Chapter 1: The First Daughter-in-law of House Godrick

“Now commencing the trial for the charge of adultery between Lady Katarina Godrick, daughter-in-law of House Godrick, and the second son, Millian Godrick.”

The judge struck his gavel three times, signaling the start of the proceedings.

Katarina slowly scanned the courtroom.

The nobles, desperate to drag Milion down, and the commoners, eager to defend his honor—all of them were watching her mouth, waiting for her words.

“Katarina Godrick. Begin your defense.”

The judge looked down at the accused with an expressionless face.

Katarina took a short breath, then parted her lips calmly.

“I was the only one… who harbored such feelings.”

The courtroom instantly erupted into chaos.

Curses, jeers, and accusations flew from every direction, and a heavy stone hurled from somewhere grazed her forehead.

Though her entire body trembled under the harsh barrage of scorn, her heart remained still.

She continued, speaking the words she had practiced and repeated countless times in her mind.

“His kindness, born out of compassion… I mistook it, foolishly, for love”

Katarina loved Millian.

Katarina had loved Millian. She still did.

He was the one who had shown her undeserved kindness when no one else would look her way—who had held her with warmth, even when she had fallen to the lowest depths of despair.

And so, she wanted to protect him—his honor, his duty, even the noble name of Godrick that he had built with his own hands.

To protect him, the only thing left for Katarina to give up—was herself.

And that, to her, meant nothing at all.

The commotion outside the courtroom began when bl＊＊d started trickling down from the wound on Katarina’s forehead.

***

About a year before the adultery trial that shook the Empire—

news arrived that Millian Godrick, the second son of House Godrick, was returning to the estate.

It had been ten long years.

Upon discovering her son’s name on the imperial delegation list, the Marchioness immediately summoned the servants.

Unfortunately, the Marquis was away attending a trade conference, which meant that the lady of the house would have to welcome the guest alone.

With the Marchioness at the lead, every servant, guard, and knight of the household was mobilized to prepare for the homecoming, and the entire manor—inside and out—buzzed with activity.

Only one person remained unaware of the news:

the Marchioness’s eldest daughter-in-law, Katarina.

Early that morning, the head maid flung open the door to the prayer room.

At once, a dense wave of incense smoke billowed out into the hallway.

The head maid waved her hand to clear the air, glaring sharply toward the floor.

There, huddled in a tattered robe stained with dark patches of bl＊＊d, was a frail woman.

When the head maid splashed a basin of cold water over her, the woman gasped and opened her eyes.

Blinking against the flood of sunlight, she quickly rose to her knees.

“You may leave the prayer room now, young madam.”

“…Yes.”

Katarina murmured faintly and slowly pushed herself up.

Meanwhile, the maid gathered the piles of parchment stacked on the shelf—pages filled with prayers that Katarina had copied over three sleepless nights.

Before long, other maids entered with cleaning supplies.

They grimaced at the sight of her, barely able to walk while bracing herself against the wall.

Beneath the thin fabric of her gown were visible layers of whip marks, dried bl＊＊d, and bruises that had spread darkly across her skin.

Someone covered their nose, unable to bear the stench.

Only then did Katarina realize how foul and musty her body smelled.

Shame burned her from head to toe.

If she could have crawled into a hole, she would have done so without hesitation.

But instead of looking for a place to hide, she stepped hesitantly toward the head maid.

Katarina mumbled something, her shoulders hunched, but her voice was too small to hear.

The head maid’s brow furrowed into deep lines, and Katarina quickly forced strength into her tongue to repeat herself.

“May… may I wash first and then go see Magnus?”

The guilt of having failed to attend to her husband for several days outweighed even the humiliation of the moment.

The head maid paused, then nodded.

“Yes. The purification ritual is complete. You may attend to the young master again starting today.”

A faint trace of relief crossed Katarina’s gaunt face.

Despite her aching legs, she hurried away.

When she arrived at the detached quarters, she washed herself with frantic urgency, as though being chased.

She pressed a cloth to her stinging wounds, wiping away the pus, and changed into clean clothes—looking at least somewhat human again.

Lifting the collar of her dress, she checked that the odor was gone, then went straight to the kitchen hearth to heat a pot of water for her husband’s washbasin.

As the fire roared and filled the room with warmth, fatigue came over her like a heavy tide.

Her eyelids drooped, and she rested her head on her knees—but when the lid of the pot began to rattle, Katarina forced herself upright once more.

