I Killed My Husband (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 10
A murderer… I intend to gradually uncover the truth.
What do you mean?
Well, perhaps the injustices the woman endured?
Carlos gave a brief reply and fell silent.
No matter how one looked, their sovereign was truly an enigmatic figure. The attendants remained in a brief silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
The storm this affair would unleash would be no small matter.
Yet everyone kept their mouths shut.
Because Carlos seemed to have no desire to speak.
And because no one could dare add their words to the Emperor’s affection.
Carlos leaned back deeply into the sofa.
Since the reason for his actions today was meant to be attributed to affection, it was unnecessary to correct his subordinates’ misunderstandings.
In this room, where such a peculiar tension lingered, the loyal attendants withdrew to grant the Emperor rest.
And as evening faded, someone finally knocked on the door.
“I apologize for the late hour, Your Majesty. The King requests an audience.”
It seemed the long-awaited conversation had finally arrived.
‘Well. One might have been startled.’
Carlos himself had not been entirely courteous, so he decided to simply understand and headed toward the room where he was told to prepare.
His long legs moved with light steps.
[This is the timeline separator]The Emperor remained unmoved by the King’s every plea and entreaty. He even went so far as to threaten, “It seems Your Majesty wishes to turn the Room Empire into an enemy.”
The Kingdom of Shaym could never possibly defeat the Room Empire.
Ironically, the Kingdom of Shaym ultimately surrendered the criminal who had murdered the Crown Prince to the Room Empire.
The news spread across neighboring nations in an instant. The Kingdom of Shaym suffered great humiliation.
But regardless.
“It took terribly long.”
The journey from Shaym to the Room Empire by ship took three days. After disembarking, another two days were required to reach the capital from the port. Thus, they should have arrived at the imperial palace within five days.
Of course, this assumes everyone was in good health.
But they had not yet reached the capital of the Room Empire on the fifth day.
The ship had progressed somehow, but movement overland from the port had been excruciatingly slow.
Thus, Carlos, who had been too preoccupied during the journey to pay attention to Mercedes, finally had to go and inquire after her condition.
Far away from Mercedes and the rest of the party.
“She… is in severe physical weakness. It is not surprising, given that she was once a noblewoman imprisoned in an underground dungeon. Her condition was already poor aboard the ship, so overland travel would be even more taxing.”
The Imperial Physician, unsure how to refer to the criminal the Emperor had rescued, spoke awkwardly.
“I ordered the most comfortable and sturdy carriage prepared. Still, is there a problem?”
“Yes. You must wait until her health improves. She was raised in a greenhouse-like environment; even the slight vibrations of the carriage could cause her significant harm.”
“Hm.”
The interior of the carriage prepared by the imperial household for Mercedes’s transport was nearly equivalent to a bed being moved.
Throughout the journey, lying on that plush surface, Mercedes had cried out in pain.
Wasn’t this a comfortable place?
What made it so difficult?
Carlos, who had slept atop a horse during war, found it hard to believe that the carriage’s motion could affect one’s health.
‘It’s not as if she’s under some curse.’
Carlos smiled bitterly.
Upon hearing the Imperial Physician’s further report, he learned that since leaving Shaym, Mercedes had been running a fever. Her neck was so swollen she could not swallow food.
Moreover, the medicine…
‘She refuses to take it.’
“So she hasn’t eaten anything all this time?”
“We administered soup and medicine through her mouth after putting her to sleep with a soothing incense. That was the best we could do.”
“…Haa. So she’s asleep now?”
“She may have woken. Her nerves are too agitated; the incense doesn’t work well anymore. From what I’ve heard from her guards, she hasn’t slept properly since leaving Shaym. They’ve seen her lying awake at night, sitting silently.”
“…Anything else?”
The more he listened, the more infuriated he became.
She neither ate nor drank, just sat motionless with wide, vacant eyes. She seemed more like a corpse than a living person.
‘Then again. She did want to die.’
The voice from the courtroom—begging to be killed—now returned to him.
Even for Carlos, this action had been somewhat excessive.
He had ruthlessly pressured Shaym, so he needed to at least soothe the situation. And the duties he had neglected while imprisoned in Shaym now chased him down, demanding attention during the return journey.
Thus, he had to reach the capital as quickly as possible.
“…There is no choice. I will go and speak with her. You rest.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He had planned to dress properly and hold a formal conversation upon reaching the capital.
But with their slow, crawling overland journey, he had no choice but to act.
He wiped away his bitter smile and furrowed brow, replacing them with a gentle smile—perfectly the face of a ruler.
He must not show a bad impression.
Having spoken with the Imperial Physician where Mercedes could not hear, he walked without hesitation toward her carriage.
Tap. Tap.
He knocked twice, but received no response. Carlos did not wait—he simply opened the door. The Emperor could do as he pleased.
