Chapter 142: Shara’s Hellish Scene 1
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My life is equivalent to a single piece of bread.
No, our daily bread is life itself. If that’s the case, then from the very beginning, a person’s life was only ever worth about a piece of bread.
Shara thought about the worthlessness of life.
“My throat hurts from screaming so much.”
Setting that aside, Shara complained to Erica walking beside her.
Erica, hearing the complaint, smiled apologetically, but just seeing that face made Shara want to sigh.
The torture known as practicing being a normal married couple was awful right from the start.
The little skit, which began with Shin’s suggestion to practice returning home first, was just terrible.
The greeting upon returning home was normal, but what came after was dreadful.
The scenario assumed Erica would wait at home for Shin, representing a typical married couple, but from Shara’s perspective, this premise was already flawed.
There was no way she would wait. Whether charging headfirst into an army of ten thousand or challenging a swarm of Dragons, Erica would surely be right beside Shin-san.
I’ll stay about ten steps behind, Shara thought.
And so, Erica, already failing the premise of waiting at home, greeted Shin as he opened the entranceway door with a “I’m home.”
“Welcome home, dear.”
Erica, having taken Shin’s coat—which became the spike-less version after a long debate—smiled softly and said.
“Shall we have dinner right away? Or perhaps—”
At this point, Shara felt a bad premonition.
“Shall we go Monster hunting?”
Shara, who had been trembling in fear of what she was about to witness, screamed.
Don’t deviate from ‘normal’ right from the first step!
Erica looked blankly back at her, asking, “But I heard commoners work around the clock?” Her expression was completely serious.
Certainly, commoners likely worked longer hours than nobles, but not so much that they’d be asked if they wanted to go Monster hunting after returning home and before dinner.
It was hopeless. Expecting Erica, who was a great noble, to have a proper commoner’s sensibility was impossible from the ground up.
Foolishly, Shara sought help from Shin.
She foolishly held hope, thinking that Shin-san, being both an Impoverished Viscount and an adventurer who had spent much time among commoners, would know better.
Expectation and doubt must have shown on her face, as Shara felt relieved when Shin nodded.
When foolishness reaches its peak, it becomes a jest.
“I often went out for a hunt before dinner, though?”
Shara screamed again.
“I said ‘normal’!”
Everything, absolutely everything, was like this.
What mistake led to this kind of “normal”?
In the first place, the “normal” they needed to show the people who exiled Erica couldn’t possibly include a scene of returning home.
Was this harassment? Was this actually harassment directed at me?
The moment they started practicing the idle chat of a normal commoner couple, only for both of them to fall silent and fidget awkwardly, Shara became convinced.
“I really went through something awful.”
She complained again to Erica walking beside her.
They were on their way back from the Longdagger Residence.
Worried about the utterly exhausted Shara, Erica was accompanying her.
Whether she was aware of her part in it or not, Shara appreciated Erica nodding with a wry smile at her complaints, but she really wanted to ask whose fault it was.
“Even if Erica is different, Shin-san is still a noble, so isn’t it unnecessary to act like a normal commoner couple?”
Shara overwrote the complaint about to slip out of her mouth with this belated question.
“Ah, well, yes, I suppose so.”
Shara almost tilted her head at Erica’s unusually vague agreement.
On top of refusing Shin-san’s company, she had this attitude.
Does she have something she wants to discuss?
If she did, I wish she hadn’t exhausted me this much first.
She waited for Erica’s response, walking slower than usual.
But Erica showed no sign of speaking.
Isn’t this something serious? Oh no, I’m really tired.
“Erica.”
Despite her thoughts, Shara spoke up.
In the end, she liked this couple. Even though they caused her considerable—no, quite a lot—actually, an intense amount of trouble, she liked them enough that she couldn’t just leave them be.
“Is something troubling you?”
Shara was surprised that Erica showed a moment’s hesitation at her voice.
“Actually…”
Whoa, that’s a serious tone.
Shara braced herself at the tone of Erica’s voice. This is something I have to listen to seriously.
“Lately, Shin has been acting a little strange.”
Shara bit her lower lip to endure it.
She desperately held back the words “Isn’t that normal for him?” that almost escaped her lips.
“How… how is he strange?”
Perhaps there were changes only a married couple could notice.
Thinking that allowed her to ask back.
Because Erica’s face looked so serious as she was asked, concern also crept into Shara’s voice.
“Well…”
Her voice held even more hesitation than before.
“Shin is being too kind to me.”
Smack!
The sound of Shara slapping her own cheek rang out.
Shara shook her head at Erica, who looked at her with a surprised expression, wondering what had happened.
“No, please continue.”
Shara urged Erica to go on.
She ignored the slightly worried look Erica gave her due to her odd behavior.
“Shin has… well, a certain purpose.”
“Huh, is that so?”
