I Stole the Child of My War-Mad Husband

“There are people who actually kill people to procure it, but fortunately I haven’t heard of a murder case where only the heart is missing this time.”

“If no one was killed, it means the black magician took the heart from a dead body.”

“Right, that might be why the black magician is still on the move.”

“…but how many hearts do you need? I don’t think it’s just one.”

“At least a hundred.”

‘It’s really no joke.’

Digging up more than a hundred graves would be a tremendous toil.

“Originally, it is difficult to complete the forbidden magic. The results are powerful and uncontrollable.”

Suddenly, I wonder who the black magician is. It feels different from any black magician I have seen so far.

‘He doesn’t kidnap people and turn them into gargoyles.’

Of course, digging up other people’s graves is bad enough.

It is forbidden to even meet a dead soul.

Isn’t that what anyone who has lost a loved one would wish for?

“Isn’t he an ordinary person?”

“Who?”

“The black magician. Maybe you misunderstood the scope of your investigation in the first place. You’ve been investigating on the premise of finding the evil black magician who’s been hiding all along. Maybe that’s why you can’t find him?”

“But people who use forbidden magic are all insane. They buy people, take them apart, and put them back together.”

“Still, I think we should think about this a little differently than usual.”

I paused for a moment, then continued, “Even an ordinary person loses the direction of life if he suddenly loses someone important to him. I can understand to some extent the desire to see the person you love, even if you have to use this kind of restraint.”

“…….”

I looked at the silent Rupert. “You, you don’t understand exactly what I’m saying.”

“…right.”

It’s natural, it’s only natural.

He has never been able to have a precious person. It’s not like he’s ever been loved by anyone either.

It must be difficult to accurately understand the concept of ‘losing a loved one and being ruined.’

So, there is no progress in this case. Because he only focused on tracking down an evil black magician who used forbidden magic.

‘Is Rupert’s weakness a lack of humanistic perspective?’

There are times when people act only on emotions, but he doesn’t seem to understand them exactly.

‘He knows the theory, but I feel like he’s struggling with the application.’

Shaking my head, I started walking around the cemetery.

Now that it’s like this, better to get a hint about the black magician.

First of all, I looked around at the entrance, but I heard a small whisper somewhere.

It is behind the structure installed at the corner of the cemetery.

“…what…how?”

“…you! …ha…ha!”

Even in broad daylight, the voice heard from the cemetery was terrifying.

While contemplating whether to call a knight, I noticed one thing when I looked at the ground.

“Ahhh!”

My scream startled the people I saw.

“Ahhh!”

“Ahhh!”

“Let’s run away!”

“You don’t have to run away.”

There are three children hiding. I only realized it when I saw small shoe prints on the ground earlier.

The children, who looked to be around 7 or 8 years old, looked at me with wary eyes.

“Aren’t you going to scold us?”

“I won’t scold you. It’s dangerous to play here though. Where are you from?”

“The orphanage on the outskirts of South Street.”

I wondered why there are children here, apparently, they are orphanage children.

I asked if by any chance they had seen anything. “Do you come here often?”

“Um, maybe once a week? It’s good to play hide and seek without adults.”

“Have your other friends from the orphanage come too?”

The children nodded at the same time.

At that time, a kid asked with curious eyes, “By the way, are you a princess, Noona?”

[T/N: Noona = older sister]

Noona? You’re a good kid!

[T/N: She likes being called Noona/older sister instead of Ahjumma/aunty]

In the eyes of children, I must look like a princess just by wearing luxurious clothes.

“No, my name is Noel Ainel.”

“Oh! I know! You are the lord’s wife!”

Didn’t you say ‘nim’ too much?

[T/N: ‘Nim’ is added to the end of a word to show respect. This is a literal translation of the previous sentence: “Oh! I know! You are the wife-nim of the lord-nim!”]

I held back my laughter because it was so funny. At that time, another kid gasped.

He said, “You catch children at night and turn them into raspberry pies!? P-please save me!”

