I Woke Up from Hibernation and Found a Husband - Chapter 11

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

Chapter 11
“Ah, the lights are on now.”
The rain continued to fall, though the thunder had ceased.
Isabella, who had finally calmed down, looked up at me with an exhausted expression. Noticing the shame mingled in her gaze, I spoke carefully.
“Shall we go to the Bathroom?”
“Yes.”
I carried Isabella to the Bathroom adjoining the Bedroom.
The child obediently surrendered herself to my touch and stepped into the Bathtub. At least hot water flowed immediately—a small mercy.
“Thank you for coming. I’m nine years old and afraid of thunder… isn’t that foolish?”
As the warmth melted her tension, Isabella spoke shyly.
Her expression was now at ease, as though her wariness had completely vanished.
I poured warm water over Isabella’s shoulders and shook my head.
“Not at all. I was afraid of ants until I was twelve.”
“Ants?”
“Yes, because they’re so small. It’s only natural that each person fears different things. There’s nothing strange about it at all. Close your eyes for a moment, please.”
“Okay.”
Isabella closed her eyes to feel my hands washing her hair, then seemed to remember something and opened her mouth.
“But how did you know I was afraid of thunder? I never told you.”
“Theodore told me, which is how I was able to come right away.”
“… My brother?”
Isabella’s blue eyes glistened with tears.
“My brother was worried about me? He hasn’t come to hate me?”
I was taken aback. When Theodore learned that Isabella was alone in the Annex, his expression had been utterly vacant with concern.
“Of course not. He was deeply worried about you. If his health had permitted, he would certainly have rushed here himself.”
At those words, Isabella laughed with her mouth wide open, visibly moved. Her expression was as fresh and innocent as a child’s at that moment.
“Thank goodness. I thought my brother had come to hate me forever.”
“Is that why you haven’t met with Theodore directly?”
I recalled the image of the child hiding in the Garden, secretly watching Theodore.
‘But judging by her reaction now, she did want to meet him.’
“I wanted to meet my brother too. But I held back because I was told I shouldn’t.”
“What?”
Isabella fidgeted with her hands and whispered.
“When I meet him, my brother’s madness grows worse.”
My eyes widened at those words.
“He becomes angrier and suffers more. That’s why I can’t meet my brother. I promised Gregory that I wouldn’t.”
A madness that intensifies only in the presence of specific people. A regular pattern.
‘I’ve sensed this for a while now, but is this really ordinary madness?’
My expression darkened.
‘Come to think of it, not a single maid has come yet.’
The weather had been so tumultuous that even the magical lamps had gone out.
If they had been normal servants, they would never have left a nine-year-old girl alone until now.
Suddenly, Alice, a maid from the Main Building, came to mind. The servants’ visibly flustered reactions when Claire emerged unscathed from Theodore’s Bedroom.
I had known from the start that this Mansion was not normal.
‘I’m just an outsider here to earn a decent living and leave, so I didn’t want to get deeply involved in troublesome matters.’
But watching the softened raccoon siblings, a sudden thought crossed my mind.
‘Can I really just leave like this?’
Claire lifted the drowsy Isabella from the Bathtub and dressed her.
Not long after, she emerged from the Bathroom cradling the sleeping Isabella in her arms. The child’s eyes were tinged red as she breathed in steady rhythm.
The small body’s warmth was greater than expected, and Claire exhaled a long sigh.
* * *
After settling Isabella into her bed, Claire returned to the Main Building where Theodore was, her face etched with exhaustion.
‘I need to hear the Young Master’s side of the story first.’
With that thought, I was leading my heavy body into the building when it happened.
“Huh?”
The atmosphere of the Main Building was different from usual.
Unlike the normally relaxed state, all the servants were gathered in the Lobby dressed in their formal uniforms.
‘What’s going on?’
Had the Count from the Border returned?
Claire, who had discreetly hidden herself behind a pillar, quickly darted her eyes to assess the situation.
‘Who is that?’
Then a man’s silhouette at the center of the servants caught Claire’s eye.
A tall man with navy blue hair tied neatly down to his waist, dressed in a black suit.
