I Am Living In Two Houses - Chapter 1

Wrong Back Then And Still Wrong Even Now

Translated by Wook

Edited by Wook

[T/N: So in Korean, her sentence starts with ‘제 남편이’ which means ‘My husband’, and the complete sentence is ‘제 남편이 죽어서도 저만 사랑하게 해 주세요.’ which I translated as ‘Please let my husband love me, even in his death,’ but literally, word by word, it is ‘My husband, even if dies, love only me, please.’ Whereas her new wish is, ‘제 남편이 되어 주세요!’ word by word, ‘My husband, please be!’

Which must be a bit confusing since English and Korean grammar are different, so this is the best I can do.]

Here, in an abandoned temple, in front of a statue that grants wishes, there was a person who earnestly held their hands together. Her name was Renier Lafour.

“Please let my husband love me, even in his death.”

Renier had a reason for making this wish. Renier’s husband, Edwin Lafour, married her purely for money.

He was the heir to a declining nobility, and Renier was the daughter of the richest upper lord on the estate but was a commoner.

‘Rennie, you’re going to be a noble now. This father can close his eyes in peace.’

Renier’s father, Koronne, made up for the loss of his wife’s early death by saving money.

He did anything that made money and amassed a fortune. However, what he really wanted was the status of the nobility.

‘Yes, Father. I like it too.’

However, what Renier wanted was not the title of Mrs. Lafour, but Edwin’s heart. But in the end, Edwin couldn’t accept the stingy Korrone when it came to money.

He projected Korrone’s image on Renier and pushed her away.

And so, she’s been married like that for three years.

Just when I wanted to open my heart to Edwin Irnye, Priya appeared. Priya, who was sold as a slave to the top instead of his father’s debt.

The moment Edwin was about to open his heart to Renier, Priya appeared. Priya, who was sold as a slave to the nobles because of her father’s debt.

Priya captured Edwin’s heart in an instant. The very thing that Renier couldn’t do even after three years of hard work.

Edwin denied having an affair with Priya, and Renier wanted to believe him.

‘Don’t worry, Priya. I will protect you somehow.’

‘Young Master…’

‘My heart is yours. That will not change even after death.’

But Renee just had to listen to Edwin’s confession to Priya.

Renier hated Priya because she couldn’t hear that confession from her husband, so she framed Priya as a thief and tried to chase her away.

Renier, who was hiding expensive earrings under Priya’s bed, found a small leather package there.

There was a piece of paper with the location of a statue that grants wishes, and a bright red jewel that could awaken the statue.

“Did she make a wish to win Edwin’s heart?”

Renier, who thought that it was worth a try, went to the place where the statue was and made a wish.

“Please let my husband love me, even in his death.”

“Your wish has come true. Go back.”

After hearing the statue, Renier was excited and returned. But what awaited her upon her return was the cold corpse of Edwin.

“Edwin! What should I do, it’s all because of me.”

It was then. When Renier’s tears fell on Edwin’s cheeks while holding his body, Edwin’s eyes miraculously opened.

But he did not survive. He was still dead. Edwin was dead, he merely woke up.

“Wife, why don’t you accept my love?”

He confessed his love to Renier every day, and he only got more corrupted as days went by. The maggots broke out from his intestines, and thin flesh like lips and eyelids turned dark.

“Even in death like this, I only love my wife, so don’t turn away from me like this, Wife.”

“I’m sorry, Edwin, but I can’t…”

Unable to sleep in the same dead, Renier still kissed the rotting Edwin. The dead must return to the dust.

So Renier put Edwin in a coffin and buried him in the ground. But Edwin, who was buried in the ground, cried every night so sadly.

Because of the cry, none of the people in the domain could sleep. In the end, the impatient lord had to dig up Edwin’s grave.

“Is it because of the trick of a wizard that you became like that?”

“No, it’s not.”

“Then why are you crying so sadly?”

To the lord’s question, Edwin replied, “I loved my wife and asked for her to sleep with me, but she rejected me, so I weep.”

“If you can relieve my pain, I won’t cry anymore.”

The lord, who became sensitive because he could not sleep, ordered for Renier and Edwin to be locked together at once. He did not forget to order that no one should open the door until the morning sun came up.

“E, Edwin.”

Renier, who was suddenly locked in a room with Edwin, stepped back and turned the doorknob, but to no avail.

“I love you, Wife.”

With a rotten tongue and fleshy lips, Edwin confessed his love well.

“Don’t do this. Stop…”

Renier couldn’t bear to say that he should stop and go back to rest. She was afraid and felt sorry every time she saw him. There were many days when she couldn’t sleep because of the guilt.

Had she known this, she would have made another wish. No, she wouldn’t have just gone to make a wish.

It was a regret that came too late now.

