***
“The second one was also successful. Congratulations.”
As he said, Damian’s soul fragment, the round lump of light, hovering around Lilian grew a little bigger.
But she didn’t feel a sense of accomplishment. Rather, her mood subsided.
The mirror looked up and asked.
“What’s the matter? Aren’t you happy?”
She couldn’t be happy. The weight of his past and secrets, which Damian had hidden from her all this time, seemed to weigh on her shoulders.
‘Her Majesty the former Empress made an extreme choice…’
Damian’s mind broke down when Lily’s suicide triggered it. Lilian was like his mother. So far, she thought Zagreb was the reason for the damage that had been done to Damian’s soul.
‘It wasn’t…’
Damian said his mother killed herself because she became depressed after giving birth to him.
For that to come out the mouth of a child who doesn’t even know the weight it carries…was so cruel.
There was no one to protect Damian when he was like that.
She didn’t know when Idoel returned, but that day, Damian was alone.
Why did he have to experience that? She wondered why Damian had to be so alone. Did he have to live so cruelly?
“Um…you don’t even feel guilty for peeking into the secret that your husband was desperately hiding, huh?”
She didn’t even want to answer the mirror behind her. Lilian only sighed. The restless mirror began to convince Lilian, who seemed depressed.
“Hey, what can I do? This was all force majeure, force majeure. Hmm?”
The door suddenly appeared again in front of Lily’s silent eyes.
Zagreb gently soothed Lilian.
“You know you can’t quit at this point, right? We’re almost there now, stop thinking about it, the squatter…no, take your husband with you. Okay?”
“…I don’t feel guilty.”
It was unlikely that Damian, who was desperately in love with Lilian, would confide the secret that had just been revealed.
Had it not been for this, Lilian might not have noticed until her death.
Damian might have loved Lilian like treading on thin ice for the rest of her life, not even realizing that he’s afraid of being abandoned.
She’s just glad she found out so quickly. It was fortunate that she was able to save young Damian even if it’s just in his memory.
Even when she thought so, she felt sorry.
Damian gave Lily absolute confidence that he loved her.
But it just became clear with this memory.
Lilian couldn’t convince Damian enough for him to tell his secret on his own.
She felt so pathetic and selfish for only receiving it.
She was so sorry that she couldn’t stand it.
Zagreb’s expression wrinkled as if he had chewed an astringent persimmon.
‘Why do I think they’re like a pair of cockroaches?’
Zagreb’s ability to empathize infinitely converges to 0 despite his claim of being a healing mirror.
Anyway, because he’s the one who regretted it, Zagreb barely held back what he wanted to say and comforted her.
“Don’t worry about it. Your husband inside that door is trapped in the happiest memory ever. Your heart won’t hurt much.”
Rather, he omitted saying that it might not be easy to persuade and bring him out.
“If you gather all your husband’s soul and take them out, I’m going to give you a present too. Okay?”
Fortunately, Lilian didn’t worry for long. Of course, it wasn’t because of the gift that Zagreb would give.
Lily knew as well. Her first priority was to collect Damian’s pieces and get out of here.
Lilian opened the third and final door.
***
The space in the last memory was also the imperial palace.
‘It’s not the western palace… it seems to be the main palace.’
She wondered if it was a lie that this was Damian’s happiest memory, but it wasn’t as gloomy or tense as before.
The sun was pouring in on a sunny day. The servants and maids were walking around in a restrained manner, and the atmosphere was infinitely peaceful.
Unlike the first time and just like the second time, it was as if Lily was not yet visible to others.
Seems like Zagreb had hidden her again. The mirror’s judgment had been quite helpful so far, so Lilian decided to take a look around.
After a while.
“His Highness Matteo is already five years old.”
“Time flies when you see your child grow up.”
Two people were walking from the other side of the hallway. One had dark blonde hair and the other had black hair.
“Then, Your Highness the Crown Prince, I will go alone.”
“Okay, be careful and go back.”
The two parted ways and only the man called the Crown Prince approached where Lilian was standing.
Dark blonde hair and deep blue eyes were familiar.
‘His Majesty the Emperor!’
It was like actually seeing someone she had only heard about. He didn’t look like a stranger. It was because he had the same face as the one in the portrait she’d seen the other day.
He had a gentle expression on his good-looking face, but he didn’t look like a fool.
He entered the room with his attendants. Lily went inside as well.
“Father!”
“Teo, my son!”
As soon as the door opened, Idoel hugged the little child who came running like a baby. Lifted from his father’s hands to an impossible height, the child giggled.
Matteo, embraced by his father, seemed so lively and innocent that she couldn’t imagine him as the gentle and cynical figure he was now.
However, it wasn’t the appearance of the two father and son that stole Lily’s attention.
Lily saw only an expressionless boy standing by the window.
He was a boy with well-trimmed platinum hair and purple eyes. Even though he had a young face, his eyes were already charming. He was beautiful even when he looked slightly fat.
Damian.
