I Faked a Pregnancy, but My Husband Returned - Chapter 33

“…The command to destroy the Mayus family mattered less to me than the unbearable fact that you were here.”

At last, Bart’s eyes began to burn with anger.

For the first time, Ekian was startled by the raw hatred he now faced. Had Bart ever had such a reason to despise him? Ekian had been kind to all the servants, and at that time, he had only been seventeen years old.

Bart took a labored breath.

“Because Sarah loved you.”

Ekian frowned. Sarah? Why her?

“Sarah… only ever looked at you and never at me.”

Bart and Sarah had over a decade’s age gap. The revelation of such a truth made Ekian let out a hollow laugh.

Sarah was strikingly beautiful and intelligent. Given the time they had spent together, it was no wonder Bart would have feelings for her.

“It was unbearable to see her dreaming of you.”

Bart’s voice cracked as he spoke.

“I couldn’t stand seeing that anymore, so I drove you out. And after that…”

Of course, even after Ekian left, Sarah never looked at Bart.

“I hated the Mayus she dreamed of.”

Ekian silently looked down at Bart. The composed physician who had once seemed so imposing at seventeen now appeared as nothing more than a pitiful and foolish human being.

“In the end, I hated you and the Mayus family equally.”

The jealousy of seeing someone unattainable yearning for another. The grotesque amalgamation of vileness, inferiority, and craving was laid bare beneath the shadow of what Bart called love.

“I wanted to kill you… but I feared the priestess’s curse, so I couldn’t. That’s why I merely drove you away.”

Confined to the Mayus’ dungeon, Bart would be tortured to death. The same fate awaited Sarah.

“Yes, it was because I loved her. I loved her so much that I destroyed myself in the end.”

Both of them were the same. The absurdity of ruining everything that had been going well due to the motive called love.

What could it possibly be? Truly… what could it possibly be?

Having learned the horrifying truth, Ekian turned away without hesitation.

Later, he visited Judith’s room and found solace in her trivial chatter.

Even then, he wondered.

Love… what is it?

Why does it cause people to lose sight of all purpose and ultimately render them grotesque and insignificant?

That night, as he lay on his bed listening to her prattle on endlessly, he thought about love.

Though he had uncovered the most dreadful truth of his life and hated his very existence, thanks to her, the memory of that night wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

Perhaps that’s why.

Even now, as he stood before the traces of the mother who had cursed him and died, only she caught his attention.

***

While he silently watched the small shrine and Judith, the line grew shorter. Finally, it was Judith’s turn.

As she cautiously entered the shrine, it happened.

Boom! A bolt of lightning struck. At the same time, the flickering candles in front of the shrine suddenly went out.

It was the first such occurrence since the disappearance of the last priestess.

“Goodness, what is going on?”

“Oh, dear heavens!”

The Marquis and Marchioness of Soden, who were behind Judith, fell to the ground in surprise, and Ekian instinctively rushed toward the shrine.

However, at the same time…

With a sharp noise, Ekian was repelled. The shrine, which had swallowed Judith, rejected everyone, including Ekian.

“Judith!”

Ekian tried to enter the shrine again, but this time, a powerful wind blew, preventing him from even approaching.

***

Judith had been waiting in front of the shrine since dawn. She had ensured she knew the position of the Marquis and Marchioness of Soden and lined up before them.

‘I’ll claim I heard a revelation while praying and coming out.’

Having received Isabella’s permission beforehand, everything seemed to be falling into place. Few people even knew her face, making her actions easier.

It was Judith’s first time visiting the Shrine of the Last Priestess. The mystical atmosphere was undeniable and gave everything an eerie feel.

The candles that burned steadily despite the wind, the flowers blooming out of season, and the astonishingly clean exterior of the shrine unnerved Judith slightly.

For a moment, she wondered if invoking the name of the last priestess was a bad idea. But she quickly steeled herself.

‘No, don’t be scared.’

Judith took a deep breath.

‘The priestess wouldn’t mind her name being used for a good cause.’

She knew little about the rumors surrounding the last priestess but hoped the woman hadn’t been wholly evil.

‘Besides, I’ve faced scarier things.’

Judith mustered her resolve in the face of instinctive fear.

‘Light is scarier.’

She had dealt with debts so oppressive they seemed to devour her life. Now, she imagined things more terrifying and sorrowful to endure the fear.

The loan shark’s laughter when he said her pretty face could fetch a high price in the back alleys… the news of her father’s death she’d heard from a maid… the sight of her mother turning away after avoiding eye contact before leaving with a servant…

When her turn came, Judith entered the shrine alone.

‘Huh?’

As the back door slammed shut on its own, Judith realized something was amiss.

The candles that had been calmly illuminating the surroundings went out in an instant.

Judith immediately dropped to the floor. She thought the priestess’s spirit must have been angered and quickly spoke up.

“I’m sorry!”

Already feeling guilty, she judged that the best course of action was to apologize promptly.

“I was wrong to dare to use the priestess’s name as an excuse! I’ll leave immediately!”

Even as she begged, she couldn’t help but add a pitiful excuse.

“But… I really only wanted to do something good! I was lucky enough to learn about the future, and it didn’t feel right to just live well on my own! I thought it would be good if as many people as possible could be happy…”

A whistling sound filled the air as visibility through the windows disappeared. They were enveloped by a sandstorm.

Judith glanced at the windows, noting the blurriness caused by the storm. Swallowing hard, she acknowledged her rising fear.

‘I might not be able to get out of here.’

The small shrine trembled as a voice echoed in Judith’s ears.

Amidst the eerie supernatural phenomenon, Judith remained prostrate, trembling, when a soft voice spoke to her.

[Judith Ailan.]

She instinctively knew it was the shrine’s owner, the “last priestess” Chaska, speaking.

[At last, we meet.]

“Pardon?”

Though trembling, Judith peeked up at Chaska’s portrait as she responded.

“Um… we’ve never met before…”

Though she’d heard much about the last priestess, she had never visited or shown interest. Survival had always taken precedence.

“So… does that mean you’re still alive… and if so, where are you…?”

While Judith nervously rambled, the voice continued.

[I am not alive. As a priestess who could manipulate time, only my grudge remains entangled in the flow of time.]

This meant she was speaking to a deceased person. The thought of conversing with a ghost sent a chill down Judith’s spine.

Amid the supernatural occurrences unfolding before her, Judith, even more flustered, began spouting various things.

“I… I was wrong. Truly, I was wrong. I just… um, well, I happened to learn about the future by chance? And so…”

[You did nothing wrong. Doing good deeds is always fine. And the reason you learned about the future by chance, Judith, is because of my power.]

“…Pardon?”

[I told you, I wander through time. I used the vision of another pure soul to show you the future.]

If it was the vision of another pure soul… Judith’s mind raced.

‘Does she mean the heroine? The protagonist of the original story I thought I remembered?’

This entirely unprecedented supernatural phenomenon…

If it was indeed the power of the last priestess who could manipulate time, then it made sense.

[Judith.]

A voice tinged with melancholy followed.

[I have a son.]