I Became the Obsessed Ex-Husband in a Romance Fantasy Chapter 158 - Read Online

Translated Chapter 158. TS Side Story - Contract (2) "Margrave-nim! Y-You are as beautiful as ever...!" "These men guided us here! There must be some mistake!" Dayna cast a glance at the group of nobles causing a commotion. "……!" The moment they met her eyes, the clamoring nobles all shut their mouths at once. Blue eyes that gleamed like the surface of a frozen lake. Inside them existed neither the shyness nor the anticipation of a lady seeking her future companion. It was the gaze of a predator weighing the worth of trivial prey that had crawled into her territory. "I'm busy." A frigid voice spilled from Dayna's lips. "I don't have the time to sit across from you and listen to your worthless family bragging." *Kung!* Dayna declared as she drove the sword she was holding into the dirt floor. "Since you came here of your own accord to become my husband, you must prove at least your minimal qualifications." As if those words were a signal, *Deolkeodeong-!* The door to the training ground's warehouse, which had been closed behind the suitors' backs, opened. "H, Hieek!" "Ugh! What is that!" The suitors looked back and staggered in sheer terror. "Kkok-kkok!" "Kkogogogok!" Pickers—vicious avian monsters that inhabited the area around the Kalmar Mine—poured out in a flock. They looked similar to ordinary chickens, but were much larger. Sharp horns sprouted from their crowns where a comb should have been, and the beaks beneath their blood-red eyes were exceedingly sharp. "What is the meaning of this?!" "Are you telling us to fight monsters barehanded?! Are you crazy?!" Amidst the nobles' clamoring, "Shut up and pick a weapon from the corner. I didn't know what you'd like, so I prepared everything." Dayna commanded with a frigid attitude. "Catch at least one. I'll consider that a passing grade." "T-This is madness!" "I need to get out of here! Move out of the way!" "If my father hears of this, he will never stand for—" Before the suitors could even take a step to flee in rebellion. "Kkogogogogok-!" "Kyaak!" The Pickers, having been locked in the warehouse and starved for days, took flight. They aimed their beaks at the appetizing prey. "Uwaaaah!" "Kkiyaaaak!" The nobles' pitiful screams and shrieks echoed loudly across the training ground. After that, it was complete chaos. "Help!" "Move! Don't block the way!" The nobles, who had never even properly held a sword once in their lives, ran to the corner without even thinking to pick up a weapon. "My leg! Agh! This thing pecked my leg!" The old baron collapsed to the floor the moment a Picker pounced on him. The guards quietly averted their eyes from his increasingly damp pants. "Ugh, it's coming! It's coming--! Don't come here!" Even those who somewhat bravely picked up a sword or spear were incredibly clumsy. "Get away! Get away!" The son of Count Marcus squeezed his eyes shut and swung his sword wildly in the air, only to trip over his own feet and fall. Of course, there were a small few who held their ground even in the midst of the pandemonium. They were a few sons who had formally trained in swordsmanship in a knight order. "Hup!" "Haa!" They sliced off the Pickers' wings with their swords or struck their heads with blunt weapons, bringing them down to the floor. Then, they panted heavily and stole glances at Dayna standing far away. Naturally, Dayna didn't even spare them a glance. "Ah, this is quite a rare sight." Matthias, the Knight Commander, watched the scene from the outskirts of the training ground and clutched his stomach in laughter. High-ranking nobles from the capital rolling around in the dirt, chased by a flock of birds. It felt as if a decade-old indigestion had been completely washed away. Even so, he kept his hand on his sword hilt and watched the situation sharply. *Seuk.* As Matthias jerked his chin, a knight who met his eyes quickly ran over. Dayna had given prior orders to intervene at an appropriate point before anyone suffered fatal injuries or actually died. Amidst that chaotic space, covered in screams, dust, and fluttering feathers. "...Huu." Rojian leaned his back against the building wall and took a deep breath. He didn't hold any weapon in his hands. For him, possessing a frail body that only wielded a pen all day, it was nearly impossible to physically subdue those monsters. However, Rojian's green eyes, carefully observing the situation, remained calm. 'Picker. A strictly nocturnal monster that rarely operates in the lower levels of the Kalmar Mine, where no light reaches.' A passage from a monster ecology book he had stayed up all night reading at the library flashed through Rojian's mind. 'Due to the characteristics of avian monsters, they rely absolutely on their vision, and exhibit a freezing response when their field of vision is completely blocked.' Rojian quietly regulated his breathing and took off the coat he was wearing, gripping it tightly in his hand. "Kkokok!" Eventually, a Picker discovered Rojian. The creature's bloodshot eyes flashed as it charged straight toward him. "……." Instead of fleeing, Rojian tracked the Picker's movements with his eyes until the very end. "Kkogogok!" And right before its beak pierced his shoulder, *Peolrak!* He widely spread the coat with both hands and threw it over the Picker's head. "Kkogo... Kkwaek?!" The Picker's movements stopped dead in its tracks, as if by magic, the moment it was trapped in pitch darkness. The Picker's massive wings stiffened, and then it powerlessly collapsed to the floor. It had mistaken itself for being caught in the dark of night or eaten by another predator. "Huu..." Without even having time to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, Rojian wrapped the Picker tightly in his coat and lifted it up. It was a clean hunt accomplished solely with reflexes and an understanding of monsters. "……." Dayna, who had silently watched the entire process, had the corners of her mouth slightly raised. Then, as if she hadn't been watching him, Dayna turned her gaze away, "Halt!" and shouted loudly. Matthias and the elite knights waiting on the podium barged in all at once. They began to slaughter the Pickers with precise and merciless strikes. "Kkogogok!" "Kkwaek!" The remaining rampaging Pickers were subdued in an instant, and the situation was brought under control. "Kkokok!" One of them escaped the knights' grasp and fled. Then it charged towards Dayna, who was standing defenseless. "Margrave-nim!" "Look out!" While everyone screamed in horror, *Jjik!