VSBO 07

Chapter: 07

Once I got sick, it was a characteristic of my illness that I would recover as if nothing had happened.

Even in my previous life, this was the part that doctors couldn’t understand. Except for the episodes of coughing fits, hemoptysis, and nosebleeds, everything else was normal.

“Are you okay, milady?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now.”

The maid Ria returned to the room.

“It’s chaos downstairs right now.”

Ria shivered as she lowered her voice to speak.

“Huh? Why?”

“It seems the master is very angry. He gathered the staff earlier to check all the foods you’ve had until now.”

“Really?”

If the problem was with the food, it would concern him as well, so I guess he’s making sure thoroughly.

“When the master is angry, he’s truly terrifying. The head chef came out with torn clothes and blood running down his thighs.”

Kairon really is a merciless man. Didn’t he brutally kill his own half-brother as well?

I nodded in agreement with Ria that he was scary.

“I’ll feel more at ease once he leaves.”

“Who?”

“Who else? The person you just said was scary.”

Ria widened her eyes and tilted her head.

“But you always seemed happy when the master came?”

Well, Ecate must have welcomed her husband’s presence since she was always alone at home. And maybe she held a faint hope of getting closer to him.

“Not anymore, Ria. I’m used to not having a husband, and it’s comfortable. I don’t even want to get close to him now.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah. Instead, I’m more interested in another direction.”

“Which direction?”

The direction of enjoying a rich, luxurious life.

“Seeing how many times I fainted earlier, it seems my body has weakened a lot. So it’s important to fill my stomach well and gain weight.”

“That’s right!”

Ria, who had always tried to make sure Ecate ate even a little more, lit up at the mention of filling my stomach.

“Make a list of the best restaurants in the capital, only the ones famous for being truly excellent. I want to visit each one.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I’ll make the list right away!”

Showing such a strong desire for food for the first time since my first year of marriage made Ria overjoyed.

“From now on, eat well and get healthy, okay?”

“Of course, of course. Got it. So today, your job is to find the best restaurants.”

“Yes, don’t worry! I’ll find them well, so you just focus on staying healthy!”

Ria and I seem to work very well together.

She left immediately to make the list.

I would start my golden-spoon life by enjoying the finest restaurants I could never have dreamed of in my previous life. Starting tomorrow.

The next day, I woke up refreshed under the bright sunlight. There were no signs of coughing or hemoptysis yet.

The first thing I did upon getting up was to check Kairon’s schedule.

“When is my husband leaving?”

I asked the servant in charge of Kairon’s room because someone around him would know better than Ria. To clean the room, they’d know when he would leave.

“The master will be leaving in about an hour.”

Oh, leaving early!

A small smile formed at the news that he would depart in the early morning.

“Should I also ask when he plans to return?”

The servant seemed ready to tell me the return date but knew it would take a while, and that no exact date had been set yet. I worried he might get into trouble if he asked unnecessarily.

“No, the return date isn’t fixed yet. That’s fine, thank you. Well then, take care!”

The servant looked like he still had something to say, but I left his room cheerfully.

An hour passed quickly. It was finally time for Kairon to leave.

It would have been better if he had left yesterday, but with my illness as a variable, it couldn’t be helped. Still, today he would surely go.

Kairon was not the type to casually break plans or appointments. Once he decided, he always followed through.

I went to the front hall to watch him leave, planning to at least offer a polite goodbye.

“Milady, did you come to see him off?”

The servant noticed me first and acknowledged me.

“Yeah. Where’s my husband?”

“He’s just about to leave outside the front hall.”

Of course, he didn’t even look at me before leaving. No surprise there; that’s just like my indifferent husband.

I hurried out to the front hall. A carriage for Kairon was ready, and he was talking to his aide.

There were no luggage bags or servants carrying them, so the luggage must have already been sent in another carriage. Perhaps it was sent yesterday.

The aide seemed to be reporting something to Kairon while checking a long document. Even at the last moment, he had tasks to confirm. So much to do.

Kairon had never once told me his destination. Ecate was always excluded from his world.

Thanks to having read the original story, I knew he was secretly training a sub-male lead in the north to find him through a secret organization at the temple.

The sub-male lead he was searching for was his second half-brother, Gregto.

Kairon planned to kill even his second half-brother to fully take over the Ducal family.

Gregto, the runaway half-brother, was weak but had some sacred power, so the temple accepted him.

The temple, corrupt and blinded by the wealth Gregto brought, accepted him even though his sacred power was somewhat lacking.

The temple was gradually losing in its long-standing conflict with the royal family. Moreover, among the empire’s citizens, faith in the temple was declining, and its status was dropping day by day.

Yet Kairon could not recklessly kill a temple member; imperial law protecting the temple still existed.

That’s why Kairon planned a massive scheme with the crown prince to destroy the temple itself.

The crown prince, the male lead of this story, participated in destroying the temple to strengthen his royal authority. His plan also included his long-standing love for the heroine, the saintess.

The crown prince dismantled the temple and imprisoned the heroine, stripping her of the saintess title.

The heroine resisted, unable to accept the temple’s collapse, but she could not overcome the crown prince’s obsession and madness.

As the crown prince and saintess’s tragic love reached its peak, Kairon killed his second half-brother.

I was glad I knew this plot; otherwise, I would have been utterly frustrated.

While thinking this, Kairon noticed me and approached.

“Why did you come out to see me off?”

He frowned, asking why I was here.

I had come down thinking of him, yet this was the cold response I received.

“There’s no need to come out with a sick body.”

“Be thankful you came out.”

Who would think I came out because I liked it? I mostly wanted to make sure he would actually leave.

And once he left, I planned to head straight to the first restaurant on my list.

“We’ll be late if we don’t leave quickly.”

The air was fairly chilly. I buttoned my cardigan tightly before the wind could get through. Something else seemed to irritate him because a frown appeared on Kairon’s forehead.

“Go back in. There’s no need to see me off.”

So cold.

“Got it. I wasn’t planning to stay long anyway.”

Since the air was cool, I decided to go back inside. I had checked the carriage, so I knew he was definitely leaving.

I waved at him.

“Have a safe trip.”

Hopefully, he’d return very late.

“…Mm.”

He waved back briefly with a short reply, and I turned around.

Finally, it’s my world!

I silently cheered as I returned to my room.

“Milady, you’re back after seeing the master off?”

“Yes, and now I’m going out too. Let’s get ready.”

“Huh?”

Ria asked again, as if she couldn’t believe her ears.

“You know the restaurant list you made? Now that my husband’s gone, shouldn’t we go one by one?”

“Today? Right away?”

I smiled at her and nodded as my answer.

“Are you sure? Your condition isn’t…”

“I’m great.”

I cut her off sharply, and Ria pouted.