***
Lilian pulled Damian’s hand into her arms and hugged it so that she wouldn’t let go in her sleep. And at some point, she fell asleep.
And after a few more hours, Damian finally opened his eyes.
‘Um…’
He felt refreshed like never before.
It was the first time in his life that he felt this good. In addition, something warm and soft was surrounding him pleasantly. The pressure was just right.
Damian let out a pleasant sigh, like a baby feeling securely wrapped in swaddling clothes. It was the first time he hadn’t had nightmares in his sleep.
‘…wait, did I sleep?’
Shocked by the realization of the unbelievable reality, Damian suddenly opened his eyes. And…
“…!”
He let out a silent scream.
“Hmmm…”
His future wife was hugging him.
Damian’s face turned red in an instant.
‘W-what the hell is this…’
She slept on the sofa!
She said that was enough!
‘To come up on the bed at some point and hug a person like this…’
In the warm, well-dried sun-scented arms, Damian trembled and flushed red to the roots.
She made a face like Idoel and acted clean to the world…was she such a rude person?
“Hmm…Your Highness?”
Then, feeling the presence, Lilian opened her eyes. Damian was startled.
“Are you up already?”
“Y-You, t-this.”
“Get some more sleep…”
Haam. Lilian closed her eyes again, yawning at the end of her words.
‘…is that it?’
This much seemed like nothing to his future wife.
The age difference between them didn’t seem to be much, so what kind of guy would he be in the future to have this kind of skinship with his wife so naturally?
…he suddenly felt bad.
“…let go. I am not your husband.”
Damian freed himself from Lilian’s arms.
“Indeed. I apologize.”
Lilian obediently moved away from him. At that moment, Damian realized that he had made a mistake.
‘Ah?’
He had only lost Lilian’s hand, and suddenly, he felt as if he had been pushed off a precipice.
“I was just going to sleep holding your hand…I’m sorry, Your Highness.”
Lilian’s apology didn’t even reach his ears.
The beeping tinnitus started ringing in his ears. The pain, which had been forgotten for a while, slowly engulfed his body.
‘This…no way.’
Was it because he was in contact with his future wife that he didn’t feel the pain?
“You.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Come here and hold my hand.”
“Yes.”
Lily nodded obediently and took Damian’s hand.
Like a lie, his tinnitus faded.
The burning sensation in his toes and fingertips disappeared.
“Ha…”
He was horrified and ecstatic.
Damian sighed involuntarily. However, he hesitated for a moment because he had the power to push Lilian away first, so he couldn’t ask for more touches.
Then, as if reading Damian’s mind, Lilian came over and hugged him.
“Can I do this?”
It was like finding a dry shelter with a bonfire lit on a cold night of torrential rain. Damian clung to Lilian, holding back his urge to cry.
“Looks like the right answer.”
Lilian smiled lightly and patted Damian in her arms.
Even when he didn’t ask for more touches, even if he didn’t use his head while looking at her, friendly hands poured out.
Not only was it kind, but the old pain that had been stuck like ice melted away at once with that touch. It felt like the scars he hadn’t even known were healing.
‘A little bit more…don’t fall, just a little more…’
He was impatient, but fortunately, Lilian didn’t let go. Slowly, over and over, she stroked his hair in an even rhythm.
Damian groaned and melted into the ecstasy, whether it’s a dream or not.
It didn’t take long for him to calm down, probably because he’d been stuck with Lilian all night. However, fearing that Lilian would back away if she found that he’d calmed down, Damian kept his mouth shut and watched her.
I want you to keep touching me.
It’s good enough to die for.
But wouldn’t she consider it a nuisance?
Damian looked at her anxiously. This point in time, when Idoel was alive and Matteo was Idoel’s number one priority, was the time when Damian’s self-esteem hit the bottom of his life.
Whether she knew that or not, his future wife asked with a kind smile.
“Have you calmed down?”
Damian hesitated, then nodded his head. But even as Lilian replied, “I see, I’m glad”, she didn’t stop her touch.
Damian hesitated and then managed to open his mouth again.
“I’m fine now…”
“But I like this.”
“…”
Like?
What the hell?
