“To disrespect the Emperor and lay the blame on me.”
The words sounded like an interrogation but a smile was on Damian’s lips.
Lily also calmly nodded. Although she impulsively committed blasphemy, she didn’t feel guilty because she had endured a lot just by not trying to kill the emperor.
“I know. I have committed a mortal sin.”
“Definitely a sin. But I like it.”
At those words, Lilian remembered Damian who burst out laughing at her.
When she thought of that laugh, not only did she not feel guilty, but she even felt like she’d done well.
“Thank you, Your Highness. That is enough.”
“…”
Damian stared at Lilian for a long time, as if looking at something very strange.
“…looking at what you did, it doesn’t seem like an illusion that only my eyes can see. What are you?”
Damian’s soul fragments always asked who she was, thought Lilian.
Lilian, who was troubled, decided to try being honest for the first and last time.
“My name is Lilian. I’m the person Your Highness will marry in the future.”
“What?”
Damian made a very dumbfounded expression for a moment and burst out laughing.
“That joke was so funny.”
“I’m not joking.”
“It must be a joke. I have no intention of proposing to anyone.”
“I was proposed to by Your Highness within a day of meeting you.”
“I can’t believe that even more.”
Damian giggled, then found Lilian looking at him with a soft smile on her face.
…no way.
“Really?”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“For somebody crazy enough to send me their daughter…”
“There is. He’s not crazy.”
Lilian answered steadily. This also resembled Idoel -more precisely, in the atmosphere than in the appearance- and, having messed with the emperor nicely, she didn’t seem to be lying this time either.
But he couldn’t believe it either.
No, he refused to believe it. That he proposed to her less than a day after their first meeting?
Putting that aside, if they got married, wouldn’t that mean that this woman accepted the marriage proposal of a guy like him?
Damian was certain.
‘Seems like she was deceived without knowing what kind of disease I had.’
If so, what on earth did this woman like about him?
‘I wonder if it’s the face.’
Damian cynically guessed.
Lilian didn’t care and continued her words steadfastly.
“What about Your Highness? You’re a good groom-to-be that everyone wants to marry if they’re not out of their mind.”
“What?”
What kind of nonsense is this?
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Lily smiled bashfully. Damian was taken aback for a moment.
What is that face?
Does she really like him?
Was he good to her?
No, is that nonsense story true?
Questions came up sporadically, but not a single word came out of his mouth. Lilian then added, thinking that Damian didn’t trust her at all.
“Um, really…you’ve been nice to me.”
Right, he’s glad he did a good job…
Damian rubbed his face. The bewildered feeling subsided a little.
He didn’t believe the words of the phantom-like woman who suddenly appeared, but…
“If that’s true, at least my older brother will like it.”
“…”
From Damian’s murmur, Lilian could gauge the extent of Idoel’s presence in him.
Come to think of it, Zagreb said that this memory was at least the happiest memory in Damian’s life.
Even though his brother, who can be called his only family, has a more important family than him.
His father, the Emperor, doesn’t even treat him as a child…
These days, when Idoel was alive and he’s no longer being unilaterally abused in the palace, were the happiest times in Damian’s life.
Only this much was happiness to Damian.
“You mean, I…”
The moment Damian opened his mouth.
Bang, an urgent knock sounded.
“Damian, it’s me. Please open the door.”
It was Idoel.
“Damien, are you in? Damian?”
Damian didn’t answer for a moment. He’s always a nice older brother, but for a moment, he thought that he wasn’t happy.
He thought that he was ‘interrupting’.
‘Why do I feel disturbed…?’
Maybe his brother interrupted his time with that ghostly woman.
Is he displeased?
He couldn’t believe it. Damian stared blankly at Lilian. Lilian tilted her head and said,
“Ah.”
And stood up from her seat.
Then she clumsily hid herself behind a curtain.
“I’ll hide here so I won’t disturb you.”
“Or should I go out of the room?”
“…no, just stay there.”
Even for his brother, he had no reason to send out Lily like that. Damian opened the door with his own hand.
“What’s up, brother?”
“What’s going on?”
Idoel, with a hard expression, looked around and said.
“Wait here.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Leaving the attendants outside, Idoel entered the room.
“I heard what you did to father.”
“I guess so.”
“Damian.”
Idoel sighed.
“We already finished talking about this. I said it’d be better not to go against the emperor’s wishes.”
