Lilian let out a small sigh, probably interpreting Damian’s attitude in a negative way as he sat idly with a small teacup that had cooled down.
“…in fact, I hid my illness. So if Your Highness doesn’t want to talk to me, then I have no right to protest.”
“Pardon?”
“If Your Highness doesn’t want to tell me, then I have no choice but to accept it.”
Lilian stared at Damian. Her expression conveyed that she was very sullen even though he was just looking at her.
“I don’t have a wit like yours, so I guess I’ll have to wait anxiously until you feel like telling me…”
At that moment, Damian noticed. It was a feeling that his career, where he got what he wanted by pretending to be sullen and gloomy in front of Lilian countless times, was shouting with all its might.
“Wife, not now…”
Islar, his wife, the innocent and upright Lily, was now, to his surprise, deliberately pretending to be sullen!
“It’s okay, Your Highness. Because I was wrong in the first place.”
“…”
Damian was at a loss for words. He seemed possessed by something.
Even though it’s obviously the trick he used every time, he couldn’t come to his senses when directly hit by it.
His heart dropped from a dizzying height, even as he knew that Lilian was deliberately exaggerating her feelings.
‘I’m the one who should die.’
Having made his beloved wife look like that, he thought that even he had to be killed a hundred times.
It wasn’t that Lilian’s acting was perfect and he forgot about it. It was the first time she tried acting like this, so she couldn’t help but feel awkward. It’s also the same when she glanced at Damian before she spoke.
In the eyes of Damian, a much more advanced fox, he could see every loophole.
The problem was that it’s lethal nonetheless.
That Lily, an honest person who doesn’t know how to do shallow tricks, tried even a clumsy act that made Damian not want to open his mouth, and that itself shook Damian.
She couldn’t be less lovable.
Even while Damian was unable to recover from his pounding heart, Lilian’s words continued.
“On the contrary, I feel fortunate to know how Your Highness feels. But…”
“But…?”
“I’m anxious because I don’t know Your Highness’ condition. Besides, I’m more worried because I know that Your Highness is a person who doesn’t care about himself.”
It was sincere. Not smoke.
In the beginning, she imitated Damian, but in the end, she became completely sincere. It was like Lilian.
Damian had no choice but to collapse helplessly.
At that moment, this impulse came to Damian’s heart.
‘I’d rather tell you everything.’
It was a possibility he had never imagined.
Lily’s sincere concern and her refusal to take issue with his inhuman resilience greatly moved Damian’s heart.
‘But if she rejects me…’
Countless faces passed by, still looking at him with fear and disgust. Damian himself was a little surprised that he remembered all of these people.
Of course, Damian hadn’t lived only being ostracized until now. Representatively, there’s Idoel, and among the humans he met on the battlefield, there were people who said it’d be okay to serve a monster boss as long as it saved their lives. Ivan was in this case.
However, in terms of frequency, the problem was that the former experienced an overwhelming majority.
What if Lily, like most people, became afraid of him?
In an instant, as if answering that question, several scenes passed by.
Lilian, who said she would live with him.
When asked not to leave him, Lilian replied that she’d do her best…
Damian put aside his hopes and tried to judge as objectively as possible. The conclusion was that there’s a chance Lily wouldn’t leave him.
But nonetheless, one thing was certain: Damian couldn’t take any risks with Lilian.
‘I’d rather gamble with the money I sold my life for.’
Damian couldn’t tolerate the slightest uncertainty when it came to Lily.
“Your Highness?”
Damian, lost in thought, was awakened by Lily. Damian concluded at that point.
“Sorry. I’m thinking of where to begin…”
It was a worse lie in that it only revealed the truth within a limited scope while pretending it wasn’t a lie.
***
While giving a detailed explanation, Damian was so preoccupied with hiding a big truth that he forgot to tell Ivan about the damage to his core.
“Have you damaged your core?”
Lilian’s expression, which had been listening calmly, quickly became serious.
It was a natural reaction for Lilian, who suffered from an incurable disease that caused her core to break and have her lose her mana and vitality sequentially.
“Perhaps because of the poison…”
“Then the same symptoms should have appeared when I was poisoned before.”
Damian explained that his case was different from Lilian’s.
