The Beast Swallowed by the Flower (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 18
Seeing Zen’s expression, wanting to call her “older sister-in-law,” it seemed genuine—not meant to torment her.
Seating her at the head of the table was truly because she considered Lisi the protagonist, and asking to hear her brother’s wife’s voice was really because she genuinely wanted to hear Lisi’s voice.
‘Am I moving too fast?’
Lisi struggled to keep her expression steady as she spoke.
“Yes, alright. You may call me older sister-in-law.”
Zen, as if she’d never made that puppy-like face just moments ago, returned instantly to a cold, blank expression.
With an aura that screamed, “How dare someone like you marry my brother!”, Zen asked,
“Older sister-in-law, why did you marry someone like our brother?”
“Zen.”
“Brother, please stay quiet for once. I’m talking to older sister-in-law right now.”
“At least let’s eat while we talk….”
“Who said not to? Have them bring out the food. Oh, older sister-in-law, you can eat while talking too. Older sister-in-law, seriously, why did you marry someone like our brother?”
“Well….”
Because I know how hard your brother worked in his past life, and how desperately he died.
Because I can’t forget the kindness your brother showed me when we met just once in his past life.
Because I felt that my life would be different from my past one if I were with your brother.
And also, because I wanted to make sure your brother’s end wouldn’t be so cruel and wretched again.
She couldn’t speak such truths aloud.
Lisi glanced quickly at Kai.
Kai watched her with an intrigued expression, clearly curious about what Lisi would answer.
“Because I like him.”
Lisi looked straight at Kai as she spoke.
“Those eyes like a cloudy sky. Those eyebrows as if drawn in a painting. That jawline as if carefully sculpted. That low, resonant voice. That laughter that sounds like the wind….”
Lisi listed all the things she’d thought were wonderful about Kai.
As Lisi kept speaking, for some reason, the smile faded from Kai’s lips and his eyes began to waver.
Was it just my imagination?
Kai’s earlobe even seemed to flush red.
Seeing Kai subtly raise a hand to cover his mouth, Lisi concluded her words.
“I truly like all those things about him. I want to look at him for the rest of my life.”
When Lisi turned to look at Zen, Zen’s eyes weren’t on her—but fixed on Kai.
Zen looked as if she might vomit any second, and Nathan felt exactly the same.
Lisi couldn’t understand why they wore such expressions.
Did I say something wrong?
“Zen?”
“Oh… y-yes. Um… y-yes… I see… Well, older sister-in-law, right. Uh, um. Everyone has different tastes and perspectives, after all. Yes, it’s perfectly possible. Of course it is.”
Zen, having regained her composure, gave Kai a teasing smile.
“Must be nice, brother. Eyes like a cloudy sky, eyebrows like a painted picture, a jawline like fine sculpture….”
“Zen.”
Nathan cut her off.
“I… feel a bit sick….”
“Oh, sorry. I’ll stop. I went too far right before dinner. I admit it.”
While they reacted in ways she couldn’t understand, Lisi just stared at their faces, her eyes wide.
Then her eyes met Kai’s, and she silently mouthed,
“Did I say something wrong?”
Kai gave a faint smile and subtly raised his thumb under the table.
Zen, who’d caught the gesture perfectly, burst out,
“What’s with that thumbs-up? Ah, I get it! Brother forced older sister-in-law to say all that, didn’t he? Made her memorize it?”
“Oh! Of course!”
Nathan finally understood and gasped.
“Wow, you’re insane. Making your wife recite your own praises… Wow, that’s seriously disgusting.”
That wasn’t it at all.
Lisi tried to defend Kai, but he stopped her with a look.
‘Just leave it. It’s fine.’
Zen ranted for a long time about how utterly unattractive and horrifying it was for a man to have his wife recite his own compliments, and Nathan nodded along with unusual seriousness.
Since Kai had already started eating his soup as if none of it concerned him, Lisi picked up her spoon too.
She’d thought she wouldn’t be able to eat properly tonight, but that wasn’t the case.
Zen’s attitude toward Lisi was completely different from the “husband’s family” Lisi had known.
In fact, it even seemed as if Zen genuinely liked her.
For the first time, she realized that time spent with a “husband’s family” didn’t have to be uncomfortable—it could even be pleasant.
Families like this really do exist.
Jereshien, like Julianne, was different inside the house than outside—but in a good way.
Even her cold expression when silent wasn’t from anger; it was just her usual neutral face.
“By the way, brother.”
Zen, who’d been silently eating for a while, finally broke the silence.
“No matter how small you held the wedding, how could you not invite the family? Who exactly did you invite? Don’t tell me it was just the two of you?”
“…We didn’t have a wedding.”
“Huh? What didn’t you have?”
“A wedding.”
“What?”
Zen stared at Kai, confused.
The knife she’d been using to cut her large steak froze midair.
Kai, as if worried the knife might fly and stab him in the neck, kept his eyes fixed on it and answered calmly,
“We just registered our marriage.”
Zen turned to Lisi.
Since her eyes clearly asked if it was true, Lisi gave a light nod.
Clang!
Zen slammed her knife and fork down and stood up abruptly.
Kai frowned.
“Zen, please show some manners….”
“The one who showed no manners was you! How could you skip the wedding and only do the marriage registration?”
“It’s not something worth getting so worked up over, Zen.”
“This is exactly the kind of thing worth getting worked up over, chubby dog.”
“You… since when did you….”
Kai’s face flushed.
So he had the nickname “chubby dog.”
Lisi nearly burst out laughing but barely held it in.
“A wedding is extremely important to a woman. It’s something you absolutely shouldn’t skip.”
