Translator: Nox

I Became A Married Man in Another World

Chapter 99

099 There Are Clothes-Eating Bugs

As the blue of the sky gradually began to stain with the deep hues of twilight, Dorothy was already fast asleep, clutching her doll and Oz.

Even as her body was wiped down with a warm towel and her clothes changed into a comfortable dress, her eyelids didn’t so much as flicker.

“Was traveling by carriage that tiring?”

Juhwan smiled softly as he laid the child on the bed.

Over her husband’s shoulder, Lij caught a glimpse of the girl’s face. She looked peaceful.

Of course she does, Lij murmured to herself.

The carriage journey might have been tiring, but that alone wouldn’t make her sleep like the dead. Since meeting Juhwan, Dorothy tended to fall asleep easily anywhere; if anything, the carriage journey had been more fun than exhausting.

Dorothy was likely this tired because of the Orthos.

Magical beasts were one of the things people feared most. While rarely seen near the village, everyone—child and adult alike—knew that terrifying things lived deep within the forest.

Watching her father fight such a beast must have been magnificent, but the fear that he might lose must have been impossible to erase.

To Dorothy, as it was to Lij, Juhwan was the only person in the world. No one could ever replace him.

If they lost this man, they would become empty husks. All strength to live would vanish. Just as it would for Lij, it was likely the same for Dorothy.

They might find someone else later in life, but at this moment, Juhwan was everything to both of them.

‘Losing you is what I fear more than anything else.’

Where did these feelings come from? She had certainly been living before she met this man, but now, she couldn’t imagine it. It would leave a hole in her heart. It was truly strange.

It felt as though someone had cast a spell on her heart. It was as if her heart were tied tightly to his ankle. If Juhwan disappeared, her heart would be dragged away with him and vanish.

Lij leaned her head quietly against her husband’s back. She pressed her palm against his broad back.

“What is it, Lij?”

“….”

Lij closed her eyes, listening to her husband’s tender voice.

What her face touched was firm. It was so solid she could hardly believe it was a human body like hers.

As she slowly moved her palm up and down, she felt his muscles ripple whenever he moved even slightly.

He was alive.

The wounds left by the Orthos had been completely healed, and he was here safely before her. Even that massive Orthos could not defeat this man.

The string tied to her heart was undoubtedly intertwined with his body. He hadn’t disappeared.

Thinking that brought her peace.

She exhaled and inhaled again, and her husband’s scent, mixed with a hint of sweat, seeped deep into her, making her heart feel warm and cozy.

She loved him. She loved this man so much.

Juhwan turned around, sat on the bed, and pulled Lij onto his lap.

“What’s wrong?”

Juhwan gazed into her eyes for a moment and then suddenly chuckled.

“Are you drunk?”

Drunk? Who?

She had some wine during dinner. Today, the innkeeper had provided quite a bit of wine, saying it was on the house. There was plenty of stew and dried herring, too. Juhwan had eaten his fill.

“Today’s wine was delicious.”

So, did she have one glass, two, three? She had been sipping it little by little, and it seemed she had quite a bit while Juhwan was finishing his one glass.

“But it’s just wine.”

Who gets drunk off that? It was only wine.

Wine was more expensive than beer, but cheap wine was a drink commoners frequently had their hands on. Everyone drank it like water.

Juhwan was staring at her. For some reason, her heart felt itchy.

Feeling like she had to say something, Lij began to ramble.

“Um… of course… I hardly ever got to have any before. My father and sister drank it sometimes, but since I couldn’t work… people who can’t work don’t deserve to have wine. Um… but I had some today. I guess I’ve started working a little too. Today’s wine was tastier than usual. Maybe because it’s the good stuff? Hehehe. It’s delicious.”

“You really are drunk. I thought it was strange since you were so quiet earlier. But once you’re fully drunk, you get talkative, Lij. You laugh more, too.”

Juhwan stroked Lij’s cheek with his finger and spoke in a low voice.

“If today’s wine was good, let’s buy several bottles of the high-end stuff. Something much tastier than what you wanted when you were young. Let’s buy something your father and sister have never even tasted.”

Her husband’s face seemed to draw closer, and then something warm swirled against her lips before pulling away.

“Hua?”

Lij stared blankly at the man’s face before her. Suddenly, her face flushed hot. Her whole body felt like it was burning up.

Her husband grinned and licked his lips with his tongue. She thought his vivid red tongue looked just like a snake’s.

Without realizing it, she swallowed hard.

Gulp, gulp, gulp.

For some reason, she kept swallowing.

Without opening his mouth, her husband laughed deep in his throat. His laughter, sounding as if it were trapped inside, felt soft to her ears.

Hearing that sound made her feel a surge of greed.

He was hers.

Lij followed her greed and threw her arms around her husband’s neck. He’s mine. This man is mine.

Her husband’s face lowered, and their lips met. They pressed together softly, again and again.

