TMKM 03

Chapter 3

He mumbled something that made no sense, moving his lips as if he could not even form the words. Then, all of a sudden, he jumped up as if he had stepped on a sharp nail.

Crash! Clang, clang!

All kinds of equipment that had been left rolling around on the floor because they had not been put away properly got caught on his feet and collided with each other. The noise of the metal pieces hitting one another was quite loud.

Somehow, he managed not to fall. He hurriedly looked for a place to hide. Three long steps away, there was a door leading to a small bedroom. The man hurriedly flung the door open and slipped inside. Then he shut it again with a loud bang.

Pitch-black silence covered his white hair. Inside the dark room, he rubbed his chest, where his heart was beating rapidly. The man felt sick to his stomach. Like a blind man feeling his way around, he raised his hand to his bare face. His rough palm touched his blistered cheek. He was not even wearing a mask, let alone bandages.

The Duke felt like crying.

From outside the bedroom, he could hear the sound of people talking quietly.

A moment later, Fried pushed Desidero into the room.

“What are you doing? Have some dignity.”

His younger brother looked up at him with a pitiful expression.

Even then, Duke Paroa was pressed against the wall, checking the person coming inside. His eyes, filled with suspicion and anxiety, trembled uneasily.

“Do you know how much I scared her? I gave her a whole speech about how difficult and intimidating my brother is.”

But what is this now? You made me look like an idiot in an instant.

His younger brother’s complaints barely reached the Duke’s ears. Cold sweat ran down his back, and his face turned bright red. His eyes were empty, but his face looked like a volcano. It seemed as though lava and gas might burst from every crater on his body.

The man rubbed his cursed cheek and muttered,

“Th-there was no mention of her being a woman….”

At that moment, Nick Paroa had the most idiotic expression Desidero had ever seen on him.

Tichte Lanram had an older brother who was two years older than her. He was older only in age. He had not even a cat’s claw worth of responsibility or maturity as an elder brother.

“Nirgi! How many times do I have to tell you? I told you to put the clothes you wear at the fish farm separately in the small basket.”

Lanram scolded her brother, Nirgi, as she separated the work clothes he had carelessly thrown down from the clean clothes. Fishy water was dripping from the clothes the man had taken off. The thought of that awful fish smell soaking into the laundry made her irritation rise.

The man being scolded did not even answer with a sleepy complaint. He could never get out of bed until the sun was already high in the sky.

“Get up, Nirgi. How long are you going to sleep like that?”

She had pulled the blanket, but what she really wanted to take away was his laziness. Instead of the blanket he had lost, the man covered his face with a pillow and groaned.

“Just ten more minutes….”

Lanram pretended not to hear him and sniffed around. She checked whether the blanket smelled strange too. Then she continued nagging the man lying there like a cocoon.

“What wonderful weather. Did you forget what day it is today?”

“…What day?”

“It’s finally the day of the Ham Party.”

The Pig Princess was marrying the Lord of Salt. The wedding was commonly called the “Ham Party.”

It was a rare happy occasion for the kingdom, which had regained stability after the long war finally ended. Guests had gathered from all over Bigland to celebrate the union of the princess and the lord. Every day, crowds of people and lines of gifts continued to pass through the castle gates. These days, everywhere was crowded with people.

“Gillian is making a huge fuss because he wants to make a fortune this time.”

Lanram sighed, thinking about how her brother was doing nothing and simply lying around here without any effort or ambition.

“…Make a fortune? How is he going to do that?”

After having his pillow taken away as well, Nirgi could no longer insist on sleeping. Only then did he react for the first time. His mumbling voice was still half lost in a dream.

“He likes playing around with salt, you know. He asked me about herbs. He said he wanted to dry them, grind them, and mix them into salt.”

“So you told him how?”

Nirgi hated it when his younger sister shared her knowledge with other people. He seemed to think that this knowledge was their family’s useful—and only—way of making money. But whatever the case, that knowledge belonged to Lanram, not Nirgi.

“I know a lot about herbs, but I don’t know much about salt. I told him I couldn’t be sure what kind of reaction would happen when the two were mixed.”

“Don’t hang around with Gillian. That bastard is only thinking about how to use you.”

There is no man in my life who wants to use me more than my brother.

Lanram kept her mouth shut, thinking bitterly.

When she did not immediately give him a positive answer, Nirgi’s eyes became sharp.

“What is that look on your face?”

Perhaps he was fully awake now. Nirgi suddenly threw off the blanket and questioned Lanram.

“Did you really fall for that bastard?”

He was extremely wary of his sister getting a lover. It was not because he cared about his family. He was simply afraid that his source of money would be cut off.

“Did you sleep with that bastard?”

Nirgi’s questioning became more persistent. Lanram let out a deep sigh, regretting that she had brought up the subject. Whenever the conversation went in this direction, she felt so ashamed and uncomfortable that she could hardly stand it.

“Why can’t you say no? Huh? Did you sleep with him? I asked if you slept with him.”

“What does it matter whether I did or didn’t? Why do I have to report something like that to you?”

“You stupid bitch.”

When Lanram answered defiantly, Nirgi raised his hand over his head. Without a trace of affection, the man’s palm struck the woman’s head.

“I told you not to sleep with men for free. If you’re going to sleep with a man, at least get paid for it. Huh?”

“Ah!”

A cry escaped Lanram’s mouth.

Nirgi continued to hit Lanram’s head several times with intense anger. As if that was not enough, he kicked her thigh and knocked her down.

“How many times do I have to tell you before you understand? No man is serious about a Tillamin woman. They’re all bastards who approach you because they want to get into your pants somehow. How many times do I have to warn you before you’ll get it through your thick head? Huh?”

Nirgi was a short and thin man, but Lanram was even smaller and more delicate than him. Once the man seriously began using his strength, she had no way to fight back.

Lanram curled up on the floor and thought.

Even if what Nirgi said was true, getting hit on the head by a blood-related brother felt far more miserable than being hit on the butt by a man she actually liked.

After enduring it for as long as she could, she finally screamed.

“I’ll only sleep with the man I want! I won’t take money for it! If you like it so much, why don’t you do it yourself, Nirgi?”

“What? You filthy bitch.”

Naturally, Lanram’s resistance only made Nirgi angrier. He repeatedly beat Lanram as she covered her head and curled up.

Fortunately, he avoided hitting her face. Nirgi was always like this. They had to pretend to be close siblings when they were outside.

In fact, Lanram knew the easiest way to escape his violence.

It was to hand over money.

Whenever she sobbed and told him where the drawer containing the money was, the man finally stopped his fists as if his anger had been calmed. It happened often between the siblings.

People said there were many problems in the world that money could solve, but it was truly bleak that money was also the way to escape domestic violence.

“…You saved quite a lot?”

Sniffling, the woman brought out an amount of money large enough for the man to use for gambling. When she threw it at his feet, he picked it up and stuffed it into his pocket.

“Yeah, Tichte. I know that too. I know you’re a capable woman who can make money without doing things like that.”

Nirgi said those words as if they were a compliment.

Lanram hated the way he looked awkward as if nothing had happened, even though he had just beaten her senseless with his eyes filled with rage. She was disgusted by his happy expression as he thought about running off to the gambling table with that money.

“Hey, are you going out?”

“…….”

“When someone asks you something, answer.”

“Yeah.”

Lanram answered in a nasal voice full of mucus after being shouted at.

Then she sniffled as she braided her hair.

She was getting ready to go out.

She wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.