My Husband Has Changed (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 3
“How rude.”
Adel’s round eyes instantly sharpened. She squirmed, trying to pull her wrist free from Oscar’s grip. The harder she struggled, the tighter his hold became. He bent slightly at the waist with a smirk and met her gaze.
“Rudeness isn’t something you should ask me about—it’s the servants you ought to question.”
“……”
“For someone addressed as Grand Duchess, you wander about draped in rags as if mocking yourself.”
His eyes brimmed with pity, as if asking which noblewoman in all the world would endure such treatment.
“Adelheid… are you truly content with this?”
As Oscar said, her life differed greatly from that of other noblewomen. She never had new clothes made each season, never hosted social gatherings, and rarely even ate warm meals.
Outwardly, it was a penance she’d chosen herself, claiming she couldn’t enjoy comfort while the Grand Duke was away at war—but in truth, it had been a half-forced choice, driven by constant scrutiny and pressure.
“……”
Still, she couldn’t bring herself to admit it openly before Oscar. No matter how trampled she felt, this was her last shred of dignity……
Adel barely managed a nod.
“Of course I’m satisfied—it was my own choice. Butler Hermann is fair, and besides…”
“Liar.”
Oscar cut her off sharply. As if to prove his point, he painfully lifted her wrist upward. Her wrist throbbed as though it might snap, yet Adel barely suppressed a groan.
Showing fear or pain would only expose a weakness.
“Wearing clothes even maids wouldn’t touch, shoes worn thin, and outer garments that don’t match the season.”
“……”
“And not a single knight in sight to defend a noble Grand Duchess suffering such rudeness.”
“Let go of me. If you don’t…”
He let out a mocking chuckle, as if he’d never heard anything so ridiculous.
“If I don’t? Will you call your scullery maids?”
“……”
“This spectacle will surely become common gossip.”
Moisture gathered in her pale green eyes, barely held back. Helplessness crushed her. Though Greta always denied it, Adel’s position was that of a noble prisoner—her status noble in name only.
Whether maids, guards, or even lowly knights—no one would ever stand against their master’s own kin for her sake.
“Innocent Adel. You really ought to understand how men look at you.”
How could she not know? For months already, the guards had been subtly eyeing her figure, which had lately become more womanly. She’d begun carrying a dull dagger sharpened herself long before that.
If not for the hollow title of Grand Duchess of Ansgar—and the Northerners’ fragile respect for House Ansgar—she’d have been utterly defenseless……
Oscar watched her, certain she understood his words, with a peculiar gleam in his eye. Under that blatant gaze, Adel’s body stiffened.
“So don’t wander alone like this. At least keep Greta with you at all times.”
He pressed his thumb firmly against Adel’s pale lower lip. Her breath grew shallow. From the very beginning, Oscar had wanted only one thing from her.
Fear and submission.
Adel pushed him with all her strength, but Oscar didn’t budge. She couldn’t fathom what had gotten into him. He’d always fled at the mere shadow of his elder brother, acting the rogue with no regard for hierarchy—but never like this.
“Your Highness!”
At the urgent voice, Oscar jerked his head up. People were approaching from the far end of the corridor. He immediately loosened his grip on Adel and stepped back five paces.
“Your Highness. There you are. We’ve been searching for you for some time.”
An elderly man at the head of the approaching group bowed respectfully toward them. It was Butler Hermann, accompanied by several guards behind him.
The butler glanced between Adel, still visibly shaken, and Oscar, and seemed to grasp the situation at once. A faint grimace flickered across the old man’s face.
“And, my lord. Had you sent word of your return, we would have properly sent someone to receive you.”
“Why bother? It’s my home—I’ll come and go as I please.”
Oscar lazily shrugged his shoulders. Hermann turned his head as if he hadn’t heard a word and, with minimal courtesy, asked Adel,
“Your Highness, you look unwell. Are you alright?”
“Of course I’m fi—fine. I was just… a little startled. What’s happened?”
“A messenger has just arrived from Nordthoven.”
Nordthoven. The name sounded familiar. Adel searched her memory.
“Nordthoven… isn’t that where the Grand Duke is stationed?”
“Yes. They say last week, early in the month, our forces advanced as far as the Janu River. They exchanged Renal and Varta and reached a truce. It’s a victory.”
As Hermann delivered the news, Oscar stepped back into the corridor’s shadows. He wore a twisted smile, as if he already knew everything—and that smug expression felt deeply ominous.
“And…”
Adel sensed this was the real matter. Hermann hesitated briefly before speaking.
“The Grand Duke has fallen in the final battle.”
For a moment, Adel couldn’t comprehend Hermann’s words. The Grand Duke—her husband by law.
“Fallen…?”
Her olive-green eyes widened in shock as understanding finally sank in.
“That can’t be. What do you mean…?”
Denial spilled out instinctively,
“The courier from the battlefield confirmed it repeatedly. Grand Duke Valentin Karzu Albrecht von Ansgar has passed. This sword is both his relic and proof.”
The reply came back crisp and clear, as if patiently enduring someone too slow to understand.
