It was a story that anyone could relate to, and that anyone could share.
However, Lilian was not swept away. She was just calm and still.
That day, those eyes were as blue and calm as Rachel’s Idoel, whom Rachel met in her most miserable moment.
“So you tried to provoke us into hitting the emperor?”
Rachel affirmed without hesitation.
“That’s right.”
At those words, Damian couldn’t stand it and tried to break out. But Lilian was quicker to look at him.
As if asking him to leave this to her, Lilian gave him a calm look.
Damian felt the surge of emotions subside in an instant.
He could trust Lilian.
No, he only trusted Lilian.
Damian was a madman who couldn’t put a leash around his own neck and so put the leash in Lilian’s hand. It was a leash that could be cut off at any time, but as long as Lilian was holding the leash, Damian intended to obey that slender arm forever.
Willingly so.
Damian lowered his tense back into the backrest again. Lilian smiled a little, as if he did good.
Damian felt a satisfaction that bordered on pleasure as he saw the smile disappear from his wife’s face as she turned to Rachel.
What an amazing sight, thought Rachel. The Grand Duchess wielded almost absolute influence over the most dangerous man in the empire with just a glance and a smile.
“Then I’ll make it clear here. Neither I nor my husband will be used in that plan.”
“…why?”
“It’s because His Majesty the late Emperor left a firm order not to have a fight between siblings.”
Was the death of Idoel through Rachel unfair?
Was Damian not angry at the death of Idoel?
But Damian persevered. Instead of capturing and killing Claude and creating a tragedy for the imperial family, he started to protect his nephew with the shield his brother gave him.
It wasn’t because he liked Matteo.
It wasn’t because he hated Claude any less.
But because that was what Idoel wanted.
Before Lily appeared, Idoel was the absolute standard for Damian. To Damian, Idoel was his only family. He was the only one who wasn’t ashamed of sharing blood with him.
What that meant, Lilian was the one who understood best in the world.
Now that Lilian had appeared in his life, Idoel didn’t have the absolute upper hand for Damian.
But Lilian didn’t want Damian to break his will.
It wasn’t simply because she wanted to respect Idoel’s will.
Lilian hoped that Damian would never apologize to Idoel’s tombstone, saying ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t keep brother’s order’.
Damian has already lived through enough overflowing unfortunate twists and turns. Lilian couldn’t let guilt get in the way of Damian, who was just about to be happy.
Never.
Rachel, who only then understood the situation, sighed softly.
“Is that so…His Majesty left such a legacy.”
Because it was an Idoel-like request.
She didn’t even feel the need to verify the authenticity.
“We plan to get unanimity from the electors.”
If the Council of Electors unanimously decided that Claude’s dominion was unreasonable, Claude would immediately be demoted from Emperor to Grand Duke.
“It won’t be easy. As long as Aratine is pregnant, Elector Castana may become an ambush.”
“I will find a way.”
It was an honest answer. At those words, Rachel stared at Lilian, and in the end, she couldn’t help laughing.
“Oh, my God. Oh my goodness.”
“?”
Rachel waved her hand and explained to the puzzled Lily.
“Please don’t misunderstand, Your Highness. I’m not laughing at you. It just occurred to me that His Majesty would have made such a decision had he been alive.”
“As expected, Her Highness resembles His Majesty.”
The brown eyes looked at Lilian more tenderly than ever before. Lilian strangely noticed Damian.
Not only that, but she was a little embarrassed by the compliment because she had just heard from Rachel in great detail what Idoel meant to her.
“That’s an overstatement.”
“You’re humble. Anyway, I knew the meaning of Her Highness well. I knew very well that Her Highness’s will is the same as His Highness’.”
“Hm. Very accurate.”
Damian smiled languidly and coldly admitted it. Pride was something he had already sold long ago.
“Your Highness…”
Lilian eventually realized but Rachel smiled like it was nice to see.
“We have understood each other’s intentions, so it’d be better to break up soon to avoid raising unnecessary suspicions.”
