The Duchess and the Devil

“Does he really not remember anything?”

Derrick Vaisil didn’t answer the family doctor’s questions, and his legs, in a criss cross position, were bobbing slowly. Not long after, he propped his chin and turned his eyes to look outside the window. He looked so clam that one couldn’t have thought that he had died, went into the coffin, and came out alive just by looking at him.

The family doctor gave up speaking further to Derrick and approached Judith.

“It seems you’re right about his amnesia.”

Her husband’s amnesia was as shocking as what happened with the coffin earlier.

Judith looked at her husband, who was sitting on the sofa, with a hollow gaze. He was busy looking around his surroundings as if he had suddenly fallen on a remote island one day. It was a different attitude that contradicted the chaotic environment brought by his revival. His gaze stopped at the big mirror next to her and he burst into giggles, a behaviour that was surely unbelievable for a grown man of his appearance.

“Other than that?”

“Based on the results of my examination, there is nothing wrong with his body. His pulse is normal, and even his breathing is fine.”

“…I think only his mind is strange.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. That’s all. You did well.”

After Judith forced her mouth under control to not recklessly talk about her relationship with her husband or anything of the like, she sent the family doctor outside of the room. The servants also went out, following behind the family doctor, until it was only Judith and Derrick left in the bedroom.

By the time the sound of the footsteps outside the room had completely died away, Judith took a step forward towards the sofa. Derrick slowly turned his head towards her, perhaps because he felt her presence.

“What kind of drama is this again?”

Judith stood directly in front of him. Since Derrick was sitting there, naturally her gaze was facing down. Even if she didn’t check through the mirror, Judith was certainly sure that his gaze looked displeased.

“Amnesia? Ha. That’s fun, too.”

The family doctor had said that he has amnesia, but Judith didn’t believe that.

Derrick Vaisil was a very meticulous and thorough man. It was a marital life of no more than two years, but his nature to face an enemy head on was the same as now. This foolish act that he was doing was probably a petty scheme to get something.

At least that was what Judith thought it was.

“What the hell are you committing such acts for? Even though in this situation we’ve had your funeral, what am I going to say to other people…?”

“My funeral?”

Derrick, who was silently listening to her reprimands as they poured out, showed a lively response for the first time. Judith, who hesitated due to him cutting in, answered with a sigh.

“That’s right. Your funeral.”

“So that’s the reason. I woke up in the coffin.”

Derrick wiped his face as though he had finally realized something.

“What do you mean? With “that’s the reason.”

“What did you say my name was?”

Judith gradually felt peculiarly strange. Even though he would definitely do this petty scheme, he was like a man who really lost all of his memories. For instance, even though they were standing close to each other like this, he wasn’t showing any sort of disgust and such toward Judith.

If it was the usual Derrick Vaisil, he was a man who expressed hatred to her even if it was just with the fact that he was getting closer than he needed to be with his wife.

“…….Derrick Vaisil.”

“‘Derrick’……… the name is the same.”

Since a while ago, he only muttered words that she couldn’t understand at all. Judith realized something off about the words he would throw out every now and then. She determined in that moment she would ask him about the heavy feeling she felt from him.

He suddenly coiled his hand around Judith’s wrist. Surprised by the sudden contact, she tried to step back quickly, but his hand that quickly pulled her wrist was faster than that.

“What ㅡwhat is it?”

Judith stammered, embarrassed.

“Your name is?”

His weary gaze fixed on her trembling lips. It was a passionate look, lingering as if he was a beast aiming at its prey.

Judith intended to pull her hand out of his grasp, but his strength held her and she couldn’t wiggle out. With his strong physical strength, she gave up her attempt to get out, made eye contact with the man who was looking up at her.

At that moment, she witnessed the gathering red tinges in his violet eyes. It was a colour that was as vivid and distinct as blood pumping through the blood vessels in the body.

Judith, who was startled all of a sudden, blinked her eyes a couple of times. Then, the iris of his eyes returned to their pale violet colour as if they had changed at some point.

‘Did I….. see that wrong just now?’

While there were too many strange things happening one after another, she realized that there were too many things going on in her head. Judith exhaled a light sigh, trying to reason with herself. At the same time, she felt his grip hold her wrist firmly. A groan instinctively burst out from her lips.

“Ah……!”

“You know, I’m asking for your name.”

A low-toned voice that drearily spread strongly striked her eardrum.

Judith was consumed in her confusion by his behavior and interest in her. Something was strange, she couldn’t dismiss this as acting. A fierce, intense pressure wrapped around around him that she hadn’t felt from him before.

That’s ridiculous.

Does it mean that it’s amnesia, not acting?

“Ju ㅡJudith Vaisil.”

With a dazed mind, her lips slightly moved. Maybe because of his act, telling her husband, who had been living together with her for years, her name, was a very strange act. So much so her own name felt unfamiliar.

Derek moistened his lips languidly.

“Vaisil……. same last name?”

He drew her wrist that he had been stubbornly holding onto since a while ago towards him, and bit the tender flesh in her wrist hard as if taking a bite of an apple. At Derrick’s unexpected behavior, Judith stiffened like a rock.

