Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 84

#84. How Dare You, You Bastard

2024.05.23.

The first thing I saw upon bursting out of the door was Belladona, limp in the arms of a male priest.

The priest’s eyes flashed with relief as he spotted the burly men rushing out.

“My lady!”

“Hazel, there’s no time for this. You and I will find a physician!”

Graham grabbed Hazel, who was about to charge towards Belladona, and continued running.

Escalion approached the priest and took Belladona into his arms.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“I’m not sure what’s causing it. She… she took some tonic right before collapsing. I suspect there might have been something wrong with it…”

“Tonic?”

Belladona’s face, now unconscious, looked grave.

Her usually vibrant lips were drying out, turning purple, and her breathing was becoming increasingly shallow.

Her bloodless face, which I was seeing for the first time, drained all the strength from my body.

Escalion braced himself, tightening his thighs to keep from collapsing.

“Belladona…!”

The Pronan’s Pontiff, who had belatedly rushed out, approached Belladona. He looked at Belladona with a troubled expression before shouting at Timothy.

“Priest Timothy, find a physician or a mage immediately!”

“A, understood!”

“Lord Diete, Belladona’s bedroom is nearby. We need to lay her on the bed!”

“I know where it is.”

Escalion spat out, his jaw clenched, and began to move.

With each step, he felt as if he were sinking deeper and deeper.

Escalion consciously kept looking down at Belladona.

It was a difficult sight to bear, but he felt his heart constricting, fearing that the faintly flickering flame might extinguish completely at any moment.

He had seen this face many times in his life.

On the battlefield, in the sickroom—those dying in harsh environments all wore this face.

Those with this face never lasted long.

And that fact made it even more unbearable for him.

He rushed to Belladona’s room, kicking the door open, and gently laid her on the bed. Only then did he notice his hands trembling like mad.

“Damn it…”

Escalion exhaled anxiously and busied his hands.

Her ragged breathing and pinched face made him want to cover her with a blanket.

As he lifted Belladona’s body with one hand and moved the blanket with the other, the long skirt she was wearing slid up, revealing her white thighs.

“……”

What is this?

Escalion stopped moving his hands at once.

No, it wasn’t white thighs.

It was a mottled thigh covered with red wounds and bluish bruises that one could hardly bear to look at.

Escalion’s entire body stiffened.

He stood motionless for a moment, as if time had stopped, then abruptly snapped out of it and began to undress her.

He slightly lifted her body and lowered the dress zipper, revealing an even more wretched back.

‘Whip marks…?’

Wounds that looked as if they had been inflicted by a long whip, scabs that had hardened from lack of timely treatment, and large and small bruises that were a vivid purple color…

He doubted his eyes as he stared at the wounds that filled her small, thin back.

These were definitely things he had not seen in Gribalta.

Who did this to Belladona?

“Huff, the physicians are coming this way. Fortunately, they were given accommodations in the Pontifical Palace after the founding anniversary celebration, so they are staying nearby…”

The Pronan’s Pontiff, who had been late in running, stopped when he discovered Escalion, frozen in front of the bed.

“What’s wrong…? Surely Belladona…!”

Startled, he pushed Escalion aside and looked down at the bed.

He wondered if it was too late, but thankfully, she was still breathing. But why are her clothes like this…

The Pontiff’s eyes fell upon Belladona’s disheveled body.

Hadn’t he used divine power to heal all the wounds?

“…How dare you, you bastard.”

At that moment, a chilling voice descended from the side.

The Pontiff turned his head with an uneasy premonition.

“How dare you lay a hand on my wife’s body?”

Escalion’s golden eyes were filled with rage.

His bloodshot eyes were dilated and unfocused, and veins bulged on his forehead, jaw, and thick neck.

His large, clenched fist trembled menacingly.

The Pontiff instinctively moved away from him and opened his mouth.

“H, how did this… W, who would dare do such a thing!”

“Find out.”

“Wh, what?”

“Find out who did this immediately. The Pontiff should know.”

Pronan’s swallowed hard and trembled.

He didn’t even notice that Escalion had stopped using honorifics with him at some point.

His mind was only focused on protecting his own safety.

“I… I will uncover… who is responsible, in detail…”

“We’ve brought the physicians!”

At that moment, Hazel and Graham burst into the room. Following them, a physician rushed in, carrying bags full of supplies.

“Examine her quickly… Huff!”

The startled physician stopped and gasped.

Escalion quickly covered Belladona’s body with the blanket and shouted at Hazel and Graham.

“Bring a priestess here immediately!”

At his words, Graham cursed under his breath and quickly turned around and ran outside.

Hazel approached the bed with a dazed expression and opened his mouth.

“C, Captain… Is Lady Belladona alright?”

Hazel checked Escalion’s face and gasped again.

A Captain with this face…

Hazel hesitated and turned to the physician.

“P, Physician, please come this way.”

