Instead of My Beloved Sister, I Married a Monster
Maddy
사랑받는 언니 대신 괴물과 결혼했는데 May 26, 2026 45 views
chapter 4
“Yeah, I know. It’s a dining table.”
Ibnia answered calmly.
The man ignored her reply completely and walked past her to sit in a nearby chair.
He still had the same face as before—a mouth far too small to swallow a person.
Since he hadn’t appeared in some monstrous form, it seemed he truly had no intention of eating her.
Ibnia reluctantly pushed herself upright and turned toward him.
“Are you really not going to eat me?”
“You’re filthy. I don’t want to.”
Quietly lowering her head, Ibnia examined herself.
Her dress, ruined from wandering through the forest, immediately caught her eye. Honestly, even she wouldn’t want to pick up and eat something covered in dirt.
After a moment of thought, she offered a solution.
“Then you can wash me before eating.”
“Either shut your mouth and get clean in one second, or keep talking in those dirty clothes.”
Ibnia chose the first option.
Partly because the grime sticking to her body felt unpleasant, but also because it seemed the other party wanted her to stay quiet.
When she closed her mouth and sat across from him, the man sighed and muttered an incomprehensible spell.
A small breeze soon stirred around her, and her soiled clothes gradually returned to their original state.
The sticky sweat coating her body vanished as well, leaving her feeling fresh and clean.
Amazing…
Ibnia secretly marveled as she touched the now-pristine hem of her skirt.
Until now, she had never encountered real magic—nor even a properly functioning magic tool.
She had heard that in major cities people made decent use of relics from the past, but everything available in the Hesen region was mediocre at best.
Which made sense.
It was an age where the Blessed Ones had gone extinct.
After the man before her destroyed the evil that once threatened the world, the number of blessed people had begun to decline as though some balance were being restored.
By Ibnia’s generation, magic was considered little more than the close companion of wandering bards and con artists.
Those with genuine power mostly hid themselves away from society, living in remote and dangerous places.
Like the man sitting in front of her now.
Yes, he possessed real power.
The kind that could send someone to another space with a mere flick of a finger.
Whatever had happened in the past, if he truly didn’t want a bride now, there were countless ways he could drive away an unwelcome guest.
He could snap her neck in an instant, or send her somewhere unimaginably far away and erase her from his concerns entirely.
And yet the man merely stared at her with troubled eyes.
As though he were searching not for the easiest answer, but the right one.
Ibnia spoke carefully.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Go ahead.”
“Have you ever transformed into a monster and eaten people?”
“No.”
“Then why did those rumors spread?”
“I may not have eaten them, but I’ve killed plenty. That’s how all legends work. One truth mixed with ninety-nine lies.”
The man answered casually, then shifted his gaze toward the door connected to the kitchen.
“I know you’re curious about a lot of things, but eat first. You’ll upset your stomach otherwise.”
Following his line of sight, Ibnia saw Guillermo pushing out a trolley loaded with food.
His movements were as elegant as a nobleman’s, yet the actual serving etiquette was a complete disaster.
Appetizers, main dishes, desserts, tea, and wine were all placed on the table in total disarray.
Then Guillermo proudly declared,
“Please enjoy your meal.”
Could this possibly be the dining style of the Ritberg region?
Ibnia hesitated, unable to touch the food right away, and Agram immediately scolded her as though he had been waiting for it.
“Quit picking at it and eat properly. You’re skinny as a beggar—another pauper would probably call you a friend.”
The one person who could explain this avant-garde table setting had already disappeared back into the kitchen.
Left with no choice, Ibnia picked up her spoon.
Though there was no way food could go down properly in a situation like this.
Maybe because she lacked an appetite, she couldn’t taste anything at all.
After managing only a few spoonfuls of soup, she set her spoon down, and Agram raised an eyebrow in warning.
Ibnia offered a tiny excuse.
“I’m full.”
“Don’t leave food behind. Eat it all if you want to grow taller.”
The man lecturing her like some middle-aged uncle looked barely thirty at most.
And even that estimate only came from the weary look in his eyes, as though he’d already lived through the whole world.
Then again, considering he was over four hundred years old, maybe this way of speaking suited his age perfectly.
“I normally eat this much, so I’m fine.”
“Oh really? Are you dieting or something because you’re a girl? At your age, all you should be doing is eating well and having fun.”
Being nagged about meals by the man she had believed her whole life would someday devour her felt strangely surreal.
Fidgeting with the end of her spoon, Ibnia answered softly,
“I was afraid of being eaten.”
“What?”
“I thought… if I wasn’t appetizing, Lord Ram might not eat me.”
“……”
No one would gladly welcome the idea of being eaten by a monster.
More than anyone, Ibnia wanted to survive, and she had done everything she could for that purpose.
Obsessively starving herself so there would be nothing appetizing about her body was just one of the countless hardships she had endured.
Now she regretted it.
She had stubbornly suffered through even the pleasure of eating…
Even though, in the end, she never really had any great reason to cling so desperately to life.
“Lord Ram, aren’t you eating?”
Ibnia looked at the mountain of food in front of her as she asked.
For a moment, he only opened and closed his mouth soundlessly before finally replying a beat later.
“I’m not hungry.”
“So you don’t eat human food…”
Ibnia murmured to herself, accepting that explanation on her own.
She had wondered why there was no cutlery set at his place, but apparently it was because this wasn’t his usual diet.
As she simply nodded quietly, Agram suddenly raised his voice.
“Guillermo, bring mine too!”
“Huh?”
At his master’s call, Guillermo poked his head back through the doorway. Oddly enough, his attitude was insolent.
“Did I hear that correctly just now? You’re going to eat?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s the point of wasting food when you don’t even need to eat? Do you know how hard it was for me to procure these ingredients?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. Just do as you’re told.”
Faced with the sharp warning, Guillermo eventually retreated to the kitchen again.
A little later, a bizarre plate that looked like it had been assembled entirely from leftovers was placed in front of Agram.
The sight alone was enough to destroy anyone’s appetite, but instead of criticizing his subordinate, Agram silently chewed and swallowed every bite of his portion without complaint.
Pressed by the atmosphere, Ibnia also picked her spoon back up.
The meal only ended after Ibnia forced herself to eat far more than usual.
After aggressively demolishing his food, Agram wiped his mouth with a napkin and said,
“Now that we’re done eating, let’s talk.”
But even after starting the conversation, he struggled to continue.
He stared at Ibnia for a long time before sighing and pulling out a cigarette.
Then, looking utterly troubled by the situation, he began chain-smoking while continuously bouncing one leg.
At first, Ibnia quietly waited for him to speak.
But by the time he lit his third cigarette, she couldn’t just sit there anymore.
She gently tried to stop him.
“If you smoke like that, your health won’t survive.”
