IARMDH - Chapter 6



“We must hold a memorial service.”

“I will. When can I hold that Thousand-Day Festival?”

“We can celebrate the Thousand-Day Festival even now, but this is a special case for Sir Erne...”

The medium trailed off, but both Henry and Judith understood what he meant. Judith tried to keep her expression from faltering as she asked.

“How much should I show my sincerity?”

“I will only accept two gold coins.”

Wow, two gold coins were enough to make two hundred candles.

“I will give it to you!”

Sir Henry, you have a lot of money, don't you? Judith looked at him with new eyes as he answered without hesitation.

“It would be great to hold the memorial ceremony tonight.”

However, the medium nodded, looking up at the sky as if he had no interest in the huge amount of money for his trouble.

“You two, cleanse yourselves and wait until midnight.”

The time for the memorial ceremony was set for midnight. The medium said that he would be out for a moment to prepare something.

“After you wash up, stay in your rooms. You must never see me preparing.”

Judith washed herself and made candles while waiting for midnight to arrive.

'It'll cost me two gold coins.'

Judith prayed that the medium was not a fraud. Time passed without fail and it was midnight.

The medium called Henry and Judith by knocking on the door.

The windows and door of the room where Erne's body was were wide open, and the cloth covering Erne's body had disappeared somewhere.

There were four large circles drawn around the bed, and each circle had a thick candle in it.

“Today we open the door of the flesh to guide the soul.”

At the medium's beckoning, Henry and Judith stood close to the bed.

“The soul is instinctively drawn to life.”

He said Erne needed the living, breathing blood of Henry and Judith.

The thought of stabbing a living person and drawing blood made her hair stand on end. But if it could be solved with a single drop of blood, then so be it.

“Madam, please come closer too.”

Her place happened to be near Erne's lower body. The moonlight was unusually bright and fell on Erne's body, which was not wearing any shroud.

She wanted to be polite in his eyes, but it was really hard. It was all Erne's fault. His body was so different that she could see everything even with her eyes wide open.

The medium first pricked Henry's fingertip with the dagger, causing the blood to drip down onto Erne's forehead.

Erne's eyelashes fluttered, moving slightly, and Judith tilted her head.

“Wherever you go, you will go. This is not your destination. If you can’t leave, you will only suffer.”

The medium turned to Judith. She held out her hand. A burning pain rose up inside her.

Judith frowned slightly and placed her bleeding finger close to her husband's groin.

The moment the drop of blood flowing from her hand fell onto his skin.

“...?”

The thigh muscles, like a stallion, contracted. Now more than ever, it wasn't because of her mood. The back of her neck felt creepy.

Just as Judith was about to step back in surprise, a hand flew out like the wind and grabbed her wrist.

The medium and Henry both cover their mouths with both hands, so who is the owner of these hands?

“...You, what are you?”

Erne Rhineland, that was it. There was a sense of absurdity in the voice that had cracked after a long time of disuse.

“What did you do to me?”

The eyes that resembled deep green foliage scanned his naked body and Judith. Erne's eyebrows slowly furrowed.

“You were doing that, weren’t you?”

Judith, surprised, froze as her wrist was grabbed. Erne frowned as he met eyes with Henry, who was lying on the ground.

"No way..."

“I don’t like that kind of thing.” 

Erne muttered and stared at Judith. His green eyes, which had returned to focus, were asking for an explanation.

What should I say to him? How do you feel about being alive? Or should I put on some clothes? Or should I introduce myself and say, “Nice to meet you, I am your wife.”

“...Hey, honey?”

However, it goes without saying that Erne was even more flustered by the main point that came out after cutting off all the explanations.

***

You clearly said it was a ritual to send the soul, so why did the corpse come back to life?

The medium who was supposed to answer ran away quickly while Judith and Henry were dumbfounded by the revived Erne.

“Fuck.”

Judith chewed her lips. The worst she could think of was that Erne's body would not decay even after the funeral.

But he's alive? He's alive!

“No, why are you alive?”

You're like a damn missionary. If you're a missionary, you should just catch people and go. Why are you saving people? And the Ernest Rhineland at that!

In the original, Erne was often called a madman, a mad dog, or other vulgar words that were difficult to pronounce.

