Lilian didn’t have the time to think properly, and in the midst of that, she was hugged by Damian and rolled on the bed.
“Your Highness?”
Because she’d done this a lot with Damian, she didn’t feel threatened by the sudden physical contact.
Damian sighed and hugged Lily, who was half-lying. Then he let out a hot sigh over Lilian’s shoulder.
“What are you?”
The hoarse voice made Lilian feel weak. Damian raised his head. In those pretty purple eyes, there was an eagerness she was used to seeing.
“No, it doesn’t matter… Touch me more, quickly.”
Lilian, accustomed to Damian’s reckless begging, patted Damian’s cheek without realizing it. As a result, she became curious about Damian’s upper body, which had changed in shape.
What the hell happened to make it look like this? Lilian carefully moved her hand from his face to his neck and then to his shoulder, watching to see if Damian might not like it.
Damian’s expression contorted the closer her hand reached the deformed part.
“You, really…”
It didn’t seem like he was angry, but he might hate it. It might hurt. Lilian hurriedly lifted her hand.
“Sorry. If you don’t like it, I’ll stop.”
“What?”
Damian’s expression abruptly turned gloomy. Lilian asked in doubt.
“Isn’t it?”
“No!”
“If it hurts…”
“Also not that.”
Lilian tilted her head at Damian’s strong denial. But if it’s not painful or hateful…
Lilian’s hand rested on Damian’s shoulder. Damian groaned and collapsed on Lily.
“Your Highness!”
Damian’s face, more graceful and younger than the Damian she knew, was flushed red.
“Are you okay?”
Damian wanted to scream.
‘Is he okay? Of course not!’
It’s so good that his body didn’t have strength, how could he say it’s okay?
Like a fawning cat, he purred. Damian almost sniffed and hugged Lily.
“What are you.”
It was a question he’d been asking since before. It’s also the most difficult thing for Lilian to answer.
“Are you human?”
“Well…for now?”
Lilian answered awkwardly.
Damian pouted his lips in dissatisfaction at the lack of an answer but soon hugged Lilian tightly as if it didn’t matter.
“Yeah, whatever, it’s fine even if I’m half crazy.”
“Just stay by my side from now on.”
“That’s a bit…”
Lily, who knew that this place was in his memory, answered honestly. Then Damian jerked his head up as if in shock.
His black, sharp hand gripped Lily’s hand tightly. Like he couldn’t let go.
The purple eyes trembled.
“Are you leaving?”
“No, Your Highness…”
“You’re leaving me…?”
She had never seen him like this before, but it was as if her heart melted like water. Damian wanted to cry. Seeing his crying face, Lilian huriedly comforted him.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I didn’t want to stay here forever, I just wanted to tell you that Your Highness should follow me.”
“…me?”
“Yes.”
Lily nodded with force.
“If I follow you…will you stay with me forever?”
“I will.”
They were already married, so it had to be.
Lilian kept quiet, thinking that Damian might be shocked if she suddenly talked about marriage.
She didn’t think that if she had said that, even the Damian here would be so happy that he’d completely melt away.
“…great.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yes, really. I will follow you.”
Damian replied with a nod like someone possessed. Lilian let out a sigh of relief.
“So promise me you won’t abandon me for the rest of your life.”
“I promise.”
Lilian nodded her head earnestly. Damian looked at Lilian and suddenly burst out laughing.
“Yes, I don’t care who you are or whether you are human or not, as long as you do that.”
“I will follow you. Now is a little… I’m sleepy, so I’ll sleep for a while.”
Damian’s body and mind both went through a lot during this day.
No, a lot has happened in this boy’s twenty years.
Having been hacked to pieces, the body that finally found a chance to breathe began to collapse helplessly.
“While I sleep…you can’t go.”
“Yes, I will be here.”
Lilian’s honest answer reassured Damian.
Soon, Damian’s breathing eased slightly.
Lilian blinked blankly as she was held by Damian like a doll.
She didn’t know why but she wanted to cry a little bit.
‘Anyway, he promised that he would follow but why is nothing happening?’
Zagreb is quiet. Lilian stroked the sleeping Damian on her chest.
She became Damian’s attachment doll and all Lily could do was look around her.
After taking a rough look around the barracks, her eyes naturally turned to Damain.
‘It seems that the size of his arm has shrunk a bit…’
It was proof that the magic attack was subsiding at a miraculous speed, but Lilian couldn’t figure out more.
Looking at Damian, Lily’s eyes naturally fell on the sword dangling from Damian’s belt and the familiar shape.
Come to think of it, she thought it was a strangely familiar object when Damian swore an oath with Cedric in the past… That crooked weave, sloppy finish and the color of the silk thread…
‘Ah.‘
Wasn’t that the knot she made a long time ago and presented to the Great Feudal Lord of Hemenlinna?
“Um…”
At that time, Damian’s hand, moved as if in a dream. He wasn’t waking up, but just moving in his sleep.
His fingers were entangled in the knot.
It seemed to have become a habit, as he entangled his fingers with the threads in his sleep and then groaned again and fell into a deep sleep.
It seems that the habit of touching Lilian like that every time he sleeps started at this time.
Remembering that he couldn’t sleep alone, Lilian felt sorry for Damian.
The person who said he didn’t know how to sleep alone felt relieved by entangling his fingers in her knot because there was no soft thing to give him stability.
The knot was probably given to Damian by the mischievous Great Feudal Lord, and Damian most likely didn’t even know that the knot was made by Lilian.
She, too, had no idea that it was in Damian’s hand.
Lilian had no idea how much stability the knot gave Damian. She just thought that the knot she had made seemed to be a little supportive place amid difficult times.
That alone was quite comforting.
“I’m glad to be of help to Your Highness.”
“Please follow me. We are still together.”
Lilian whispered to the sleeping Damian. As a result, Lilian’s consciousness gradually faded before she knew it.
Lilian followed Damian in his sleep.
***
“Can you wake up now?”
“…!”
Lilian’s eyes flashed open. When she woke up, it wasn’t Damian’s desolate barracks, but a place that looked like it was surrounded by mirrors.
“First success, congratulations.”
“Ah.”
When Zagreb held out his hand, there were small lumps of light that looked like fireflies.
Lilian involuntarily held out her hand. Then, a ball of light flew like a fairy and came up on Lilian’s hand.
“This is the first piece.”
The first piece of Damian clung to the tip of Lilian’s index finger as if charmed. Lilian cherished that light.
…strangely, the joy of the lump of light was transmitted.
“How much is left now?”
“Two?”
There are two pieces left. That meant that Lilian would get two more glimpses into Damian’s past.
Perhaps one of them is trapped in the darkest memory that Zagreb spoke of.
When she thought about it, her heart sank.
“I’ll go find the second one.”
“It’s good that you act quickly.”
Zagreb waved his hand. Then a second door appeared.
“The second will go a little further into the past.”
“…”
“I’ll help you there too, so don’t worry too much.”
Approaching the door, Lilian looked at Zagreb with a slightly suspicious look.
Zagreb’s advice that she just needed to touch Damian worked. As soon as Lilian touched him, Damian suddenly changed his attitude.
‘That’s not the only strange thing. That look…’
The mirror said that every moment was Damian’s memory.
If so, then Damian’s body changing into something like a demonic beast was also something that happened in real life.
Then, would Damian have the same symptoms now?
The mirror spoke as if it had caught a glimpse of Lilian’s thoughts.
“After two more tours of the past, all your questions will be roughly answered. You’ll figure it out.”
Lilian looked at the fragment of Damian’s soul hovering around her fingertips.
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