The beast’s claws, larger and flatter than its teeth, smashed the doorknob with a thud.
“Eek!”
Litania, who was about to approach the butler, held her breath and stepped back. Her body froze reflexively as she sensed something off.
Something strange was happening.
Something absurd and bizarre.
“Si, Simons…”
Simons’ nose elongated. His nose, which had stretched down to the floor, wriggled like a separate living entity.
Simons’ skin, which had been wrinkled around the eyes, began turning gray.
His ears expanded like wings, drooping unsightly, and the seams of his well-kept suit began to unravel with a pop, then tore off with a ripping sound.
His silhouette, which was gradually growing larger, had now completely covered the door leading out of the castle.
“Ah, ugh…”
The giant gray animal, wrinkled all over its body, swayed its long trunk back and forth.
Whoosh.
An enormous elephant, large enough to fill the spacious lobby, stood before Litania’s eyes.
“Wh-what, this can’t be…”
Litania stumbled backward. When she saw the giant elephant extend its trunk toward her, goosebumps covered her body and a scream erupted.
“N-no, don’t come! Go away!”
A mix of visceral disgust and fear swirled within her.
Litania frantically fled. She ran down a narrow corridor where the elephant couldn’t follow.
Her breath quickened and her vision spun.
What is this?
What’s going on?
Why did Simons suddenly turn into an elephant…
With each panting breath, her shoulders heaved and her heart pounded. Litania cried out in a tearful voice.
“Is anyone there? Pepper! Hazel! Raven!”
Litania ran through the corridor, calling out the names she remembered. Strange rustling sounds and bizarre animal cries she had never heard before came from all around.
“Haa, haa.”
Litania fled in a panic. She couldn’t even scream anymore.
As she panted and wandered down the long corridor, only one thought filled her mind.
Where should I go?
Where can I escape to?
Where…
Clang! Crash.
A clamorous sound of kitchen utensils falling and metal clashing came from the kitchen. Something hit with a thud, followed by the sound of something cracking and breaking.
“Pepper! Are you in the kitchen?”
When Litania arrived at the dining room, a white gown was scattered haphazardly on the floor.
That’s the doctor’s gown Hazel was wearing.
Just as she thought that, something wriggled inside the white gown, and a squirrel popped out.
“Gasp!”
The squirrel, as big as a forearm, fled like an arrow when it saw Litania.
‘Why is there a squirrel here?’
Confused, Litania staggered towards the kitchen.
She needed to ask Pepper for help.
Fortunately, since Pepper was big and strong, he might be able to help her escape the castle.
So hurry…
“Pepper!”
Litania, calling Pepper’s name as she ran, stopped abruptly at the sight visible through the open kitchen door.
All the cooking utensils were overturned on the kitchen floor. The counter was smashed to pieces, and among the debris was something huge and black that resembled Pepper.
“Pe-Pepper…?”
Pepper’s body, which she had thought was as large as a bear, had swollen to nearly four or five times its size.
Black hair began sprouting on his broad face, and his neck started to thicken.
His arms, already hairy, became covered in dense fur until no skin was visible, and his nails grew longer.
Each one looked large and sharp, as if a kitchen knife had been embedded in them.
“Grr. Grrr.”
“Um, Pepper…”
“Grooowl.”
A massive body covered in fur. Terrifying claws.
The roar of a beast echoed through the kitchen.
Crash, clatter.
Porcelain plates and glass cups shattered, scattering fragments, and metal pots and pans were flattened like paper under enormous feet.
“Eek!”
When she forcibly moved her body frozen in fear, a chilling pain shot through her as if iron rods were being twisted in her limbs.
“Grooowl.”
“Gasp, hic!”
Litania quickly hid in the adjacent pantry. Click. She locked the door and retreated, cold sweat streaming down her back.
“Wh-what should I do, what should I do…”
With a bear’s strength, it could easily destroy such a wooden pantry door with a single swipe. Litania huddled, hugging Snow tightly.
