I Will Become the Ex-Wife of the Beast - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“Ah, my bones.”
I hitched the bundle of firewood higher onto my other shoulder and thumped that shoulder with my fist. I’d sworn I’d never be a doormat again, but shaking off the slave’s instincts that had sunk into my bones was harder than I’d thought.
Since I’d already gone to the trouble of hauling everything, I’d brought back every last branch, and between that and the muscle aches from rolling down the hill, my whole body felt like it had been pounded flat.
“…Look on the bright side. Bright side.”
If I hadn’t brought this wood back today, we might have spent the night shivering. Me and my sisters could tough it out somehow, but Rose was different. The baby of the family was only five, and she’d lost our mother the moment she was born, never getting a single feeding at her breast. I’d been looking after her all this time, so it was only natural I felt a special fondness for her. Even if I’d Awakened and changed my mind, that wasn’t something that would easily change.
Every winter she caught a cold and fell sick, wheezing and coughing so badly we feared for her life, so we had to keep a big fire going for her.
My poor thing.
No matter how much of a sewer my life might be, little Rose wasn’t any easier. Thinking about how she’d be pushed around, a frail child like her, made my chest tighten with worry.
…Of course, I’d have to save myself first.
“Bella, why are you only coming back now?!”
“…Melanie, big sister.”
The moment I reached the front of the house, the greeting I got was the shriek of my second sister.
Melanie, my second sister, was, as always, sitting inside without lifting a finger, flipping through a book. Unlike our eldest sister, who never stayed home enough, she never did any housework at all.

“What, am I supposed to?”

That was the phrase my second sister was best at.
Whether I asked her to help with chores or to fix Father’s meal, she always started with that line, and always with that smug, hateful face.
“Because you came back late, I wasn’t able to get anything ready at all.”
“….”
I was dumbfounded, and I set the bundle of firewood down.
I wanted to snap, *Don’t you have hands?*, but I didn’t have the patience for it right now. I pressed my fingers to my temple, trying to figure out what to do about the immediate problem.
Naturally, even seeing the state I was in, my second sister had no interest at all in where or how badly I’d been hurt.
“If you’re going to be late, at least say so beforehand!”
“…Anyone would think you were worried about me.”
“What? Bella, what did you just say…?”
“Forget it. Go back to your book.”
I waved a hand and turned away. Melanie stared at me for a moment with narrowed eyes, clearly puzzled, then lifted her book again. She must have decided she’d misheard me.
Ugh, what a bookworm.
To be fair, my second sister was plenty sly, so there was a reason she’d turned out this twisted. She loved books and study, and from long ago she’d nursed a single dream: to graduate from the Empire’s finest academy and become head of the Platinum Guild. In modern terms, it was roughly like wanting to graduate from a top-tier university like Seoul National and join Samsung Electronics.
But unfortunately, the moment she was admitted, she ran off in the night with our father, and was automatically expelled.
She was still better off than me, who’d never even set foot near the academy, but since she’d always been so greedy, I could well imagine how crushing it must have been to have her dream snatched away by force.
“….”
Forget it… now’s the time I should be worrying about myself.
I buried the bitterness that had crept into my thoughts over this misplaced concern. In the end, if you die, you die. Whether someone had gone to the academy or not, the whole family was about to be turned into meat all at once, and there was no need to sympathize with anyone right now.
“…By the way, what do you mean you weren’t ready? Didn’t you just say something about getting ready?”
“Well, obviously, getting ready for Father.”
“…What?”
“He’s coming home today, isn’t he? Don’t tell me you forgot.”
This time, Melanie’s eyes turned genuinely grave.
She seemed to be wondering whether I was really the same good, dutiful third daughter who had been bustling about that morning preparing food for Father.
“Ah…”
I gawked back at my sister, my mouth falling open at some point. As the saying goes, misfortune piles on misfortune, and another memory I’d have been better off without came rushing back.
That’s right.
Father, who had set off north to the frontier to hit it big, had sent a letter saying he’d finally be coming home today. Today was the day he’d return, clutching some enormous bomb of a “gift” he’d brought for his beloved children.
“No… why does it have to be today of all days?”
How could things move this fast?
Even if this was a novel written purely for adult readers, this was a bit much. When I’d paid my own money to read it, I’d grumbled whenever the story dragged through sluggish exposition before reaching the adult scenes. But to push things forward this quickly when so many lives hung in the balance… was this really okay?
“…What a lunatic.”
“Huh? Big sister, what did you say?”
“Rose.”
I looked down at the adorable little creature tugging at the hem of my skirt. Blinking up at me, with an angel’s face, she stole my whole heart in an instant.
“Oh, look at my little princess!”
“Big sis~”
Rose clung to me and broke into a bright, beaming smile. Chirping like a chick that followed its mother, she made me crouch down and press my cheek against hers.
Yes, this feeling!
I finally remembered how much I used to lean on this soft, cushiony comfort. Just as little Rose had clung to me like a mother all these years, I had lived in a house with no place for my heart to rest, looking to Rose alone.
All four sisters looked alike, but Rose’s eyes and hair were especially like mine.
“Goodness, whose little sister is so pretty!”
“Big sister’s little sister!”
And so clever, too.
For the first time since I’d come to my senses, I forgot my worries and smoothed back Rose’s gleaming platinum-blonde hair.
The thought that this child, too, might come to harm jolted me awake. Right now, no matter what, I had to keep a cool head.
Let’s see, is there any way to survive even one more day?
Before Father comes back and sets off his massive bomb, I need to come up with a plausible plan. He’s my father, but when it comes to sheer drive, no one could match him. Once he’s made up his mind, he’d just as soon ship Eliya off right this instant.
“…Rose, did you happen to see Big Sister today?”
The thought of Big Sister, the very center of this mess, suddenly struck me, and I looked around.
If she were home at this hour, I wouldn’t have to worry about any of this. Still, though she was a lady of a noble house, the days Big Sister came home on her own two feet could be counted on one hand. And the reasons were painfully simple and instinctive: either a man had run out on her, or her money had.
“…Eliya? I saw her in the village earlier.”
“Really? Then let’s go find her right away.”
I grabbed Rose’s hand and threw the door open. The old door gave a creaking groan, as eerie as a haunted house, as if it were showing us the future of this family.
“Rose, where did you see her? Hm?”
I hurried through the narrow path, quickening my steps. Once Father returned, a family meeting would follow immediately, and before then I had to track down Big Sister and settle things with her.
I shook Rose’s small hand and met her eyes, which were anxious now. Rose answered with unshakable confidence.
“Mm. Behind the water mill.”
“…What?”
“The water mill. I saw her go that way. Follow me, Sis.”
“No, Rose, you’d better stay here.”
I let go of Rose’s hand, turned the girl around, and gave her a gentle push on the back. Not understanding a thing, Rose pouted, clearly wanting to come along, but there were some places a child simply could not be taken, and no matter how I looked at it, wherever Big Sister was tended to fall into that category.
And wherever Big Sister was, it nearly always belonged to the latter.

