As My Husband Said, I Brought in a Lover

“Since he’s a mercenary, he must have come to take on a commission. About him being in the village, maybe he’s just stopping by to rest and recover from the journey before heading to another assignment. He looked in pretty bad shape after traveling a long distance.”

“That makes sense.”

“Anyway, you must discuss this with His Excellency!”

“Of course, I will. And Robin.”

“Yes.”

“Keep this matter confidential. Only a very few in the order know about it. Given the situation, Hendrik and Aiven will probably find out, but I have no plans to reveal it to other members yet.”

“I’ll make sure of it. Well, I’m going to rest. It will be busy again after sunset.”

“Take care.”

Robin left the room with weary steps. Maxion’s gaze turned towards the window.

“Luize wouldn’t betray us.”

And even if, by some chance, she turned away from them and sided with the emperor, Maxion would still stand by Edward’s side.

Edward wouldn’t harm Luize, and even if she strayed for a moment, she would eventually return to them.

* * *

Upon returning to the inn, Luize immediately went to bed. And when night came, she woke up, got ready, and headed to the next room. It seemed no one else had arrived yet; only Edward was in the room.

“As promised, I brought a gift, so close your eyes and hold out your hands.”

Following Luize’s instruction, Edward obediently closed his eyes and extended his palms towards her. Luize smiled slightly and placed the gift in his hands. “You can open your eyes now.”

The densely covered black eyelashes lifted, and his red gaze shifted to the item in his hand. The rustic wooden box was far from a typical gift box. When he opened the lid, a neatly placed dagger was revealed inside.

“It looked of good quality, so I bought it. It has a feature that magic doesn’t affect.

, maybe I should have wrapped it. But I did engrave a name on the handle.”

“That’s fine. As long as it’s a gift from you, Luize, I like it.”

Edward picked up the dagger excitedly. It fits perfectly in his hand.

“Actually, I ordered this a week ago when I stopped by the shop because it looked good.”

“So, even if I hadn’t won the card game, this would have still been mine?”

“Yes. But it’s nice to receive it as a prize.”

“…Yes.”

Edward smiled softly, a little excited. Luize glanced at his face and blushed faintly.

“But why is the engraved name ‘Elliot’? I thought it would be ‘Edward.’”

“Because it’s a gift for Elliot.”

He blinked slowly, puzzled. “But you also said I’m Edward.”

“

, that’s true, but…” Luize hesitated for a moment before answering. “I wanted to give it to Elliot rather than Edward.”

“…To the current me, not the me from seven years later?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you think Edward from seven years later would be very disappointed by this if your memories come back?”

“He would probably be very jealous.” Edward laughed as if the thought amused him. “Well, if you like the current me, that’s all that matters.”

Luize smiled back at him. “

, by the way, I talked to the merchant at the weapon shop earlier, and something seemed a bit odd. He’s the only one in the village who didn’t receive the blessing…” She recounted to Edward the conversation she had with the weapon shop owner during her first visit and earlier that day.

Edward thought for a moment and then spoke, “We’ll need to review it with Aiven, but from what I see, the reason the weapon shop owner’s wife started forgetting things is likely because the black magic began to seriously engulf the villagers. Aiven mentioned something similar.”

“Does that mean all the villagers could be consumed by the black magic within a month?”

“We’ll have to watch and see, but it’s possible. We’ll need to discuss it with Aiven.”

“That’s serious. If we can’t deal with it within this month, we’ll have to destroy the next appearing orb at any cost.”

“Yes.”

Their expressions became solemn at that moment.

“

! I’m here. I’ve come fully prepared not to lose tonight!” Hendrik cheerfully entered the room, shaking a case of cards.

“…I didn’t even tell you to come in.”

“

, my mistake!”

The arrival of Hendrik and Aiven lightened the mood of the two.

Watching them, Hendrik laughed heartily again.

* * *

A week had passed since Edward lost his powers. Now that most of his powers had returned, he was skillfully using magic again. To celebrate the end of the last imperfect night, Luize immediately returned to the next room to sleep.

“Aiven, you’ve worked hard. I know black magic takes a toll on the body, so take a good rest for a while.”

“…Yes.”

“Hendrik, you did well too. Your swordsmanship has improved a lot.”

“Thank you!”

“You two can go ahead. I have something more to discuss with Maxion.”

“Yes.”

“Yep!”

Aiven and Hendrik left the room.

Edward, looking pleased, began, “I never knew nights could be this short. It’s been an interesting week.”

“Do you trust us a bit more now?”

“I always did. It’s just that it was more than I expected.”

“Then please continue to entrust us with guarding you.”

Maxion spoke with a firm tone, and Edward replied with a soft voice, “Maxion, no matter how skilled or high-ranking, a person never knows when or how they will die. I was just worried about that, not that I doubted your abilities. Not all who died protecting me lacked skills, right?”

“…”

“My members are not just pieces for protecting me. They are living people. So just as much as the order wants to protect me, I want to protect you all too.”

“…Yes.”

“But it seems you all don’t want that, so I’ll leave the assassins to you from now on. However, if even one of you gets hurt, I’ll intervene immediately. And I’ll personally handle the captured assassins.”

Maxion’s eyes widened. He responded with a clear voice, “Thank you. We’ll show you results worthy of your trust.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

“Yes.”

“What about Carlo?”

A few days ago, following Robin’s words, Maxion reported to Edward about Carlo, and since then, the order had started monitoring him.

“He hasn’t left today either. However, after coincidentally meeting the village chief a few days ago, he’s been rapidly getting close to him.”

“That’s suspicious.”

“Yes. Today, the village chief even brought him to the village hall and introduced him to the villagers.”

“The village hall?” Edward pondered. “…Do you remember the village chief saying that the memories created by the villagers are stored in the orbs kept in the warehouse next to the village hall?”

“Yes.”

“That might be the target. We need to meet with the village chief.”

“I’ll arrange a meeting immediately.”

“Good.”

After bowing, Maxion left the room.

* * *

“

, I’m really dying!”

A burly young man with blazing red hair, hazel eyes, and tanned skin stood up amidst a mountain of orbs. He was Carlo, the assault captain of the Dawn Wolves mercenary, who had arrived in the village a week ago.

Carlo, wearing an incongruous frilly apron over ordinary clothes, navigated through the orbs. He grimaced, buried among the heaps of orbs.

“This isn’t like finding a needle in a desert. I should’ve realized when my sister handed this job over to me. That sly fox wouldn’t have given me an easy task. It wasn’t just ‘fetching an item,’ but ‘becoming friendly with the village chief in an inconspicuous way to gain access to the warehouse, then find the orb buried among the mountain of orbs that the client wants.’”

The commission described in the order was ‘to find and return with a black orb from Bailey Village.’ It was mentioned that a black magic stone included would vibrate near the orb, making it easy to find its location.

Discovering the orb’s location wasn’t difficult during a stroll around the village. The place with the orbs was a warehouse next to the village hall. The village hall’s warehouse, with its sharp, triangular gabled roof, appeared to have a high ceiling and seemed quite spacious inside. However, Carlo, who sneaked in at night hoping to simply grab the orb and leave, encountered a new problem.