began running a positive line of thinking.

“No way.”

However, that assumption quickly disappeared. There were several reasonable grounds proving that I was not the female protagonist.

First.

My name is Edith Prim. The female protagonist’s name is Joanna Tenet—there isn’t a single matching character.

Second.

The female protagonist is described as having an extremely delicate appearance, which I do not. Of course, I’m fairly attractive, but far from delicate.

And third.

The name “Prim Wood” had existed long before the female protagonist ever appeared.

Since Johannes named the mansion Prim Wood after my name, it meant the female protagonist still had a long way to go before appearing.

No one knew when his killings began. In other words, he might kill me… or he might not…

“But the probability is high that he will.”

This is ridiculous. I had walked into hell of my own accord.

With a dazed expression, I moved my feet. My trembling hand gripped the frame of the mirror.

The face reflected in the mirror looked unmistakably like someone who would die soon.

Long brown hair and emerald-colored eyes.

They were the very features commonly shared by the women Johannes Schultz had killed.