My Contract Husband Resembles the Male Protagonist - Chapter 52
“I’m back…”
“Dale! You’re back?”
Dale froze as he stepped inside.
“…Something seems off in this house.”
Dale looked at the man with the expression one might reserve for unwelcome trash in a newlywed home. He seemed to pale slightly.
I glanced at the man hurriedly eating his meal.
“Him? Well, he collapsed, so I brought him in.”
“He collapsed, you say.”
Dale’s expression darkened further as he looked at the man.
“The most dangerous individuals are often those who appear helpless. Miss Enya, you should come here.”
“He collapsed in the lord’s castle.”
“In that case, he should be handed over to the lord of Grunwald. Why did you…?”
For a moment, Dale’s face grew darker.
“Did he catch your eye?”
“…..? No, he’s a thief.”
I was certain of this man’s identity.
“When I caught him, his body reeked of herbs. And look at his fingertips.”
The man’s fingertips were stained yellow.
The stalks of herbs had stained his mouth yellow from the juice as he chewed on them. The same reason explained the yellowish tint around his mouth.
Dale shielded me, still eyeing the man suspiciously, as he hid me behind his back and glared at the man.
“Burp.”
“…..”
“Ugh… I feel alive again. Thank you. Really, thank you, miss.”
“He says he ate them because he was starving,” I whispered to Dale.
This man was a recently hired servant at the lord’s castle. He was mainly responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of the castle.
“I apologize, sir. I’ve got a lot of work to do, my paycheck is a long way off, and there’s nothing to eat…….”
“But stealing is still stealing, so I brought him here. We can’t let him run off.”
“How much compensation do you want to obtain?” Dale quietly asked me.
However, it didn’t seem like this man had much to offer in terms of material compensation.
The unease caused by his pitiful appearance was just an added discomfort.
Yet, he might be useful.
“Considering he picked out the herbs to eat, he must have some knowledge.”
“…..!”
Suddenly, the man’s eyes widened. He swiftly covered his face, looking startled.
His unusually thin frame, insatiable appetite, and the way he lived, hiding his identity, reminded me of a scene from the original story.
[She could not escape the room. The lock, crafted with utmost care by a man renowned as the greatest alchemist and blacksmith, could not be opened by any means.]
[Obtaining a new key was impossible. Afraid that someone might help her escape, the Emperor had killed the man who made the lock.]
[The capital fell into chaos when the man, who played a significant role in crafting weapons for the knights, was gone.]
The alchemist had exchanged a few words with the protagonist of the original story.
The Empress, bored and without much to do in the capital, wandered around the palace and happened upon him at work. This was the beginning of it all.
The Empress praised his skills and acknowledged his abilities.
And that alchemist probably…
‘He was rumored to be eccentric, engaging in strange research, which made him a target of disdain, causing him to wander all over the region.’
He had a distinct characteristic.
One of the reasons the Empress first took an interest in him was precisely because of this.
“Did you really eat them because you were hungry?”
“…I’m sorry.”
The man, with his head bowed low, trembled as he knelt before me.
His cheeks were gaunt, and dark circles were prominent under his eyes.
And there was a smell. The scent of deep sickness.
‘There was a reason the alchemist from the original story couldn’t even resist.’
That reason was the illness he suffered from.