Adel took the sword from Hermann’s hands—the Grand Duke’s blood dried thick upon it. Her fingers trembled.
“The coffin should arrive within three days. The proper funeral rites will be observed…”
Hermann’s words barely registered. Her mind, stunned by shock, creaked like a rusted hinge. Suddenly, she felt a heavy gaze from the shadows—Oscar’s.
He looked at her as one might a soft, sweet morsel ready to melt on the tongue.
His lips curled upward with unmistakable pleasure. They moved soundlessly, forming a cursed smile.
‘Smile, Adel.’
A sticky,
breath.
‘Isn’t this good news for us?’
[This is the timeline separator]The Grand Duke of Ansgar’s coffin arrived exactly on the fourth day after the news reached them, as the messenger and coffin had departed the battlefield simultaneously.
Adel opened the coffin in the presence of a priest to confirm her husband’s face.
“……”
The body was already well over ten days old. With the hurried journey from the front, there’d been no time for salting. Contrary to her grim expectations, Valentin appeared intact—his skin merely bluish, as if he might stir awake at any moment……
Without taking her eyes from his face, Adel asked the priest standing beside her,
“Is this usual?”
“Pardon?”
“Is it usually like this—just as if he were sleeping deeply…”
She let her words trail off. What she truly meant was, why did he look so undisturbed? The priest, not reading deeper meaning into her question, answered plainly.
“In truth, it’s somewhat unusual for a body recovered from the battlefield. There’s no visible mortal wound, and though his pulse and breath have ceased, there’s no sign of decay at all… It’s astonishing.”
Still unable to tear her gaze from the coffin, Adel murmured,
“…It feels as if His Grace might awaken any moment.”
“Perhaps it is the grace of Lord Morrig’s power. He is the protector of Ansgar.”
The myth told that the lords of Ansgar were ever shielded by Morrig’s divine favor. She gave a faint nod.
“That may be so.”
“Now that you’ve confirmed his identity, I shall close the coffin. Your Highness, please return to your quarters as soon as possible. Tomorrow will be exceedingly demanding.”
Adel watched the priest close the coffin, overwhelmed by conflicting emotions. Though her husband’s death was shocking, it had not deeply wounded her soul.
In a world where noblewomen routinely lost husbands to war, marrying the Grand Duke of Ansgar—a commander frequently dispatched to battle—had long ago sealed her fate as though confined to a convent.
At dawn the next day, Adel boarded a carriage with priests. By custom, when a lord died, his coffin was draped in black cloth and paraded through the domain. At every point the funeral procession passed, the people of Ansgar threw garlands woven from fir branches as a sign of respect.
House Ansgar ruled two-thirds of the vast Bitzleben territory. Circling only the major cities with cathedrals took a full three days.
On the fifth night, after the long journey, the Grand Duke’s coffin was brought to the central audience hall of the main fortress.
“…that’s the rumor going around.”
Just as Adel was about to ascend the stairs after confirming the coffin had been placed in its stone sarcophagus, she heard whispering voices gathered on the upper corridor. She started to slip away quietly—but then stopped at what came next.
“So by that logic, is Her Grace supposed to be Saint Degunda herself now? What nonsense.”
“Still, for one so young, she’s remarkably composed.”
“It’s admirable how she endures. Despite her youth, she’s never once shown how hard it’s been.”
“You lot are laughable. Have you already forgotten? Because of that sham marriage, House Ansgar suffered immense losses.”
“True enough… The Grand Duke even sold the heirloom passed down for generations just to obtain that Healer…”
The voices suddenly dropped too low for Adel to catch. After a brief silence, another maid spoke.
“So what will become of Her Grace now?”
“Barring any unforeseen events, she’ll likely take lifelong vows in a convent. Ultimately, it’ll be the Duke’s decision.”
A Denburg woman’s fate always rested in the hands of the men of her house: from father to husband, then to son upon the husband’s death—or if childless, to the nearest male blood relative, and so on… It was a dreadful chain.
And Valentin’s only brother was Oscar. Adel swallowed hard against the suffocating tightness in her chest.
‘I must write a letter to the parish priest immediately, stating my intention to take lifelong vows. To be prepared for any eventuality, I must act without delay.’
Lost in thought, Adel weighed her options. Then, suddenly aware of a shadow falling over her, she lifted her head.
“There you are.”
Male lead says he’s pregnant — and it’s female lead’s child
Something seems a bit off about this world.
Wang Zhao thought as she watched a pregnant man walking towards her…
Intro
Female lead finds herself in a world where the men who possess the ability to bear children.
As she navigates this unfamiliar reality, she is caught off guard by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend, who reveals that he is pregnant.
Is this truly her boyfriend?
Why can’t she recall any details about their time together?
She begins to doubt whether the child her boyfriend is carrying is even hers.
Is there a hidden reason behind her amnesia, or could it be a side effect of her sudden arrival in this strange new world?
Just when it seems the protagonist’s life couldn’t become any more entangled, her ex-boyfriend makes an unexpected appearance, raising questions about the protagonist’s past.
__________
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