“…”
Even as the door opened, Mercedes did not turn to look at him. She sat slumped against the back, staring blankly.
‘Truly, a corpse.’
Carlos entered the carriage and sat at the far end.
“I heard you haven’t eaten or taken your medicine.”
“…”
“If the Emperor commands, will you restore your health?”
“…Ah. Emperor… Your Majesty.”
At the word “Emperor,” Mercedes finally turned her eyes to him.
Her hair, nearly golden in its pale hue, and her green eyes were unmistakably beautiful—though utterly devoid of vitality.
There was a haunting, fragile beauty about her, as though she were on the verge of death.
Carlos gazed at her quietly, then offered a slightly warmer smile.
“So. Do you wish to die?”
“…To die. Yes. I wish to die… There is no reason to live.”
She truly wished to die. Carlos did not know everything about Mercedes’s life.
She was the murderer of the Crown Prince. Simply rescuing her from her prison cell had kept him occupied. He had had no time to dig into the secrets a high noblewoman of a foreign land might wish to hide.
But he could guess at least something of why she had killed the Crown Prince.
She could have died alone. She could have ended her life by her own hand. But she made it into a grand affair. That was clearly… an act of vengeance.
Even after entering the palace, and even before, Mercedes had always lived in seclusion, never appearing in society.
Thus, the only person besides the Crown Prince who could have given her reason for vengeance was one.
“Then I’ll ask only one thing.”
“…”
“Don’t you care about your father’s well-being?”
“…Huh?”
“Count Cromwell. Don’t you wonder how he is faring?”
“Huh?”
For a moment, a faint glimmer of light appeared in Mercedes’s ghostly eyes.
“…Well… go… lock…”
She murmured haltingly.
“He surely… was exterminated… right?”
“Do you think so?”
As Carlos questioned her, Mercedes’s eyes trembled.
Carlos knew well.
To live, one needs a purpose.
Even the smallest one. People live for reasons as trivial as craving a single apple.
Mercedes wished to die, perhaps because she believed her vengeance was complete.
Then why not give her a reason to live? A purpose?
Vengeance itself.
Carlos was the one who could aid her in vengeance. He was the one who could provide her with precise information and care for her.
“…Is Count Cromwell… alive?”
As her voice quickened, it cracked like a terrible metallic sound.
Yet to Carlos, that question rang utterly clear.
“You need to drink water. Bring warm water.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
One of his many attendants swiftly brought warm water.
Though the Emperor himself, humbly, handed her the water from a flask, Mercedes shook her head.
“Count Cromwell… cough… is he… cough… alive?”
Her eyes, waiting for an answer, were filled with bloodshot intensity.
She had been corpse-like moments ago, yet now brimmed with human vitality. Negative emotions, after all, were the most intense things that flowed from a person.
Carlos silently suppressed the faint satisfaction rising within him, his expression serious.
“Yes. He is alive.”
He answered lightly.
Carlos knew well.
Managing people was not difficult.
Winning their hearts was the same.
Give Mercedes what she needs, and she will cling to life on her own.
“I know two things for certain. Count Cromwell did not die. There was no extermination of his house.”
“Why… why?”
“Why? Since the Crown Prince died, didn’t you think the power struggle in Shaym, already crowded with candidates, intensified? Didn’t you think Count Cromwell, quick-witted, clung to the stronger side to survive? Or that he might have deliberately been the first to condemn you, showing signs of repentance?”
“…Ah.”
“Further details need verification… but rumors also circulate that the Crown Prince, your husband, had an illegitimate child—and that Count Cromwell has taken that child with him.”
“An… illegitimate child…?”
It was not surprising to Mercedes. The Crown Prince had been dissolute; an illegitimate child was plausible.
Yet even so, her eyes sharpened, filling with something more than mere emotion.
It was feeling. Anger—or sorrow—beyond Carlos’s imagination.
Carlos watched her silently.
“He didn’t… die. Only I… was meant to die.”
Mercedes murmured, as if thinking. Carlos waited patiently.
After a long while of muttering, Mercedes fixed her vacant gaze squarely on Carlos.
At last, she spoke.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
MANGA DISCUSSION
1 Comment
Chapter Comments (16)
Live girl, so u can kill them all. And was he really fall in love with her?
Carlos asked, slightly embarrassed as he ruffled his hair—almost as if he was carefully observing her reaction.
He’s cute 😂
Mercedes had always worn a corset—even when sleeping—under the pretext of maintaining proper posture and a slender waist. If it slipped, she was whipped. As punishment.
That’s crazy! They tortured her 😢
YOUR COMMENT
2. Inline comments are now available. Tap the end of any line in a chapter to share your thoughts instantly.
Log in to comment.
Blairwoods
“The news spread across neighboring nations in an instant. The Kingdom of Shaym suffered great humiliation.”
I don’t like war but hope ML conquer that country.