There was no particular emotion in his expression as he looked at his nephew and eldest brother who looked happy, but…
Unknowingly, Lilian followed Damian’s gaze and looked at the happy parent and child. Matteo, who was adored by his father to the fullest, appeared to be the same age as the Damian whom Lilian saw in the second memory a moment ago.
However, apart from age, the two children had nothing in common.
For Matteo, the love he needed would flow from his head to his toes. The boy was hugged by his father without hesitation and Idoel’s attendants and his nanny, Mrs. Maureen, were also watching the scene with delight. Lilian was able to find the young Head Butler Aaron among the attendants.
Lilian looked back at Damian. No one meant it, but he was being left out of this harmonious spectacle.
Just thinking about what Damian had been like when he was Matteo’s age gave Lilian a terrifying feeling, as if she had accidentally cut her finger on paper. Unbeknownst to her, she approached Damian.
Damian didn’t notice her presence. However, Lilian carefully stayed by his side.
At the same time, she waited impatiently for the friendly time between Idoel and Matteo to quickly end.
“What about Aratine?”
Finally, Idoel returned Matteo to his nanny, Mrs. Maureen, and asked.
“Her Highness the Crown Princess is still in poor shape…”
“Hm, I see.”
Unlike Mrs. Maureen, who responded fearfully, Idoel nodded happily. Then he turned his sun-bright face to Damian.
“Damian, you returned to the palace without a word! You met your nephew before this older brother.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Not really.”
Idoel patted his younger brother with a rough hand and hugged him as if strangling him. When Damian made a blatantly annoyed expression, Idoel said “oops” and shuddered.
“Now even this brother is annoying. Even when I raise Teo, I’m anxious. That guy will grow up like you and annoy this father. What a boy you are!”
“I don’t!”
Next to Mrs. Maureen, Matteo shouted bravely. Damian said with an annoyed look on his face, “yeah, I guess you won’t.”
“Well! I’m happy that you two seem to be getting along well.”
At that, Matteo and Damian both made faces that wanted to deny it, but Idoel didn’t seem to notice.
Or pretended not to know.
“Come on, Teo. Father has something to say to your uncle, so please go back.”
Matteo was hesitant.
He took his nanny’s hand and left the room only after his father promised to see him again in the evening.
As soon as Matteo left the room…
“Damian.”
“Hm?”
Idoel put his arm around Damian’s shoulder. And…
“This guy.”
With a thump, he hit Damian in the head.
“Brother.”
He was suddenly squeezed, but Damian wasn’t surprised. Considering his skill, it’s clear that he let Idoel hit him.
He seemed to be well aware of this fact.
“It seems that you know the crime you committed.”
“What crime? Originally, in our country, even the royal family had an obligation to do military service.”
“There’s no obligation for a thirteen year old prince to run out of the palace and go to the front lines, Damian.”
“A thirteen year old monster, brother.”
“Damian Rupenwein.”
Idoel made a stern face. But he didn’t look scary because of his good-natured face.
Damian also gave a rough answer, saying, “Okay, I got it.”
Idoel looked at his younger brother blankly. He seemed dissapointed and had a great opinion. He had a complex and subtle expression in many ways.
“I’m always worried about you, Damian.”
“You worry too much.”
Damian cut it with a single knife.
“As you know, I’m not the kind of person who will die anywhere.”
“I’m not afraid that you will die. No, of course, I’m worried about your safety. But more than anything, I want you to live up to your age.”
“I’m sorry, brother. That wish will be difficult to grant. I’ll listen to something else instead. I heard that the Marquis of Hiswell fought against sister-in-law the other day? Shall I go there and pick a fight?”
“Damian.”
“Or at least cut off the head of the King of the southern kingdom, and looking at those flowers, I think older brother would quite like Southern Kingdom style jewelry.”
Damian pointed at the colorful, red flowers in a vase on Idoel’s desk.
Lilian noticed that Damian was picking on anything to snap at. Ideol smiled bitterly as if he noticed this too.
“I got that as a gift. Anyway, I don’t need them, both of them.”
Idoel’s words were not cold rejection. He didn’t show it but the thought of his brother getting blood on his hands because of him made his heart ache.
However, he became a scar for Damian.
“I guess so. I thought you wouldn’t need it either.”
“Damian.”
“I’ll stop brother. I’m kind of tired right now.”
“You?”
Idoel asked in a ridiculous tone. Damian wiped off any signs of hurt before she knew it and said with a natural smile, “yes.”
“Father asked to see me in the evening, but if I don’t want to go there, I think I’ll have to get sick from now on.”
“This guy.”
He tried to look at him but to no avail. Damian just waved his hand without looking back.
Idoel looked at his departing younger brother with a complex and subtle expression, like a father looking at his grown-up child.
Idoel didn’t say anything, but Lilian knew.
Even so, Damian was not Idoel’s son.
It wasn’t something Idoel could do no matter how hard he tried.
It wasn’t their fault, but it was a delicate situation where both couldn’t help but be hurt.
Lilian stared blankly at Idoel’s good-natured face, but soon turned back and started chasing after the leaving Damian.
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