“The reason you reject my love is because I am dead and you are alive.”

Edwin took one step, two steps closer to Renier, who was very frightened.

“A dead thing cannot come back to life, but a living thing can die.”

‘Doesn’t that mean he’s going to kill me?’ Renier looked at Edwin and begged.

“Please, Edwin.”

“Don’t be afraid, Wife.”

Edwin reached out to reach Renier.

A maggot fell to the floor from his fingers, where his bones were exposed.

“We will be together forever.”

“No, go away, now.”

Before Renier could escape, Edwin grabbed her neck at high speed. Renier’s slender neck was clenched in his grasp, with an unbelievable power coming from a dead man.

“Cough, ugh.”

Renier struggled but to no avail. Her eyes clouded, her breath tightened, and her muscles contracted.

Tears of regret rolled down from Renier’s eyes.

‘I’m going to let Edwin and Priya run the house or the store as they please.’

‘I will wish for a wiser wish.’

‘Ah, I will also live a good life.’

‘But what is the use of all these regrets? I’d die soon anyway.’

Lastly, Renier vision flickered white with Edwin’s blurred face.

***

“… or wouldn’t I?”

‘Where am I? Is it heaven?’

‘No, considering it’s so cold, this place must be hell.’ Renier wrapped her arms around her torso.

“Huh?”

‘Wait, what?’

Renier opened her eyes, startled by the texture of the fabric that she felt clearly in his palm.

“Ah?”

One by one, the shapes of objects began to come into her black vision. Endless high ceilings, moss growing on cracked walls, piles of dust rolling on the floor…

“It’s here.”

It was similar to the basement of the abandoned temple with the statue that grants wishes. No, it wasn’t just similar, she was right there.

In front of Renier stood a statue in the form of a naked man who was said to be modeled after a god.

And in front of him is an hourglass just like the day she made a wish, Renier was wearing the same clothes as that day. Suddenly, the statue spoke,

“Are you not going to make a wish?”

It was urging Renier.

“W, Who? What wish?”

‘What is this?’ An ominous wind brushed the back of her neck. ‘To have an hourglass in front of you means that someone has started making a wish.’

‘But I am the only one in this temple’, which means it was Renier who was making a wish.

“Oh, so, it’s my wish.”

In a situation where she did not even know what happened, Renier began to make a wish.

She didn’t have the time to slow down and take it easy, because there are some rules to making a wish.

Rule number one, a wish must be made within one turn of the hourglass.

Rule number two, you can only make one wish.

Rule number three, once you start making a wish, you cannot reverse or cancel it.

If any one of these rules was violated, the person would immediately become a statue, feeling the pain of being torn apart. It was written in Priya’s notebook.

Now that the hourglass had already been turned upside down, Renier had no time to hesitate.

“Where were we?”

“You stopped after ‘my husband’ part.”

The voice of the statue fell on the temple floor.

“What are you… Was I making a wish?”

Renier’s forehead was knitted, her eyebrows were sticking together.

‘I said “my husband”? I guess this is when I wished “Please let my husband love me, even in his death.” Guess I came back to the moment when I just said “my husband”.’

“Oh my gosh.”

‘Damn it. Out of all the moments, why this exact moment!’

“Aren’t you going to make a wish?”

The statue urged again. The hourglass was almost running out of sand. This was not the time to be hesitant. ‘Let’s just go ahead and make a wish.’

‘Anything except for the stupid wish to make my husband loves me even in his death.’

“My husband…”

‘Let my husband love me? This is very similar to the original wish. Then what about please make my husband happy?’

“Not that too.”

Renier muttered and shook her head. One of the ways Edwin became happy was if Renier disappeared so Priya could take her place.

She felt very sorry for Edwin, but she didn’t want to disappear for him like a mouse or a bird.

Other than that, there may be other good options. A wish that is beneficial to both Edwin and Renier.

“And so, my husband… Ehm…”

‘Should I wish to make my husband rich?’ No, the quickest way for Edwin to become rich is for Renier’s father and Renier to die so Edwin could inherit their fortune.

‘One cannot kill their father to save their husband.’

“Ah. Ehm… Mister?”

Renier bit her lip, looking at the few grains of sand left. She had no good ideas at all.

“Time is running out.”

“Therefore… Ah… So…”

Renier ripped off the hem of her dress with her hands in panic. ‘If you don’t make a wish, you will die in pain with your limbs being torn off.’

‘I’m alive, so I don’t want to die this soon.’ Renier tried to make any wish. However, she  couldn’t come up with a good sentence that starts with ‘my husband’.

“The time is up.”

“Please be.”

The last grain of sand fell. Renier exclaimed loudly as she cut the loin of the statue saying the time was up and ate it.

“My husband!”

A strange silence passed through the temple.

“Please be my husband!”