Kai and Nathan both turned to Lisi as if checking whether this was really true.
“Stop staring at older sister-in-law! Of course she couldn’t say anything about having a wedding when you look like that.”
“No, Zen. I don’t need a wedding or anything like that.”
“Older sister-in-law. That’s not acceptable.”
Zen was firm.
“There are so many women in this world with bizarre tastes and very low standards. Not that I’m saying older sister-in-law is one of them! Anyway, there are countless such women, and our brother is very popular.”
Only then did Lisi understand what Zen was trying to say.
“Those women will be jealous of older sister-in-law and spread rumors that you’re looked down on by our brother because you didn’t even get a proper wedding.”
“Oh… I see.”
“Oh, ‘I see’ isn’t enough, brother. You’ve been a count for how many years now? You should’ve thought of that much with that head of yours. What if older sister-in-law notices your head is just for decoration?”
Kaelbrant Green, the Guardian of the Relic, so honorable that even high-ranking nobles dared not speak to him casually.
Lisi had already learned how he was treated at home.
Chubby dog.
A decorative head.
After ranting at length about Kai’s utterly useless, purely ornamental head, Zen suddenly turned to Lisi.
“Older sister-in-law, leave it to me.”
“Leave what?”
Zen smiled brightly.
A smile Lisi had never seen in her past life.
It struck her as truly dazzling, and then Zen answered,
“Preparing the wedding of Iris, the flower among flowers, and the chubby dog.”
+++
Only after dinner could Kai speak privately with Zen.
Summoned to Kai’s room, Zen insolently slung her legs onto the table and sprawled on the sofa, glaring at Kai.
“Zen. You were rude in front of Lisi, someone you’d just met.”
“To older sister-in-law?”
“To me.”
“…What do you mean?”
“What will your older sister-in-law think of me?”
“Well, maybe she’ll notice your head’s just for decoration and run away.”
“…Zen. Please stop calling me ‘chubby dog’ in front of Lisi.”
“So what? Even if I call you that, no one would ever dream you’re a beastkin.”
Lisi already knew Kai was a beastkin, but Kai hadn’t revealed this to Zen.
He feared Zen might become wary of Lisi precisely because she knew the truth.
“That’s not the issue.”
“Oh, are you worried people will find out you were chubby as a kid?”
Pierced by her sharp words, Kai let out a small sigh.
There had been a brief period like that.
Kai had been able to transform since the moment he was born.
He lived without realizing it was unusual, until he grew older and finally learned that beastkin were shunned—and that revealing his nature would mean death.
Realizing he was an existence this world wouldn’t accept, Kai sank into despair and depression.
From then on, he locked himself in the house in wolf form, eating and sleeping while muttering, “Someone like me isn’t human.”
Naturally, he gained weight, and his younger siblings—well, Zen—teased him relentlessly.
Called him “chubby dog.”
Though Zen meant no harm—indeed, her teasing was full of affection—the young Kai hadn’t seen it that way.
He’d even thought, ‘Yeah, a chubby dog like me should just die. What’s the point of living?’
“It’s fine, brother. Actually, you were much cuter as a chubby dog than now. All round and rolling around….”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
Kai growled, but Zen didn’t care in the slightest.
“Even if we can’t manage a full wedding, preparation will still take about a month. This estate is crawling with only men, so we’re missing all sorts of things. We’ll need to send people out to buy loads of stuff and hire laborers too.”
“You never even go to tea parties. How can you possibly handle this?”
“I may not look like it, but I have good taste. I’ll also get help from a friend who loves this kind of thing.”
“Fine, do as you please.”
Kai was regretting his actions.
Because he had no interest in high society, he hadn’t considered what sort of gossip Lisi might face from noblewomen for not having a wedding.
“How much money will you spend?”
“As much as you want.”
“You’re really going to spend a huge amount?”
“Spend it all if you have to.”
“Wow, our brother. You’ve really grown up—willing to go broke for your woman.”
“No, I don’t intend to go broke…!”
But Kai, realizing that once Zen declared something she always followed through, tried to stop her—but Zen had already left the room.
+++
A few days after Zen declared she’d make Kai go broke,
someone arrived from the Holy Nation.
They had come to investigate the rumors circulating about Countess Green’s past and alleged infidelity.
An Indifferent Woman is the One Men Desire the Most
One-line summary: The female lead is actually cold-hearted and extremely rational. She has stage-by-stage relationships and won’t two-time, but there will always be someone who secretly likes her.
This novel has the following triggers, so if you’re sensitive to these, please don’t read:
1. The female lead has had many relationships, but she treated each one seriously and broke up properly.
It’s just that the men unilaterally pestered her incessantly. For the female lead, when she doesn’t like someone anymore, she simply doesn’t like them.
(This applies to her relationships with Male Lead 1, 2, 3, and 4 as well, but she’s loyal in each 1-on-1 relationship!)
2. In this novel, Male Lead 2 and the female lead kiss in a car, and Male Lead 1 sees it and beats up Male Lead 2.
The female lead calls the police and sends both Male Lead 1 and 2 to the police station! Male Lead 1 begs the female lead not to break up with him.
3. Male Lead 1 has a gentle appearance but an obsessive personality.
Male Lead 2 has a delicate and soft appearance, slightly green tea-like (two-faced).
Male Lead 3 is a youthful college student and a smart person who has secretly liked the female lead for a long time.
Male Lead 4 is the female lead’s father’s special assistant, a business elite with deep, hidden thoughts.
4. At the beginning of this novel, the female lead has already broken up with Male Lead 1 (Chapter 4) and gotten back together with Male Lead 2 (ex-boyfriend).
5. Enter with caution if you have triggers!!!
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