Instead of My Beloved Sister, I Married a Monster - Chapter 84
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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 84
Klause looked as if he wanted to sigh once more as he picked up his napkin and quietly wiped the corners of his mouth.
Unable to face Evnia directly while revealing their shared history, he began his story with his gaze fixed straight ahead.
“Both she and I were still very young when it happened. I was twelve at the time, so she must have been about nine.”
“Hey, why don’t you call Evnia ‘Grand Duchess’?”
Klause once again nobly ignored Ram’s interjection, letting it pass.
“The day I first met her was also the day I first went hunting with friends my age. The location was a small forest by the river—such a safe and boring place that we’d be lucky to catch even a rabbit. I quickly lost interest. If there was one advantage to that place, it was that since there was absolutely no danger of getting hurt, there were fewer attendants clinging to me annoyingly. Thanks to that, I was able to leave the hunting grounds and come out to the waterside without much interference.”
“…”
“There, I met a young girl wandering alone by the riverside.”
At this, Evnia straightened her posture slightly, as if something had occurred to her.
Ram found that gesture somehow irritating for reasons he couldn’t understand.
“At first, I thought she was just a lost child. She was walking along the stream, constantly looking around. Seeing this, I told the attendant with me that we should help the child find her home. He was a man who had never refused anything I asked of him, but that time he shook his head. Then, with a troubled expression, he told me the reason. That child was the monster’s bride.”
Klause’s gaze briefly reached Ram.
His eyes held silent reproach, but even Ram couldn’t call him presumptuous this time.
“It wasn’t a long explanation, but it was enough to understand the meaning. It was telling me not to get involved with a child who had such a frightening story, who was the subject of people’s gossip.”
“…”
“Whether fortunately or unfortunately, I was quite an arrogant little boy at the time who couldn’t stand others giving me orders. I told him to keep watch here then, and went alone to meet the girl. Since they called her the monster’s bride, it rather sparked my childish curiosity.”
Those seated around the dining table had all fallen silent at some point, concentrating on Klause’s story.
Even Levi had temporarily stopped his usual dessert complaints, only occasionally fluttering his wings slightly.
“When I asked what she was doing, the girl answered that she was looking for her sister. Hearing that, I thought she must be searching for her missing sister because she didn’t want to marry the monster. If the sister who was originally supposed to become the monster’s bride returned, she wouldn’t need to go to Litberg herself.”
“…Count Klaus.”
Evnia gently stopped Klause.
Her expression held a mixture of curiosity about the story to come and faint concern.
Klause showed Evnia a bitter smile as if to reassure her.
“I felt sorry for you. That’s why I abandoned my friends and joined in searching for your sister. We spent quite a long time together. Since we were searching for someone specific, I heard quite a few stories about her family. But two children couldn’t find a child who had been lost for over a year, and eventually the sun began to set and it was time for me to return home.”
“…”
“I suddenly felt reluctant to part with that child. Though it was far in the future, thinking that this child might be eaten and killed by a monster made me feel sorry for her. I’ll admit now, the reason I approached that child was because she was pretty enough to catch the eye from far away.”
“Ooh…”
Seven leaned toward Klause’s direction and let out an exclamation of admiration.
His attitude was as if he had never mocked Klause’s unrequited love before.
“So I asked that child how about just running away from home if she was afraid of the monster. I also said that if she was still anxious, I would help her keep looking for her sister from then on. Like a kind of insurance, you know. But when that child heard my suggestion, she was startled as if she had never even thought of such a frightening thing.”
“Lady Evnia would never try to sacrifice someone else in her place. She’s such an angelic person.”
Hanna, who had been absorbed in Klause’s story, interjected at this moment to praise her master’s character.
At this, Klause paused in continuing his story and laughed briefly, as if he knew that fact very well too.
However, Klause didn’t particularly praise Evnia with such words. He didn’t think that was her good side.
“That’s right. That child scolded me. She said she wasn’t looking for her sister to send her to marry some monster.”
“…”
“That child got angry and eventually burst into tears from overwhelming emotion. Even while crying, she missed her sister. That child said if her sister came back, she would only be good to her. She would share her snacks, do her homework for her, and even go on basement explorations together, which she had been too scared to do before. So please come back now…”
“…”
“She was truly a good child.”
As if hiding his tangled breathing, Klause hurriedly finished his words.
It sounded more like resentment than praise, and Evnia, who was the subject of it, also lowered her head in embarrassment rather than pride.
Ram thought it seemed far from something like modesty. So to put it another way, it was…
“I left that crying child and returned home. And I never approached her again. Because a good child who wouldn’t hesitate to die for her sister would never abandon her family and choose me.”
“…”
“That’s what happened.”
The story ended before Ram could fully understand all the emotions reflected on Evnia’s face.
Evnia swallowed a sip of water as if rinsing her mouth, shaking off all the lingering feelings of the past.
It was when Ram was staring blankly at her, searching for traces of something he had missed.
Seven broke the silence.
“So hearing news that such a woman was alive brought your feelings back to life.”
Muttering this, Seven nodded as if he finally understood.
Klause neither affirmed nor denied Seven’s words.
Perhaps quite moved by Klause’s story, Seven quickly changed targets and began teasing Ram.
“Hey, what are you going to do? Your rival is more formidable than you thought? The history runs deep. He’s been in unrequited love for almost 10 years now.”
Ram reflexively tried to retort irritably that he was no less than him, but then realized he was making a fundamentally flawed comparison and closed his mouth.
Even he couldn’t understand why he had made such a mistake.
* * *
“Hanna, could you take care of Count Klaus’s meals separately starting tomorrow? I’ll tell the kitchen the details, so you just need to ask him what he needs and bring it to him.”
After finishing dinner and returning to her room, Evnia made a careful request to Hanna.
Hanna, who had been arranging Evnia’s bedding, stopped her work and tilted her head with a puzzled expression, as if asking why she should do that.
Evnia was momentarily at a loss for words but soon calmly explained the reason.
“I think it’s better not to create situations where we all eat together like today.”
“Huh? Why? He told us many interesting stories today.”
“…Hanna, you do realize that I’m married to Lord Ram, right?”
Though it’s not a proper marriage.
Evnia added in an uncertain voice.
Even though he was a husband who had no romantic interest in her whatsoever and even said he would find her a young handsome man to remarry, it still didn’t seem proper to keep having meals with a man who was courting her.
Even if Ram said it didn’t matter, Evnia didn’t want to act as if they weren’t an ordinary married couple.
“Oh my, of course! What do you take me for, Lady Evnia!”
Even to Hanna, whose view of the world was somewhat unique, married couples seemed to be beings who must uphold the sacred duty of fidelity.
Hanna, who had scolded Evnia dramatically, straightened her shoulders proudly and said,
“So you want to keep making Lord Ram encounter him, right? It’s a jealousy strategy!”
…No, she was indeed unique. In some ways, she seemed closer to being radical.
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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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