Proof (8)
The way Yu Jihwan stared at me with those wide, flustered eyes told me everything. Eyes never lie. Even after I’d threatened to kill myself, there wasn’t a single trace of negativity in his gaze. …Good. The trust we’d built up over the years was finally paying off.
My husband trusted me, so I would trust him in return. …But that soft-hearted nature of his? I still couldn’t trust it. He was the kind of man who, the moment he learned he’d gotten me pregnant, had devoted his entire life to me without hesitation. If the ‘same thing’ happened again, he would do it all over without a second thought.
What if… someone else did to him exactly what I had done? Would he really stay by my side?
Now that my husband had come back to life, there was no social or physical reason for him to remain with me. To him, I would be nothing more than a complete stranger. His sense of responsibility was far too strong to let him cling to an old love for the rest of his life. The man who had always chosen duty over eternal love… the man who had once valued that worthless daughter more than me… if a new child appeared in his life, would he truly stay by my side?
The farther bodies drift apart, the farther hearts follow. In the end, we would become strangers. …I could never allow that to happen.
That didn’t mean I was going to burden myself with another child. There was no need. A far more effective hostage was already right here.
If my husband had no intention of killing me, if his love for me was still valid, he would never let me die. That much time would be enough.
I couldn’t answer right away when she asked if I hated the idea. She was deliberately pretending not to know who I was, threatening to kill herself if I didn’t obey. Was it really okay to just go along with this?
At that moment, my wife kicked her chair back and stood up, stretching her hand out slightly. The ring on her finger flashed, and in an instant it had transformed into a thin, long blade.
“W-wait…!”
It was the weapon she had favored for years. She glanced at me, then slowly, deliberately pressed the blade against her own throat as if to show off.
I jumped up and lunged toward her, but the tip of her blade had already begun to pierce the pale skin of her neck.
Bang!
I quickly gathered mana and knocked the sword away. Droplets of blood scattered through the air.
“Yeonhee! Are you okay…!”
She brushed my hand away and gently stroked my cheek as she spoke.
I was rendered speechless by her calm, sunken gaze. I grabbed both of her hands tightly and shouted.
“Ju Yeonhee! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! What if you get seriously hurt…!”
She was insane. It had been a mistake to think her condition had improved. At a complete loss for words, I clamped my mouth shut and decided to check her wound first.
“Haa…”
A sigh escaped me the moment I saw the wound that had turned her fair skin into a bloody mess. She had aimed precisely for a vital point, as if she really meant to die. Fortunately, it had only gone in shallowly. It probably wouldn’t leave a big scar. If I had been even a little slower…
The faint smile on her face, completely oblivious to how I felt, made me a little angry. I shot her a quick glare, then hurried downstairs to find the first-aid kit.
“…Hm? First-aid kit?”
“You were eating. What’s going on all of a sudden…”
The women in the kitchen, who had been in the middle of dinner, looked at me in confusion. The story was far too long to explain right now.
“…Just give me the first-aid kit for now.”
I returned to the room with the kit and tried to get her to sit on the bed, but…
She gripped my hand tightly and began applying pressure. This woman, seriously…
I let out a deep sigh and pulled her hand along with me.
Only then did my wife smile in satisfaction and accept my touch.
Monday morning.
“…I’m going to die.”
I hadn’t slept a wink all weekend. As a result, my fatigue hadn’t eased at all. I hadn’t been able to study for the exams, let alone get any proper rest. And it was all because of my wife… or should I call her Yeonhee Noona now? Seriously…
I didn’t know how she had figured it out, but my wife knew my true identity. Yet she continued to pretend she didn’t, and when I wouldn’t accept her sudden proposal, she even threatened to kill herself. I understood she wanted me to listen to her, but I couldn’t figure out why she felt the need to put a leash around my neck like this. In my eyes, there had only ever been one person anyway.
In the end, I had no choice but to form a ‘sponsorship’ relationship with her, and I ended up being tormented by it the entire weekend. She must have been incredibly distrustful of me to even bring out a contract. Something about it being the latest trend.
I tried to refuse, saying I had no intention of doing anything like that, but she kept threatening me—saying it hurt, that she missed her husband—and the number of clauses kept increasing. Eventually, it stopped being a blank check and became a completely blank contract.
