Lilian had been preparing her mind for this contract in various ways.
It’s a marriage that will happen anyway. With memories of her failures, she will make fewer mistakes and do better.
Become a good hostess, lead the household wisely, take care of the housekeeping correctly, and be stable when she give birth to a child.
She will nurture him well so that he can grow up as a person.
If she had to compare it, it was more like a new employee entering the company for the first time rather than becoming someone’s wife.
But when it comes down to it, this marriage contract is much more than a contract…
It was much closer to marriage.
Lilian was ready for the contract, but not ready for the marriage.
Come to think of it, form the time the prenuptial agreement was received, this marriage went far beyond what Lily had thought.
Their lives were intertwined far more extensively than she expected.
It was the same with the kisses shared for the sake of sharing mana or the bridal room that was set up to make the marriage look plausible. In her opinion, a kiss could be exchanged casually and selflessly, like artificial respiration. She thought that even on the same bed, she could be by his side as nonchalantly as a pillow.
But that’s all wrong. Her heart was mixed more than she thought.
Even though she was careful, her heart flowed like water in a cup.
In that respect, Damian was much better prepared. Actually, that was the biggest problem. Damian was also more, much, much more than Lilian expected…
‘He’s acting like a real husband.’
It was embarrassing.
Lilian, though dull, was not an idiot. Looking at Damian’s smile, there were times when she wondered if he might have some goodwill, even if he didn’t like her.
However, there were times when Damian often acted very strange for her to be sure of that goodwill. She didn’t know exactly what it was, but he had a secret that he wouldn’t tell Lilian.
Their first marriage ended with Lily’s suicide.
It’s the beginning now, much better than then, but can it end well?
She couldn’t be sure. Lilian was uneasy.
How long can the faithfulness of this union be guaranteed in a country where divorce, remarriage, and adultery was prevalent?
Lilian is from Turin. The people of Turin are so upright that once they have eaten, they can’t easily change their minds.
So when she accepted Damian as her husband deep in her heart, that was the end of it.
At that point, it was as if the option for divorce did not exist for Lilian.
‘My heart is like that but since I’ve accomplished my goal, what would it be like if I heard that we should part ways agreeably?’
It seemed to hurt a lot.
She wasn’t sure if she could happily vomit these things she was receiving now.
Lilian can handle the contract. But not the marriage.
She wanted to take a step back.
She’ll understand for now. But.
“I’m a little tired today, so I’d like to take a break. I’ve heard the most important explanation, so I’ll take care of the rest.”
Lilian wanted to avoid this moment because she was scared.
Damian looked at Lilian for a while and nodded his head calmly, saying, “do as my wife wants.”
Only then was Lilian able to breathe a sigh of relief.
***
Ivan, realizing that the atmosphere had become strange, stepped back, leaving the half-married couple alone again.
To avoid an awkward situation, Lilian avoided the table with the excuse of getting ready for bed. It was too early for her to go to sleep, but this time, Damian let her go without saying anything.
The sly man knew. The time to escape was at most an hour or two. His responsible Lily will come back to the bedroom on her own feet.
The problem is that that fact didn’t offer much comfort.
‘It’s obvious…’
Lilian dodged. It was so obvious that even Ivan noticed.
His molars tightened and his muscles slanted across his cheeks.
Damian thought while gritting his teeth.
Why, what was the problem?
Was he too impatient?
…or did Lily notice?
Even though he knew that couldn’t be the case, his heart raced. Amidst the fear that his vision seemed to blacken, Damian desperately persuaded himself.
She couldn’t have noticed that he was half human. It was completely hidden.
Because of his lack of self-control, there were times when his body almost transformed in front of Lilian, but Damian was willing to run away every time.
Lilian was puzzled, but didn’t ask until the end. When Damian blurted out vague words, she let it go.
‘Is it about my personality or because she doesn’t really care about me?’
It could have been both. Damian soothed his aching heart.