As if the true master of this Mansion had returned, the servants all bowed deeply toward him.
“Huh?”
Sensing a presence, the man slowly turned his head to look at Claire.
Claire’s body stiffened as their eyes met directly.
Black eyes set in refined eye sockets. Claire glimpsed an unfathomable emptiness in his gaze.
‘That man is a predator.’
A chill ran down her spine, warning her.
The fact that he immediately noticed Claire, who had been hiding her presence, made it clear he was no ordinary person.
“Is this a new arrival?”
The Head Butler’s expression went pale.
“Y-yes, sir. She’s been serving the Young Master since early spring.”
“Theodore’s?”
The man’s lips curved upward as if intrigued.
His face was beautiful enough to seem androgynous, but Claire sensed something uncanny in that smile.
‘I see. His eyes aren’t smiling at all.’
Claire clenched her fists to prevent cold sweat from forming on her palms as the man approached leisurely.
In the Forest with Cabin, the apex predator was naturally Claire.
The only person who came and went in the sparsely populated Mountain was Angela, and even the fiercest beasts could not match Claire.
However, she had not been the master of the forest from the very beginning.
‘He reminds me of a wolf I saw in my childhood.’
Claire stared at the man approaching her, her eyes filled with wariness.
There was a time when Claire’s control over her power was still clumsy, and she had encountered a black wolf.
A massive alpha wolf that led its pack and sometimes behaved with cunning that surpassed even humans.
As the man drew closer at a leisurely pace, the shadow of that wolf overlapped with his figure.
“F-faster, can’t you lower your head?!”
As Bender raised his voice while gauging the man’s reaction, she reluctantly bowed her head.
“Bender, that’s enough. You may raise your head.”
A gentle, low-toned voice came from above her head.
When she carefully lifted her gaze, she saw the face of a man smiling warmly.
“What is your name?”
“Claire, sir.”
The answer did not come immediately.
The man stood quietly for a moment with one hand resting thoughtfully on his chin, then smiled softly and spoke.
“Yes, Claire. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Theodore’s uncle.”
Uncle.
Only then did Claire discern the man’s identity. He was Gregory, the second son of Count Voltier.
‘The Young Master and the lady share nothing in common with him.’
The man before her was a predator for whom a pair of raccoon siblings would be nothing more than a single bite.
“Claire, how old are you?”
“Eighteen, sir.”
“Hmm, and where are you from?”
At his question, Claire recalled the hometown written in the documents that Angela had fabricated for her.
“I come from the outskirts of Rosibel, a small village in the south.”
“Rosibel, you say…”
Gregory smiled with an unreadable expression, then extended his right hand.
“I see. Please take good care of Theodore.”
Claire had no choice but to grasp the man’s hand.
Behind him, discontented servants were visible, but she had no time to concern herself with them. The moment she grasped his hand, which bore the marks of seasoned combat, certainty crystallized within her.
‘He is strong. I may not be able to defeat him in a direct confrontation.’
After releasing his hand and turning away, Claire continued to gaze at Gregory’s retreating figure until he completely disappeared.
Finally, when his wavering slate-blue hair vanished at the end of the Corridor, Claire hurried toward Theodore’s Room.
* * *
Theodore sat crouched in front of his door.
‘Why is Isabella alone? Why did Uncle leave her by herself?’
Beads of sweat dripped from his forehead onto the floor. His body trembled with confusion.
‘Now that I think about it, everything has been strange.’
Since his madness had manifested two years ago, moments of lucidity could be counted on one hand.
‘If I had not met Claire, I would still be incapable of rational thought.’
After the illness broke out, the siblings naturally came to depend on Gregory, the closest adult in their lives.
Gregory was a man deemed perfect in every way—possessed of thoughtful kindness and a gentle temperament, exceptional swordsmanship, and impeccable social grace without a single flaw to criticize.
He was Theodore’s idol, the only adult he could trust after losing his father.
Or rather, that was how things had been until now.
When exactly had the servants begun to change?

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