Her heart broke at the sight of Damian not being quick to accept the words “I like this” but Lilian added without expressing it.
“I like you very much.”
“…if you tell me you like me, the future me might hate it.”
“It’s not different. You’re all the same Highness to me.”
Damian didn’t think so. Right now, he was burning with jealousy toward his future self who would get such a wife. Even if he didn’t know it, it seemed that his future self wouldn’t be happy to see him monopolize his wife and be petted.
But if Lily considered him the same Damian.
If she thought of him as her husband, there’s no reason to reject her.
Even when young, Damian is Damian. Even though he had low self-esteem, he knew how to roll his head.
Damian murmured as he snuggled into Lilian’s shoulder and buried his face.
“…I, I think I know why I proposed to you as soon as I met you.”
“…”
Having learned Damian’s cunningness to some extent, Lilian managed to see through the fact that Damian was acting cute.
‘If you’re acting cute like usual…’
Maybe now was the right time.
“Your Highness.”
“Hm?”
“Forgive me for asking again. Could you please go with me?”
Damian couldn’t answer Lilian’s question right away.
He couldn’t leave Idoel behind.
‘But…’
His older brother also has a family. There’s a solid fence he couldn’t enter. He himself was not Idoel’s most precious person.
“I…”
“I haven’t told you this yet, even the future you, but I love you.”
As if reading Damian’s mind, Lilian said.
“Please go with me.”
In fact, Lilian wanted to say ‘Don’t stay here any longer’.
“I’ll make you happy, okay?”
“…”
Damian couldn’t resist.
He didn’t even know what it meant to go with Lilian. However, every touch and voice of Lilian became an irresistible offer.
In the meantime, can she make him happy?
Can he be happy? These words came out before any doubt.
“…okay. Alright, but…promise me you won’t abandon me.”
“I promise.”
Lilian nodded. Damian didn’t know, but she was making the same promise for the third time.
He added promise upon promise and made it into an oath.
“Your Highness’ entire life is mine. I will put Islar’s name on this Lily, and I will never throw it away or lose it.”
***
“Congratulations, it’s all over.”
“Ah.”
When she came to her senses, Lilian was again standing in front of Zagreb’s clone.
“Tell me…”
But the ball of light that swirled around her, the piece of Damian’s soul, was nowhere to be seen.
It was then.
Lily looked down, feeling her skirt suddenly being pulled. There was young Damian, whom she’d met in her first dream.
“Um…as you can see, he’s a piece of your husband’s soul.”
Zagreb sounded muffled.
Lilian dropped to her knees and opened her arms to young Damian. Young Damian threw himself into Lilian’s arms.
Because it’s in Zagreb’s space, Lilian was able to pick up the child unlike in reality. Lilian then asked.
“If there’s something, tell me quickly.”
“Uh…that’s right.”
According to Zagreb, it’s true that Damian’s soul fragment had decided to follow Lilian.
“But while living in each memory and meeting you… The realization that it’s an accessory to the main body has been considerably blurred.”
“Is that what happened?”
Lilian didn’t look angry at all, she just calmly asked back, but Zagreb was very intimidated.
“That’s why…that’s why.”
“Please speak.”
“I don’t think he has any intention of returning to the main body.”
“What if he doesn’t go back?”
“Because your husband’s mana is too strong, it probably materialized like this…and wanted to stay with you?”
“Hey, don’t look at me like that! Because this is not my fault! It happened because your husband is not a normal human being, okay?”
“If you didn’t exist in the first place, none of this would have happened.”
“Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
“You call yourself a healing mirror, but you’re not helping in the slightest.”
“That, that…”
“How should I react to the fact that people’s souls are split to this point and cannot be sent back?”
At Lily’s meticulous point, Zagreb lost all will to refute and fell to his knees.
“I’m a bad person… I have sinned to death…”
It was quite comical, but Lilian had no intention of going beyond this.
“Is it something that can be solved just by knowing?”
Instead of reflecting, she meant to come up with a practical solution.
Just then, young Damian, who was being held by Lily, lifted his head.
“Your Highness? Do you have anything to say…”
The three or four-year-old Damian asked with his chapped lips.
-Do you hate me?
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