“The damage was so minor that I hadn’t even noticed it until now.”
“Do you have any idea?”
Damian hesitated for a moment whether to speak or not, but decided to be a little more honest because he felt guilty about hiding something important.
“In the past, when I was trying to save the Crown Prince, I was hit by an ancient weapon owned by the imperial family. I think it might have been the injury received then.”
“If it’s an ancient weapon…”
Lilian’s expression became more serious than before. Damian hurriedly explained.
“It’s just a minor injury that I haven’t been aware of yet. The same goes for the wound on the neck.”
“You say it’s minor?”
“Yes. If it continues to bleed, it’ll be uncomfortable, but that’s all.”
“Your Highness…”
Lilian felt sorry for him for a moment. She couldn’t find anything to say.
A vague feeling that she had often thought before had become certain. Damian tended to treat himself as something that wouldn’t break even if mistreated.
‘Like someone who has little experience being treated as precious.’
“Why are you like that, wife?”
Damian tilted his head as he saw Lilian suddenly put on a puzzled expression.
Lilian approached cautiously in a soft tone.
“I asked Your Highness to value yourself in the past, but I think you forgot.”
“Um…”
“You shouldn’t treat a wound that doesn’t heal lightly.”
Damian didn’t quite understand.
“I don’t understand. Does caring for yourself mean that even a good thing is not okay?”
At that moment, Lilian became gloomy.
It seemed that caring for himself was a considerable challenge for Damian.
She couldn’t understand. Damian was a war hero and the younger brother of the emperor.
Moreover, he’s so beautiful.
Where the hell did it go wrong for him to think of himself as an object even with all those conditions?
She couldn’t even guess. Lilian was also quite indifferent to her own worth, but Damian was far beyond the normal category. He didn’t just have low self-esteem, he seemed like someone who didn’t have it at all.
She didn’t know how to explain it, but it seemed that if he’s left as it was, Damian would never spare himself and be used like an object.
‘First…I have to go down the same eye level.’
“I will ask you one question, Your Highness. How would you feel if the wounds on my body didn’t heal?”
Of course it’s terrible. It was to the point where he didn’t even want to imagine it if possible.
Clever Damain sensed what Lilian was about to say.
Lily explained while smiling.
“Your Highness will only be a little uncomfortable and talkative if your wounds don’t heal, but I will be upset.”
“Is that so…”
He already knew from his own experience that Lilian was worried about him. But when she verbally confirmed it, he felt different.
He wanted to hear more of this sweet affirmation. As if reading Damian’s mind, Lilian said.
“Your Highness is a precious person to me.”
“I hope you won’t upset me.”
“I’ll…be more careful.”
There’s still no sign of understanding Lily’s words in Damian’s blankly nodding eyes.
‘It will take time.’
Lilian silently touched Damian’s hand. Damian sighed and buried his head in Lilian’s shoulder. Lilian put her hand on his broad shoulder and patted him while thinking.
‘…he said it was an ancient weapon.’
Lily already knew about the weapon that Damian had pointed out.
The thing that swept through the mind of this lovely, pitiful man, and drove him to madness.
‘Zagreb.’
***
After a while.
“Call the doctor?”
“Yes.”
Seeing his attitude change like flipping a palm, Ivan felt like sticking out his tongue.
To be honest, he was more worried than expected until he told Lilian. But he didn’t expect the effect to appear so quickly.
‘For him to voluntarily see a doctor…’
Damian had the habit of treating the doctor as a nuisance, saying that he’s making a fuss over a wound that would heal anyway. It was also very ingrained.
Even after calling the doctor he hated, his face was still full of color.
“Starting today, I decided to value myself.”
Ivan, convinced that his master was insane, roughly matched the rhythm.
“Yes…I see…”
“Because when I get hurt, my wife gets very upset.”
“You must be so at ease.”
Ivan sighed. He’s a person who doesn’t listen to anyone at all, but it’s really fortunate that Her Highness, who held his leash, was a person who had no faults in terms of common sense and morality.
It’s also evident that when God closed one door, he left another door open. Ivan nodded his head and was sorry.
“By the way, those assassins. Now that I think about it, it’s a bit strange that they had to use Venom Core.”
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