My Husband Never Dies - Chapter 42

Seeing Evelyn approach, Laura smiled brightly.

“Are you done looking around?”

“Yes, that’s enough.”

With natural ease, Evelyn took her seat at the head of the sofa, sipping the cold tea that had turned lukewarm with melted ice. The fresh, cool taste spread across her mouth. She gripped the handle of the teacup tightly, her trembling hand steadying.

Even with a sliver of hope shining through, Evelyn couldn’t shake the unease.

When all the pieces of a puzzle fall perfectly into place, it should be exhilarating. Yet the picture forming in her mind, assembled by those very pieces, was… not right. She had a nagging feeling that it wasn’t the one she wanted.

“Isn’t it strange, my lady?”

Laura broke the silence just then. When Evelyn looked at her instead of replying, Laura glanced around the archive and added cheerfully,

“It’s so hot in the garden, but it’s still cool in here.”

Evelyn’s troubled gaze landed on Laura, who was repeating the same words she’d said earlier.

“It’s underground.”

“Huh?”

“The path leading here was sloped. This place is underground.”

It wasn’t even strange anymore to hear the same conversation repeated like this. Evelyn took another sip of her tea. Laura placed a plate of sandwiches in front of her and said,

“Oh, so it’s underground. I didn’t realize.”

Evelyn gave a small nod in confirmation, and Laura continued on in her usual bright voice.

“You must be hungry — please have some sandwiches. You don’t really care for sweet snacks, after all…”

“I’m fine.”

Deliberately turning away from the unease, Evelyn chose to focus only on that fragile thread of hope she’d finally grasped. Cut it into pieces so it can’t ever come back together… She’d done a lot of killing, but dismembering a corpse was something she wasn’t used to.

She was an assassin. She never had the luxury of time to carve up a body. Quick, clean kills — that was her expertise. End it fast, leave no trace, and disappear before anyone noticed. The classic hit-and-run.

“Haah…”

And besides, how was she even supposed to kill the Duke? The bastard couldn’t die. Even if she did manage to kill him, he would just come back. The very thought left her feeling hopeless. Her appetite, unsurprisingly, vanished.

Lost in thought, Evelyn absently stirred her teacup. Seeing her like that, Laura cautiously spoke up.

“This reminds me… of a story about the King of the Underworld.”

As if she couldn’t stand the silence any longer, Laura suddenly launched into something completely unrelated.

“There’s a tale that says… if you eat food given by the King of the Underworld, you can never return.”

Laura’s story was a fairy tale made up to discourage children from following strangers.

It was a story made for a time when child trafficking was common—a cautionary tale warning children not to eat food given by strangers or to follow unknown adults.

“Just thinking about being underground makes me remember it, I guess. Of course, I had the kitchen make these sandwiches and brought them myself! So don’t worry about eating them!”

Laura joked playfully. Evelyn stared down at the sandwich in front of her before speaking.

“What did the kids eat again?”

Of course, such stories had no impact on a young Evelyn. A child surviving by tearing into half-rotten fruit and moldy bread scavenged from trash would’ve gladly accepted a full banquet from the King of the Underworld himself.

She wouldn’t have known what would come after.

Just like Evelia Locke, who had signed a life-ruining contract just to escape Zelakent.

“Roast turkey dripping with fat, and stew thick with the rich scent of milk… That kind of thing. Like the food served during harvest festivals.”

“It wasn’t real food, though, was it?”

“Well… technically, yeah. The King of the Underworld only made it look like food with magic. But I don’t remember the exact details. When I first heard it as a kid, it was frog intestines, cicada wings, a snake’s tail… Oh! And my friend’s eyeball! Everything else changed, but the eyeball stayed the same. The eyeball part, from the friend who went with them!”

Evelyn recalled the green eyeball she had spat out in a dream. Her gaze landed on the large emerald ring that had adorned her finger ever since she left Brumfield.

A child who ate the food given by the King of the Underworld could never return. Someone whose eyes had been gouged out became part of the ingredients. The price for giving in to the sweet temptation was dire.

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

Laura asked worriedly. Evelyn let out a wry chuckle as she looked down at the appetizing sandwich.

“Would you want to?”

“Oh come on, I brought it myself.”

Unable to resist Laura’s playful persistence, Evelyn picked up the sandwich. The layers of fresh vegetables, thinly sliced ham, and cheese were not bizarre at all.

Evelyn opened her mouth and took a bite. The crunch of fresh greens came first, followed by the savory taste of cheese and the richness of the ham.

The flavor that filled her mouth… felt just like the taste described in the fairy tales.

As if she would never return to the surface again.