We're Married, After All - Chapter 80
I placed a trembling hand on my belly. The baby’s restless movement felt almost… anxious.
Are you sensing my thoughts? Or are you just reacting to my sudden movement?
Whatever the reason, it seemed like the child wanted me to stop what I was about to do.
“You must take after your father…” I whispered.
Ignoring the baby’s kicks, I straightened my back and forced myself to focus. Exhaustion clawed at me, but I had no time for weakness.
The stable master opened the gate without a word. I wasted no time yanking the reins, urging the horse into a gallop.
The manor’s front gates, the same ones I’d never dared to approach on foot, quickly faded into the distance as I raced into the darkening forest.
Later…
I’d hoped it wouldn’t come to this.
I’d feared the worst, yet still clung to the faint hope that Petios wouldn’t make the worst possible decision. But reality crushed that hope, as always.
“Hah… hah…”
Breathing was agony. I hadn’t even exerted myself much, but my body was far weaker than I’d realized after months of confinement.
At least… it’s done.
I forced my head up, my gaze locking onto the narrow forest path.
Petios lay collapsed on the dirt trail, unmoving. Blood seeped from his head, staining his long golden hair a deep crimson.
The spear I’d thrown had hit its mark.
My legs buckled, and I sank to the ground, shaking. My right arm throbbed from the force of the throw, but the burning ache in my legs was far worse. So this is what it means to be heavily pregnant, I thought grimly. I can’t believe my body gave out after so little exertion.
Petios’s battered form lay crumpled before me. His face was swollen and bruised, with dark welts marring his once-handsome features. Scars peeked out from beneath his tattered monk’s robe, grim evidence of the torment he’d endured.
His leg… he was still limping, I recalled.
I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing out the memory of his wild, desperate eyes as he drew his bow in one final, hopeless act of defiance.
He’d been aiming to kill me.
Finding Petios hadn’t been difficult. Danel’s search records indicated he was likely heading toward Lapecia Castle. I simply followed the same trail… and caught him first.
Given everything he’d endured, Petios’s desire for revenge wasn’t surprising. After all, even without the torture Danel had inflicted, confinement and isolation could drive anyone mad.
So when Petios managed to crawl out of his sickroom, fueled by pain and rage, revenge seemed inevitable.
I started my search by visiting lumber camps near the castle’s outskirts. Unlike hunters, lumberjacks cleared paths for transporting heavy logs, making their cabins easier to access.
He told me about those places once…
Petios himself had mentioned them during one of our secret meetings, back when I’d still foolishly trusted him.
Eventually, I found the right cabin.
He’d been hiding there—scheming.
I retrieved my horse from the forest edge and tied Petios’s legs to the saddle. As the horse began walking, his worn robe hitched up, revealing old burn scars along his legs.
It seemed he’d entered through the castle’s western gate, disguised as a wandering monk. The guards wouldn’t have questioned a monk’s passage—especially not one who’d once been Lapecia’s rightful heir.
How fitting…
Even after losing everything, Petios still knew every secret of the castle and its surrounding villages. Manipulating old connections and exploiting the guards’ complacency… he’d likely found it all too easy.
When I returned to the cabin, I yanked the door open—and froze.
Inside, the cabin was packed with barrels of explosives, crates of oil, and arrows with cloth-wrapped tips—materials for fire arrows.
Enough firepower to burn down a massive structure… like the entire castle itself.
“Ha…”
A bitter, humorless laugh burst from my lips.
Without thinking, I stormed back outside, grabbed Petios by the collar, and slapped him hard across the face. His head lolled limply, his pale skin nearly as white as snow.
“After all the trouble I went through to help you escape…”
Anger roiled within me—an inferno of disappointment and rage.
Petios had every reason to hate Danel. He had been left with nothing but time and pain—plenty of fuel for a deep, all-consuming hatred.
But I’d expected… hoped… that his anger would be focused solely on Danel.
Not… this.
Petios hadn’t just planned to kill Danel.
He meant to destroy everything.
The lands, the title, the people of Lapecia—all collateral damage in his quest for vengeance. He wanted to leave nothing behind.
Perhaps he even meant to kill me.
Of all people, Petios would know best what I meant to Danel. Killing me would’ve been the most effective way to break him—to take away what he loved most.
…But still.
Despite everything, I hadn’t been able to kill him.
Even after everything he’d done, I’d struck him with the blunt end of the spear, knocking him unconscious rather than ending his life.
Part of me still believed—hoped—that he could be saved.
But now…
Staring at the explosives piled high in the cabin, I realized how naive I’d been.
Petios hadn’t just plotted to kill Danel… he’d planned to wipe out everyone.
His twisted, broken mind had come up with this: setting fire to the castle from afar, shooting fire arrows with his shaky, untrained hands.
The thought was almost laughable… almost.
Revenge had consumed him entirely, turning him into something unrecognizable.
Is this what you’ve become, Petios?
After everything… This is who you are now?
I clenched my fists until my nails bit into my palms.
Whatever fragile hope I’d clung to shattered into ash.
Danel’s life… I can’t let you take it.
I stepped outside and opened the door leading to the underground storage. It wasn’t much of a basement, more like a cramped storage room. Inside were only dried firewood and little else.
I dragged Petios there and shoved him into the dark, musty space. Even after dumping his unconscious body inside, my anger hadn’t subsided. I stormed in after him and kicked him again, frustration still boiling in my chest.
Then I slammed the basement door shut and secured the latch. It didn’t feel like enough, so I grabbed some wooden planks and piled them against the door, blocking it entirely.
Blood still trickled from the wound on Petios’s head, a result of my repeated strikes. He was still breathing—for now. Whether his injuries were life-threatening or not didn’t matter to me at that moment. If he was going to die, I needed the body to be discovered as late as possible. If he survived, escape was out of the question.
Once I’d piled enough planks to ensure no sound could escape, I collapsed onto the ground, utterly drained. My vision swam from exhaustion.
“Now… where could you be?”
Resting my back against the cold wall, I closed my eyes. Petios was taken care of. Now it was time to find my husband—but no matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t guess where Danel might have gone.
“He must’ve left the manor intending never to return… maybe even planning to die.”
I’d found Petios so easily, predicting his every move and hiding place. Why couldn’t I do the same for Danel?
Why do I know Petios better than my own husband?
The unfairness of it stung deeply. Anger and despair twisted together, and before I realized it, tears streamed down my face, soaking the hem of my nightgown.
What if… what if I never find him again?