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“Oh, Max. Why didn’t you come fetch me earlier? You know perfectly well I’m staying at Eugenie’s place.”
“I’m really sorry, Eliya. Mother just wouldn’t let me go…”
“Hmm… I thought you’d forgotten me.”
“How could I!”
A man’s voice, sounding as though he’d been wounded, echoed between the piles of straw and firewood.
“How could I ever forget you, Eliya? These beautiful eyes, this nose, and even those lips.”
“…Max.”
It didn’t take even a full minute for the sounds between the two of them to turn syrupy. Watching them cling to each other as if they meant to devour one another, I was the one who was truly thrown into shock.
Wow… does she even realize what’s happening because of her behavior?
Seeing Big Sister wrap her arms around the man’s neck with such carefree ease, something I had barely managed to keep down bubbled up inside me. I’d seen scenes like this more than once or twice. Even without witnessing it myself, the novel had described her in exactly this way.

Eliya embraced the man’s neck, her lavender eyes glistening with a kind of hungry longing, completely unaware that anyone was watching.

“….”
No wonder I’d hated that kind of lingering ending so much.
Seeing the scene from the novel unfold this vividly left me strangely unsettled. If my life hadn’t hung in the balance, I might have wanted to watch the two of them to the very end, so ardent were they.
Perhaps I was also feeling more wretched because Big Sister’s looks resembled mine, as sisters’ looks do. One of us was desperately clinging to the rope that might pull her out of this life, while the other was clutching a man by the throat.
Unable to endure this maddening irony, I was the first to cough loudly.
“Ahem!”
“Huh? Wh-who is it… Oh, it’s you, Bella. You scared me.”
What’s with that relieved tone?
Just a moment ago she’d been carrying on as if she might shriek at any second, but the instant she saw me step out from behind the straw pile, she let out a sigh of relief. At least her lover, Max, was a man who still had a shred of shame.
“Eliya, w-we should be going now…”
“No, it’s fine. It’s only Bella, after all.”
“….”
Whoosh. I swept my hair back with a long stroke. From that single remark alone, I could clearly tell how Big Sister had always regarded me.
Not merely a pushover, but the worst kind of pushover, the sort who gets walked over right in front of your eyes.
Looking back on how I’d always been so busy covering for and shielding my family, I felt a bitter taste in my mouth.
It would have been better if she had at least screamed for me to get lost. Instead, Big Sister just giggled, as though she’d set up a puppet doll with its eyes wide open.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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