‘No, is that what the rumors going about me are like!?’

This is a bit of a shock!

“No, I hate raspberry pie.”

The kid who just brought up the pie question asked, “Then what do you like?”

“Apple pie.”

“A-are you going to turn us into apple pies!?”

“Shut up,” said another kid.

Fortunately, the others started defending me.

“Oh, no! Brother Mion said that contrary to rumors, both the madam and the young lady are very nice!”

I was moved by those words. Mion, I’ll have to give you some snacks to eat with the kids when I get back.

‘Oh, this isn’t the time to chat.’

“Children, have you seen any suspicious adults here? Carrying a shovel and digging the ground for example.”

“I didn’t see any.”

“Well… then, besides you, who else comes often?”

“Brother Mion!”

[T/N: Mion is Leah’s new friend. Re-read chapter 77 if you forgot]

“Thank you for letting me know. But it’s dangerous, so don’t play here too often.”

“Yes!”

When the urgent work is over, I’ll have to come up with a plan to install a playground near the orphanage.

‘I’ll have to ask Mion about the rest.’

And as a result of searching the cemetery, I saw several graves with traces of being dug up.

As expected, the corpses have no hearts.

***

On my way to the office, I thoughtlessly looked out the window and saw Mion passing by the garden.

Then I went outside.

“Mion.”

The boy raised his head in surprise.

“Ma-madam!”

“It’s time to go home, what are you doing here? Everyone will be worried if you’re too late.”

The boy mumbled, “Just, I was looking for something I lost…”

I asked curiously, “What is it? The maids might have found it, so tell me.”

Mion shook his head. “It’s fine! It’s not something you need to care about, Madam.”

“Seeing you haven’t even gone home, I think it’s important, right? My daughter plays here a lot, so I’ll ask her if she happened to pick up anything.”

The boy bowed his head. “Thank you.”

“Mion, I have something to ask you.”

“Yes…?”

He was clearly nervous. Seeing the situation, he had no choice but to do so, so I asked in as gentle a voice as I could.

“Do you often go to the cemetery?”

“Yes? Yes… uh, how did you know?”

“I met the children from the orphanage there earlier, but since you come there often, I wanted to ask you something.”

The boy gulped.

I asked, “Have you ever seen a suspicious person nearby? Especially someone holding a tool like a shovel.”

Mion immediately shook his head. “I’ve never seen one…”

“Okay, thank you for telling me.”

Just as I was about to turn around, something felt off.

‘I forgot something.’

“Oh!”

I remember now.

“Yes!?” Mion was surprised.

“I had the kitchen pack up some snacks for you to take with you. Go and eat together with the other kids.”

“Oh, thank you…”

Again the boy bowed down, and this time I really turned around and headed for the office.

‘That’s a lot.’

When I opened the office door, I could see Ordin and Rupert wrestling with documents.

It was a normal sight, but the paper he was looking at contained the identification of a suspect.

Because Rupert converged on my opinion at the graveyard. That the black magician may be an ordinary person.

“How many people have stopped by the three villages?”

The aide replied with a troubled look, “Since all three villages do business with us, there are a lot of them.”

At the time the ghost sightings occurred, we were looking for suspects by selecting local residents who visited the villages.

It was because it seemed the black magician was aiming for a village close to the Ainel territory, so it was highly likely that he moved here as a base.

‘Commerce and trade have developed, so even if you travel to many places, you will not be suspicious.’

I checked the village names on the map spread out on the table.

‘Onyx Village…’

It’s a place I know; the village that Leah recommended to Carla.

The first ghost sighting was here.

‘Then it must have been where the forbidden magic first started.’

Leah said she had heard of this village from a friend.

‘That friend is Mion.’

Something feels off. I seem to be missing some important hints.

‘Come to think of it, how does Mion know about Onyx Village?’

There is no way that a child in an orphanage has ever gone to another village by himself. It’s too dangerous.

‘Or maybe Mion is from that place?’

If he’s from outside, it makes sense that he knows about other villages.

‘If not…’