There were several reasons why he was called that, but it was mostly a result of his indifferent personality and his temperament that made him turn red whenever he picked up a sword.

He would immediately remove anything that got in his way, whether it was his allies or not, from his sight. The problem was that the 'removal process' was extremely ungentlemanly.

If he had only a bad personality and no skills, he would have been kicked out of the knighthood right away, but Erne was one of the best knights in the empire. He was also a hero who led a war that was absolutely unwinnable to victory.

Erne, who gained both notoriety and fame, was assigned to the Empress's Palace, the dark side of the original work.

There, he was given the task of escorting the female protagonist, who was the Empress's niece. It was called escorting, but in reality, it was more like surveillance.

Originally, the female protagonist infiltrates the imperial palace at the behest of the Empress to place a curse on the male protagonist, the Crown Prince, but they soon fall in love.

The heroine wanted to help the Crown Prince, but the problem was Erne. There was nothing the heroine could do without his attention.

In the end, the heroine even hinted that the Empress was planning to throw the empire into chaos, but Erne pretended not to hear.

The Crown Prince tried to persuade Erne, who interfered with everything. However, he had no desire for success or money.

The Crown Prince's aide leaves a word of insight on this matter.

“He’s just crazy.”

Don't we usually say that someone is crazy when they have a mental disorder or are obsessed with a certain goal? Crazy about money, crazy about success, or crazy about love.

However, Erne was neither mentally ill nor particularly obsessed. Meanwhile, the female protagonist is imprisoned after the Empress finds out about her pregnancy.

By then, the female protagonist had given up on persuading Erne. She just needed someone to vent to, so she confessed everything to Erne, who didn't even respond.

She said that if she gave birth to a child, she would die and the child would be used by the Empress.

Here, Erne helps the heroine for the first and last time as if there was a change of heart.

However, like a crazy man, he helps her escape in a very bizarre way that tears apart the female protagonist's life and body.

The aide left another comment on this matter.

“He is a crazy man with conviction.”

Erne is a crazy guy who only moves when he has a convincing reason...

“That’s more of a problem.”

I couldn't figure out what part of Erne was moving.

“With that personality, he would immediately ask for a divorce.”

In fact, it was a situation where even a normal person would want to get a divorce. Who would want to maintain a marriage that was formed without their opinion at all when they were on the brink of death?

Seriously, it was the worst possible situation.

If I had known this would happen, I would never have thought of borrowing more money using his title as collateral. What if Erne wants a divorce?

The countship is Erne's, beyond dispute by litigation. Since the marriage was short, I could not receive the mansion through the division of property.

That means I'll be kicked out with nothing, but the problem is that when I signed a new contract with Smith, I signed it under the name 'United Rhineland'.

In other words, if we divorced like this, the title and mansion would be taken away, and the debt of 200 million gold would be born entirely by me.

“Should I ask him to keep the marriage going at least until the mansion gets its fair value?”

Even if I sell the mansion for 400 million, no, 200 million gold, I'll get over a big crisis. It won't be a profit, but at least I won't be dragged away by loan sharks.

“Are you the type that is weak to women’s tears?”

In the original, Erne only granted someone's request when the female protagonist tearfully pleaded for help.

Perhaps Erne also has a soft spot. Yes, even someone called the mad dog of the empire would have sympathy.

“Then it is a sympathy-inducing operation.”

***

Erne was a twisted, if not crooked, human being.

When did he become so twisted? When the mother who gave birth to the Count's illegitimate child and abandoned him strangled him?

Was it when he heard the news that his mother, who had handed him over to the Count and even received child support, died before she could spend the money?

Or when he found out that his father, who came to see him after eight years, had chosen him to be the sacrificial lamb to be sent to war in his place?

Perhaps it was the time when those who had ignored him for leading the Knights Templar on the topic of illegitimate children did not listen to him and were annihilated.

Oh, was it when the only Countess who had been warm to him sent an assassin to him after he returned from the war, fearing that he might covet the position of heir to the Count's family?

Ah, this was a powerful moment.

Erne couldn't even sleep properly because the assassins were sent so often. Don't people go crazy when they don't sleep well?

Maybe that's when he turned around.


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