Chapter 5

The surface of the murky mirror didn’t make it difficult to recognize his appearance…

“……”

In an instant, he froze, startled by the image of the sculpted handsome man in the mirror.

It wasn’t that he looked drastically different from his usual self.

‘He looks just like me?’

It wasn’t a doppelgänger or a parallel world—what on earth…

Alec scrutinized his reflection, his fingers brushing against his face.

Disheveled jet-black hair, eyes gleaming dark as pitch.

Smooth eyebrows, a straight nose, sharp jawline, and sensuous lips…

Aside from the subtle difference in ambiance that suggested a different nationality, there wasn’t a single dissimilar feature.

The resemblance was so uncanny that it seemed like he had found his long-lost identical twin.

“Sigh…”

Alec’s hand fell limply.

It was just… him.

‘How did this happen?’

He tried to recall the last moments before waking up here.

It felt like waking up from a long slumber, with his memories hazy.

Fortunately, he remembered his identity and past clearly.

Originally, he was the hero of a modern game fantasy novel that had reached its epic conclusion.

One day, gates—dimensional portals—opened across the world, releasing monsters that threatened humanity and spread plagues.

An unending horror of death and destruction surrounded them.

For the first time, humanity experienced true extinction and helplessness, trembling in fear.

But in front of the ‘chosen ones,’ a blue system resembling a game interface appeared.

The system granted ordinary people superhuman abilities, and the awakened ones leveled up through continuous quests to become stronger.

Alec was one of those awakened ones.

In an apocalyptic world where the future was uncertain, he fought monsters appearing everywhere.

Though initially weak, his growth knew no bounds.

He became so powerful that no one could surpass his ranking, the gap between him and the second place as vast as that between a god and an ordinary human.

SSS-class boss monsters were no longer a problem for him.

He had to find the entity sending monstrous creatures to Earth and save the world.

It was a god from another world trying to conquer Earth.

In the final battle, he fought and defeated this inhuman entity.

The world and its people were no longer in danger, and the long-awaited peace unfolded.

He had finally reached the ‘end’ he sought, having conquered the world with the system.

Relief quickly turned to a sense of emptiness.

He had done everything he could for the world.

Could he now live a normal life?

Could he finally obtain a life unrelated to combat and slaughter?

He saved the world, but…

‘Can my life be saved too?’

He felt as though he knew nothing about what he truly wanted beyond the world’s peace.

All he wanted for the moment was to rest.

As he closed his eyes, the system window appeared again.

[Congratulations, ‘Ruthless Eternal Bachelor’!]

“……”

[Your title has been changed.]

[Ruthless Eternal Bachelor → God-Slaying Savior]

“……”

[The ‘God-Slaying Savior’ who successfully completed the 21st-century quest has received the final reward! Do you accept?]

‘Final reward?’

He thought the final battle was outside the system’s scope, but even that turned out to be a quest.

Having no reason to refuse, he accepted the final reward.

He hoped it wouldn’t be game currency, items, or skills.

Suddenly, everything around him flickered black, and he lost consciousness.

The last thing he thought was,

‘Send me to Hawaii. Or Guam, Bali…’

He deserved a long, well-earned rest.

When he regained consciousness, the voices he heard were,

‘Alec!’

‘Are you awake, Your Grace? Oh, I mean, Alec Myers!’

‘Dear…’

“……”

Becoming someone else in another world out of the blue.

Having expected only a vacation abroad, the feeling of bewilderment lingered.

He roughly brushed his face.

“This is insane…”

Surprising people without warning…….

The final reward was a new life?

* * *

“Sigh…”

After closing the door behind me, I let out a deep sigh.

My husband still seemed confused, so I let him rest more.

Leaning against the wall, I pressed my hand to my uncomfortably heavy chest.

Thump, thump, thump…

My heart continued to beat anxiously ever since I found out he had consumed rat poison.

Could it be because I experienced a rollercoaster of shock, despair, and relief in such a short time?

I was truly relieved and thankful that he was alive… but I was more relieved than I thought I would be.

It suddenly hit me how important his presence was in my heart.

“Alec, you must have been taken aback by my reaction. You were so surprised you spit out your drink.”

Well, I was taken aback too.

I took out a handkerchief and wiped the remaining water from my face.

Alec and I were not a loving or affectionate couple.

Until now, I had harbored resentment and disappointment towards him, and although I never openly showed it, he wasn’t unaware of it either.

But for a wife to be relieved that such a husband came back to life, he probably couldn’t have imagined it.

I could understand why he was so shocked that he spat out his drink.

It was bitter and lonely.

‘…Could he be thinking about divorcing me again?’

Even though he opened his eyes again, nothing had changed, so he might still try to push me away.

Anyway, my mother-in-law would never allow a divorce before I gave birth to an heir…

‘I don’t want a divorce…’

I clenched my fist tightly behind my back.

Tears welled up in my eyes for no reason.

Had I grown more attached to him?

When he mentioned divorce, my mind went blank and I was at a loss for words.

When I thought he was dying, I felt a crushing sense of despair, like the ground was giving way beneath me.

I, too, found this side of myself unfamiliar.

I didn’t want to go through another separation from Alec.

* * *

Before sunset, I borrowed the kitchen at the inn.

We hadn’t eaten anything since last night.

The household was in shambles, so we weren’t in the right mind to eat, and even if someone had given us food, we wouldn’t have been able to eat it.

Just as I thought my husband must be getting hungry, my sister-in-law came looking for me, saying, “Aren’t we going to eat something?”

“It’s 10 gold coins.”

“What?”

“The cost of renting the kitchen.”

The innkeeper held out her palm.

“Oh… right. Okay.”

I had assumed it was free since she had offered it so readily, but it turned out to be a meticulous place.

10 gold coins were enough for one person to stay at the inn for another day…

I took out the coins from my dress pocket and handed over 10 gold coins, saying, “I’m sorry. We almost caused a big problem.”

“…It would be best if you could leave as soon as possible. If His Majesty the Emperor finds out, we might get into trouble.”

The innkeeper turned away quickly, not needing to hear my reply.

The chilly breeze from her skirts stirred my hair.

‘…Well, she’s not wrong.’

I was grateful that the innkeeper had taken us in, given that we had fallen out of favor with the tyrant.

‘Damn tyrant…’

Just thinking about him made me want to curse.

I felt like I had become someone with a contagious disease.

Calming my anger, I opened the bag I had brought.

When I was kicked out of the duchy, the head maid secretly handed it to me.

Inside were canned emergency rations and bread, and the most I could do was heat them up.

“Milk?”

When I brought the warm bread and soup to the room where my sister-in-law and mother-in-law were, my sister-in-law looked down at the tray and asked for milk.

I sighed and replied, “There isn’t any.”

“What? How can we eat without milk!”

“Don’t eat if you don’t want to.”

“Oh, no! Sister.”

Clatter!

“….”

As I tried to take the bowl away, my sister-in-law quickly closed the door and went back inside.

Shaking my head, I headed to the room I shared with my husband.

‘Be patient. In the original world, she’s just a middle schooler…’

Eloise’s behavior wasn’t new.

When I pulled the slightly open door, my husband was pacing inside, looking somewhat anxious.

“…”

Until yesterday, he had seemed dazed, but now it looked like he was trying to find a way to overcome our situation.

It was the first time I saw him so sharply troubled, and it was unexpected.

“Alec.”

At the sound of my sudden voice, he flinched and looked towards me.