How to Get My Husband on My Side

Translator: Yui
Editor: Nila

The ringing in my ears eventually exploded until my whole body vibrated with the sound of the ground shaking. Was this an earthquake? The nausea and lightheadedness became so much worse that for a moment, I could not see.

“Did you see him? Did you that b*stard just now? F*ck, did he fly all the way there or what?”

“Because his wife is sitting there! He sure wants to look good, that crazy b*stard, hahaha!”

The unbothered chatter of the spectators had me shaking my head in confusion. Was that not an earthquake? Did none of them feel that? Was I going crazy?

My head was spinning and I was seeing black spots. The churning in my stomach was unbearable and blinking my eyes didn’t help at all, so I closed them instead, hoping the pain would lessen.

The physical pain eased up, but the unpleasant feeling in my chest did not. I didn’t want to open my eyes again. I wanted to keep them closed for a long time, but I was not sure as to why.

I did not want to see what was happening on the battlefield.

“Ruby, are you all right?” Cesare asked, worry laced in his voice. “You must be shocked, do you want to take a break?”

He probably thought the ghoul had scared me, but I felt too nauseous from all of the candy and rum I had taken in to correct him. My throat had grown dry with all of the crap I’d stuffed into it.

“Yes, you’re right. I’m going to the washroom.”

Without giving him the chance to say anything else, I got up and walked away. I didn’t want to know if he was still following me with his eyes, or if someone else in the vicinity was keeping me under surveillance. The feeling of being watched made my skin crawl and I hurried to enter the empty hall.

But why was it that I did not want to look back, not even once?

***

When I stopped by the bathroom, rinsed my mouth, sat on the steps leading to the players’ dressing rooms for a minute or two, went outside to breathe in some cold air, and went back to my seat, there were only two players left on the battlefield.

This time, a draugr had appeared, dressed like a knight akin to the Dullahans I had met. Its skin looked even worse than a ghoul’s, with bones sticking out of its flesh, so grotesque and decayed that it looked like both a revenant and a mummy at the same time.

The last two players on the platform were standing side by side, one knight with silver-white hair and sword drawn, and another wearing armor bearing the rose crest that symbolized Rembrandt’s Vishelier family. He tapped the silver-haired knight on the shoulder and ran ahead.

The crowd seemed to enjoy the initiative taken, considering how loud it became again.

“Are you feeling better?” Cesare’s voice filled my ears.

“Yes, of course.” I felt miserable, for some reason. “I wonder what will come out next. It’s a lot more boring than I expected.”

“That’s unexpected. Everyone is on the edge of their seats, betting on who will win and who will die.”

“Unexpected, you say? Nobody here cares who will die. So do I.”

It’s the same for me if I died, right? No one would care.

The match was boring to me, however, because I already knew how it would end.

Cesare eyed me suspiciously. “You’re not being serious, are you?”

A polite question. Wondering if his sister was not anxious for her husband to win. I hoped that the cardinals sitting a few ways down had heard him, for his sake.

The match was still boring and it was annoying to hear him talk, so I thought it would be better to just lay back and shut it all out at this point.

my eyes for a bit. Even though

“… You’re sleepy?”

face? “Because I couldn’t sleep last

I replied too harshly—he’d probably punish me after the game—but I didn’t care and folded my arms,

thought I heard him mumble something, but the

trying to protect my poor eyes from the constant torture of flashing lights. And also to block Cesare from talking

least, that’s

asleep despite the noisy crowd and ongoing battle. For the first time in

 very loud cry woke

couldn’t recognize where I was or what I was doing as my eyes sprung open. I raised my head, trying to look for the source. Blinking rapidly, the sense of time that I had lost,

me made me turn and look to the

fixed on the battlefield, looking hard at something, his lips

the same, I naturally

first, I thought a cardinal had somehow fallen off the stands and into the arena. I realized soon, however, that that was not the

earthquake had ripped open the earth, and pieces of rubble were rising into the sky. Giant piles of bones were coming up from the dirt, twisting and

from ear to ear and looked more like a laceration wound than a mouth. He was clad in rags, robes rotten and torn, and was emitting an

was not just any cardinal. That was Cardinal

the color drained from my face as I tried

out? Dead Cardinal Richie came out

the Most Serene Republic of Venice against the Pope, he had been imprisoned and set to be executed for high treason. But Cardinal Richie had decided to not sit through Cesare’s interrogation and torture. He had done what no man of the cloth dared to do. He had committed the unforgivable sin of taking his own

a wandering soul, doomed for eternity. He had become

the Pope had approved of sending his once closest subordinate, now cursed and demonic

my God, they approved of this?

wings flashed in front of my

circling in the air, and piles upon piles of bones were swaying in front of Cardinal Richie. They were twisting into a skeleton of humongous size, taking the shape of what looked to be a dragon. Richie’s unholy divinity allowed for

its foot

something,

way up here, I could see that silver-white hair shining

you escape from under it? Did you get hurt? Did that zombie cardinal get you? No way, you’re the main character. Or

a deafening roar, the noise settling in my

Izek’s eyes found mine.

getting crushed underneath the dragon’s foot,

kind of expression I was

was numb and

moment our eyes interlocked, a thousand questions

are you

at me with such a

one who’s getting

will be shattered in less than

the worst death if I

“No!”

did I care about Richie or the dragon? It was none of my business whether the monsters set

the stone floor of the balcony. All the screaming and

jaws gaping open, raised its

“Izek!”

my shoulder, trying to hold