Holy Night: My Husband is Definitely a Paladin - Chapter 178
Not long ago, the tentacle monster, which had fled from Irene in the fortress, reappeared.
What Irene couldn’t comprehend was why the tentacle was attacking the fake Wilhelmina.
Both were monsters. Logically, they should have been attacking her, a human, rather than fighting each other.
“Why are they fighting among themselves?”
Perhaps their power levels were similar, as their confrontation seemed evenly matched.
The fake Wilhelmina slashed and bit at the tentacle, tearing pieces of it apart, only for the tentacle to regenerate and produce new appendages from its body, wrapping around its opponent.
Wrap and sever, wrap and sever—it was a vicious cycle.
At first, the two seemed evenly matched, but as time went on, the tentacle began to gain the upper hand.
“Something’s happening upstairs!”
Voices approached as people finally noticed the commotion.
Perhaps sensing the danger of being discovered, the monsters immediately froze in place at the sound.
After a moment of hesitation, the fake Wilhelmina’s form began to blur until it vanished entirely.
The tentacle, seemingly frustrated at losing its prey, thrashed violently, shaking with rage.
“You…”
At that moment, Irene’s lips, freed from their paralysis, involuntarily spoke out to the tentacle.
“Surely… from the distortion dungeon…”
The tentacle seemed to understand her words. It shook its body vigorously, as if nodding.
If her eyes weren’t deceiving her, it looked like it was saying, ‘Yes! That’s me!’
Then, the tentacle pointed toward the spot where the fake Wilhelmina had vanished.
The gesture seemed to boast, ‘I took care of it!’
Meanwhile, the voices of people grew closer.
Hearing them, the tentacle swayed its body lightly from side to side, as if waving goodbye, before retreating into the shadows of the corridor and disappearing around the corner.
Moments later—
“Lady Irene!”
Maidservants and knights rushed into the hallway from the direction the tentacle had disappeared, their faces oblivious to what had just happened.
* * *
“Can you try lifting your hand again?”
At the doctor’s request, Irene weakly raised her trembling hand.
“The paralysis is subsiding quickly. By tomorrow morning, it should be completely gone. However, there may be lingering effects, so we’ll check on you four times a day. Is that okay?”
“…Yes, please do,” Irene replied with effort.
After examining her further and giving instructions to the maids, the doctor left.
The moment he was gone, Reyna approached.
“What on earth is happening? Monsters appearing in the fortress—two of them, no less.”
“I don’t… I don’t kno…w either.”
Irene’s voice cracked from the lingering paralysis.
“Don’t strain yourself to talk. Just rest for now. Cynthia and I will be staying here with you for a while.”
“Huh? You don’t—”
“Don’t need to say it? I’ll be honest—I want to stay. Because… it’s scary!”
Reyna was on the verge of tears.
“Thanks to you witnessing it, the entire fortress now knows that the monster is real, that it can appear and disappear at will.”
Reyna grabbed a cushion, flopped onto a nearby sofa, and hugged it tightly.
She clearly intended to sleep in Irene’s room.
“Until we find and kill that monster, everyone’s been ordered to stay in groups of at least two at all times. Oh, and Cynthia just went to grab her nightgown.”
“……”
It seemed Reyna had no intention of leaving until the monster was dealt with.
‘Well… there’s no reason to send her away.’
If she had to be with others anyway, Irene preferred to stay with Reyna and Cynthia.
Just then, a knock sounded, and the door opened.
“Irene!”
The only person who could enter without waiting for permission was, of course, Michael.
He immediately approached Irene and asked,
“Did that punk protect you?”
That punk?
Tilting her head in confusion, Irene quickly realized he was referring to the tentacle monster.
But she couldn’t help but wonder why he sounded so familiar with it.
It was still a monster, and one that had attacked him in the dungeon. Why did he refer to it as though it were an ally?