Feeling like I’d been swindled, I demanded a few promises from her in return.
The first was to spend time with Min Soyeon. Right now, Soyeon needed love and attention more than anything. We had been forced apart because of my wife’s illness, but if we started spending time together now, she would recover quickly.
The second was to take care of her health. No matter how powerful she had once been, three years of seclusion had weakened her body considerably. Even though her immense mana allowed her to maintain the body of a woman in her twenties, there was no such thing as being too careful with one’s health.
And the last, the third clause, I left blank. She had taken five blank slots. There was no way I couldn’t claim at least one. The ratio felt a little unfair, but since the two conditions I’d secured were enough, I decided to let it go.
Dragging my exhausted body along, I was barely making my way to the Academy when—
“…Hey, Yu Jihwan.”
A familiar voice called out from behind me.
“Oh, Soyeon!”
It was my one and only daughter, Min Soyeon. It seemed she had come to school earlier than usual because of the exams. She naturally fell into step beside me and stared at me for a moment before speaking.
“…Why are you grinning like an idiot?”
Ah. Was I smiling? I guess I couldn’t hide how happy I was.
“Hm? It’s nothing. You just look especially pretty today.”
“…What are you even saying…”
I tried cracking a light joke, but she ignored me, apparently not finding it funny. The truth was, I really did think she looked beautiful. After all, it was thanks to Soyeon that I had reunited with my wife and been saved from a lifetime of loneliness. Now that my wife’s condition had improved, Min Soyeon’s future would be smooth sailing, nothing but a fragrant flower path ahead of her.
If her talent combined with my wife’s swordsmanship and my magic… it wouldn’t be strange at all for her to claim the title of ‘strongest’ someday. How could I not find her beautiful when things had turned out like this? Honestly, I wanted to kiss her if I could.
“…Annoying.”
Maybe because I kept grinning, Min Soyeon shot me a sharp glare and walked ahead.
“…W-wait for me!”
Perhaps because I was in such a good mood today, even her sulky behavior looked cute.
The long-awaited first exam. Today’s subject was history—a written test. Although I hadn’t been able to study over the weekend and had been cramming until just before the test, it was still a subject I was fairly confident in.
I was reviewing the material I had memorized while waiting for the test papers to be handed out from the front when—
“…J-Jihwan…!”
A whisper came from beside me. I turned my head slightly and saw Gong Haeseon with her pink hair tied up tightly, waving at me. How cute.
I waved back lightly, and she beamed, clenching both fists and mouthing something. Probably ‘good luck on the test.’ I smiled at her and turned my head back forward, only to…
“Ugh…”
My eyes met those of Min Soyeon, who was sitting right in front of me. She stared at me intently, then flung the test paper at me and turned back around.
I picked up the paper, glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then leaned forward slightly and whispered to her.
“…Do well on the test!”
She quietly raised her left hand and flipped me the middle finger. She must have been a bit sensitive because it was exam season.
Once all the test papers had been distributed—
“Alright, the exam will now begin.”
With the proctor’s announcement, the test started. I quickly opened my paper and began solving the questions one after another. Gong Haeseon had told me the early questions were easy, and sure enough, there wasn’t anything particularly difficult.
I was breezing through the problems when—
Huh?
Which of the following is NOT an achievement of S-rank Hunter ‘Sword Empress’ Ju Yeonhee?
① Subjugation of 11 S-rank beasts.
② Subjugation of the Green Dragon, Spring.
③ Clearing 3 S-rank Gates.
④ Subjugation of the A-rank beast, One-Eyed Giant.
⑤ Academy graduation.
A question about my wife had appeared. Among the options were missions I had participated in with her. It felt strangely bittersweet to see those hard-fought battles turned into Academy exam questions.
The question itself was easy. The correct answer was number two. The Green Dragon, Spring, was generally friendly toward humans. It was a gentle beast—so gentle, in fact, that it even got along well with dragons of other clans.
As I continued solving the problems, I saw quite a few familiar names. The former Association Chairman who was now dead, the current Chairman Jeon Nando, and many other retired heroes. Among them, my wife’s name shone the brightest.