Chapter 2: IBSM

“...Is that really a monster?”

From one perspective, he certainly looked like one.

Though rather than a terrifying beast, he looked more like someone whose greatest crime would be stealing another person’s blanket on a cold night.

Just as Ivnia narrowed her eyes, searching for some hidden horror she might have missed, the little bundle of blankets squirming on the bed slowly folded upright at a right angle. Apparently, it had sat up.

Then a deep voice completely unsuited to such a cozy appearance rumbled out from inside.

“Guillermo, didn’t I clearly tell you not to show your face before me for at least the next hundred years?”

“And so for the last ten years, I’ve quietly left you alone to sleep. Do you truly not know what day it is today?”

“What day is it supposed to—”

The blanket monster stopped mid-scolding.

Though his face was completely hidden, he seemed to sense Ivnia’s presence with startling sharpness.

His voice turned cold.

“A human?”

“She is the second daughter of House Hessen. The younger sister of the deceased bride-to-be. She has come to fulfill the contract in her sister’s place.”

“What kind of nonsense is that? What exactly were you doing while I was asleep that a bride ended up being sent here? Didn’t I say the marriage was off?”

“But the contract never specifically stated it had to be the eldest daughter.”

“Are you going to keep pretending not to understand what I mean? Or have you finally decided to give up that pathetic imitation of a person?”

The blanket monster growled viciously.

Judging from the conversation, that cocoon really was her fiancé.

The one rumored to devour human hearts while people were still alive...

“I’m naked, so get her out first.”

As if annoyed, the man tugged the blanket covering his face down to his chin.

Apparently he hadn’t been lying about being unclothed, because his bare shoulder was precariously exposed.

But Ivnia’s gaze froze not on his body, but on his face.

For a brief moment, their eyes met.

The first thing she unconsciously blurted out was absurdly enough:

“I heard you looked like a monster.”

“There has never once in my life—not for a single second—been a time when I was ugly.”

The man replied as though he had just heard the most ridiculous thing imaginable, brushing his hair back with one hand.

Ivnia couldn’t help but feel slightly flustered. She hadn’t expected such narcissistic nonsense from the monster supposedly destined to eat her.

Still, she couldn’t deny his words.

That would have been dishonest.

Dark black hair.

Eyes sculpted with almost unreal precision.

A sharp nose standing proudly between them.

Perfectly balanced lips and jawline.

His face was not human—

and yet calling it monstrous felt equally wrong.

Ivnia unconsciously took a step back.

“But I heard you weren’t human...?”

“He was human until four hundred years ago. That’s why his personality is still rotten.”

The subordinate called Guillermo added the remark at perfect timing, like a tattling servant.

Ivnia, too, knew what sort of being stood before her.

The so-called ruler of Ritverk Province, the monster Ram, was originally named Agram Ritverk.

Born before the Empire’s map had even taken its current shape, he was something like an ancient legend.

Back when he was human, he had been a hero who defeated evil and saved the world. But in his later years, it was said he went mad after obtaining a power beyond his ability to control.

The story that he favored human hearts—especially those of virgins—was an old tale passed down since her grandmother’s grandmother’s time.

Even those who dismissed the rumor still admitted one thing:

Ritverk was dangerous land.

Everyone who entered seeking ancient treasures had vanished without ever returning.

And yet, what about the man before her now?

If he simply dressed properly, he looked as though he could mingle among ordinary people without issue.

If anyone stared at him, it would only be because of his extraordinary beauty.

As though entranced, Ivnia kept staring at the handsome man while absentmindedly reciting the rumors she had heard about him.

“...They said your entire body was covered in fur, and your claws were as sharp as a carnivorous beast’s.”

The man snorted.

“What a vivid imagination.”

“They also said your mouth was bigger than a grown man’s height, so someone like me could be swallowed whole in a single bite.”

“Well, if I used transformation magic, maybe that’d be possible...”

“And they said you survive on blood, so whenever you see a person, you immediately tear out their throat.”

“Ah, if you don’t leave soon, I might just do exactly that. Scared? Then hurry up and go if you don’t want to see blood.”

“But instead... you’re buried under a blanket, just waiting for me to leave on my own.”

An awkward silence fell over the room.

The man grew quiet after she pointed out the hidden truth.

Only then did Ivnia regain her composure, lifting a brow slightly.

“Could it be... you actually don’t want to hurt people?”

He glared at her irritably.

Though he didn’t deny it.

The bizarre phenomena, the strange people, the oddly peaceful atmosphere, and this unnecessarily long conversation—

Everything about the situation felt unreal.

But one thing was certain.

At least right now, he had no intention of eating her.

Ivnia let out a hollow breath.

“This is troubling. I came here intending to die.”

“I thought I’d bought myself a living bride, not someone aspiring to become a corpse.”

“That’s the opposite of what my family thought. We believed Lord Ram was rescuing someone who would soon become a corpse.”

Before he could respond, Ivnia added immediately:

“That’s why I came here.”

The man closed his mouth with an expression that screamed headache.

Perhaps her brief explanation alone was enough for him to imagine the complicated circumstances behind her arrival.

After scratching the back of his head for a moment, he turned to Guillermo.

“...Hey, Guillermo. What year was the second daughter of House Hessen born?”

“Do you at least remember what year it is? If you’re asking her age, she’s eighteen.”

“Eighteen...”

The man let out a long sigh before finally rising from his seat.

The blanket wrapped around him instantly transformed into a robe of the same color.

After tightening the belt around his waist, he approached the frozen Ivnia.

Even though he was the one who had demanded a bride under oath, he looked at her now like an unbearable nuisance.

“Kid, it seems you’ve got your own circumstances for coming here. For now, go cool your head a little.”

With that, he lightly poked her forehead with his fingertip.

Though he had only given her head a small shove, the next instant Ivnia found herself standing inside an unfamiliar room.

Judging from the similar structure and atmosphere, he had likely moved her somewhere else within the same castle.

Left alone in the silence, the overwhelming sensation of narrowly escaping death slowly returned, and only then did everything that had just happened truly sink in.

Ivnia collapsed to the floor.

She had heard that the monster Ram was a being beyond humans, but she had never imagined he could perform such absurd miracles as naturally as breathing.

Nothing felt real.

Blankly retracing the events in her mind, Ivnia muttered in a dazed voice:

“...A kid?”

She had already made her debut in society.

Which meant she was no longer considered a child, but a proper lady.

Being treated like some immature little girl was absurd enough, but the reason was even more ridiculous—

because the living sacrifice had tried to fulfill her role properly.

“He didn’t eat me. He didn’t even kill me. I told him I was prepared for it all...”

But the monster hadn’t acted like a monster at all.

Far from chewing her alive, he hadn’t even raised a hand against her despite how insolently she had behaved.

Still stunned, Ivnia wrapped her arms around herself.

Then suddenly, a question she had carried since childhood slipped from her lips.

Why had the monster called the tribute offered to him a bride rather than simply food?

“Don’t tell me... he really intended to get married...?”