CHGD 06

Chapter 06

I raised my cup and took another sip of tea, when Valos spoke in a voice mixed with awe and admiration.

“But my lady, you were amazing.”

“What do you mean?”

“You calmly fed fruit to the master when he was in that state. For a moment, I thought you were trying to commit suicide or something.”

“…….”

So I wasn’t the only one who thought that.

The crisis from earlier came back to mind, and I broke out in a cold sweat.

“But wait, you knew I was in danger and just stood there watching?”

And you call yourself an escort knight? Not even thinking of helping?

I didn’t bother adding the rest.

Valos seemed to understand without hearing it, letting out an awkward chuckle and scratching his head.

“Hey, of course. What if I butted in and got myself killed too? Better just one person dies.”

“……You octopus-headed fool.”

This time, even I couldn’t hold back.

Did you think I was doing that feeding thing for fun, like some newly coupled student?

At that, Valos hurriedly covered his head and shouted.

“My-my head isn’t an octopus!”

If you’re an octopus monster anyway, isn’t it all the same?

I sighed and rose from my seat.

“Besides, I didn’t want to end up half-transformed like th— Wait, where are you going?”

“A walk. Since I’ve eaten, I thought I’d look around the castle.”

“I’ll go with you! It’s dangerous!”

Fortunately, Valos didn’t get too angry about being called an octopus. Whether he’s just not prone to anger, or he doesn’t have a problem with the word ‘octopus,’ I don’t know.

‘That aside, the important thing is that the Count’s true nature isn’t human either.’

My stomach was happy from having a proper breakfast for the first time in a while, but my head was still complicated.

The Count wasn’t human, just like Valos. Seeing that even the lord was a monster, I had the worrying suspicion that there might be no humans in this castle at all.

It felt like a secret I wanted to know but shouldn’t know had been forced into my head.

‘Can I…… annul the marriage?’

I hadn’t had high expectations for marriage, but I never dreamed I’d face a life-threatening crisis.

Rather than living in anxiety over possibly being eaten by monsters, I’d much rather live a poor but long and uneventful life.

‘But if I divorce, my family also owes a lot.’

Even if my parents heard about my situation, would they even bat an eye?

They’d probably tell me never to come back, rather than help.

‘And the Count doesn’t seem like he’d let me go anyway.’

Whatever the reason, just moments ago, he’d shown intent to kill me the moment I mentioned leaving.

Unless I uncovered that reason or found a proper justification, divorce would be difficult.

But I also lacked confidence in living in this castle swarming with monsters.

‘Should I just escape?’

The option of escaping and starting a second life came to mind, but it vanished just as quickly.

That also wasn’t realistic. Without anyone to help me, just getting out of this region was a problem.

Meaning I had neither justification nor reliable allies.

If I could get even one of those, the situation might change even a little.

“…….”

As I walked aimlessly, lost in thought, Valos, finding it strange, carefully spoke to me.

“But my lady, how far are you planning to walk?”

“……Why?”

“They said it’d be a bit troublesome if you walk beyond there.”

It seemed the next area was the ‘dangerous place’ the Count had warned about.

I had no intention of asking what was there, so I obediently turned around.

“If you have nowhere to go, how about visiting the library? I heard humans like books.”

True, reading was the best way to calm my mind. I nodded, indicating he should guide me.

Valos seemed pleased to be useful, nodding energetically.

“This way!”

I followed Valos to the library.

The library we arrived at was larger than I’d expected.

Unlike my family home, where a room with three or four bookshelves was called a library, this place had so many books that ‘library’ was a more fitting word than ‘study.’

“I’ll be nearby, so call me when you’re done.”

Valos, seeming reluctant to enter the library, stepped back, saying he’d guard the door.

I preferred being alone, so I nodded in understanding.

‘Let’s see……’

There were dozens of large bookshelves, and the number of books was uncountable.

They seemed to be categorized by shelf, but they weren’t properly maintained—some were covered in dust, and books on different subjects were mixed in here and there.

I reached for the shelf with the least dust.

‘Hm? Someone’s been reading this recently.’

I pulled out a book that was half- protruding. It was quite old, and the title was……

“How to Build a Safe Dungeon.”

……This didn’t seem like a book meant for humans.

I quietly closed the book after seeing the phrase in the table of contents: “Chapter 1: Remove the Corpses at the Entrance!”

Let’s pretend I didn’t see that.

“Anything else?”

I looked around and found a few more books with signs of having been read.

I picked one that had a relatively normal cover. This time, it was a novel.

“The Monster and the Maiden.”

From the look of it, it was a love story between a man-eating monster and a maiden who resented the world.

The premise was a bit grim, but the content was similar to the modern fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast.” Instead, it was somewhat stale and filled with prejudice.

As I flipped through it without much interest, I noticed a water stain on a particular page.

It was a dried mark where something sticky—whether tears or some other fluid—had been and dried.

And the content written on that page was this:

[He could not come to his senses from the intense appetite. The wave of desire that began stimulated his nose and chin, making him drool incessantly. The moment he opened his mouth, his savage teeth would be revealed, so he desperately bit his cheek to suppress his hunger……]

[In the end, a beast is a beast. One who could not become human. The desire to bite and devour the one he loves, to taste her blood and flesh……]

“Ugh.”

At first, I thought it was a sexual description, but reading carefully, it was a detailed depiction of a monster’s appetite.

The monster’s desire to devour the one he loved, and the accompanying descriptions, continued with exquisite detail.

Reading it gave me the illusion that I myself had become a monster.

‘……Surely, the stain here isn’t drool, is it?’

Once the suspicion started, it was endless. With trembling hands, I closed the book I’d just picked up.

“Is there no proper book here?”

Sighing, I moved to another bookshelf.

Landscaping, art, culture, travelogues—books I had little interest in lined the shelves.

I picked a few to pass the time and tucked them under my arm as I walked, when one book caught my eye.

It was a single book placed on an empty shelf.

‘This cover looks modern?’

Unlike the other thick, heavy books bound in leather, this one had a clean paper cover like a modern book.

My eyes widened at this modern artifact that shouldn’t exist in this world.

I put down the other books and took out the modern one, examining its cover.

Where the title should have been, there was nothing written. It was a plain book with no author, nor even any common illustrations or patterns.

I ran my finger over the dark crimson cover. As expected, it was clearly made with modern binding methods and materials.

Who made such a book, and how?

Or perhaps, like me, this book had crossed dimensions?

“…….”

As if under a spell, I opened the cover.

From where the table of contents should have been, it was densely filled with text.

‘What is this?’

It was clearly readable script, but subtly different from the Imperial language. It was as if Korean, English, and the Imperial language were mixed together.

[The reddened sky is pierced by a spear and flesh, and I, the flying being, looked at you and spoke. Pulled it out. Hate him. In the end, he who possesses the wings of cold mushrooms, his flesh is the yellow king, who fought with him submerged in the ocean, the flesh of fragments, hate him. Was born. Was born. Let us hate him.]

It was as if different books had been overlaid, with mismatched words forcibly stitched together. Sentences without context or meaning continued.

The text ran on without spaces, causing fatigue just from reading it.

And yet, I couldn’t tear my eyes away. It felt as if I wasn’t reading the words, but the words were flowing into my eyes.

‘I need to stop reading.’

My reason, sensing the danger, warned me to close the book, but my hands, as if guided by someone, turned to the next page.

With each page turned, the letters seeped into my eyes.

The letters were being engraved into my brain.

The sentences became voices, and the voices became memories, etching themselves into my mind.