The Returning Husband Refuses to Divorce Chapter 2

One day, out of the blue, Ines had a thought.

She should divorce her husband when he returns.

‘Why have I suddenly made up my mind about this?’

Strangely enough, there was no particular reason. She had simply gone to sleep and woken up one day with the sudden conviction that she should do it.

Even she couldn’t explain why she had made such an unexpected resolution.

All she knew was that, for some reason, her stubborn obsession with clinging to this mansion had vanished in an instant. She realized there was no longer any need to remain attached to a meaningless marriage.

‘That’s right. Now that I think about it, it was strange that I kept this marriage going in the first place.’

They hadn’t married because they loved each other.

Ines and her husband had married solely because they needed each other. They had simply chosen one another as a way to resolve their respective predicaments.

It was that kind of contract.

As it happened, a letter had arrived at the mansion a few days ago.

The official return of the great war hero, Zecard Evanhardt.

After five years away, her husband had finally won the war against the monsters and was returning home in triumph as a hero.

In other words, it meant that the contract between them would soon come to an end.

‘I’ve managed to endure five years without any major trouble, so I’ve fulfilled my obligations, too.’

According to the letter, her husband would return in a month.

It was a long time if she thought about it one way, and a short time if she thought about it another.

Ines calmly assessed her situation.

A mother-in-law who still hated her to death, even after five years of marriage; a husband whose face she could barely remember anymore; and this cold domain where no one welcomed her.

There was no reason for Ines to stay in any of it.

‘That’s right. As soon as my husband returns, I’ll tell him I’m leaving this place.’

At last, spring had arrived.

Ines decided to divorce her husband.

Ines Chartier was a candidate to become a Saintess.

To be precise, she had once been a candidate. That was how things had originally stood, but after entering into a contractual marriage with Zecard at his suggestion, she had been stripped of her eligibility.

‘Even if that hadn’t happened, I would have been cast out eventually.’

The circumstances were as follows.

〈The next Saintess will be chosen from among these candidates.〉

In the Holy Empire of Ethila, there were four families said to have received the blessing of the Supreme God, Aeternel, for leading the effort to seal the evil god at the time of the empire’s founding.

Ines belonged to one of them: the House of Chartier.

〈A divine revelation has declared that one of the sisters will become the Saintess. We have high expectations for both of them, so raise them well.〉

When Ines was eight years old, people from the temple came to visit.

According to the revelation they delivered, one of the Chartier sisters would become the next Saintess.

In particular, an interpretation of various omens suggested that the Saintess of this generation would possess the most powerful holy power of any Saintess in history. It was practically proof that she would be blessed with the Supreme God’s boundless love.

Naturally, Ines’s parents were delighted by the prophecy.

After all, among the four great holy families, the House of Chartier was the only one that had never produced a Saintess. It had also been a long time since the family had produced even a single priest of any distinction.

Given the circumstances, they couldn’t help being overjoyed at the prophecy that a Saintess of unprecedented greatness would emerge from their family.

〈We shall keep that in mind. We will raise the children properly.〉

And that was, ironically, the beginning of Ines’s tragedy.

From that day onward, her parents subjected the sisters to rigorous training.

〈Why can’t you even do this?!〉

〈Get up this instant!〉

〈You won’t be allowed to eat until you’ve memorized the entire scripture today.〉

Her parents had never been particularly affectionate to begin with. Ines, in particular, had a personality that lacked sweetness and charm, so she remained distant from them, unlike her younger sister, who knew how to act cute and win their affection.

〈’It’s fine. This much is nothing.’〉

Fortunately or unfortunately, Ines was resilient.

She quietly and diligently endured the education—or rather, the trials—that had been imposed upon her.

Did she want to become a Saintess? Probably not.

She simply didn’t want to disappoint her parents.

〈Why does my older sister keep getting punished?〉

〈Ines lacks the necessary talent. We must awaken her holy power, even if we have to do it through pain.〉

Even after learning that her exceptionally gifted younger sister had never once been beaten, unlike her, Ines simply believed that there was nothing to be done about it.