“Could it be… that everyone was under a spell?”
Humans without a dragon’s permission cannot enter the dragon’s castle.
Seeing nearly seventy servants working in this dragon’s castle, Litania had thought that Orbis had brought people to work here from before.
But thinking about it a little, it was a very strange thing.
Orbis can instantly move to distant places with magic. He could even change how others perceived Litania’s appearance.
He didn’t need human-like bedrooms, bathrooms, or kitchens. He didn’t need to travel by carriage.
Yet he built a large castle. He, who loved nature, created an artificial garden. Then he ordered servants to manage the castle.
Would Orbis really have gone around selecting servants one by one, giving them permission to enter this remote dragon’s castle?
Could people with diverse emotions and interests like humans live peacefully in this dragon’s castle, just working?
Wasn’t all of this created?
And the reason such an artificial space was created was…
“Snow.”
Litania looked down at the small rabbit in her arms. Snow, hurt somewhere, was curled up and wheezing, but perked up his ears at Litania’s call.
“Everyone was the dragon’s minion.”
He cast a spell on Snow the rabbit to make him human and sent him as her attendant.
Then the butler Simons must have been an elephant, and the chef Pepper a bear. The squirrel she glimpsed briefly was probably the doctor, Hazel.
“Why… why did he cast such a spell?”
And why did the spell suddenly start to break?
There was no reason to return the other servants in the dragon’s castle to their original forms just because Litania said goodbye. If Orbis wanted to live in and maintain the dragon’s castle like a human, there was no reason for this.
Doesn’t it feel like the moment Litania refused, he felt no need to maintain the castle in its existing form and withdrew the magic?
“Is it because of me? Did he create all of this… to show me?”
Litania carefully lifted the small Snow, bringing her face close to the trembling little creature.
The small attendant who had always protected her now looked so fragile that he might die if she just gripped him too tightly at this moment.
“Snow. Where should we go?”
As if answering her trembling voice, the rabbit extended its front paws and patted her chin. Its two ears twitched.
What kind of signal was that?
As Litania tried to examine Snow’s appearance, a dull rumble sounded, and the ceiling began to crack.
“Gasp!”
Creak, snap!
The ceiling boards, unable to bear the weight, bent and split in two, and the nails holding them in place flew off.
‘It’s collapsing.’
Come to think of it, isn’t this castle hundreds of years old?
The condition of the main palace was fine, but considering the dilapidated state of the annex when she first arrived here, perhaps this main palace was originally as worn as the annex.
If it had been maintained intact by magic, the moment the magic breaks, this castle will turn into ruins that haven’t been managed for hundreds of years.
“Wh-where should I go out?”
Litania paced anxiously in the small pantry. Then she noticed that the door she had locked was still intact, with no signs of being broken.
‘Pepper didn’t break down the door.’
With a bear’s strength, he could easily break down the door and attack her inside, but there hadn’t even been a sound of knocking since she locked the door.
Does he have no intention of attacking?
‘The ceiling is collapsing. If he’s not trying to eat me, Pepper must have taken shelter too.’
Litania grasped the doorknob with trembling hands. Click. The lock released and the door creaked open.
The kitchen was in utter chaos, but there was no sign of the terrifying bear.
‘Let’s get out of here for now.’
Litania crossed the kitchen again and left the dining room.
Flutter.
In the corridor, flamingos were busy flapping their wings, trying to avoid the collapsing ceiling.
Raccoons swinging their large tails and climbing the walls, cats, snakes… The place was filled with animals she had never seen in the dragon’s castle before.
When they made eye contact with Litania, they quickly fled elsewhere, as if trying to hide their appearance.
“Ah…”
The once beautiful castle had transformed into an old castle that had aged hundreds of years. Bricks were falling off here and there, and staircases were creaking and starting to collapse.
The marble floor was cracked and split, and broken windows and fragments filled the place.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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