Woke Up And I'm A Married Woman (17 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 9

If Diana finds out I’ve woken up, she’ll surely try to lure me into a trap somehow.

‘I’ll just have to trust Grisha.’

Besides, even if that weren’t the case, the inheritance will be mine in a month. And after that…

After that?

‘Huh?’

I blinked belatedly, realizing something I hadn’t noticed until now.

I’d been maintaining this marriage because as long as I had a husband, even if someone killed me, the inheritance would go to Cedar. But then—

‘Isn’t that the same as dragging Cedar into my life?’

If I kept my marital status with Cedar even after receiving the inheritance, he’d inevitably appear somewhere in my future.

‘Cedar said he needed a wife.’

Why would he need one? Considering he seemed even happier that his wife was comatose, it seemed he truly only needed the existence of a wife—nothing more.

‘Then, would it be fine if I just left far away while keeping our marriage intact? From Cedar’s perspective, a sleeping wife and a wife who’s gone far away wouldn’t make much difference.’

I’d have to discuss this seriously with Cedar later, once he came looking for me.

‘Anyway, he did say I could use the second floor however I liked.’

I needed writing tools. After rummaging diligently through every nook and cranny of the house, I managed to find an ink bottle and a quill in a room on the first floor.

‘Pencils would’ve been nicer, but well—nothing in this world goes exactly as I wish.’

I could only hope my hands, unused to drawing magic circles for so long, would obey my will.

Standing in the second-floor hallway, I dipped the quill deep into the ink and began drawing a magic circle on the walls and floor.

It wasn’t anything extraordinary—just a basic circle to draw slightly more mana toward me, the kind commonly inscribed in a mage’s personal space.

Mages are sensitive to mana, so they inscribe circles like this to control their surroundings.

In my case, being even more sensitive, I needed a more complex circle than most.

‘Grisha once said I was like a cat always hiding my house.’

If it were pencil, I could erase mistakes, but ink was unforgiving. I carefully drew each stroke with utmost caution.

How long had I been so absorbed? By the time I finished the circle, hours had slipped away unnoticed.

“Whew.”

Staring at the completed magic circle, I flopped backward onto the floor. My arms trembled weakly.

‘Physically, nothing’s changed—so why do I feel so utterly drained?’

As I lay there pondering this, the answer struck me almost immediately.

Because Professor Galgu wasn’t here!

[Can’t you work any faster? At this rate, will you even get to sleep tonight?] [Miss Nelly, you’re stealing my time right now.] [How about brewing me a strong cup of Jerusalem artichoke tea?]

“Ugh!”

The moment those imagined scoldings from my professors popped into my head, I recoiled in trauma and shot straight up.

“Hah… hah… such terrifying people.”

Everyone had strongly urged me to stay at the academy even after I received my mage certification.

‘Now I see—it was all just a scheme to exploit my labor cheaply!’

They’d pretended to hold a certification exam, then boom—declared me an Archmage. Thank goodness I hadn’t signed that pre-graduation pledge binding me to lifelong research at the academy.

“How could anyone willingly return to the academy they barely escaped… Wait!”

Wiping cold sweat from my brow with my sleeve, I froze in shock—my clothes were completely stained with ink.

‘Well, I suppose that’s what happens when you crawl around a hallway in white clothes drawing magic circles.’

At least the ink hadn’t smudged the circle.

I could feel the magic circle working properly—the swirling mana brushing past me like a cool autumn breeze.

‘Now that the circle’s done, I need to change clothes and find something to eat.’

My stomach finally echoed its agreement with a loud growl, just a beat too late.

But then another problem emerged.

‘I have no clothes.’

My coma-like state from mana exhaustion had literally paused my body.

Not only had I stopped aging, but all physiological functions had ceased entirely.

So naturally, I hadn’t needed clothing—but—

‘Still, having literally nothing to wear is just cruel.’

I couldn’t wander around in an ink-stained outfit. Rising carefully on tiptoe, I crept quietly down to the first floor.

‘While searching for the pen earlier, I think I glimpsed a room that looked like a woman’s.’

Even after years asleep, my memory remained sharp.

Without hesitation, I headed straight for the room with deep violet wallpaper and frilly lace curtains, then opened the door.

Behind a hidden door on the inner wall of the bedroom lay a walk-in closet filled with various dresses.

‘Just as I thought—this room holds women’s clothing.’

Stepping inside, I saw not only dresses but also lace-trimmed hats and necklaces.

It wasn’t an enormous collection—just enough for someone stopping by this mansion to spend a single night and change clothes. Frowning, I muttered to myself.