“Judging by the way things are going, I think you’re my wife.”

Something damp was licking her skin which began to show a vivid bite mark. The languid movement reminded her of the outer skin of a snake, which made her spine shiver/cold and her hair stand on end. The snake’s sleek outer skin , which makes the spine cold and one’s hair to stand on end.

Her blood ran cold and her heart reverberated creating pounding sounds to the unfamiliar sensation to the point of causing goosebumps. Judith quickly came to her senses and pulled out the wrist that was caught by him.

“What – what are you doing?”

Her voice that had uttered a shriek loudly had turned inside out as she very hurriedly opened her mouth. In the meantime she had been with him, she had no experience of seeing herself so excited even once in front of Derrick, but now, Judith had been as agitated as not even having time to bother about such things.

“Wife.”

Whether she was embarrassed or not, Derek sat with his legs crossed and propped his chin in a relaxed manner. Those merciful eyes that were bright like a jewel looked at her as though he was burning her. Even though it seemed to be dull, his gaze was strangely disturbing.

“I’m hungry.”

Those were the only words that he recited, staring at her fixed as if she was a delicious food.

By all means this man, I think he’s crazy.

The dumbfounded Judith had no choice but to think of him that way.

 

* * *

 

“…….”

Judith couldn’t keep on talking, and even while her hands were halted, she was blankly staring at the front.

Derrick, who was sitting on the opposite side of her, was calmly slicing with his knife, not even caring about a single thing like the attention of people on him. Dozens of white plates were piled up in front of him like that.

It was an astonishing thing even just by finally having to have a meal together. But what was even more strange was the amount of his meals. Whenever he sat face-to-face with her, he used to barely eat under the excuse that he had no appetite, but now three to four dishes were being removed in an instant even before Judith barely finished a plate.

Even if he didn’t have firm memories of the past, his meal was an outrageous amount of food. If Judith ate like that, her stomach would have burst with a pop, still with leftovers.

“…….Are you not full?”

Judith, who tried to disregard him as much as he could because she couldn’t figure out what in the world he was up to, eventually couldn’t stand it and opened her mouth.

Just in time, Derrick, who put down his knife, looked like he was smiling furtively, stroking the sides of his mouth.

“Not at all.”

T/N: Hmmm, I wonder what can make him full? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

His nonchalant reply made Judith feel sorry for the chef who was busy working inside there. But her thoughts changed not long after to a more pitiful person, who faced opposite him.

Now her husband, who was like a disrupter of her life, was gone, so she was convinced that he wouldn’t be a headache, but that was a completely absurd dream.

“But I thought my stomach would be full to some extent because I’m in a human body, but this act is useless.”

Derrick muttered, clicking his tongue. Judith, who felt uneasy inside and was about to take a sip of wine, concentrated her ears to his rather small voice

“What was that?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Derrick curled up the corners of his mouth again as if it was something he said. The shape of his lips widened brightly and was very suspicious. Judith, who was looking at him, narrowed her eyes. Even that behavior of his, of smiling frequently when looking at her, was strange. The table top, usually completely filled with contempt for one another, was instead overflowing with doubt and prodding today.

Although Judith didn’t even eat that much, she felt as though she was just having an upset stomach. A husband, whom she was uneasy with ㅡhaving a meal with her husband, who was not just any husband, but a husband who died and was revived, presented her with that level of awkwardness.

Dinner ended and the two came out of the dining area and headed toward the second floor. Derrick was really busy looking around his surroundings as if he was a person who had been in this place for the very first time. It was such a great performance that she couldn’t tell if he had also calculated this trifling thing or not.

“It’s here.”

Judith and Derrick didn’t use one bedroom together. It was what they naturally decided on when he didn’t enter the bedroom for their first night on their wedding night. Her bedroom was located at the end of the hallway, and was quite a far distance from Derrick’s bedroom, which was connected with his office.

Giving him a favour of showing him around up to her bedroom wasn’t her intention. While moving her feet like a habit, still lost in her thoughts, she realized that they were just in front of his bedroom now. Looking up ahead of her like this continuously, she had no choice but to do this because every now and then she thought that he would follow her closely up to her bedroom. In order to surely give him the location of his bedroom, she personally opened the door of his bedroom for him and, just like that, she turned away.

No, she was about to turn her feet around. If only he didn’t grab her wrist again.

“Where are you going?”

Her steps stopped, and the balance of her body titled to the back. Judith almost fell down for a moment, but she was able to straighten her balance immediately thanks to his build that was firmly supporting her back.

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“Where I’m going……”

“If we are a married couple, aren’t we using the same bedroom?”

Derrick frowned as if he could not understand.

Judith had an embarrassed look on her face as she didn’t know how she should explain this situation right now. If they were an ordinary married couple, maybe they would be sharing a bedroom together like what he said. But what an ordinary married couple Judith and Derrick were! A husband loved, not his wife, but another woman, and the wife detested such a husband – they were a married couple who were twisted and deviant to that extent.

Judith was now really forced to admit it. It was positive that her husband, who had died and regained consciousness, had lost his memories. Otherwise, there was no she would be stopped by him regarding a matter that was very private.