I Thought You Were A Time-Limited Husband (Novel)

Chapter 5

It was a deep slumber as if sinking into an endless mire. Kaillus was getting more exhausted as he wandered through the dark cave, but then, a ray of light appeared – a light where there was nothing but infinite darkness. Kaillus frantically followed that light. The moment he finally came out of the dark cave with nothing in sight, he was suffocated by the tremendous light.

“Heok!”

His suffocated airway opened up and a panting breath came out.

“Pant, pant….”

Kaillus opened his eyes and slowly exhaled. His heart that was about to explode began to slowly calm down a little. He looked up at the familiar ceiling while slowly moving his hand to see if this was a dream or reality. He felt a sharp tinge when he clenched his hand.

It wasn’t a bad dream. Kaillus twisted the corners of his mouth and murmured in a low voice, “Ha, finally….”

He woke up. Kaillus finally regained consciousness from the endless pit, and there was a dangerous glint on his black eyes – to his dear mother that made him this way.

Death’s shadow has always followed Kaillus since childhood. His mother passed away tragically shortly after giving birth to him. His stepmother Quillian Orphes  came in as soon as his mother’s funeral was over.

Baron Orphes Family.

In the Pentium Empire, Quillian was the Young Lady of a dull and humble noble family, and she seduced his crazy-with-beauty father, becoming the Duchess at once. It was because she was the only one among all the women to get pregnant. He can’t remember correctly, but it was said that Madam Quillian came to the Duke’s house with only a month before giving birth that was just around the corner, but her first child unfortunately died as soon as it was born.

Everyone thought that because Madam Quillian birthed a dead child, she would be driven out of the Duke’s house. The only reason she could be the Duchess was because of their child even without her family and money. But Madam Quillian was lucky indeed.

The Duke had an accident on his horse a few days after her child’s death. The accident happened while the Duke was drunk and horse riding with a prostitute bargirl. The Duke was unable to move his body after the accident, and the Duke’s vassals needed to protect the Duke’s honor that had fallen to the bottom due to the numerous accidents he caused. So, they had no choice but to entrust the  Duke’s Family to Madame Quillian.

Kaillus was only two years old at that time. However, Quillian was a more vicious woman than the vassals had thought.

As she took control of the Duke’s family, the growing up Kaillus started to annoy her. She was afraid that he would take away the Diorat’s Duchy from her, so Madame Quillian did everything  to kill Kaillus – from food poisoning to sending assassins. When all else failed, Madame Quillian used the Duke Diorat to send the only 12 year old Kaillus at that time to the battlefield.

Everyone thought that Kaillus would die on the battlefield – but he survived. He experienced the gruesome battlefield and became stronger. He proudly succeeded the Dukedom at 16 after making big contributions to the war, and reclaiming the Dukedom from Madame Quillian.

Although it was unprecedented for his age, he was old enough to inherit the title and there were no major difficulties in setting up a great achievement. There was only one thing that bothered him – the younger brother Madam Quillian had while he was away at war.

Eventually having a child, Madame Quillian was waiting  for him with his five-year-old younger  brother. He was planning to drive Madame Quillian out of the Duke’s House, but he couldn’t after she gave birth to a son for the previous Duke. Kaillus had to be content with the decision to send Madame Quillian to the annex of the Duke’s castle.