She was the one who lacked talent, after all.

But no matter what she did, the impossible remained impossible.

〈Good heavens! Such pure holy power!〉

At last, the fateful day arrived. In front of countless people at the Grand Temple, her younger sister, Elise, underwent a spectacular awakening as a Saintess.

〈Just as the prophecy foretold! Elise Chartier will become a Saintess whose name will be remembered throughout history!〉

Everyone cheered at the birth of the new Saintess.

As for Ines…

〈…It’s hard to believe they’re even sisters. How utterly unimpressive.〉

A thin streak of white light had barely appeared in the palm of her hand.

That was all.

〈Congratulations. The House of Chartier is finally coming into its own.〉

People laughed and chatted merrily.

Her parents modestly accepted the praise while secretly basking in their newfound glory, and the priests showered them with compliments.

And then…

〈…Give up. You’ll never succeed, no matter how long you try.〉

Her younger sister looked down at her with pity.

No, the Saintess Elise.

Ines could still remember the way her younger sister had looked down at her that day.

Even so, Ines endured.

〈’…It’s fine. It’s not as though I ever expected much in the first place.’〉

The truth was, she had known all along.

There had always been a vast difference between her and her younger sister, Elise.

But bracing herself for disappointment didn’t mean she could simply put all her feelings aside.

〈You’re truly useless.〉

A terribly cold gaze.

The contempt that lay within it.

Once even the slightest hope that she might become a Saintess had vanished, Ines’s heart quickly began to crumble.

The person who reached out to her then was none other than Zecard Evanhardt.

〈Let’s make a deal.〉

One day, Zecard appeared out of nowhere and proposed a contractual marriage to Ines.

He explained that he needed a wife in name only to secure his succession to the ducal title.

Someone who would suit his status as a duke yet be powerless enough to have no real influence over him.

〈I’m leaving for the battlefield soon. So all you have to do is remain in the position of Duchess until I return.〉

The northern domain of Evanhardt was unimaginably far away for Ines, who had spent her entire life in the capital.

Unlike the four great holy families, the House of Evanhardt had been incorporated into the empire later, in recognition of its achievements in exterminating monsters. As a result, its lands lay far from the capital.

But did she have any other choice?

Ines had spent her entire life looking toward one goal: becoming a Saintess. When that world of hers came crashing down, the man who reached out to her seemed like a beautiful savior.

Without hesitation, Ines took Zecard’s hand.

It had already been five years since she arrived in Evanhardt territory with him.

‘A lot has happened since then.’

Just as he had promised, Zecard left for the battlefield immediately after their wedding.

In a place where she didn’t know a single soul, Ines had to fight another difficult battle, one different from the struggles she had endured at the temple.

There were even moments when she foolishly wondered whether she might have been better off staying with her family…

‘No, enough. I shouldn’t dwell on unpleasant thoughts.’

No matter how painful things had been, they were finally over.

Five years.

It was by no means a short time.

‘As soon as he arrives, I’ll tell him I want a divorce.’

Fortunately, this time, for the first time in her life, even the gods seemed to be on Ines’s side.

She recalled the conversation she’d had a few days earlier with her mother-in-law, Selena Evanhardt, the former Duchess of Evanhardt.

〈You’ve heard the rumors, haven’t you? That my son has found another woman.〉

That was what Selena had told her.

Her husband, Zecard Evanhardt, had fallen in love with the Saintess Elise on the battlefield.

〈They say the new Saintess and Zecard are very passionate about each other. Apparently, it’s an open secret among the knights.〉

And it wasn’t just among the knights. The rumor had already spread far beyond the front lines, reaching the capital and even this northern region.

It had been circulating for so long that even Ines, who had no close acquaintances to keep her informed, had heard about it.

The love between the hero Zecard and the Saintess Elise.

Everyone was captivated by the beautiful, romantic tale that sounded like something out of a fairy tale.

Because of this, people all agreed on one thing.

When the great war hero Zecard Evanhardt returned, he would finally divorce his wicked wife, who was nothing more than a wife in name, and find true love with the Saintess.