Tamed Monster - Chapter 55

After settling in, they talked a lot—mostly more like an interrogation.

During the first few hours, Lancart was uncooperative with the monster’s questioning, but each time he resisted, the monster broke off a finger or toe from the surviving knights.

Before long, Lancart found himself talking endlessly with the monster, almost like a conversation between companions.

Despite the large hole beneath his heart, Lancart remained mentally clear and strong enough to speak. It was as if the swamp itself cast some sort of magic on him—though it was more like a curse.

Gradually, Lancart got drawn into the provocative exchanges with the monster, eventually opening up with surprising honesty.

Lancart hated his wife—”hate” might even be an understatement. At some point, he simply grew to detest her deeply.

She hadn’t mistreated him nor done anything particularly offensive, yet he loathed her just as much as his mother did. And, paradoxically, ever since that hatred grew, his feelings for her became sticky and dark.

Lady Rossa even tried to intervene. She mocked his extreme disgust and scolded him, saying he ought to have an heir. Lancart’s vehement refusal to the idea was what made her bring it up in the first place, though somewhat insincerely.

Yet even so, the fact that Rossa felt the need to stop him proved just how far he despised his wife.

In fact, the black-haired monster—who hadn’t even met the woman—seemed to like her more than Lancart did.

Why was the monster so obsessed with someone else’s wife? Perhaps it was just a biological urge triggered by any woman. By the third night of being captive to the monster, Lancart had begun to grasp the creature’s true intentions.

“Do you hate humans… that much?”

Did the monster hate humans just as much as humans hated monsters? Or maybe less, or more? Lancart suddenly wanted to hear the answer.

The monster tilted its head one way, then the other, and finally answered plainly. Lancart believed this to be a genuine reply, free from deceit.

“I do hate them. But honestly, if they don’t bother me first, I don’t care.”

The animosity humans hold against monsters is immeasurable. Ever since the Kolnas Empire settled on fertile land near here centuries ago, the conflict had escalated rapidly. Kuinan suspected humans were the ones who started the provocations.

“So they started it?”

“Yes. I haven’t eaten any humans who didn’t attack me first… at least not until I was about a hundred.”

In other words, now eating humans has become habitual. Whether they attacked or not, he hunted and ate at will. The gruesome meaning was strangely softened by the casual tone, making it all the more terrifying.

Lancart, already a dead man, didn’t even flinch.

“I see.”

Oddly, Lancart felt inclined to side with the monsters now. Kuinan wasn’t exactly eloquent, yet Lancart found himself strangely moved. A slow cough escaped his violet lips, and black blood trickled from the wound beneath his heart.

The blood was black and viscous—just like monster blood.

“So, you want to kill them all? Seems I know your plan.”

From the questions Kuinan had been asking these past days—about his wife, the Crown Prince, and the palace layout—it seemed the monsters were scheming to steal the poison antidote from the treasury.

Monsters looked very different from humans. So making a direct break-in to the fortress-like palace impossible. Kuinan seemed oblivious to the huge flaw in his plan, relentlessly wasting three days and nights talking disdainfully with a human.

Lancart chuckled, finding the monster’s dream laughable.

“Ambitious dream.”

After mocking the silent monster’s face, he drew a deep breath. Death was near, and when Lancart laughed like a monster, Kuinan appeared fascinated—not offended nor smiling back, but quietly watching like one inspecting a collected insect.

Then the monster with the split mouth spoke.

“I can actually transform.”

He demonstrated by morphing one hand. His claws retracted, the bone structure shrinking until it resembled a human hand. The once dark hand took on a pale hue, nails rounded off, and the webbing vanished.

“…..”

Lancart,widened his eyes in utter shock.