Damian didn’t know what to answer.
Actually, there’s a woman named Lilian in this room besides us, but this time, it’s on her, not me. But she said that she’s my future wife.
There’s no way he’s insane enough to say such a thing.
When Damian was silent, Idoel looked even more worried whether he thought he’s at fault.
“Damian, I’m worried about you. You know that.”
“…I know, brother.”
Their father was an emperor.
Damian was strong, but if the emperor made up his mind and decided to kill Damian, there’d be no way out.
He could have harassed Damian in other ways, even if he didn’t have to kill him.
“I hope you’ll be a little more careful. I can protect you from others, but…”
Damian glanced, involuntarily, at the place where Lilian was half-hidden. Sure enough, Lilian’s expression darkened.
“Alright, brother. I’ll be careful.”
Damian quickly tried to end the conversation with Idoel, not knowing why he’s doing that.
“Damian.”
“I promise, really.”
“…”
Idoel looked blankly at his brother’s face. Damian promised again.
“I promise to be nice.”
“…Damian, you’re my brother.”
“…”
“Not a monster or an illegitimate child, but my brother. You know that, right?”
“Yes, brother. I know. I’m not a child, so you don’t have to comfort me every time.”
Idoel opened his mouth again, but Damian was quicker to shake his hand.
“Go see Matteo. You promised to meet him in the evening.”
“You’re all grown up. To chase this brother away.”
Even so, Idoel stood up from his seat without hesitation.
“Yeah, I’m glad you’re okay. Rest well.”
***
After Idoel left.
“I…”
Lilian poked her head cautiously from behind the curtains with a sullen expression.
“Sorry. It’s what I did, but you’re being scolded.”
“It’s okay, don’t apologize. Thanks to you, I laughed for the first time in a while.”
“But.”
“No need to apologize. My brother is just being a worrywart.”
The boy waved his hand as if he was annoyed. She felt that any further apology would hurt his ego, so Lilian shut her mouth.
“Rather than that, talk about yourself. How did you come to the past from the future?”
“That’s a secret.”
Damian looked at Lilian, bewildered. Secret?
“You don’t seem to have any intention of persuading me to believe you?”
“I don’t think you’d believe me just because I said it.”
“Huh.”
It was the first time he had ever had a conversation like this. Damian spoke to Lilian as if prodding.
He could have been more friendly, but that was the limit for an adolescent boy.
Lilian didn’t get angry, but she didn’t lose and hit back at Damian’s words. Damian pouted his lips at the end.
“It seems that the future me is doing very well. Seeing how you endure even when I grumble like this.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Lilian readily acknowledged it.
Damian narrowed his eyes and looked at Lilian’s ruddy face.
“Your Highness has been very nice to me. It’s undeserved.”
For some reason, Lilian’s voice filled with longing made Damian instantly feel bad.
That was Damian’s story, but it wasn’t all of Damian’s either.
‘What…you’re saying you miss me when I’m here?’
To be clear, he didn’t believe Lilian’s story.
But it’s also true that he felt bad.
“Okay, I’m tired now. I want to sleep.”
The boy’s voice became sullen.
Lilian eccentrically widened her eyes.
“It’s no big deal that you’re tired. Your Highness…”
“…”
Seeing her say that, she must know Damian well, but…
Damian looked at Lily with uncomfortable eyes. How far did this person who claimed to be his ‘future wife’ really know about him?
Did she know that he’s nothing short of a monster?
Suddenly, the urge to try it surged.
“Your Highness?”
Lilian tilted her head as if Damian was staring at her with an unkind gaze.
Damian approached Lily without saying a word.
Damian’s shadow covered Lilian. Damian looked down at Lilian with an expressionless face.
Lilian just blinked her eyes and looked up at him with a puzzled face.
…there’s no such thing as vigilance at all.
‘Let’s stop.’
There’s no need to frighten her.
Besides, she helped him with his father today, and he’s able to have a good time thanks to her.
He can’t repay the favor with animosity.
On a subject where he normally played evilly, Damian rationalized his strangely soft attitude toward Lily.
Damian asked with a mischievous smile.
“…I’m going to sleep, will you stay here?”
“Can’t we sleep together? I have nowhere to go.”
But he couldn’t beat Lilian, who took sleeping with Damian for granted.
Leave a Reply