Marriage with the Younger Brother of the Man Who Betrayed Me (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 16
At my words telling him not to panic and to stand still, Karl instead looked flustered.
“…Yes?”
“It’s a monster. A monster is moving beneath the sand. Judging by how it isn’t hiding its presence, it probably hasn’t spotted us yet.”
Monsters of this type, which moved beneath the ground, usually had poor eyesight.
For that reason, they relied not on sight but on sensing vibrations in the earth to locate prey.
In other words, if we stayed perfectly still without walking, it might pass by us quietly without detecting us at all.
Rustle, rustle. Rustle, rustle.
The rustling sound grew even louder than before.
The monster was probably only about five steps away.
It had come so close that I thought if we just held out a little longer, it would pass by without incident.
Right at that moment—
Keeeeyeeek—!
The monster, which I’d expected to pass beneath my feet, suddenly let out a strange cry and thrust its head above ground.
It was a gigantic worm-like monster, its body as thick as a human torso.
Fortunately, it seemed the creature had surfaced not because it had detected us, but merely to breathe the air aboveground.
I gave Karl a very quiet instruction.
“It’s got poor eyesight. If we stay still, it won’t sense us. No matter how scared you are, absolutely don’t move.”
“Yes, I won’t budge an inch.”
While we held our positions, the monster wriggled closer to us.
Now it was only about three steps away.
We were so close that if it suddenly lunged to attack, we’d barely have time to react.
At that point, I hesitated—should I abandon staying still and strike the monster down first?
My hesitation didn’t last long.
Plink.
A single drop of rainwater, not yet dried from Karl’s clothes, fell onto the sand.
The monster didn’t miss the slightest vibration that resulted.
Keeeeeek—!!!
“Karl! Duck your head!”
Sensing our presence, the monster immediately bared its teeth and charged.
Fortunately, Karl reacted quickly.
Following my command, he instantly lowered his upper body, and I swung my sword at the monster lunging toward him.
Clang—!
The monster caught my swung blade in its sharp teeth.
Despite its worm-like appearance, its bite was surprisingly powerful, and I couldn’t pull my sword free.
I abandoned retrieving my sword and immediately activated my ability.
Crack… Crack—
Coldness radiating from my blade began slowly freezing the monster from its snout downward.
Startled by the icy chill—something it had likely never encountered in the desert—the creature began twisting its massive body violently.
At that moment, its thrashing body happened to strike me—there was truly no other way to describe it except as rotten luck.
Thud—!
The impact from the giant worm’s body sent me flying far away.
While tumbling helplessly down a sandy dune, I heard Karl’s urgent shout.
“Vice Captain!!”
My thought at that instant was, “Thank goodness.”
Before getting hit, I’d already frozen the worm’s head, so it couldn’t possibly attack Karl with its teeth.
Thus, Karl would be safe—but I was another matter.
My head throbbed painfully.
Though I’d landed on sand rather than hard ground, the impact hadn’t been fully absorbed.
My head pounded, and my ears rang.
I barely managed to sit up and looked in Karl’s direction.
He was running toward me, having retrieved my sword that had frozen along with the monster.
I needed to protect Karl before any other monsters appeared…
That was my final thought before I lost consciousness.
[This is the timeline separator]Tap tap tap tap.
Martin’s fingers drummed restlessly on his desk.
As he tapped, he simultaneously strained his ears.
He was listening intently for even the faintest sound of hoofbeats outside.
But all he heard was the rain—no matter how long he waited, no hoofbeats came.
Buried in that silence, he unconsciously muttered to himself.
“…It’s taking too long.”
Yulia had said it wasn’t a difficult rift and that she’d return by morning.
Yet contrary to her words, dawn had nearly passed, and Yulia still hadn’t returned.
Worry creasing the corners of his eyes, he continued thinking.
Why hadn’t she come back yet, despite promising to return by morning?