Closing her eyes, Lij whispered.

“Mine.”

Was it because of those words? Her husband pulled his lips away and gazed quietly into her face.

Lij stared back at him.

She saw his gallantly arched brows and his eyes, a blend of brown and black.

“A rare color. It’s pretty.”

The words slipped out of her own accord, and her husband’s face turned slightly red.

Hua, hua. Strange sounds escaped her mouth. Her husband was cute. She couldn’t help but laugh.

The fear she had felt just moments ago—that this man might disappear—suddenly drifted away and floated up to the ceiling. She felt as though her body were stuck to the ceiling.

“Hehe.”

As she laughed, she suddenly found herself lying flat on the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

What had happened? Why was she lying down?

While she was wondering, her husband’s large frame covered her, and the ceiling was no longer in sight.

Filling her vision were her husband’s face, his thick neck, his shoulders…

That’s strange? I definitely had clothes on just a moment ago, so why aren’t there any?

Suddenly realizing it, she saw that not only her husband’s clothes but her own were gone as well.

“There are clothes-eating bugs.”

Pfft. Her husband’s low chuckle vibrated against her shoulder and ear.

It was quite a problem to have no clothes. It was no laughing matter. She thought that, but since her husband was laughing, well, she figured it was fine.

Her mood drifted up into the air again. She wasn’t sure where, but her body began to tingle, and a sense of joy rose from deep within her.

Everywhere felt so wonderful it was ecstatic. It felt as if she were laughing with her whole body, not just her mouth or head.

Ah, the delicious wine, her husband, his eyes, his smile—she loved it all. She loved it so much.

---

Juhwan lightly stroked Lij’s body as she lay half-draped over his chest, fast asleep. Ah, really. There actually is such a cute creature in this world.

When he told the innkeeper he had caught an Orthos, the man, a former adventurer himself, offered a glass of wine in celebration. It was a large wooden cup filled to the brim. It wasn’t top-shelf, but it was supposedly the most expensive thing at the inn.

They had shared that wine using a cup only slightly larger than a shot glass. Lij had sipped a few glasses, saying it was delicious. It was probably only two or three glasses at most. And they were only half-full.

She had had cider at a restaurant in Moderni once, but she hadn’t gotten drunk then.

So he never imagined she would get drunk off a few glasses of wine.

Her footsteps and pronunciation had been so steady that he hadn’t even noticed she was tipsy.

“….”

He should have let her drink sooner. A slightly tipsy Lij was incredibly cute, lovely, and honest. Words she usually didn’t say—that she liked him, that he was cute, that she loved him—poured from her lips one after another.

No, he had no idea what part of a massive man could possibly look cute, but apparently, she saw him that way. Him, a muscular man nearly two meters tall.

As she looked at him with melting, teary eyes and a bright smile, he truly wondered how such a lovely creature could exist. She was always cute, but slightly drunk on wine, she became a top-tier adorable being.

“….”

He was so glad he married her.

The journey to the village where he first met Lij had been painful, but it was worth more than enough to compensate for that suffering.

He was truly glad his partner was Lij and no one else.

*

And the sight of Lij’s dazed, frowning face when she woke up the next morning was also top-tier cute.

“Juhwan… my head is thumping.”

Yes, cute.

“It feels like someone is beating it with a stick.”

Oh dear, tears welled in Lij’s eyes. It was cute, but he couldn’t laugh at this.

---

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

Despite her answer, Lij’s face was pale. Whenever he spoke even slightly close to her, she looked like she was about to cry. Well, that’s just how hangovers were.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just rest today?”

“I’m fine. I can’t let the schedule get messed up because of me.”

But saying that with such a haggard face wasn’t very convincing. Juhwan had no choice but to pick Lij up carefully.

“Hup!”

A strange sound escaped Lij’s mouth. Her head and stomach must have throbbed as her body was suddenly hoisted upward.

But it was worrying to watch her stagger along, and more than anything, her head would pound every time she took a step.

“I’ll walk slowly. Just rest your head on my shoulder.”

“…I’m sorry.”

He chuckled at the sight of Lij looking so dejected. She had been doing nothing but apologizing for a while now, but she was just so cute. There was no reason to feel sorry when he got to see his wife like this. He told her so, but she didn’t seem to believe him.

Annette’s class was in the evening. Until then, they planned to walk around slowly and buy things needed for the cabin.

“There’s no rush, so we can look around slowly. Don’t be anxious.”

“…Yes.”

Dorothy stared up at Lij’s face for a moment and then threw both arms up. She seemed to want to be carried.

Her mouth was clamped shut.

She was working hard to follow the instruction not to speak too loudly because her mother’s head hurt.

To the child, even that seemed like a fun game. Her eyes were sparkling intensely.

As he stepped outside with his wife and child in his arms, for some reason, Yeonhwa was standing in front of the inn door.

