Instead of My Beloved Sister, I Married a Monster - Chapter 6

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 6

“It doesn’t matter anyway.”

Evnia said in a choked voice.

She could feel hot heat rising to her face.

She clenched her hands that were placed on her thighs, but couldn’t bring herself to swing them at anyone.

Instead, Evnia began attacking an easier target. Herself.

“What does it matter? You said you don’t need me, that what you’re looking for is my sister. A wrongly delivered bride – it doesn’t matter whether she goes somewhere and dies alone or not.”

Evnia became as embarrassed as an uninvited guest who had thoughtlessly shown up to a party she wasn’t invited to.

Why did I believe my death had any special meaning?

Where else could there be someone as unwanted as myself?

“How annoying, don’t be so difficult for no reason and just eat anyone carelessly. I wish you were really a monster instead…”

If that were the case, I wouldn’t have had to think such miserable thoughts.

I wouldn’t have had to suffer comparing myself to my sister again.

I could have died while ignoring the truth that someone like me means nothing to anyone…

“You never intended to eat anyone anyway, so why did my parents tell me to die? Why did I have to hear those people who were my parents tell me to die? If there was no need for it in the first place, then why on earth…!”

Evnia bit her lips painfully to hold back the surging tears.

She wished all of this had been a dream instead.

If she had never possessed anything from the beginning, she wouldn’t have had to feel the pain of losing everything either.

Unbelievably, their family had once been harmonious.

Until her sister died – no, until she disappeared while faking her death – Evnia had never once suspected that they might not be her real family.

Her caring parents raised their daughters with devotion, and her sister, two years older, never found her younger sibling bothersome and would take her everywhere to play.

In those days, Emilia was everything to Evnia.

When they raced together to the hill in front of their house, she seemed like a childhood friend of the same age, and when she picked up a leaf that had been kicked and said “This is a sycamore leaf,” she seemed like a kind teacher.

Sometimes she cared for me like a mother, and sometimes she acted annoyingly like an enemy.

The meaning of her sister within Evnia changed constantly, but there was one fact that never changed.

That was that Evnia loved her deeply.

She was a child who sparkled so brilliantly that even the replacement sold in her stead fell helplessly in love.

After the light left the place where it should have been, those left behind naturally began wandering through the long night.

The Count and his wife no longer cared for their household, and cold winds blew through the manor that had once been filled with laughter.

Left alone in her parents’ neglect, Evnia desperately tried to grasp the happiness that had flowed away like a mirage.

When standing before her family, she would imitate her lively sister and try to lighten the mood.

For her parents who frequently skipped meals, she practiced cooking dishes they had liked.

She put aside interesting storybooks and doll play to devote herself to studying, and learned needlework, which her mother had emphasized as a lady’s virtue.

Sometimes she would go out to the river bank where her sister had disappeared, searching for a possible miracle.

Gazing endlessly at the calm water surface, Evnia vowed again and again.

That she would not make her parents sad like her sister had.

That she wouldn’t let them lose her too after Emilia.

Because if they lost their second daughter to a monster’s hands after already sending away their first in despair, they wouldn’t be able to endure it anymore.

So perhaps, if I could win the monster’s favor, if I could prove my usefulness beyond being eaten, if I could somehow just survive, maybe someday I could return to my family’s embrace…

“I’m sorry. If I had explained things properly beforehand, this wouldn’t have happened.”

The man who had been silently watching Evnia for a long time apologized in a subdued voice.

Evnia could only shake her head weakly.

He had no need to apologize to her.

It was Evnia’s parents who had deceived him and orchestrated all of this.

No, the people who had pretended to be her parents.

Since their scheme had prevented him from reuniting with his beloved wife, in a way he was also a victim like herself.

Evnia barely managed to apologize in a terribly cracked voice.

“…I’m sorry for taking my anger out on you.”

“You’re a good kid.”

“I’m not a kid.”

“No, you’re totally a kid.”

“Even if my sister had come, she would have been around the same age as me.”

“I’m a thief.”

Withdrawing the hand he had extended to Evnia, he took out a handkerchief from his chest and wrapped the candy in it.

Then he forcibly pressed it into Evnia’s hand and said:

“Child. Even though you’re very sad and struggling right now, someday a day will come when you feel you can overcome it. But to reach a good tomorrow, you need a good today. The more things you love – whether people or objects – that you surround yourself with, the faster and easier your fresh start becomes. That’s why I can’t let you go just anywhere.”

These were words that the current Evnia couldn’t easily agree with.

That a day would come when she could overcome this sadness.

That you, who is neither my parent nor my sister nor anything else, whom I met for the first time today, would help make that possible.

“That future plan I mentioned isn’t a joke, so write it out step by step. This castle won’t collapse from taking in and feeding one person, so don’t be impatient – you can leave whenever you want.”

“…What if I still don’t want to write it?”

Evnia, who had been looking down at the floor, lifted her heavy eyelids to look up at him.

Their gazes met immediately.

Perhaps because she had lived so long forgetting herself while replacing her sister.

Evnia was a little surprised by the fact that this man had been listening to her story with such focused attention.

The man who had laughed as if absurd at Evnia’s childish question soon wrinkled the corners of his eyes slightly and replied:

“I’ll gobble you right up.”

* * *

“Hello, Lady Evnia! I’m Hanna, the maid who will be serving you from today. Please treat me well!”

At the booming greeting that came as soon as she opened the door, Evnia stiffened her shoulders with a start.

After finishing her conversation with Agrham and returning to her room, a dedicated maid who hadn’t been there before had sprouted from the ground.

‘Is this the very maid he said he hired just for the bride?’

She had wondered if someone like her would really be suitable, but despite her premature fears, the other person looked surprisingly ordinary.

Her straw-colored hair was neatly tied back in one bundle, and her youthful face was tidy without makeup.

From the atmosphere she gave off, she didn’t seem to be an alien existence like Giyermo or Agrham at least.

Evnia entered the room with relief.

“You must have been very uncomfortable not being able to change clothes while I was away, right? I’m sorry. Actually, today was my day off so I had gone down to the village.”

Hanna bowed her head again with a grateful expression to apologize.

Evnia stopped her as if embarrassed and answered:

“No, I’m sorry for making you come back urgently. Not being able to change clothes wasn’t because there was no one to help, but because I didn’t bring anything with me here. Don’t worry about it.”

“What? Did you encounter bandits on your way here?”

It seemed the people in this castle had no idea how this marriage was perceived from the outside.

Instead of reciting her long, detailed story, Evnia just showed an awkward smile.

Interpreting Evnia’s reaction somehow, Hanna clenched her fists with a face full of enthusiasm and shouted:

“Don’t worry. There are clothes prepared in advance for you, my lady!”

“There are clothes prepared in advance?”

“Yes, please come this way and choose for yourself.”

Hanna nodded greatly and guided Evnia to the dressing room connected to the bedroom.

I thought he had just sent me to any empty room, but maybe that wasn’t the case.

In the clothing room, which was wider than a decent reception room, what looked like hundreds of dresses were hanging densely packed.

As if they had been carefully prepared for the bride for a long time.

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