chapter 6
“I don’t care.”
Ivnia spoke in a voice that trembled with rising emotion.
She could feel heat rushing to her face.
Her hands, resting on her thighs, clenched tightly, but she couldn’t bring herself to swing them at anyone.
Instead, she turned her anger toward a much easier target—herself.
“What does it even matter? You said you don’t need me, and that you’re looking for my sister instead. If a wrongly delivered bride dies somewhere alone, it wouldn’t matter to you at all, would it?”
Ivnia felt like an uninvited guest who had unknowingly wandered into a party she was never meant to attend.
Why did she ever believe her own death had any special meaning?
Was there anyone else as unnecessary as she was?
“This is so annoying… stop being so picky and just eat anyone you want. I wish you really were a monster…”
If that were the case, she wouldn’t be having these miserable thoughts.
She wouldn’t be comparing herself to her sister again and suffering like this.
She could have died while denying the truth—that she meant nothing to anyone.
“You weren’t even planning to eat anyone anyway, so why did my parents tell me to die? Why did I have to hear that from the very people who were supposed to be my parents? If none of it was even necessary, then why…!”
Ivnia bit her trembling lip hard to stop herself from crying.
She wished all of this was just a dream.
If she had never had anything in the first place, she wouldn’t have had to endure the pain of losing everything.
Unbelievably, her family had once been warm.
Until her sister died—or rather, until she faked her death and disappeared—Ivnia had never once doubted that they weren’t her real family.
Her gentle parents raised their daughters with care, and her sister—two years older—never treated her as a burden, always taking her everywhere to play.
Back then, Emilia was everything to Ivnia.
When they raced up the hill in front of their house, she felt like a childhood friend.
When Emilia picked up leaves from the ground and explained, “This is a plane tree leaf,” she felt like she was learning from a kind teacher.
Sometimes she acted like a mother, sometimes like an annoying rival.
The meaning of “sister” constantly changed for Ivnia—but one truth never did.
She loved her deeply.
She was so dazzling that even a substitute bride meant to be sold off had fallen helplessly in love with her.
After that light left its rightful place, those left behind began wandering through endless nights as if it were natural.
The count and countess no longer cared for their household, and cold winds filled the once-lively mansion.
Left alone under their neglect, Ivnia desperately tried to hold onto the happiness that had slipped away like a mirage.
When facing her family, she mimicked her lively sister to lift the mood.
She practiced cooking the dishes her parents liked, since they often skipped meals.
She put aside storybooks and playing with dolls and focused on studying, and she learned needlework—something her mother insisted was essential for a lady.
Sometimes she even went to the riverbank where her sister had disappeared, searching for a miracle that might not exist.
Staring endlessly at the calm water, Ivnia vowed again and again.
She wouldn’t make her parents sad like Emilia did.
She wouldn’t let them lose her too.
After losing their first daughter and falling into despair, they wouldn’t be able to endure losing their second to a monster as well.
So maybe—if she pleased the monster… if she proved she was useful for something other than being eaten… if she managed to survive somehow—then maybe one day she could return to her family’s arms…
“I’m sorry. If I had explained things properly in advance, this wouldn’t have happened.”
The man who had been silently watching her for a long time spoke in a low voice.
Ivnia shook her head weakly.
He didn’t need to apologize.
The ones who deceived him and arranged all of this were her parents.
No—people who had pretended to be her parents.
Because of their schemes, he had lost the chance to reunite with the woman he loved, so in a way, he was also a victim like her.
Ivnia forced out a broken apology.
“…I’m sorry for taking it out on you.”
“You’re a good kid.”
“I’m not a kid.”
“No, you definitely are.”
“My sister would’ve been about my age too.”
“I’m a thief.”
The man withdrew the hand he had offered to her and took a handkerchief from his coat, wrapping a piece of candy inside it.
Then he placed it firmly into Ivnia’s hand.
“Listen. Even if you’re really sad and struggling right now, there will come a day when you’ll feel like you can get through it. But to reach a better tomorrow, you need a good today. The more you fill your life with things—and people—you love, the easier it becomes to start over. That’s why I can’t just let you wander off anywhere.”
To Ivnia, it was not something she could easily agree with.
A day when she could overcome this grief?
That someone she had only just met today—someone who was neither her parent nor her sibling—was saying he would help her do that?
“…What if I still don’t want to write that future plan you mentioned?”
Ivnia, who had been staring at the floor, slowly lifted her heavy eyelids and looked up at him.
Their eyes met immediately.
Perhaps because she had spent so long living as a replacement for her sister, forgetting even herself…
She was slightly startled that this man was listening to her so intently.
The man, who looked amused by her childish question, curled the corner of his eyes slightly as he replied.
“Then I’ll just eat you.”
“Hello, Lady Ivnia! I’m Hanna, the maid assigned to you starting today! It’s a pleasure to serve you!”
At the loud greeting the moment she opened the door, Ivnia stiffened.
When she returned to her room after finishing her conversation with Agram, a dedicated maid who hadn’t been there before had somehow appeared out of nowhere.
‘Is this the one maid they said they hired just for the bride?’
Ivnia had been suspicious, wondering if she was really suitable for someone like her, but contrary to her expectations, the girl seemed surprisingly ordinary.
Her straw-colored hair was neatly tied back, and her youthful face was clean and free of makeup.
From her impression alone, she didn’t seem like something alien or unsettling like Guillermo or Agram.
Feeling slightly relieved, Ivnia stepped inside.
“You must’ve been uncomfortable earlier, unable to change your clothes while I was gone. I’m sorry. It was my day off, so I had gone down to the village.”
Hanna bowed again with an apologetic expression.
Flustered, Ivnia waved her hands to stop her.
“No, I should be the one apologizing for making you come back in a hurry. I couldn’t change because I didn’t have anything I brought with me, not because there was no one to help.”
“W-What? Did you get attacked by bandits on your way here?”
It seemed the people of this castle had no idea how this marriage was perceived outside.
Ivnia simply gave an awkward smile instead of explaining everything.
Misinterpreting her reaction, Hanna clenched her fists with determination and shouted brightly.
“Don’t worry! We already prepared clothes for you, my lady!”
“Prepared clothes?”
“Yes! Please come this way and choose for yourself.”
Hanna nodded enthusiastically and guided Ivnia toward the dressing room connected to the bedroom.
Ivnia had thought she’d been placed in some empty room earlier—but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Inside the dressing room, which was larger than most reception halls, hundreds of dresses were neatly hung.
As if they had been carefully prepared for the bride over a long period of time.