Unable to see the connection, a sigh-like response escaped her lips.
What connection could there possibly be between that Erica-loving fiend being kind to Erica and him having a purpose?
“Probably, even though Shin has his purpose, he’s prioritizing this Farce with me right now.”
Hearing the word Farce, Shara almost tilted her head for a moment.
But she quickly remembered that this was the setup for these two.
Wait, that setup was still active?
She was even impressed at how troublesome nobles, who trade on appearances, could be.
Thinking that even Shin-san, who disparaged himself as the second son of an Impoverished Viscount Household, couldn’t escape such troubles, being a noble seemed quite difficult.
She wondered if the pretense of a fake marriage was really that important, but decided she, as a commoner, probably wouldn’t understand, and gave up trying.
“Right now, I am hindering Shin. But Shin doesn’t show it in the slightest.”
Could Shin Longdagger possibly have a purpose he’d prioritize over Erica?
This was a man who would fight a Blackened Dragonkin for a ring to give his wife, wasn’t he?
At that point, he was already prioritizing Erica over his own life, right?
Provided the condition was ‘not being disliked by Erica’, he would truly do anything, surely.
“I’ve accepted that this is his resolve. However, I think taking advantage of that kindness is different.”
Isn’t it okay to indulge endlessly in kindness from your husband?
Why is she so bad at accepting affection?
Shara almost tilted her head again at the sight of her red-haired friend, with a serious face, confessing that she was troubled by her husband being kind to her.
No, but still, the taste in her mouth was so sweet.
What is this consultation? Is it torture?
If the asker’s face wasn’t so serious, I’d have ditched this conversation in seconds.
“Umm…”
Shara opened her mouth before any more sugar could be shoved into her ears.
“So, basically, you’re saying you want to respond to Shin-san’s kindness, Erica?”
For some reason, Erica looked surprised.
Shara felt a sense of crisis seeing Erica look surprised at her question.
“No, the consultation is about whether I should disappear so as not to hinder Shin?”
“Please don’t.”
Where did that element even come from?
Though dumbfounded, she stopped Erica with an immediate reply.
“I can only foresee a major disaster, so absolutely—are we clear? Absolutely do not do that.”
Shara recalled the Erica from just the other day.
This was the woman who built a bath in her garden just because she hadn’t seen her husband for maybe three days.
Disappearing was obviously impossible for her, and there was no telling what Shin-san would do if she did disappear.
If things went wrong, they might both just explode.
She couldn’t even imagine what the result would be.
I don’t want to die yet.
“But…”
She interrupted Erica, who was about to argue further.
“Whether you want to respond to Shin-san’s kindness or repay it, whatever, disappearing is absolutely out of the question. If it pains your heart that much, then look, why not give him a gift or something?”
She suggested something that would normally be the first thing to come to mind.
Wondering why she hadn’t thought of something so simple, she looked at her red-haired friend’s face, only to see a pained expression for some reason.
She felt that bad premonition again.
“Is there anything that I could possibly give Shin?”
“Anything goes!”
She couldn’t hold back.
That man will be happy with anything he receives from Erica!
He’d even be happy if Erica handed him a rock lying right there!
“A rock? I am seriously troubled here, you know?”
“It’s the truth, you know?”
Erica gave a wry smile at Shara, who spoke while enduring a headache.
“You’re trying to cheer me up, aren’t you? Encouraging me, saying that if I’m going to worry this much, I should just show my gratitude, even if it’s with a rock?”
Shara caught her breath as her friend said that, smiling while twirling her hair around her finger, looking slightly relieved.
This red-haired friend had a strange allure in her casual gestures that was troublesome.
Instead of the breath she’d swallowed, she let out a sigh.
“Well, um… if he feels that strongly about you, giving a gift is pretty normal, right?”
At those words, “if he feels that strongly about you,” Erica’s expression flickered strangely for just a moment.
Did I step on a landmine? Before Shara could even finish that thought, Erica spoke.
“Yes, that’s right. Giving something to my husband sounds nice, doesn’t it?”
Something tangible.
Hearing that earnest tone, Shara felt a strange sense of guilt.
＊
The next day, the Maiden of Light and her party arrived.
“I see… Monkeys fighting over a banana are certainly more constructive than this,” Shara Lansra unconsciously muttered upon seeing the scene before her.
A man in Armor lay face down on the ground, Erica stepping on his back as he wailed about something.
His face was bright red as he tried to get up, but Erica’s foot pinning his back didn’t budge an inch.
Furthermore, her expression remained completely unchanged.
Honestly, this is terrifying.
Shara Lansra couldn’t help but mentally escape, wondering just how things had come to this.
＊＊＊Afterword＊＊＊
This will be the last update of the year.
Since the year-end and New Year holidays are hectic, replies to comments might be a bit delayed.
Thank you for your continued support next year!