The Strongest Man’s Fake Wife Wants to Live Chapter 29

Marquis Clark approached while calling for Io, then stopped short when he spotted Pesha and Owen.

“Oh, Count Namoi. What brings you here? This is a place you can’t enter unless you’ve been invited.”

His tone, which naturally assumed they could not possibly have been invited, somehow resembled the way his daughter spoke.

Annoyed, Pesha gave him a curt reply.

“We were invited.”

Marquis Clark looked surprised.

“The Namoi family received an invitation? That can’t be. Perhaps Countess Namoi had some connections from back when she was Lady Rydell?”

Pesha was dumbfounded by his blatant disregard and said nothing. Marquis Clark shrugged and brought up another subject.

“Anyway, have you thought about my proposal?”

A hollow laugh escaped her.

She had thought he was lowballing her because he had no intention of signing a contract, but it was astonishing that he actually believed she would accept even after being offered those terms.

“What proposal?”

“The potion contract, of course. I assume you’re dragging things out to raise the price, but you should know that I was already being generous with those terms. With purification mages like this girl, our Io, around, a potion like that can’t have much influence.”

Marquis Clark did not stop there. He even clicked his tongue as though he felt sorry for Pesha.

“Well, if it really bothers you, I suppose I could raise the terms a little, considering that you’re Io’s friend.”

“Ohhh. So you can raise them a little.”

His condescending generosity was infuriating.

Just as Pesha was beginning to wonder whether she should simply leave regardless of the duke’s invitation, the surroundings grew somewhat noisy.

She turned her head and saw Duke Pontroy entering through the entrance to the party hall.

It was not a particularly remarkable sight, except for one astonishing thing.

He was not using his cane as usual.

Duke Pontroy stood straight on both legs and walked without the slightest limp.

His movements were smooth and natural, as though he had never had trouble with his body in the first place.

“What happened? Duke Pontroy always used to walk with a cane.”

“Did his leg get better?”

“That can’t be. I heard it was an injury caused by a monster. Wasn’t that why it couldn’t be treated for such a long time?”

“Could it be the young lady of House Clark?”

“The marquis’s daughter?”

“She’s a purification mage, so perhaps she helped him. I heard she would be attending today’s party too.”

The closer Duke Pontroy came, the louder the murmurs grew.

But just when it seemed as though Duke Pontroy was heading toward Io, his footsteps passed her by and stopped directly in front of Pesha.

“Countess Namoi, you came! And Count Namoi looks quite dashing today as well!”

The duke’s face was filled with delight as he greeted them warmly.

“Your Grace. Happy birthday, truly.”

Duke Pontroy broke into a hearty laugh after receiving Pesha’s greeting.

“Thank you for the congratulations. Thanks to your purification potion, I’m having the best birthday of my life!”

At that, one of the nobles asked Duke Pontroy,

“Your Grace, does this mean you can walk without a cane now?”

“That’s right.”

“I heard it was a lingering effect of an illness, but how—”

“An illness? The injury to my leg is a mark left by a monster attack long ago.”

“A monster? This is the first I’ve heard of it.”

“Would I go around telling everyone about something pleasant? But thanks to Countess Namoi’s potion, which purifies the monster aura, I was able to return to the way I was before.”

As Duke Pontroy gave all the credit to Pesha, curious gazes immediately fell upon her.

There was no one in the Empire who did not know what kind of person Count Namoi was, but his wife, whom he had married in a political marriage, was not nearly as well-known as Owen himself.

Naturally, the news that Count Namoi’s wife had healed Duke Pontroy’s leg drew everyone’s interest.

“A potion like that actually exists?”

“This is the first I’ve heard of it. I’m truly curious.”

As though he had been waiting for such a reaction, Duke Pontroy began introducing the potion to the people around him.

“I was fortunate enough to have my leg healed, but there are still many people in the east who are suffering.”

“But aren’t there already monster purification potions on the market?”

“They’re only minimally effective, but this one is astonishingly effective. If the Countess’s medicine were available, the circumstances of those suffering from monster aura would improve considerably.”

“Ohh. It even healed a leg that had already been injured… That’s truly remarkable.”

“This groundbreaking potion is under an exclusive contract with the Pontroy Merchant Guild, and it will soon be sold throughout the Empire.”

A monster purification potion that even Duke Pontroy—who had surely encountered every good and impressive thing in the world—had personally vouched for, and one that was more effective than existing products.

Just hearing about it, it was easy to predict that it would sell like hotcakes.

Several quick-thinking nobles immediately recognized the value of a potion that could earn them both the honor of helping the people as nobles and substantial financial profits.

And with the support of the Pontroy Merchant Guild, one of the largest merchant guilds in the Empire, it was obvious that simply attaching themselves to the business would almost guarantee success.

Those whose minds had become impatient began watching for any opportunity to speak to Pesha.

Just then.

Hardly had the duke finished his introduction when Marquis Clark abruptly cut in.

“Wait a moment. An exclusive contract?”

“As you heard. I’ve already finished the contract with Countess Namoi.”

Marquis Clark flew into a rage.

“What do you mean by that?! The Countess came here to sign a contract with the Woods Merchant Guild!”

“But in the end, she didn’t sign a contract with Woods, did she?”

Marquis Clark was rendered speechless.

He had thought that if he lowered the value of the potion enough, Pesha would surely bow her head and come back to him.

He had never expected Duke Pontroy to smell an opportunity.

As Marquis Clark trembled with his shoulders shaking at the sight of the huge opportunity slipping away right before his eyes, Duke Pontroy deliberately spoke to Pesha.

“Countess, a potion needs a name if we’re going to sell it. Is there a name you would like to give it?”

“A name? Well… It’s a variety created by crossbreeding the Seed Flower and Roka Grass, so shall we call it Seedroka?”

“That’s an excellent name.”

Despite the rather half-hearted naming, Duke Pontroy seemed extremely pleased with it.

And it was not just anyone who had proven the potion’s effectiveness directly on the duke’s own body.

The nobles who had become interested tried to open conversations, hoping to find some way to invest in the potion’s production or distribution.

Then a sharp voice rang out from within the crowd.

“That’s impossible!”

When everyone turned around, Io was standing there with a face twisted with indignation.

“I know a little about purification power myself, and I’ve never heard of a medicine like that. What exactly are its ingredients that supposedly purify aura?”

Everyone’s eyes turned toward Pesha.

The accusatory question caught her somewhat off guard, but she thought that Io might naturally be curious as a purification mage, so she calmly answered.

“As I said before, the main ingredient is a new variety of grass created by crossbreeding Seed Flower and Roka Grass. Other medicinal herbs are also added, but I can’t reveal the exact formula.”

Io scoffed.

“Are you joking right now? If some purification herb were actually effective, purification mages like me wouldn’t even need to exist. And you didn’t even formally study herbalism, did you? You’ve only flipped through a few books, so what could you possibly know to be stepping forward like this?”

Pesha stared blankly at Io, startled by the completely unexpected reaction.

‘It may be to avoid meeting the end of the villainess Pesha Rydell, but back then, Io and I were inseparable best friends.’

Could all of that have simply been her own misunderstanding?

Io seemed desperate to belittle Pesha, going beyond merely being angry that someone had intruded into her territory.

“I don’t know what sort of trick you used on Duke Pontroy, but monster aura isn’t something that can be handled so easily.”

Io stated it firmly, as though it were an undeniable fact.

The corner of Pesha’s lips curled upward.

A moment later, Pesha asked with a calm expression,

“What if it can be?”