She wouldn’t have noticed it anyway. If he was caught, she would have hung onto Cedric and begged him to save her.
She don’t know what kind of person he is yet, but she might have guessed that he’s trying to ensnare her.
He should have taken a slower approach. By the time he regretted it, it was already too late. Lilian, like a small fish, quietly submerged in the water, swimming inside his grasp but as soon as she sensed danger, she slammed her fins and quickly escaped.
Looking at his empty hands in dismay, he thought.
Almost, he almost got her.
Just then, Lilian, ready for bed, returned to the bedroom.
“Your Highness.”
A look of embarrassment appeared in Lilian’s eyes when she found Damian standing by her window.
“You’re still here.”
Ordinary imperial aristocratic couples use separate bedrooms. The space of the Lord and the space of the hostess were thoroughly separated.
The bridal play for show was also long over in Turin.
Looking at Lily’s face, which seemed to be saying what are you doing, Damian remembered her waiting for him in the bedroom a few days ago.
“Why are you here?”
“Isn’t that because His Highness and I are a couple?”
Everything just went back to normal and this was what he was originally prepared for. However, he felt unbearably unfair.
He felt like she had been taken away even though he never had her in the first place.
“…it looks like my wife isn’t feeling well, so shouldn’t I be here?”
Even though he knew it was pitiful, Damian tried to speak clingingly. His Lilian was terminally ill and needed his mana.
But Lilian calmly shook her head.
“…I had a medical exam earlier, and the doctor said that I don’t need to receive mana for the time being.”
It’s a lie. Damian was acutely aware of this fact in Lily’s attitude, which was less calm than usual and subtly averted gaze.
“Thank you for your concern, but I think you can sleep well today.”
Lilian wanted to avoid him even if she had to lie.
It’s useless to hang onto her any longer. Rather, it will only backfire. It was time for him to back off.
It was as if his heart was rolling on dry, hot sand. Admitting that fact was painful enough to die for.
***
Former Emperor Idoel was an Emperor like the sun on a particularly soft spring day. His reign, though without extraordinary achievements, was peaceful.
He said that the secret to ending excessive strife was none other than the presence of Grand Duke Damian Rupenwein.
The overwhelming confidence on the Grand Duke, who appeared like a dagger in the formation of the imperial army and became a general in the shortest time, was the most reliable force to support the reign of the emperor. As long as Damian was present, no one dared to challenge the emperor’s meekness.
Compared to his youngest brother, who became famous as the emperor’s guard dog, relatively little was known about Claude Rupenwein.
That is why people were very upset when the sun emperor died and Claude ascended the throne.
In fact, it was Damian that people suspected the most.
“He’s pretending to be crazy about war.”
“He’d seen so much blood, so is he now planning on killing his nephew?”
“Even if he rebel, he can avoid the death penalty! Does this make sense?”
“This is ridiculous. His Majesty trusted his brother too much.”
Overturning the prevailing public opinion, Claude usurped the throne. The only one who wasn’t surprised was the Great Feudal Lord Hemenlinna.
The Great Feudal Lord said this in front of the deceased emperor’s coffin.
“You idiot. I already said that in the Rupenwein royal family, there are bastards that pop up every other generation.”
At the warning of his maternal grandfather to come to his senses before he gets into trouble, the Sun Emperor, who merely laughed and said, ‘there’s no conflict between brothers’, kept his eyes closed.
“I lost a daughter and now sending away a grandchild. It’s all thanks to you guys who left first. I must die quickly so I can beat you up.”
In any case, Claude’s treason was very unexpected to everyone else. In addition, he committed the shocking act of marrying his sister-in-law, the Empress of the late emperor.
“No, to have a remarriage. Are they both crazy?”
“Come to think of it, there were rumors that the two of them were unusual before the emperor ascended the throne…”
“I want to wash my ears.”
Although he ascended the throne, the new emperor, who was exposed to the wrath of everyone, hurriedly captured three of the electors and killed one. Besides that, a lot of blood was shed.
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