I Woke Up from Hibernation and Found a Husband - Chapter 10

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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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Chapter 10
Since falling prey to madness, Theodore had never made a decision of his own volition.
When the frenzy seized him and his violent impulses erupted, he would lash out at anyone who entered his room. He had indeed inflicted wounds—both grave and minor—upon the servants and attendants who came before Claire.
‘That is why I could never choose my own people.’
With Count Voltier absent from the Border and Theodore, the heir, descended into madness, he was heir in name alone—there was scarcely anything he could accomplish within the Castle.
‘And yet.’
The sole matter he had taken a stand on was confronting the Head Butler to ensure Claire could remain as his dedicated attendant.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“What did you do before taking up work as a maid?”
Claire pondered the question before answering.
“Mostly I hunted, ate, and slept.”
“…? Were you a hunter?”
“Not a professional one. I hunted for food. Ah, though I did sell hides and horns fairly often, so perhaps I could be called a hunter in the broader sense?”
Theodore’s expression grew uncertain.
“That is unexpected. Given your exceptional martial prowess, I assumed you had knights or mercenaries nearby.”
“Ah, I did encounter mercenaries frequently. I learned swordplay to some degree, but I found my fists more comfortable.”
As she spoke, Claire raised her fist to demonstrate.
Theodore, well aware of the destructive force behind that fist, quietly averted his gaze.
“Let us play chess again.”
“Very well.”
The two resumed their focus on the game.
Theodore reclined against the headboard of the Bedroom with languid ease, while Claire sat upon a wooden chair beside him, a small table between them.
A comfortable silence descended upon the room, broken only by the sound of their breathing and the relentless patter of rain.
‘Hmm, I’ve lost this match too.’
In a moment of carelessness, Claire lost her Queen and exhaled in frustration.
‘I want to flip the board.’
A small impulse began to take root in her heart.
A deafening crack split the air!
Thunder roared with violent fury, bathing the room in blinding white light. The lightning was so powerful it caused the chessboard itself to tremble.
“Ah, the mana lamp.”
The force of the strike extinguished the light that had illuminated the room.
This was her chance.
Claire pretended to check on the mana lamp while using her knee to strike the small table and overturn the chessboard.
“You!”
“An accident.”
Just as Theodore opened his mouth to protest at her brazen reply, thunder crashed again with deafening force.
“Quite the tempest.”
“Indeed.”
The howling wind added its own fierce voice to the thunder’s roar.
‘At this rate, won’t the old trees in the Annex get uprooted?’
I worried that lightning might strike the ancient wood. Claire casually remarked as she gathered the scattered chess pieces from the floor.
“Will the Annex be alright? I’m concerned because there are so many old trees.”
“The Annex? Do people still use it these days? I thought there were no guests coming this season.”
“What? But Isabella is staying in the Annex.”
“What······?”
Lightning struck again. In the brilliant white light that flooded the entire room, Claire met Theodore’s wide, startled eyes.
“Why, why is Bella in the Annex? I was told Uncle was taking care of her. Why is she still here?”
“Young Master?”
Just as Claire cautiously approached Theodore, who appeared dazed and confused.
“Claire!”
Theodore’s head snapped up as if remembering something crucial, and he grasped Claire’s wrist desperately.
“Go to Isabella right now! She’s more terrified of thunder than anything else!”
On the day Count Voltier and his wife—Theodore and Isabella’s parents—were in a carriage accident, thunder had struck as well.
Isabella, who had been riding in the carriage with them, barely survived, but she would convulse whenever thunder sounded.
She could not be left alone on a night like this.
Claire pulled her hand free from Theodore’s trembling grip and rushed to her feet.
* * *
Claire ran.
The relentless downpour made it impossible to see even a step ahead. The thunder roared so loudly it caused a ringing in her ears.
But thanks to the storm, she was able to reach the Annex quickly without being noticed by anyone.
‘There’s hardly anyone here.’
