My Husband Hid His Regression, So I Hid Mine Too Chapter 59

“What exactly is the illness you suffer from?”

“…….”

Odely was at a loss for words for a moment.

It was the first time someone had actually asked her about it to her face.

Everyone else had simply believed the vague rumors spread by the Cardel family and left it at that.

“……My heart often hurts.”

Odely gave that answer to avoid telling the truth.

Most of the side effects of her purification ability involved heart pain or coughing up blood.

Perhaps this was actually for the best.

She was fine for now, but as time passed, her poor health would gradually become more obvious.

Hopefully, she would never be discovered, but perhaps it would be better to decide on an illness beforehand, just in case.

She was thinking that to herself when……

Castia’s questions didn’t stop.

“Regardless, it isn’t something that will be passed down to your children, is it? The young lady is the first person in the Cardel family to have this mutation of being physically weak.”

“……I suppose not.”

“At least that’s fortunate. But other than that, there isn’t much to see.”

For some reason, Odely felt as though she understood why Ludville had imprisoned the former Grand Duchess……

No. She shouldn’t think like that.

She couldn’t think someone deserved such treatment just because they had an unusual personality.

Even though Odely was reaching the limit of her patience for the first time in a while, she forced herself to smile awkwardly.

“Still, surely you have at least learned swordsmanship?”

“……No.”

“You haven’t?”

Castia looked at her in disbelief, as if she couldn’t understand how that was possible.

Then, after lightly taking Odely’s hand, she narrowed her eyes as though she had finally understood.

“Smooth, delicate skin…… There isn’t a trace of training. A single snowstorm would knock you down.”

“I’m not quite that weak……”

“Have you ever defeated a monster? Surely you’ve at least fought something like a ‘Rizzle’?”

“……Do I really have to defeat one?”

“Judging by the look of you, you haven’t even caught a single rat, let alone a Rizzle.”

Odely couldn’t argue because, in fact, she had never caught one.

‘But why would I need to catch one?’

This was the first time since her regression that Odely had ever been rendered this speechless.

Was the former Grand Duchess’s standard for choosing her adopted son’s future wife ‘high combat ability’?

Could that possibly be why she had adopted Ludville in the first place?

When Odely remained silent, Castia stared at her for a moment before letting out a sigh.

“You seem to be weak of heart as well.”

If she stayed quiet like this, she would end up looking like a timid person who could be blown away by a single gust of wind.

Odely had no choice but to step in and explain herself.

“I’m not as weak as I look.”

“Is that so? Then throw a punch at me.”

“……What?”

Castia seemed completely serious.

She opened her large, calloused palm and held it out in front of Odely.

As if telling her to punch it.

‘Why does she keep testing my combat ability?’

After enduring Castia’s fierce gaze and repeated silent urging, Odely eventually threw a punch.

Thud.

Quite hard, too.

At her mother-in-law’s hand……

“Are you joking? Do it properly. I want to see the young lady’s true strength.”

It had been a genuine punch.

Odely was in the middle of feeling completely helpless when……

Footsteps came from the end of the hallway.

The heavy sound of military boots. Measured, disciplined steps.

A cold sense of authority and razor-sharp madness seemed to cross each other, making even the air feel cold and dangerous.

It was Ludville.

Without the slightest hesitation, he approached, wrapped an arm around Odely’s waist, and naturally moved her behind his back.

As if pulling her into his own territory.

Odely almost openly flinched in surprise, but then belatedly remembered.

‘Come to think of it, we’re supposed to be getting married because we’re genuinely in love with each other.’

Still, she hadn’t expected him to touch her so casually.

‘You could have warned me before doing something like this.’

Her heart had nearly stopped.

In any case, Ludville stared coldly at Castia and said,

“I would appreciate it if you refrained from saying unnecessary things to the woman who will become my wife.”

“…….”

The woman who will become my wife.

A title that should have felt strange and uncomfortable somehow felt as though it had finally found its proper place.

It was probably all because of the thousands of regressions she had witnessed through Ludville’s memories.

Odely firmly pressed down on her heart, which kept beating wildly on its own, and pretended not to understand her own feelings.

Then she remembered what Ludville had said a few days ago.

More precisely, Odely had been the one to ask first.

“If the former Grand Duchess comes, how should I treat her?”

Ludville’s answer had been as indifferent as ever.

“Don’t concern yourself with her. They may be my adoptive parents, but just like the contract between you and me, my relationship with them is nothing more than an arrangement based on mutual need.”

After a brief pause, he added,

“Once the ceremony is over, I won’t have any reason to see them again, nor will they have any reason to interfere deeply in my affairs. You don’t need to worry about it. What can they do? Once they adopted me and passed the title down to me, they have no right to take it back. ……Hmm. Still, if she bothers you, I can make sure you never have to worry about her again.”

“…….”

“Tell me if you need it.”

He was a man she had once loved terribly, but whenever he said things like this, she couldn’t help being at a loss for words.

What on earth had the former Grand Duchess of Exception seen in this man that made her adopt him?

‘His ability, perhaps?’

Seeing how she kept measuring Odely’s combat ability because she thought she looked weak, that seemed highly likely.

If ability was the standard, there was no one in the entire world who could compare to Ludville.

When she had asked Edwin about it, she learned that in this life, too, he was apparently known as a genius.

Not only did he possess outstanding swordsmanship, but whenever he encountered mages or shamans on the battlefield, he had easily learned their abilities as well.

‘They must all be things he’d already experienced before his regression.’

But when it came to his personality……

Odely glanced over to gauge his reaction.

Ludville simply stood there without any particular expression.

He just…… seemed completely uninterested.

‘At least he’s willing to keep his mouth shut…….’

He didn’t seem to have any plans to get rid of the former Grand Duchess yet.

More accurately, he didn’t even seem interested enough to go to the trouble of dealing with something so bothersome.

Still, she couldn’t let the former Grand Duchess be imprisoned.

Ludville had another hundred years or so ahead of him, and she couldn’t let him start his life with the label of a disgraceful son.

There was a high chance that the history of the Exception family would record him as the one who brought shame upon the family.

And the former Grand Duchess, too.

It was simply too tragic for her to meet such an end because she happened to have adopted the wrong son.

‘……Let’s give up on trying to impress the former Grand Duchess.’

If her standards for being impressed were strong physical stamina, outstanding combat ability, and practical experience surviving battles against monsters……

Odely was already disqualified.

Well, when using her purification ability, Odely was a one-of-a-kind existence whom no one could compare to. She had even caught a thief with her bare hands once.

But that wasn’t the kind of ability Castia wanted.

‘She just seems to want a female version of Ludville.’

Odely had no choice but to completely change her original goal of making a good impression on her.

‘Even if she doesn’t like my qualifications, let’s aim for simply being good enough that she won’t go as far as kicking me out of the position of Grand Duchess.’

Just achieving that would count as a success.

That was when it happened.

Castia quietly frowned as she watched Ludville hide Odely behind his back as though protecting her.

Then she let out a sigh as if the situation were giving her a terrible headache.

“I thought you were a wise person who understood reality better than anyone.”

“…….”

“I even let you be when you suddenly went mad over finding a blue-eyed woman. I thought that once it was time for you to settle down, you’d return to your rational self and think about producing an heir to carry on the family.”

She glanced down at Odely once.

A silver-haired young lady with a delicate, pale face and an air about her as if she might disappear at any moment.

“And yet you’re planning to make this frail woman the Grand Duchess of Exception?”