He had definitely tied her up in the stable, so how did she get here? Though he had tied her loosely like a decoration, a horse shouldn’t have been able to just pull it free.

When he asked the innkeeper’s son standing nearby, the boy answered with sparkling eyes.

“She untied it herself. She just chewed the knot with her mouth and it came right off!”

“….”

Yeonhwa was certainly putting her experience from when she was human to full use.

His mother had worried that Yeonhwa didn’t seem human at all even when she was in the form of a girl, but when she did the same things in the form of a horse, she was simply a divine beast.

Yeonhwa flicked her mane and brought her face close to Lij and Dorothy. Her warm breath brushed against them.

“Ahaha! That tickles.”

As Dorothy laughed loudly, Lij buried her face in his shoulder with a groan. Warm breath and loud noises were both poison for a hangover.

Dorothy covered her mouth with both hands and whispered through them.

“Mommy’s head hurts right now. Everyone has to be quiet.”

The sound of the child’s voice muffled by her palms was peculiar. Balancing on top of Dorothy’s head like a circus performer, Oz tilted its head.

“Peee?”

“Shh! I said you have to be quiet.”

“Peee!”

Yeonhwa watched their exchange with shining eyes and suddenly poked her head in. She seemed to want to play along.

‘It looks like she’s going to follow us to the market.’

They already stood out, and this was only going to draw more attention.

‘Well, I guess it can’t be helped.’

Though not as much as Oz, Yeonhwa was still young. Considering the appearance of the girl he had met, it seemed that Rudolphs naturally grew very slowly.

Perhaps it was because she was in an incomplete state after failing to find a master, but regardless, this unicorn was likely still a young one. It was only natural that she wanted to play and be together.

Besides, once he received the Santa Rank, he was going to draw attention anyway.

According to the Chatterbox, there wasn’t a single person with a Santa Rank in this country at the moment.

Every year, people would come forward claiming a Rudolph had been discovered or that they were Santa’s contractor, but they were all reportedly lies.

Since they were such rare beings that they weren’t even included in the standard ranks, reaching the Santa Rank would naturally make him the center of attention. He let out a sigh in spite of himself.

It was a coincidence, but perhaps it was divine guidance that led him to find his parents’ house and decide to live there. Perhaps it was Santa’s guidance.

Dorothy, still covering her mouth with her hands, was saying something to Oz and Yeonhwa. It seemed a conversation was actually taking place between the three of them, as Oz and Yeonhwa made sounds in succession.

Watching the scene with a smile, Juhwan moved toward the square.

Yeonhwa followed behind, her white mane swaying.

As if finding it strange that Lij was clinging to Juhwan without even lifting her head, Yeonhwa occasionally gave Lij’s hair a little nibble.

Every time that happened, Dorothy would cover her mouth and giggle, causing Lij to burrow further into his arms.

‘It’s peaceful.’

He felt like this was what people meant by having it all. With a lovely bride and a cute child in his arms, and reliable guardians by his side, he had nothing to envy in the world.

Juhwan didn’t need wealth or fame. He just wanted to hunt magical beasts and animals in the mountains and live quietly, spending time with his family. That was his greatest wish. He just wanted time to keep flowing like this.

“What should we go buy first?”

When Juhwan asked, Lij whispered in a small voice.

“We need several buckets of different sizes. We need to store meat and food, and we need a large water container, and… also, we have enough to eat for now, but I’d like a bit more spice. We need to prepare blankets and clothes for spring, too…”

It seemed she had many things in mind. There was a chance they wouldn’t be able to buy and move everything at once.

Juhwan had also thought of various things needed to repair the house.

“We should buy a lock, too. We need to secure the house so no one can get in.”

“You’re right. Ah, I should buy some seeds, too. We really need those. Once spring comes, someone will probably come to the market to sell seeds they’ve kept at home. I wonder if they’ll bring them out when the big market opens in the village?”

“Let’s do that.”

Dorothy, who had been listening quietly to Juhwan and Lij, waved her arm. It was a signal that she had something to say.

When Juhwan and Lij turned their gaze toward her, she whispered very softly while covering her mouth with her hands.

“Toto, Oz, and Yeonhwa need clothes too. They say they’re embarrassed because they’re all naked.”

“Pfft.”

Lij made a strange sound. Her face turned a bit red, perhaps remembering the words she had said last night.

“Did the clothes-eating bugs eat them all?”

As Juhwan spoke with a laugh, Dorothy tilted her head, not knowing what he meant.

“They never had clothes to begin with, Daddy.”

Lij remained motionless as if she were a dead bug, her face buried in Juhwan’s shoulder. She seemed embarrassed by what she had said.

The sunlight touching their skin felt warmer than usual. Before they knew it, the season had changed, and a warm energy was beginning to stir in the winter wind. Spring was not far off now. Seeds, huh. He’d have to pick out some good ones. It looked like they were going to be very busy once spring arrived.