She’d even taken Karl with her…
Of course, “morning” could mean different things to different people—perhaps Yulia meant around 7 or 8 a.m., a couple of hours from now.
Even so, Martin found it hard to stop worrying.
Tap tap, tap.
His fingers, which had been drumming absentmindedly on the desk, suddenly stopped.
A sudden, ominous premonition had flashed through his mind.
Could something have happened inside the rift…?
Perhaps something had befallen Yulia and Karl.
After all, countless types of accidents could occur within a rift.
For example, injuries from treacherous terrain, getting lost, or even being eaten by monsters.
At that thought, Martin gritted his teeth, rose sharply from his chair,
and hurriedly grabbed his coat and weapon.
Both Karl and Yulia were essential members of the knight order.
He couldn’t possibly leave them to die—he repeated this to himself over and over as he mounted his horse.
Soon after, the powerful sound of galloping hooves shattered the silence of dawn.
[This is the timeline separator]When I came to after passing out, I found myself lying in an unfamiliar place for some reason.
Stone pillars lined the area, and something resembling an altar stood in the center—it looked like the interior of an ancient ruin.
Spotting Karl beside me, I immediately apologized.
“Sorry. I let my guard down. I should’ve cut that worm down the moment it surfaced.”
“No, it’s my fault. I’m not entirely sure, but I think I moved slightly, which made it detect us… How are you feeling?”
“I think I’m okay. But where is this place?”
I only vaguely guessed it was a ruin, but couldn’t determine exactly where we were.
From Karl’s next words, it seemed he didn’t know precisely either.
“There’s a structure not far from where that worm appeared, so I brought us here. I thought it’d be safest to wait here until you regained consciousness before moving on.”
“I see.”
“I tried healing you with my ability, but you wouldn’t wake up no matter what—I was so worried…”
“Wait, ‘wouldn’t wake up’? How long was I unconscious?”
It had clearly been midday when we first entered the rift.
Yet now, the sky visible through the half-collapsed ceiling looked dim.
It felt strange, and sure enough, quite some time had passed while I was unconscious.
“You were out for about six hours.”
“What?!”
Hearing Karl’s words, I held my forehead.
Six hours…
Far longer than my initial plan of eliminating the Queen and closing the rift within three hours.
It was now too dangerous to head straight for the oasis, as monsters became more active at night.
We’d probably have to stay hidden here until daylight, which meant wasting even more time.
For a moment, I could easily imagine what awaited me when I finally returned to the encampment.
“The Captain’s going to tear me to shreds when we get back…”
The Captain had told me directly:
“I don’t care what you do, just don’t do anything that harms the knights.”
And yet, I’d kept Karl—one of the order’s key personnel—trapped here for so long…
While I fretted over the scolding I’d surely receive later, Karl smiled reassuringly.
“He won’t say anything harsh. He’ll probably just be relieved we returned safely.”
“Do you think so…?”
“Even if he doesn’t seem like it, the Captain cares about you a lot. He’s probably worried about you right now.”
I couldn’t bring myself to agree with Karl’s words.
The Captain had openly declared before my eyes that he didn’t trust me—there was no way he’d be worried.
For that reason, I offered only an awkward smile as I stood up.
“Anyway, I should patrol a bit to check if this place is safe. It’s peak monster activity time outside, so going out would be dangerous. Let’s just scout around inside this ruin.”
“But you just woke up—shouldn’t you rest a bit longer…?”
“I’m fine. I’m completely okay now. You know how tough I am.”
Despite my words, Karl’s expression remained tense.
What was he so worried about? He already knew how tenacious I was when it came to surviving.
Sometimes Karl worried about me far too much.
I gave him an even more energetic look than usual.
“Come on, get up already. Or should I go by myself?”
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
Yulia is exceptionally intelligent and always finds creative solutions to difficult problems.
Took you so long!! I suspected him when he sneek up on you at the river and finally confirmed my suspicion of him since the Ball!!