Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 346
TL: Elphie / PR: Mikan
Irene looked around.
It was a room with almost no furniture. On a small table in the corner sat a plate with some bread and soup.
The tray was chipped in multiple places, clearly the kind given to the lowest-ranking maids, but the food it held was decent enough.
Of course it was.
The kitchen maids of the countâs estate always made sure to give her whatever was left after the countâs family had eaten.
That meant her meals often included meat or vegetables with bite marks still on them.
Sometimes they just dumped all the scraps together and fed her something that resembled livestock feed more than anything else.
âThis is a dream.â
Looking around, Irene realized that she was dreaming.
Now that she had realized it was a dream, Irene thought she would soon wake up. But strangely, even after the awareness settled in, the scenery around her didnât change.
ââŚâ
Even after waiting a while, there was no sign of waking. Irene eventually stood up and looked around.
It had been a long time since sheâd seen this place.
After returning to the moment she first met Michael and gaining what they needed from the Fortress, the two of them had come to the Countâs estate.
âI couldâve just come aloneâŚâ
âNo. I want to know everythingâhow youâve lived, all of it.â
Faced with his unwavering insistence, Irene had no choice but to bring him along.
Count Rhodiam, upon seeing Irene at first, had immediately begun shouting that heâd heard she seduced a Holy Knight, demanding more compensation in return for having raised and fed her all those years.
But the moment he saw Michael enter behind her, he froze, barely daring to breathe under the weight of the manâs presence.
Without a word, Michael had tossed him a pouch of money and then asked to see the room Irene used to live in.
So she took him there.
Because the Count worried she might run away while everyone was asleep, Irene was made to stay in a room near the ceiling even in the Countâs manor.
A room that was hot in summer, cold in winter, with constant drafts that kept her up all night with the sound of whistling wind and full of bugs.
After Irene left, it seemed the room had been used as storage, stuffed with clutter and covered in a thick layer of dust.
Michael entered the room and stood silently for a long time.
Seeing his eyes waver, Irene spoke up, almost as if trying to make an excuse.
âItâs still bigger and nicer than the room in the FortressâŚâ
But as she said it, she quickly shut her mouth. She could tell from the way Michaelâs eyes shook even more that sheâd made a mistake.
Michael seemed to take in every part of the room, as if determined to remember exactly how she had lived, then spoke.
âOne day, Iâll find a place you think is perfect. And if it doesnât exist, Iâll build it for you.â
After that, the two of them traveled across the continent, with Irene searching for a place that truly felt right to her.
She didnât have much attachment to anything else, but when it came to choosing a home, Irene became more particular than anyone.
It wasnât just about finding a nice, expensive house. She wanted a perfect home that matched everything she had imagined.
Thatâs why, even after seeing hundreds of places, she would always shake her head and walk away, unsatisfied.
Anyone else might have grown tired of her and told her to compromise at some point.
But Michael never once showed any sign of annoyance until he finally found the house on the hill.
Whatâs more, whenever Irene happened to mention something sheâd seen from far away, some piece of furniture she thought might suit their home, he would somehow sense it and bring it to her as if by magic.
Thanks to that, their house had finally become everything Irene imagined it to be.
âWhy would this place, which I haven’t thought about since then, suddenly show up in a dream?â
And even though sheâd realized it was a dream, she still hadnât woken up.
It was unusually vivid, almost as if there was something she was meant to seeâŚ
The moment that thought crossed her mind, a sound came from outside.
At the noise, Irene stood up and moved to the window.
Now that she thought about it, back when she lived here, there was something she had wanted very, very much.
But at that time, it was something she could never have, so at some point she gave up and erased it from her mind.
That was…
The moment Irene looked out the window.
âIrene!â
The scenery around her changed in an instant, and before her stood Michael with a stern expression.
âMi…chael?â
When Irene murmured his name, his expression finally softened.
He pulled her into a tight embrace and said,
âIâm glad you woke up. I thought youâd been swallowed by the forgotten memories.â
âAh…â
At his words, Irene remembered how, before falling asleep, he had explained this place to her.
It was a place old and worn, full of things hidden or abandoned.
Thatâs why everything he was showing her now was the thoughts Michael had once held deep in his heart.
âThen what I saw was…â
It seemed to be a fragment of a memory that had long since been given up on.
While Irene was coming to her senses, Michael kept brushing her hair back and asking if she was really alright.
His voice full of worry, his touch careful yet tender.
If you looked only at that, he was no different from his usual self…
But Irene, sounding fed up, said,
âMichael, if youâre really worried about me…â
She lowered her gaze. Though she had just opened her eyes, she could see how tightly bound she was to him below.
âCould you please take it out from down there?â
It seemed this, too, was something Michael had imagined secretly on his own.