“Ah, yes.”

“As I mentioned, she seemed to have lost consciousness after drinking something, but that may not be the only reason. Please examine her thoroughly.”

“Understood.”

“Captain, Captain, please come this way for a moment…!”

Hazel forcibly dragged him out, as he stood rooted to the spot.

“Captain, what are those wounds? When did you find them?”

“I saw them when her clothes slid up as I was trying to lay her down.”

“Could it be… because of that?”

“It may not be the direct cause, but it must have contributed to weakening her body.”

“No, but who on earth…”

Escalion silently turned his eyes to look at the Pontiff.

As his eyes locked on him, the Pontiff flinched greatly and avoided his gaze.

“I… I will form an investigation team with the priests immediately. How dare someone do this to the Saintess…”

“Investigation team, my ass.”

He spat out shortly and strode towards the Pontiff.

Escalion grabbed his neck with one hand without any hesitation and squeezed.

Overwhelmed by the tremendous force, the Pontiff staggered backward and slammed the back of his head.

“Ugh, cough…!”

“Captain! What are you doing?”

“You, you knew.”

Escalion spat out. His eyes, as he spat those words, no longer held any reason.

“First, let go of him… and then talk…!”

“Cough… Sa, save me…”

Hazel tried to pull Escalion away from the Pontiff, but it wasn’t easy.

He was already incredibly strong, and now he had lost his reason…!

As the force tightened, the Pontiff’s face turned red from lack of breath.

“Ah, what’s that again!”

Graham, who had belatedly returned with the priestess, was horrified by the scene in the room and rushed over.

Still, with two burly men clinging to him and pulling him away, the force of the grip on the Pontiff’s neck gradually weakened.

“Please step back!”

Graham shouted as he grabbed Escalion’s waist and pulled him back, and the Pontiff raised his hands to tear off the hand choking his neck and quickly ducked down.

“Cough…! Hack! Ugh…! Cough, cough!”

“Why are you doing this, Captain!”

“You did it.”

Escalion spat out in a low voice. He did not take his eyes off the Pontiff, who was lying on the floor coughing painfully.

“What are you talking about!”

The priestess Graham had brought ran to the Pontiff.

“Your Holiness!”

“Who else in Astanya would do such a thing to Belladona but you? Even if you didn’t inflict those wounds directly, you must have ordered someone to do so.”

“Cough, cough…!!”

“Have you always treated Belladona like this? And then let her heal her own wounds?”

“Hack! Mis, misunderstanding… Ugh, cough!”

“You’re in pain from having your neck squeezed for a few seconds? Can’t you imagine the pain she’s been through all this time?”

After speaking, Escalion shook off Graham, who was holding his body.

Hazel barely stopped him, who was about to run to the Pontiff again and swing his fist.

“You can’t do this…! Please think about the consequences!”

“Yeah! It’s not too late to get angry after everything is revealed! It’s possible that Your Holiness doesn’t know anything about it! What you’re doing is a really big deal! Even if you end up in court later, you’ll have nothing to say, you know!”

“Cough…”

The Pontiff looked up and glared at him.

Now that he had saved his life, he seemed to be overcome with humiliation and shame.

“As I said, I will thoroughly investigate who dared to do this… Cough, I will. But if the person found to be the culprit has nothing to do with me… then I will hold you strictly accountable for this, Cough, Lord Diete.”

After speaking, he got up with the help of the priestess.

He glanced at the physician, who was sitting between them, looking around, and opened his mouth.

“Physician, please visit the Pontiff’s office after you have finished treating the Saintess. And keep silent about what you saw today until the day you meet God.”

“Ah, yes, I, I understand…”

The Pontiff glared at Escalion one last time, then limped out of Belladona’s room.

As soon as the Pontiff left, Graham grabbed Escalion’s shoulder and turned him around.

“Are you crazy? How can you hit a clergyman! And not just any clergyman, but the Pontiff…!”

“……”

Escalion walked to the bed without answering and looked down at Belladona.

Perhaps it was the effect of the IV drip the physician had given her, but her face looked much better than before.

“Explain.”

“Fo, fortunately, her life is not in danger. Judging from the symptoms, it seems she has been poisoned, but strangely, the internal damage is not severe.”

Hearing that her life was not in danger, he felt as if something that had been hanging by a thread was sinking.

“When will she wake up?”

“She should be able to wake up soon.”

“Can you also look at the wounds on other parts of her body?”

At his question, the physician slowly nodded.

“Can you tell what kind of tools were used by looking at the shape and depth of the wounds?”

“W, well, I can roughly tell…”

“Hazel.”

As Escalion turned to look at Hazel, he quickly stepped forward.

“If you have anything to point out, please tell me, Physician.”

The physician nodded and took out bandages, cotton, ointment, and other items for treating wounds from his bag.

Escalion quietly looked down at the scene, then sighed and sat down on the bed.