Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 5
Translated by Elphie
Clop, clop.
From the comfort of her carriage, Irene gazed at the fortress of the Alliance of Kingdoms—the place where purifiers and knights gathered to make contracts, a place she thought she would never return to in her lifetime.
“And yet, here I am.”
Irene smiled bitterly.
“It’s not a return.”
This was undoubtedly her first visit in this lifetime. Unsure of what happened since she had opened her eyes again, Irene pleaded with the Count just like in the past.
For six months. Give me six months to form a pair and earn money.
As expected, the Count, just as she remembered, exploded in anger but reluctantly granted her what he considered her first and last chance.
Afterward, Irene locked herself in her room for a day, thinking.
They say your life flashes before your eyes before you die, but this wasn’t just a glimpse. All day long, she waited for this dream to end, for this illusion to break. Just like in the past, the maids brought her meals like they were throwing them in the garbage, and the butler laid a bag at her feet, instructing her to prepare to leave.
Watching their vivid mockery and disdain, Irene realized.
This wasn’t an illusion. Irene had truly returned to the past.
‘How?’
The reason was unclear, but she had her suspicions.
‘Could it be because of this?’
Irene took out a seemingly broken piece of metal from her pocket that looked liked it had been split in half. It was undoubtedly an item she obtained in the ‘Reward Room’ in that dungeon before her death. It was the same place she fled to in desperation after she was grievously wounded by a demon.
The ‘Reward Room’ was at the very end of the dungeon, where the demons could never enter. In that place, there were chests of unknown origin filled with not just gold and treasures but also the occasional otherworldly artifact.
Before her death, Irene had opened the rotting wooden chest beside her. It was the type of chest that would clearly contain the lowest-grade rewards of useless trinkets, strange feathers, or odd-looking stones.
So when this peculiar, half-broken metal fragment appeared, Irene accepted it with resignation.
‘I died clutching this.’
And yet, back in the past, her hand still held it.
After staring at the fragment, Irene placed it back into her pocket. Then she turned her attention to the piece of paper in her lap.
She had written down all the information from the past that she remembered on that sheet of paper. From the moment Irene realized she had truly returned to the past, she obsessively documented everything she could recall from memory—how many dungeons had emerged in the danger zone in the past, which dungeon had the best rewards, where they were located, and what power it held…
‘I couldn’t help but remember.’
Always alone, Irene grew tired of simply sitting in her room, so she read through the archives, starting from information on the most recently created dungeons to records of dungeons from the past.
While the dungeons themselves were interesting, Irene was more interested in the things that came out of them. A necklace that prevented any harm from demons when worn. A gemstone that glowed when left standing still. A statue that remained unscathed even in the midst of flames. These items endowed with mysterious abilities were known as artifacts, and they were the most valuable rewards one could find in a dungeon.
For instance, the necklace worn by the King of Heron Kingdom possessed the power to delay the wearer’s aging. Thanks to it, the 80-year-old king still appeared to be in his early thirties.
In any case, such potentially life-changing artifacts would undoubtedly sell for exorbitant prices.
‘Something so remarkable would occasionally show up in lower-level dungeons and turn everything upside down.’
People would lament, claiming that if they had known it was there, they would have done anything to get their hands on it.
And now, Irene knew which dungeons yield what. And it wasn’t just the rewards she remembered. She vividly recalled which dungeons had what kind of spirits, their strengths and weaknesses, and even which attributes they possessed.
‘So if everything still unfolds according to my memory…’
Even if she entered an unfavorable contract, she could still yield favorable results for herself.
The 100,000 gold she had to repay to the Count seemed like nothing now to Irene. She recalled the Count slapping her cheek. Back then, he seemed so massive and intimidating, but this time it was different. Even as he shouted for her to repay the value of her body, there was no fear in her eyes, only disdain.
It wasn’t just the Count. The maids and the butler who used to mock and scorn her at the Count’s estate seemed pitiful this time around, not frightening at all.
‘Everything seems so laughable after dying once.’
At that moment, the coachman shouted, interrupting her thoughts.
“Hey! We’re almost at the fort! Get ready to get off!”
In the past, even this shout would startle her, making her cower. But not anymore.
Irene calmly placed the paper into the bag she brought from the Count’s estate and placed it on the adjacent seat. After tidying up her luggage, Irene lifted her head.
‘It was a life that failed once before.’
And then, a miracle happened, granting her a chance to start anew.
‘So, I can’t go back to living like the fool I was.’
After observing for a week, she discovered certain facts. The significant events she remembered from her past were happening the same way. But there were changes too. For instance, when she demanded proper food from the chef who used to give her stale bread in her past life, he hesitated but eventually served well-cooked soup and soft bread.
In her previous life, she received nothing more than rags for clothes, but this time, using the contract as an excuse, she managed to get proper clothes.
It was entirely possible for her choices to bring about different outcomes.
‘So then…’
She thought to herself as she watched the fortress grow closer and closer.
The first mistake she needed to rectify in this life. That would be…
‘I will not pair with Michael.’