Tamed Monster - Chapter 145

Late at night, upon the silent silver surface of water steeped in moonlight, a monster’s head slowly bobbed up.

Thirty minutes—no, perhaps an hour—had passed while he remained submerged, lost in thought.

“How do I abduct her…?”

Ever since Kuinan, once the revered lord of the western swamp, fell for a human woman and turned his back on his kind, this was what the red-haired monster obsessed over: when, where, and how to kidnap that man’s woman.

For the past few weeks, even Hector, the second-in-command, had been wandering who-knew-where, neglecting his duties. As a result, the burden of managing the swamp had effectively fallen on him. Something the red-haired monster resented deeply.

A one-eyed monster approached him. Lately, this one has been especially eager to curry favor. Even after Hector recovered his severed arm and regained his full strength, the creature still clung to him incessantly. His irritated gaze stabbed straight into the creature’s single eye.

“Hey, boss. Got any orders for us?”

There were far too many unresolved problems for him to feel flattered by the title ‘boss’. In truth, trouble lay everywhere. Leadership meant not only power but heavy responsibility. So instead of being pleased by the flattery, he frowned.

“Who are you calling boss?”

“Isn’t it basically decided? You’re the strongest after Kuinan and Hector.”

He wasn’t refusing out of modesty. Monsters were creatures of arrogance and confidence; deep down, he believed himself more than qualified. Still, he felt the timing wasn’t right. Ignoring the nonsense, he scanned the surroundings.

“Looking for someone?”

“Hector.”

“Haven’t seen him today either. Probably slipped out of the swamp again. On patrol.”

The red-haired monster studied the naïve one-eyed creature in silence.

Why would Hector leave personally for reconnaissance when he could simply detach his right arm and send it off as a crow? Disappearing every day for such trivial reasons was unlike him. Lately, too many of them have been behaving strangely.

“…Has he really gone outside the swamp?”

This was their homeland. Every swamp monster was born here, lived their entire lives here, and relied on the swamp’s power to suppress the madness festering in their souls. Instinctively, they avoided leaving. Hector should have been no exception.

What’s going on?

Resolving to question Hector when he returned, the red-haired monster drifted away from the pestering one-eyed creature and waded into deeper waters. He sank beneath the surface again. Both to escape and to resume plotting how to abduct Kuinan’s woman.

“Hey! We weren’t done talking! So damn rude…”

The one-eyed monster’s shouting faded with distance. Soon only silence filled the water. Eyes closed, he remained submerged for a long time—until suddenly they snapped open. Through the wavering barrier of water, his gaze gleamed with manic light.

‘Ah… that’ll work.’

In the depths where no witness existed, his lips split into a vicious grin. Like the fiend he was, satisfaction flooded him. An opportunity would come. Soon, without fail. And he would not let it slip.

Emerging from the water at last, he greeted the still-waiting one-eyed monster with unusual warmth and ordered him to gather as many monsters as possible immediately.

* * *

The moment Kuinan returned to the castle in the dead of night, he went straight to find Sylvia. Then, without warning, he asked:

“What do you think of the Emperor?”

It was such a broad, contextless question that Sylvia couldn’t answer at once. Perhaps he had been waiting for that hesitation, Kuinan’s expression darkened by the second.

“Why can’t you answer? That’s suspicious.”

“…No. Why are you suddenly asking that?”

Was he asking about the Emperor’s ability to rule, or about the man himself? Either way, the question felt completely out of the blue. In truth, she didn’t feel qualified to judge either his governance or his character.

“What’s got you in such a mood this time? Barging in while I’m bathing.”

Kuinan was far more likely to behave bizarrely than not, so she wasn’t surprised. Still, by any social standard, a husband forcing his way into the bath while a noblewoman bathed was outrageously improper.