Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 103

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“W-What are you talking about…?”

She should have laughed it off, like hearing an unfunny joke. But instead, her words stumbled, and she couldn’t form a proper response.

‘How does he know?’

Michael was speaking as if he knew she had returned to the past.

Then, Michael spoke again.

“It’s not unreasonable to think that way, considering there have been times when additional entrances appeared in distortion dungeons before.”

As he said this, he handed her the paper he was holding. There was no strange look or hint of suspicion in his expression.

Irene took the paper and slowly composed herself.

‘Calm down. There’s no way he could know.’

She recalled the moment of her death vividly for the first time in a long while.

She had died alone, clutching her wounds, in a dungeon filled with the cries of monsters.

Michael was nowhere to be seen. The only thing that had remained by her side at the end was a mysterious piece of metal that had come from a chest.

Even when she opened her eyes again, Michael had not been there.

Irene glanced over at him. He was focused on the other records from the document archive on the table. There was nothing unusual about his appearance or demeanor.

‘It’s all in my head.’

She still found it hard to believe she had died and come back to life, sometimes thinking it was all just a dream. So how could she expect anyone else to know?

Letting go of her suspicions, Irene suddenly remembered the piece of metal she had seen in her memories earlier.

‘Now that I think about it, could I find out what that is if I asked for an appraisal?’

Pieces of unidentified metal, similar in appearance, were discovered in dungeons by the dozens every day.

So she couldn’t be certain it was the artifact that had sent her back to the past.

‘Still… if there’s any object worth suspecting, it’s that one.’

If that piece of metal was the cause of her return, an appraisal could reveal the truth. However, getting it appraised wasn’t easy.

For starters, an appraisal cost a hefty 10,000 gold.

Moreover, the fortress had a rule that only items retrieved from dungeons could be appraised. This was to prevent people from bringing in random objects, claiming they were artifacts.

‘All rewards taken from a dungeon have to be reported to the staff, so unreported items like that metal piece can’t be appraised.’

That left her with two options.

The first option was to sneak into the appraisal room and use the Hand of Appraisal artifact without permission.

Of course, that was the most ridiculous option. The appraisal room was located deep within the Union’s building, heavily guarded because of the Hand of Appraisal’s importance.

It was impossible to sneak in.

The second option was to bring the metal piece into a dungeon, claim she found it there, and request an appraisal upon exiting.

The problem was that faking it in front of others would be difficult. She couldn’t convincingly make it seem like it came out of a reward chest.

‘Should I try when I go in with just Michael?’

While Irene was lost in thought, Michael called out to her.

“Irene?”

“Ah, yes!”

She snapped back to reality at the sound of his voice.

“You were looking at this, does that mean you’re planning to participate in the distortion dungeon raid?”

“Well… if you’re going, Sir…”

“Please, just call me Michael.”

Today, he seemed particularly determined to get her to stop using formal titles. His insistence made it clear he wasn’t going to back down, so Irene complied.

“Yes, Michael.”

Surprisingly, calling him by name didn’t feel as awkward as she had thought.

When she said his name, Michael finally looked satisfied.

“Since you’ll be participating in the raid anyway, I thought I’d follow along.”

Irene turned her gaze back to the paper.

‘I had planned to go from the start.’

This distortion dungeon was known for producing a lot of reward chests. Although no extraordinary artifacts had been found, even the small chests contained valuable enough rewards.

Those who had entered the dungeon at the time described it as a fun treasure hunt.

If she could find just a few chests, she could pay off her debts to the auction house and the appraisal room.

There was also another reason.

“And… if you’re willing, I’d like to ask you to join me for another raid.”

“Is this related to the circle we were with last time?”

“Yes…”

Irene’s voice grew quieter.

She couldn’t help it—what she was asking for was a rather shameless favor.