The Returning Husband Refuses to Divorce Chapter 15

“Crying?”

After hesitating for a moment, Ines quietly headed toward the sound.

At the end of the corridor was a small courtyard that received little sunlight.

Several maids had gathered there. At the center of the group, a petite girl stood with her head bowed, sniffling.

……May?

Ines recognized her immediately.

She was May Blanc, the personal maid who had recently been assigned to her.

Every morning, May woke Ines and attended to her needs. Yet Ines had never actually had a proper conversation with her.

Because she always avoided me.

Unlike the other maids, May never gossiped about Ines behind her back or gave her disrespectful looks.

However, she always maintained a certain distance from Ines, as though she were afraid someone might think she was close to the Duchess.

Her attitude had been so obvious that Ines had never made any particular effort to get closer to her, either……

“Filthy!”

One of the maids spat the word out.

May flinched.

“N-No, I’m not……”

“What do you mean, you’re not?”

Another maid laughed mockingly.

“If you came from a filthy place, then you’re filthy.”

Ines frowned at the blatant bullying.

“T-That’s not true! Our village is just……”

“Just what?”

“Are you making excuses now? In that state?”

The maids jeered at her.

“Your village is the only place with an epidemic that even the priests can’t cure!”

……An epidemic?

Ines suddenly remembered something Leo had told her a few days ago.

〈There’s a strange disease spreading through a village in the domain. Apparently, it’s been going on for quite a while.〉

Could he have been talking about May’s village?

“No! That’s not true! It’s not an epidemic!”

May cried out almost hysterically.

“It’s not contagious! It’s just…… that a lot of people happen to have the same illness.”

Perhaps feeling that her explanation wasn’t enough, May hurriedly added, “There’s a priest staying in our village, too. Everyone is receiving treatment. They’ll be fine soon.”

“Soon? When? How many times have we heard you say that already?”

“Don’t come any closer! You’ll catch the disease!”

The simplistic bullying made Ines knit her brows without even realizing it.

How childish.

At the same time, it was utterly disgusting.

Ines had no idea what this so-called strange disease actually was, but it was probably not contagious, just as May claimed.

Otherwise, there was no way May would still be working at the castle when rumors like that were spreading so openly.

More importantly, those maids would have run away first.

Instead of standing near May and tormenting her, they would have kept their distance.

Who would risk their own life just because they hated someone else?

But I suppose this isn’t unusual.

People often tried to secure their own place by pushing away those weaker than themselves.

Ines had experienced plenty of that firsthand.

Now, May was simply the one being targeted.

“Please…… give it back.”

May reached out with tearful eyes.

At some point, one of the maids had raised a necklace high above her head and was mocking May with it.

Ines’s gaze naturally fell on the pendant.

In that instant, her eyes changed.

What is that?

Dark crimson demonic energy enveloped the pendant.

This was far beyond ordinary contamination.

Even in the North, where the concentration of demonic energy was far higher than in other parts of the Empire, it was rare to encounter something this heavily tainted.

How could something like that……?

Demonic energy was invisible to the naked eye of anyone who did not possess holy power.

Ordinary people could only recognize the results of its influence—the things it had corroded or corrupted.

Could it be…… that none of them realize the condition that pendant is in?

That was quite a troublesome situation.

If left alone, it was only a matter of time before someone suffered the consequences of the demonic energy.

I can’t let that happen.

Although Ines was now an ordinary woman, no longer a candidate for Saintess or anything of the sort, the teachings of the temple—drilled into her from childhood to the point of near-brainwashing—still remained deeply embedded in her heart.

〈Purifying demonic energy is the duty and responsibility of those born with holy power.〉

It wasn’t that she had some grand sense of justice.

She simply couldn’t stand by after discovering something like that, not as someone born into a holy family.

And besides……

……It’s far too serious to ignore.

That was all.

That meager bit of compassion was enough to move Ines’s feet.

“You want it back? Then beg for it.”

The maids giggled among themselves.

Despair washed over May’s face.

Just then—

“How noisy.”

Everyone whipped their heads around to look at Ines.

With a cold expression, she approached them.

“What exactly are you all doing here?”

The maids hurriedly straightened up and bowed their heads.

Even if she wasn’t acknowledged by the people around her, Ines was still officially the lady of the head of the household.

A handful of low-ranking maids had no authority to defy her.

“Even if this is a secluded part of the castle, making such a commotion in an open area like this is unacceptable. Discipline has clearly grown lax.”

Ines deliberately scolded May and the other maids without distinguishing between them.

If it looked as though she were helping May, the girl would only become even more isolated among the maids afterward.

Ines spoke more sternly.

“I’ll have the head maid retrain all of you. You there, start by telling me your name.”

“B-But, My Lady……”

“Your name.”

The maids exchanged glances before reluctantly revealing their names.

“Sally.”

“Yulia.”

“……May.”

Ines committed every name to memory.

“Now hand over what’s in your hand, too.”

“Pardon? My Lady, this is……”

“You were fighting over that pendant, weren’t you? I’ll leave it with the head maid as well. She’ll make a fair judgment, so there’s no need for any more commotion.”

The newly appointed head maid had a reputation for being strict.

She’s not on my side, but that also means she isn’t on anyone else’s.

The maids seemed to realize that they would be at a disadvantage if the matter reached the head maid, and they quickly backed down.

“I-I’m sorry. We’re actually quite close, so we were just playing around for a moment, but things got out of hand. We’ll return the pendant to its owner.”

However, Ines didn’t withdraw her outstretched hand.

In the end, the maids reluctantly handed the pendant to her, their faces falling.

“You may leave.”

At last dismissed, the maids—including May—bowed politely and hurried away.

Of course, it was obvious that the malice festering within them had only grown stronger.

In the darkness, the eyes of the maid named Yulia glimmered furtively.

A short while later, just as Ines had wanted, she was left alone.

……Was it a mistake to get involved?

To be honest, it hadn’t been a particularly wise decision.

She wasn’t even properly recognized as the Duchess yet. Throwing her authority around would likely only breed resentment.

But if I’d simply pretended not to notice and walked away, I would definitely have regretted it.

Back when Selena had been the sole ruler of Evanhardt Castle, Ines had endured one act of cruelty after another.

She had desperately wished for someone—just one person—to help her.

For someone not to turn away from her.

Thanks to the few people who had miraculously appeared back then and secretly helped her, Ines had managed to endure until now.

This was simply her way of repaying that kindness.

……It was only right.

Ines looked down at the pendant in her hand.

Now that I’m looking at it up close, it’s worse than I thought.

It had been a long time since she’d encountered demonic energy this dense. Even at the temple, where all kinds of contaminated objects were purified, something like this was rare……

How had it become so heavily contaminated?

I’ll purify it and then leave it with the head maid.

It seemed safer to attempt the purification somewhere secure rather than use her holy power here without a second thought.

The courtyard was open on all sides, so someone might see her. And judging by the extent of the contamination, purifying the pendant would likely require a considerable amount of holy power.

But just as Ines was about to leave—

“M-My Lady……!”

May, whom Ines had thought long gone, hurriedly caught up with her.