~Chapter 4~
As soon as Ethan woke up and started looking for a woman, Merrick placed a hand on his forehead.
“My brother, who’s about to get married, is looking for a woman. I wonder what kind of face Mother would make if she saw this scene right now.”
“It’s not like that.”
“You spent the night with her and it’s not like that?”
“I owe her a debt.”
Ethan was a man about to enter a political marriage.
Merrick looked at him with concern and continued.
“I don’t know what kind of woman she is, but the woman you should be thinking about right now isn’t her. I’ve heard rumors about Lady Riden McCurry. She doesn’t seem like someone easy to handle. And these days, taking on a second wife before the wedding? That’s—”
“Second wife? That woman is married.”
“You were with a married woman?!”
Merrick stared at his brother with the kind of disgust reserved for a sinner.
Meanwhile…
Mrs. Kim Si-eom hummed a cheerful tune as she admired herself in the mirror.
In the reflection was a glamorous blonde lady—like someone straight out of a Western film—elegantly humming as she put on her expensive pearl earrings.
It had been difficult at first to adjust from being an East Asian to a Western woman—but that only lasted a week.
After a week, Mrs. Kim felt like this had always been her true self.
She particularly loved being younger.
From nearly sixty, she now looked like someone in her 40s—easily ten or more years younger!
Only one thing left her a bit unsatisfied…
After finishing her grooming, Mrs. Kim turned her gaze to a portrait hanging on the wall.
In it was a silver-haired gentleman with neatly combed hair, smiling warmly—her late husband, the former Viscount of Florence, who had passed away just weeks ago.
“With a face like that, why’d you have to die so early? You should’ve lived your life out with me. The heavens are truly heartless. I can’t even get a decent husband. If only you’d died a month earlier…”
Of all things, she had been reincarnated into a woman who had also lost her husband early.
Mrs. Kim couldn’t tear her eyes away from the portrait.
To think she could’ve lived with a foreign dreamboat! The thought left her with regret.
After smacking her lips in frustration for a while, she left her room and headed straight to her second son’s room.
Unlike her eldest, who was loving his new life, Seongmin had been gloomy ever since his reincarnation.
He wouldn’t eat, and his expression was always grim.
Eventually, he even fell ill.
“Looking for Seongmin? He went out.”
In front of his room, Mrs. Kim was stopped by her eldest son, Byungmin.
“He went out? That sick boy?”
“He seemed fine. Said he had something to look into and left this morning.”
Something to look into? Mrs. Kim’s eyes narrowed.
Her instincts were razor-sharp.
After losing her husband early and raising two sons on her own while running a side-dish shop, she’d experienced everything life could throw her way.
What remained was an uncanny ability to sniff out trouble—and opportunity.
Her instincts told her: whatever Seongmin was trying to “look into” was something she wouldn’t approve of.
Byungmin added, “I think he’s looking for the manager. Was her name Yoonji? Bit of an airhead but pretty. He said there might be more reincarnators around.”
So far, only three survivors of the plane crash were confirmed to have ended up in this strange world.
Mrs. Kim had wondered if the manager had made it too—but she chose to stay quiet, hoping otherwise.
“What’s the point of finding her? Even if she reincarnated, she’s probably doing just fine. Why care?”
“Ah, come on, Mom. You’re so cold sometimes. She came from the same world as us—shouldn’t we help each other? Who knows, maybe she became a noble richer than us?”
“Then we’ll talk when that happens.”
‘Not Dain, not the manager—I’ll get the daughter-in-law I want here, no matter what.’
She liked this new life. And now that the daughter-in-law she disliked was gone, why bother digging up the past?
Though kind by nature, Mrs. Kim sometimes didn’t like that part of her second son.
“I’m heading out then.”
“Where to?”
She flashed an invitation in front of Byungmin.
“A capital noblewomen’s society invitation. If I do well there… maybe even… Byungmin, what’s the word for a queen here?”
“Empress?”
“Yeah, that. I might even meet her. I need to dress right. If I catch a high-ranking noble’s eye, it’ll help with your matchmaking.”
“True. Go get ’em, Mom!”
Energized by her son’s cheer, Mrs. Kim flung open the door.
“Steward! Steward!”
Before she could even finish calling, the steward rushed up the stairs.
How’d he get here so fast?