“Could this possibly be a lover’s room?”

Cedar’s lover, huh…

‘Not that it’s any of my business.’

I tried imagining her face for a moment, then quickly gave up—Diana’s face kept flashing in my mind instead.

‘This is a terrible prejudice. I’m just transferring my personal resentment onto someone else.’

After scolding myself, I picked the least frilly dress from the wardrobe.

‘She won’t mind if I borrow this, right?’

Even if she did mind, there was nothing she could do—it was force majeure. If she were the kind of person to get angry over something like this, she’d surely be furious anyway about my ink stains all over the house.

Having swiftly made peace with reality, I popped open the buttons one by one and slipped into the new dress.

‘Wait—how exactly do you wear this thing?’

Why so many buttons? And so many ribbons? And the fabric—so soft it slid right off my body.

After an arduous struggle, I barely managed to get dressed—though “dressed” might be too generous a word.

Exhausted just from that, I collapsed onto the nearest sofa before even making it out the door.

‘I should probably rest here until this dizziness passes.’

Lying on the sofa, I regretted not inventing a spell that automatically dressed people.

But then I immediately regretted that regret—there were far too many variables to configure for such a spell.

‘The magic would have to adapt to each person’s body shape and the type of clothing…’

While lost in these thoughts, I drifted off to sleep without realizing it. And when I opened my eyes again—

‘The moon?’

A bright silver-gray moon gazed down at me.

Only after rubbing my dry eyes with the back of my hand did I realize this moon could actually speak.

“…What on earth are you wearing?”

And not only could it speak—it had a terribly annoying tone.

[This is the timeline separator]

‘Did I accidentally sleep away several more days without even noticing?’

My mind went blank for a moment at the sight of Cedar, who shouldn’t have been visible to me.

I was so flustered I even wondered if I’d briefly slipped back into a coma.

Yet through all that, my lips moved smoothly enough.

“What’s wrong with how I look?”

“You’ve put your clothes on wrong.”

Cedar clicked his tongue and extended his large hand toward me—a rough, calloused hand like a block of hardened wood.

‘Strange.’

When I took it, my own hand felt absurdly soft by comparison.

But before I could even process that softness, he yanked me upright in one firm pull.

Then, deftly untangling my hair from where it had caught in the cascading fabric, he began lecturing me.

“This dress is far too big for you. You look like a child playing dress-up in her mother’s clothes.”

He tugged tightly on the laces at the back of my waist. Instantly, the loose fabric cinched snugly into place, naturally shaping the dress to my form.

‘No wonder it kept slipping off me.’

But the way he adjusted my clothes felt far too practiced. I shook the overly long sleeves covering my knuckles and blurted out,

“So you prefer full-figured women, I see.”

“Are you bringing up my ‘preferences’ again?”

He frowned and chuckled quietly, then stepped back a pace before speaking.

“But you did very well figuring out to take clothes from that room yourself. If you need anything, just take it from there. It’s fine to throw things away too.”

That sounded odd. Tilting my head, I asked,

“It’s not your lover’s room, is it?”

At that, Cedar’s forehead furrowed sharply again. He replied in a curt tone,

“What kind of man do you think I am? According to you, I’m apparently a husband who keeps a full-figured, sleep-loving mistress on the side—even though I already have a wife.”

“Well, of course I assumed it was a lover’s clothes.”

A neatly kept collection of women’s clothing in a bachelor’s house—wouldn’t anyone assume it belonged to a lover?

Sighing, I corrected myself. So this must be—

“Your ex-lover’s clothes, then.”

“Why do you keep jumping to conclusions like that?”

“Because my husband is handsome, obviously?”

“Hand…”

Cedar’s mouth twitched as if utterly baffled. Then, abruptly, he turned his head away—his ears oddly flushed red.

“Anyway, there’s no such person. Stop imagining things, and if anything comes to mind, make sure to run it by me first.”

“How am I supposed to ‘run thoughts by you’? You’re even worse than my professors.”

“Only for you—because you’re always thinking the strangest things.”

“Me?”

That I was the one always thinking strange things was news to me.

Puffing my cheeks like a goldfish, I tilted my head again.

“You said you barely come home—so why are you here again today?”

This time, not just his ears but even his tanned neck flushed crimson in an instant.

“…I should probably head back out.”

Why such an exaggerated reaction? Had I accidentally hit a nerve and flustered him?

I pointed at him with my index finger and declared,

“Ah! You came to check if I’d escaped!”

“No, you foolish woman!”

Oops. I’d thought he was blushing from embarrassment—but it seemed he was actually angry.