My Husband Hid His Regression, So I Hid Mine Too

Author: Asternkm

“Odely, as of today, our contract has ended.”

The cold voice pierced her like a blade.

Ludville Exepsion.

It was a cold declaration of parting, fitting for the ruler of the North.

Odely looked at the marriage contract lying on the desk.

As if no one had ever taken it out before, it was still pure white without a single sign of age.

“This is the payment we agreed on. Please accept it.”

He held out the documents.

It was a certificate stating that Odely Cardel and the Cardel family had lost all familial and legal ties.

There were also land deeds, a list of properties, and alimony documents.

Odely paused for a moment when she saw the amount.

“You don’t have to give me this much. As you know, I…”

She let the end of her sentence fade away, took a slow breath, and spoke again.

“…don’t think I’ll be alive for much longer.”

But Ludville cut her off without hesitation.

“You’ll need it.”

“…”

Odely raised her eyes and looked at him.

A blank expression, perfectly neat clothes, and a posture without the slightest flaw.

As always, he looked flawlessly perfect.

Even if she collapsed right in front of him this very moment, he would calmly call a physician before heading off to carry out his scheduled plans without delay.

The man who was her husband only on paper through a contract marriage was that kind of person.

He never wasted either time or emotions.

So Odely did not ask.

Why he was giving so much to someone who would soon die.

You must have calculated even this from the beginning.

Ludville briefly looked over the contract with his usual emotionless gaze.

Maintain the marriage for five years.

No private conversations, no physical contact, live separately in the detached palace…

They had followed every condition without fail.

After confirming that the agreed payment had also been made in full, he burned the stack of papers in the candle flame without the slightest hesitation.

As if they were nothing more than meaningless sheets of paper now.

The contract burned away in an instant, without even leaving ashes behind.

As though those five years had meant nothing.

“…”

The end.

Yes, this was how it ended.

“You’ve worked hard all this time.”

At the Grand Duke’s words, Odely stood there in a daze for a moment.

Considering that it had always been a clear employer-and-contractor relationship, there could hardly have been a farewell more simple and direct than that.

He was the employer.

She was the contractor.

He hired.

She worked.

Even so, they had been connected as husband and wife for five long years.

Couldn’t there have been a more fitting goodbye?

The thought crossed her mind… but she knew even that was asking too much.

“Is there anything else you need?”

So when Ludville asked as though he would grant whatever she requested,

“…I’ve already received more than enough.”

Odely answered while holding back her emotions as much as she could.

She wanted to leave a good final impression on the man who had always wanted a clean, uncomplicated relationship.

But…

The end…

When she realized that the true end of her life was not far away,

she wanted to leave behind at least a few final words.

Something truly pathetic…

In the end, Odely could no longer swallow the emotions rising painfully into her throat.

“I liked you.”

The words slipped out.

“The day I took your hand, it wasn’t because I wanted to survive.

It was because it was you.”

“…”

“Looking back… that’s how it was.”

She wasn’t confessing because she expected anything.

She was going to die anyway.

She simply wanted,

if only for a brief moment,

to become the one variable that could never have been predicted inside the perfectly calculated mind of the man before her.

She wanted to throw those feelings at him—

to tell him that she had carried an emotion that had never existed in his plans.

Maybe…

just maybe…

he would be surprised, even for a second.

Even though she knew he never would.

“I didn’t care who it was.”

“…”

“You just happened to be the one who fit the conditions best.”

Yet he accepted her confession as calmly as someone who had heard the same words a hundred times before.

Right.

Of course.

He already knew.

Even the feelings she had believed she had hidden perfectly had been part of his calculations.

“Is that everything you wanted to say?”

Odely lowered her head and let out a small laugh.

Somehow, everything suddenly seemed ridiculous.

As expected, this man had been perfect from beginning to end.

Cold.

And without a single opening.

“Yes. There’s nothing else now.”

The feelings lodged in her heart like a nail gave another painful throb.

But Odely quickly decided it was nothing important.

First love.

A youthful crush.

Something like that.

Just one of those things everyone experiences at least once.

It had simply come to her later than it did for everyone else.

It wasn’t anything special.

“Thank you for everything.”

“…”

At Odely’s words, the man who had been looking at her with an expressionless face finally answered in a slow voice.

“We won’t meet again.”

It was a businesslike reply, leaving no room for misunderstanding.

So Odely thought it was better this way.

At least she had thrown away her pointless lingering feelings before she died.

That was the end.

The contract she had shared with him for five years.

***

Odely set out on a journey to find a place for her grave.

She had sensed that she did not have much time left to live.

She eventually settled in a quiet rural village she found along the way and began a new life as a healer.

Waiting quietly for the day death would finally come.

But then…

…Why am I still alive?

She still vividly remembered the days when she coughed up dark red blood while enduring pain so intense it felt as if her heart would burst.

Yet the body that had been steadily losing its vitality slowly began to recover.

And that wasn’t all.

I actually feel healthier than before…

It wasn’t just her imagination.

It was as though her body was rebuilding itself into its healthiest possible state.

How is this even possible?

It was nothing short of a miracle.

She had no idea why it had happened, but since she was alive, she simply went wherever life carried her.

Ordinary days followed.

She treated patients, sorted medicinal herbs, took walks around the edge of the village, and occasionally visited the marketplace, enjoying a quiet, peaceful routine.

Peace.

Happiness.

Stability.

She felt as though she had finally found those things.

Perhaps for the first time since leaving her family behind.

Living like this… wouldn’t be so bad.

Every now and then, a deep loneliness would quietly rise within her.

Whenever it did, the feelings she had kept burning silently for five years before finally burning out would begin to smolder once more, like dying embers.

Regret.

Such a pointless emotion.

But now she had a tomorrow.

Because of that, she no longer let those feelings consume her.

Just like that, a year passed in the blink of an eye.

It was around the time Odely had grown accustomed to each day she remained alive.

Without any warning, the Grand Duke’s aide arrived, dressed in black mourning clothes.

“His Grace the Grand Duke has passed away.”

He had come to deliver the news of her former husband’s death.

“…What?”

“…”

“That can’t be…”