~Chapter 2~
Normally, the man’s eyes would have looked pitch black, but mixed with the lantern light, they shimmered with a mysterious glow.
A flicker of flame wavered in the center of his pupils, then surged into a fierce blaze.
That was because Dain’s hand, holding the lantern, was trembling.
She pulled her shaking right hand to her chest and covered it with her left, bowing her head.
Softly, she muttered,
“Um… could you… put something on?”
The male lead’s muscular body, bare and well-built, was far too distracting for Dain’s eyes.
She could feel heat flaring up at her ears.
“In the original, he stayed calm until meeting the female lead. Was he suffering more because I arrived too late?”
Why was he swimming naked in the lake when he should be tormented by the evil god’s influence? That question could wait.
The bigger issue was that he continued to stare at her without moving an inch, even under her gaze.
Why is the naked one not embarrassed—but I am?
In the end, Dain scratched her nose and turned away.
Rustle, rustle. She heard the sound of him putting his clothes back on.
Then he suddenly asked,
“Were you planning to die?”
His voice was thick and heavy like the mist settling around the lake, drained of energy.
“It’s a good night for it. The water’s not too deep, so your body would be easy to recover.”
Dain shot back, flabbergasted,
“I didn’t come here to become a water ghost, okay?”
“Then why did you come?”
When she hesitated, unable to think of a decent excuse, he asked again,
“Are you from a nearby village?”
She had no intention of giving her name.
She wasn’t here to make herself known—only to prevent the story from going off track so early.
Besides, they were bound for a political marriage, or at the very least a future divorce.
She wanted to avoid getting involved with him from the start.
“Yes, I’m a villager.”
“A villager, huh… Then tell me, why would a village girl be wandering the lakeside on a night like this—dressed in a ragged robe from head to toe?”
Dain had specifically worn a large hooded cloak from the inn and wrapped a scarf around her face to hide her identity.
Now that the rustling had stopped, she turned to look again.
He was raking his messy black hair off his face as if it annoyed him.
“I’ll ask again. Why would an ordinary villager be out by the lake in a suspicious robe on a night when evil spirits roam?”
“….”
“Either you worship demons or you don’t care what happens to you anymore. Which is it?”
“….”
“In either case, there’s only one conclusion: if you’re a demon worshipper, I should kill you. And if you want to die, I’ll do that for you too.”
What kind of logic is that?!
Dain practically leapt inside her head.
She had come here to save the male lead, and now it looked like her second life was about to be cut short.
He’s clearly a noble… that clothing is something only upper-class people wear…
“Noble sir! Forgive me—I spoke too casually not knowing your esteemed status!”
Dain dropped to her knees in front of him.
That was the proper behavior if a commoner met a noble.
“I’m not a demon worshipper. I’m simply someone seeking answers from the divine in the face of confusion.”
From above her bowed head, a bored voice answered,
“People seeking answers from the divine would be at home tonight, hiding behind doors smeared with blood to keep out the spirits. You’re clearly not.”
Yeah, well, YOU’RE not at home either!
Dain swallowed her protest.
In this world, demons and evil spirits were said to be those who dared not question the divine—so saying this usually proved you were human.
But this man wasn’t easily convinced.
“Then why are you out here?”
What reason could a villager possibly have for going out on a night like this?
Dain used to imagine alternate plotlines while reading this novel. Now, fear had frozen her creativity.
She struggled to speak, her lips drying up.
“My… husband…”
“You were talking just fine earlier. Now your voice shrinks when asked if you’re a demon worshipper. Suspicious. Very suspicious. Should I just—”
No time for hesitation.
Suddenly, Dain’s voice rang out, loud enough to startle sleeping birds into flight.
“My damned husband cheated on me!!!”
“….”
“I couldn’t stand to look at him.”
“…Hah.”
He let out a breath and after a brief silence, burst into laughter.
Ahaha, ahahahaha!
His loud, clear laughter shook the nearby trees and startled even more birds.
Maybe my reason wasn’t convincing after all…
Still bowing her head, Dain peeked up and looked at the star-filled night sky.
She had confessed her ex-husband’s infidelity to the entire universe.
Even the twinkling stars felt like eyes watching her.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. That was rude. My apologies.”
“No, I understand—”
“But still… I’ve got a voice in my head, and even it finds this funny!”
Ahaha, ahahaha!
So much for apologies.
He couldn’t stop laughing, even wheezing a bit toward the end.
Dain noticed his sharp jawline trembling slightly from the force of his laughter.
For a moment, this cold man seemed like a carefree boy.
Too bad the butt of his joke was her.
He and the cursed god in his head were laughing together at her expense.
They say life is a tragedy up close, but a comedy from afar.
Tonight, she was the clown.
But now that the “cheating husband” card was on the table, everything else flowed naturally.
“I work at a village inn. My shift ended early, so I went home and immediately smeared chicken blood on the door and locked it. But then I heard strange noises inside. Without suspecting anything, I went in and… saw it.”
“And then you just ran out? Into a night full of evil spirits?”
Still doubting her, he asked again.
Dain sighed deeply.
“If you had to spend the night with either a cheating spouse or a murderous spirit, who would you pick?”
“Neither. I’d kick them both out and stay home myself.”
He didn’t play along.
“No no—you can’t stay home. You have to choose one. Absolutely!”
“Why should I waste time thinking about something that’ll never happen?”
“Right… of course.”
Dain gave up and continued her tale.
“Anyway… I couldn’t stay there. I knocked on the neighbor’s door, but it was already dark, and they wouldn’t open up. So I sat down by the roadside… Then I remembered something I heard: evil spirits are drawn to crowds. So I figured—the village is dangerous. I should go somewhere with fewer people. The forest.”
“Hm, reasonable.”
“It’s not just reasonable. It’s true.”
Dain widened her eyes, trying to insist her story was real.
But his unflinching gaze made her flinch and look away.
He watched her reactions with interest, stroking his chin.
“Wait.”
“??”
“Let’s go back. So you had the guts to walk into this forest alone on the Night of Spirits, but not the courage to kick out your cheating husband and his mistress? That part seems fishy.”
“Well…”
He was craving human interaction to resist the evil god’s influence.
Now Dain understood he was trying to stay grounded through conversation.
Still, she didn’t expect him to dig this deep.
I guess people do love messy drama. What now…
“Um, well… that’s because…”
“Because?”
The silence stretched.
His tired eyes looked even darker now.
Dain opened her mouth like a desperate debtor and finally blurted:
“…My mother-in-law!”
“Your mother-in-law?”
“Yes! I have one!”
“Most married women do.”
So what?—his raised eyebrow seemed to say.
Dain had once been like that too.
Before marriage, she thought mothers-in-law, in-laws, and marital stress were just normal things everyone dealt with.
“I was such a fool.”
Looking at him with pity, Dain felt like she was seeing her old self.
Perhaps he caught on, because he tilted his head in confusion.
“To be honest… if it were just my husband and that woman, I might’ve kicked them out. Dragged her out by the hair, yelled at him till he left. But… my mother-in-law was there too. A terrifying woman… If I had to describe her horror level, she was like 100 evil spirits fused into one.”
“Wow.”
“So I just… gave up. Do you know that feeling? When you’ve fought so many battles that the fight itself wears you out, regardless of who wins or loses? Maybe you don’t, since you’re not married.”
The moment she mentioned his marital status, his eyes sharpened.
“You know me, huh?”