* The tip of Dayna's sword pierced exactly through the Picker's crown. The Picker collapsed without even letting out a single scream. "……." The training ground became unbelievably quiet. Most of those present hadn't even been able to track the trajectory of Dayna's sword. "What? What just happened?" "I heard she was the top of the Swordsmanship Department, so it was true?" Those who saw Dayna's martial prowess for the first time were terrified. And they realized why she was Dayna Schumichel, and why she had held her ground without being swept away by the surrounding troubles and interference. "Hmm." Dayna lightly shook off the Picker's corpse with an unimpressed face. "I apologize, Margrave-nim." Matthias quickly approached and cleaned up the Picker's corpse. "Is it all over?" "Yes. That one just now was the last." The training ground, where the dirt and dust were slowly settling, was a truly pathetic sight. More than half were wounded and rolling on the dirt floor, and there were plenty who had fainted. Some had been dragged out by the guards long ago, foaming at the mouth. "Is this it?" Dayna scanned the survivors with an expressionless face. Of the countless suitors who had entered with confidence, only a mere few were standing on their own two feet. "Throw the wounded into the infirmary immediately, and kick them out as soon as their treatment is done." Despite Dayna's merciless order to leave, the eliminated suitors dared not talk back. "How can a woman be so fierce... Tch. If she's from the Schumichel Family...!" "I will submit a formal letter of protest in the name of my family regarding this matter...!" A few of them mumbled as they left, acting as if they hadn't been kicked out, but had refused themselves. Even that was so quiet that it was nothing more than muttering to themselves. The threat to send a letter of protest was also just empty boasting. "I'll commend you for proving your own worth." Dayna finally nodded at the remaining suitors. "Follow me to the drawing room." And she turned her body towards the main building of Schumichel Castle behind her. *Gulgeok.* The remaining suitors swallowed their saliva. The real interview was just beginning. ** The drawing room of Schumichel Castle. "……." The few suitors who survived the training ground remained silent, only resting half of their butts on the sofas. No one laid a hand on the teacups filled with tea. *Nyam-nyam.* Only Rojian was eating and drinking enthusiastically, moved by the precious tea and refreshments. "Please come in." The butler, Bill, took them in one by one. "I don't want to waste time, so keep your business brief." Dayna sat with her legs crossed, greeting them. She wore an arrogant and bored face, like she was appraising goods displayed on a shelf. "Greetings, Margrave-nim." The first to be called before Dayna was the second son of the Valen Marquisate. Having somewhat saved face by breaking a Picker's wing with his sword in the training ground, he opened his mouth with confidence. "I am a graduate of the Royal Knight Order's formal training, and I have experience commanding the knights of the Marquisate. It must be quite a hardship to lead this rugged and harsh North as a woman." "……." "If you marry me, I will become your sword and protect you by cutting down monsters on Kalmar's front lines!" It was a statement that appealed to his military prowess and emphasized his role as a reliable husband. It was a line that would make most young ladies blush and be moved, but "You'll protect me?" Dayna merely offered a crooked smile. "It took you three whole minutes to break a single Picker's wing in the training ground earlier." "Th-That was a sudden ambush, so I was flustered...!" At Dayna's merciless tone, the second son of the Valen Marquisate flushed bright red. "Margrave-nim! I merely wished to fulfill my duty as a husband...!" "I can take care of myself. Eliminated. Get out immediately." The next to step up was the bespectacled eldest son of the Renev County. "Your overwhelming martial prowess is known throughout the kingdom. However, ruling a territory cannot be done with a sword alone." He took the previous suitor's failure as a lesson and targeted a different angle. "I majored in administration and finance at the Capital Academy. While you are out on the battlefield reaping glory, I will take charge of the household and the territory's finances to provide perfect support." It seemed like a quite reasonable and tempting proposal. However. "You sure dress up your desire to hold the key to my vault quite long and prettily." Dayna hardened her face as if there were nothing more unpleasant than this. "Excuse me? N-No! I just wanted to lighten your burden, Margrave-nim...!" "You want me to entrust the distribution and ledger management of the massive magic stones pouring out of the Kalmar Mine to you? Don't make me laugh." Dayna nervously tapped the table with her fingers. "Eliminated. Tell the next person to come in." Afterward, several other heirs made desperate appeals, flaunting their family's wealth, connections to the royal family, and so on, but... "I could buy your entire merchant league just by scraping the surface of the Kalmar Mine." "Have you forgotten the fact that I studied alongside Alix and Beatrice as close friends? Your clumsy connections are of no value to me." All eliminated. Faced with merciless verbal lashings and fact bombs, the suitors all had to retreat in miserable spirits. "Tsk tsk." Dayna clicked her tongue and stood up from her seat. Regardless, her chest felt refreshed. It was an enjoyable sight to see the suitors fleeing with their tails between their legs and pale faces. 'Is there only one left now?' There was only one presence felt outside. Given the circumstances, it seemed Bill had briefly stepped away. "Next, come in." But no one came into the room. Even after waiting for a while, there was no response. *Dalchak.* Dayna had no choice but to open the door to the drawing room herself. And she discovered Rojian sleeping on the sofa. '...He slept here?' Dayna's eyebrows quickly shot up.

I Became the Obsessed Ex-Husband in a Romance Fantasy - Chapter 158