Unlike the dimly lit annex, Magnus’s room was dazzlingly bright.

Sunlight poured in like a waterfall through the arched window facing southeast, filling every corner of the room with blinding light.

Beneath that radiant glow lay her husband, Magnus, fast asleep in serene silence.

“Ah… hello, Magnus.”

Katarina greeted softly and sat down on the chair beside the bed.

“Have you been doing well while I was away?”

Wearing an awkward smile, she gently placed the back of her hand against his cheek.

His skin was warm to the touch, yet the air in the room felt piercingly cold.

Pulling the blanket higher over his shoulders, she hurried toward the fireplace.

“It’s been snowing on and off again—seems the temperature’s dropped. But the days are getting longer than last week, don’t you think?”

As she added logs and poked at the embers with an iron rod, she kept turning her head to check his complexion.

“In a few more days, we’ll be able to open the windows wide. Without worrying about catching a cold.”

Her chatter didn’t stop there.

She talked about how the rustling of leaves last night had sounded like ghosts crying, and how the stable dog had given birth to five puppies last week.

They were trivial, ordinary things—small stories a wife might share with her husband.

Except for one thing.

All the conversation came from only one side.

Magnus never spoke.

He didn’t turn his head toward her. He didn’t so much as glance her way.

Still, Katarina didn’t feel hurt.

She believed that her husband, Magnus, was listening to everything she said—that he would respond to her with gentle words.

Even if those answers could neither be seen nor heard.

For the tenth year now, Magnus Godrick—lying unconscious—was surely welcoming his wife once more today.

***

Katarina cared for Magnus following the routine she knew by heart.

She soaked a cloth in an herbal solution and gently wiped his body clean, then used a razor to smooth the dark stubble that had grown along his jaw. When she finally applied balm and hair oil, Magnus once again resembled the handsome young man she remembered.

The maid who had tended to him in her absence had done a decent job—but Katarina’s eyes immediately caught the details that had been missed. Damp skin around the joints that hadn’t been dried properly, a faint rash rising there, and a small patch of reddened flesh on his back where the bed had pressed too long.

She corrected each of those things one by one.

When she was done, her husband’s face looked more at ease. A faint sense of pride and relief softened her expression as she wiped the sweat from her brow.

“The nursemaid seems to have done her best, but still… my hands must be the most comfortable, aren’t they?”

The words slipped out before she could stop them—born of her small, desperate wish to be needed.

Moments later, shame at her own pettiness washed over her.

Avoiding the unseeing gaze of her husband, Katarina took the medical log from the bedside drawer. She carefully reviewed the nursemaid’s notes, then checked Magnus’s breathing, skin tone, and pupil response before recording her own observations.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—there was no change in his condition today either.

Closing the logbook, Katarina’s gaze shifted to the hose connecting his hand to the healing stone.

Even though the emergency bell hadn’t rung, her breath still caught every time she touched it—this device that was, in truth, his lifeline.

The healing stones used to sustain the unconscious were drawn only from the hearts of high-grade magical beasts, priceless resources earned at the cost of hunters’ lives. Their value had long surpassed gold, becoming the most expensive substance in the Empire.

Because Katarina had received no dowry from her family, every time the Marquisate restocked its healing stones, her debt grew heavier—a suffocating reminder of what her husband’s life cost.

Perhaps it was because another replacement was nearing, but today she moved even more diligently than usual.

After finishing her morning routine, Katarina reached into the pocket of her robe.

“I thought I wouldn’t be able to get one this week, but luckily I did. You must be curious about what’s happening outside the estate too, aren’t you?”

What she pulled out was a copy of The Weekly News.

Unlike The Imperial Daily, which was delivered every morning to the Marquis and Marchioness, The Weekly was a cheap paper printed for commoners.

Only one copy entered the Godrick estate, passed hand to hand among the servants before being tossed out. When it finally reached the waste bin, Katarina would retrieve it and bring it to read aloud to Magnus.

The front page of this issue was filled with articles celebrating the achievements of Commander Millian Godrick.

At the sight of his name, Katarina’s grip on the paper tightened.

The Hero Who Drove Out the Beasts — Commander Millian Godrick

Light of Life to the Neglected Villages! The First Subjugation Corps Triumphs Again!

Commander Millian Prevents Greater Catastrophe, Leaving Lord Creha Behind

Her eyes skimmed down the page before she began to read one passage aloud.