The Annex was silent.
The only place where signs of life could be felt was a room near the first-floor Kitchen where the servants were presumably gathered, but it was unlikely they were caring for Isabella there.
Claire dashed up the Staircase and headed straight for Isabella’s Room.
“Miss!”
She opened the door urgently without even knocking.
“Miss······?”
But Isabella was nowhere in the room.
‘Then where? The lights are out here too.’
The room was dark without the mana lamps, and the Corridor was equally dim.
So where could a child who feared this weather have gone? Was it even possible for her to leave the Annex alone through the darkness?
‘That can’t be.’
Claire made a firm conclusion and focused her senses. Her keen beast-like perception caught a faint sound mixed within the rain.
“Sob, sob.”
A very faint whimpering sound. It was coming from······.
“Under the Bedroom.”
Claire lay flat on the floor and peered beneath the Bedroom. Sure enough, Isabella was huddled in a small ball beneath it, her ears covered, sobbing.
“Miss! Miss Isabella!”
“Sob.”
Even as Claire called out to her, Isabella, seized by panic, could not easily regain her composure.
‘Should I lift the bed?’
Claire hesitated for a moment. Lifting the bed would allow her to extract Isabella quickly, but she did not wish to startle the trembling child further.
“M-Mother. Father… Brother…”
In a brief lull as the wind subsided, the child’s desperate, whimpering voice escaped from beneath the bed.
Claire, lying prone on the floor, shuddered at the sound.
Hearing Isabella’s sobs, a memory surfaced—someone she had not thought of in years.
It was none other than ten-year-old Claire herself.
That small Claire, abandoned alone in the silent Cabin, wept in unison with Isabella’s voice.
Pulled from the depths of that past by another crash of thunder, Claire’s mind snapped back to the present.
‘Miss Isabella.’
Small Claire was the past; Isabella before her eyes was reality.
Claire immediately extended her hand beneath the bed.
Dust and the stench of mold assailed her keen senses, but she paid them no mind.
Her outstretched hand touched Isabella’s shoulder with utmost care.
“Miss, Miss Isabella.”
“Ahhhhh!”
Yet Isabella, startled by the sudden contact, only curled herself tighter.
The thunder did not cease, and the child continued to tremble.
In the end, Claire could do nothing but grasp the hem of Isabella’s nightgown sleeve and hold the child in place to prevent her from retreating deeper.
“Miss. Miss Isabella.”
Lightning flashed again. Growing desperate, Claire recalled the pet name Theodore used for Isabella.
“Bella!”
“Huh?”
This time, there was a response.
Noticing the child’s hands, which had been covering her ears, loosen slightly, Claire spoke with tenderness.
“Bella. It’s alright—come out. Yes?”
Only then, as if regaining some semblance of awareness, Isabella turned her head and looked at Claire.
“Claire?”
Thunder crashed once more. This time, Claire carefully drew the screaming child out from beneath the bed and finally cradled her in her arms.
“Bella! Snap out of it!”
“Mother… Claire.”
Whimpering, Isabella burrowed into Claire’s embrace, but then seemed to realize something and hastily recoiled in alarm.
“No. I can’t.”
“Bella?”
Claire prevented Isabella from retreating back under the bed and examined her. Though the magical lamps had extinguished, the darkness posed no obstacle to a beastkin’s eyes.
‘Ah.’
The floor was damp, soaked with a lukewarm liquid.
Isabella tried to pull away from Claire, but Claire instead tightened her grip and drew the child fully into her embrace.
“No! It’s filthy. Let go of me.”
“Not a single thing about you is dirty.”
I meant every word.
Feeling the tremors of the pale, weeping child gradually subside against my entire body, everything else seemed insignificant in comparison.
“Everything will be alright, so please calm yourself.”
Claire drew the blanket from the Bedroom over Isabella’s body and ears, wrapping her gently.
The two of them held each other tightly, waiting for the storm to pass.

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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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