“I’m going to order a dress. What’s the best shop in town—someplace with prestige?”
But the steward, face flushed red, gave a different answer.
“Ma’am, urgent news! The late lord left behind a massive debt!”
What?! That foreign dreamboat?
‘Of course the pretty ones always leave a mess behind.’
If he were alive, she would’ve made him sell his looks to pay it off.
“Ah… Aahhh…”
“Ma’am!”
“Mom!”
Mrs. Kim grabbed the back of her neck.
Meanwhile…
On the road to the capital, Ethan stood at the entrance of a village, surveying the scenery.
This was the village closest to the forest where he had spent the night.
“It must be here.”
He had already ordered his men to search, and they’d return with news soon.
He leaned against a white fence and looked around.
It was a peaceful, warm-hearted place with gentle-looking people.
Merrick leaned against the fence beside him.
“What do you plan to do once you find that married woman?”
“Repay a debt. I’m only still standing thanks to her.”
“A debt? What kind of debt gets built in one night—oh never mind.”
Merrick stared at his brother with clear suspicion but finally let out a laugh.
“If a commoner had helped a noble in any meaningful way, she wouldn’t have just disappeared. She’d stay, waiting for reward. Just how terrible was your performance that she left in the morning—Ow.”
Ethan silenced him with a friendly punch.
But Ethan himself also fell silent.
‘What really happened last night?’
He worried he might have lost his memory again.
He tried to retrace his thoughts and remember their conversation.
“Excuse me, are you asleep?”
“Are you really going to sleep like this?”
“In the original story, you stayed up all night. Even if I’m not the heroine, seriously…”
Her grumbling voice came through the haze of memory.
As Ethan furrowed his brows in thought, Merrick lightly nudged his side.
“Was she really that impressive?”
“Extremely.”
“Wow…”
Her storytelling had been exceptional.
At Ethan’s request, she had ranted about her in-laws—the “evil mother-in-law” type.
And the effect? Remarkable.
The garbage-like things she described were oddly mesmerizing. So much so, he didn’t even notice the demon whispering in his mind anymore.
Ethan, who had never experienced marriage, found himself sharing her outrage over her in-laws.
He was free of the demon’s voice for the first time, but the emotional immersion was so intense, it left him feeling stifled.
Like he’d been drained after ten years of suffering under terrible in-laws…
‘That’s when I must’ve dozed off.’
And he had fallen into an oddly peaceful sleep—deeper than anything he’d experienced in a warzone or even his luxurious bedroom.
Having figured out the basics, Ethan looked up again.
From afar came the sound of galloping hooves.
“Took them long enough.”
The knights dismounted and reported immediately.
“Your Grace, there’s no one named Gemma in this village.”
“No one?”
Could it be the wrong village? Were there others nearby?
They checked again. This was the only nearby village reachable by foot from the forest.
“Yes. We checked every household—no one by that name.”
“I heard she worked at the inn. Did you check there?”
“Yes, sir. None of the staff were named Gemma either.”
So what he saw and heard last night… was it all a hallucination?
No. He had irrefutable proof in his hand.
As the rumors said, Your Grace truly is a remarkable person. To be comforted by someone like you made for an unforgettable and glorious night. Thank you. – Gemma
It was a note found in his hand when he awoke.
The woman had already vanished.
On a night when he thought he might be devoured by the demon and lose himself, he woke up to sunlight and gratitude—for a woman who talked him through the dark.
“So it was all lies, huh? Wait a second…”
He imagined her writing the note while he slept. Her pale, graceful hands…
As he crumpled the note, a smile spread across Ethan’s face.
“Find out who stayed at the inn last night. She’s probably a noblewoman.”
Elsewhere…
Some time later, near the capital, at a hunting ground.
A lady in an elegant hunting outfit loaded a crossbow in her hands.
A hawk rested calmly on her shoulder, wings folded.
“We’re ready, madam!”
The servant called as the pen opened and the pheasant took off.
She released the hawk.
As it soared into the sky and drove the bird into one direction, the woman, eyes sharp, stilled her breath.
The trigger was pulled gently.
Whoosh—Bang!
“Bullseye! A magnificent shot, madam!”
She was Samantha Kenwolf—mother of Ethan and Merrick, and the matriarch of the Kenwolf Dukedom, the most powerful in the Empire.