Lilian nodded. The carriage eventually stopped in a deserted street.
There was no one waiting and no umbrella, but Rachel stepped out into the rain without hesitation.
“Are you going like that?”
Instead of saying that she was fine, Rachel turned to Lilian and smiled.
It wasn’t flashy or charming, it was just the human Rachel’s smile.
Rain-soaked, weary and tired, very feeble smile.
“Your Highness, this Rachel originally only had revenge in her head, so she’s not even as good as a dog…just this once, just this once, I hope Her Highness is happy.”
“Now, leave me alone and go, goodbye.”
Moments later, the carriage departed, leaving Rachel alone.
The rain didn’t stop and it poured all night.
***
On the way back home.
“What are you thinking, wife?”
“Um…”
Lilian, who had been staring blankly out the window, barely looked at Damian, but didn’t answer his question.
Damian waited patiently. At his wordless urging, Lilian finally opened her mouth.
“Your Highness, could it be that His Majesty the Emperor didn’t know?”
Quick-witted Damian noticed that his wife was referring to Claude and Aratine’s affair.
“Well. Why else would he ask me not to kill my second brother?”
“As expected…”
As Rachel said, it was unlikely that Idoel was the only one who didn’t know what Claude Rupenwein was like, even if he was only a noble in the capital.
He probably knew that his wife and brother were having an affair, Damian guessed.
“Perhaps that’s why he sent me to Leyengrad, the most dangerous conflict zone at the time.”
Idoel didn’t like Damian sweeping the battlefield like he was at home.
“It wasn’t enough that he ordered me to participate, he insisted on ordering me to win a great victory.”
Idoel asked Damian for a legendary victory worthy of a story.
“Imperator Leyengrad. He must have needed an excuse to give me the right to be my nephew’s shield. Maybe.”
At Idoel’s request, Damian committed a massacre that will remain legendary in Leyengrad Fortress.
Lilian watched Damian casually say that he was being used by his older brother to protect his nephew.
Damian was going through his memory. Idoel clearly said:
“I’m sorry for burdening you like this.”
“Don’t be sorry, brother.”
“I’ll do anything my brother wants me to do.”
At that time, Idoel looked into his brother’s eyes for a long time. Like a duckling imprinted on him, the blind brother’s eyes were on him.
What did that look like?
He thought at the time that he would never be able to forget it, but now it’s become very vague.
There’s no problem with his memory. It was because Lily, who was more important than Idoel, appeared in Damian’s life.
In the past, Damian would obsessively relive his memories over and over again, lest his memories of his brother fade even a little.
However, since Lilian appeared, he stopped acting like that.
He didn’t have the time to look into it all the time, polishing the useless memories of the past like marbles. He had lost all his heart to Lily, and had sold his whole heart.
Still, he could remember at least what his brother had said.
“Don’t do that Damian.”
“…”
“Even if I order you, don’t quarrel with your brothers.”
Listening to Damian’s story, Lilian thought. Idoel probably felt guilty for using his brother to protect his son.
But feeling guilty didn’t change the fact that Idoel had moved for Matteo rather than Damian.
At times like this, Lilian felt her chest tighten as if her breath was tightening. Lilian sighed and hugged Damian.
Damian groaned as if he were puzzled.
“Wife? Why are you like this all of a sudden? It’s nice, but…”
How can she love him more?
How can she make him happier?
She wanted him to be happy right now, as much as he’d never been before.
There was only one word that could contain all that heart.
“I love you.”
Damian didn’t react immediately. Lily pointed out.
“Don’t rack your brains trying to figure out why I’m doing this all of a sudden.”
“Did you find out?”
Damian liked it when Lily said she loves him. He was insanely fond of being loved and being touched.
So whenever he expressed affection to Lily, he had the habit of thinking about what action he had to repeat before he could receive that love again.
Just like this poor man. Holding Damian in her arms, Lilian rebuked with a low laugh.
“You don’t have to roll your head, because I love you anyway.”
Damian calmed down as if caught off guard. He looked more puzzled than delighted as it was so good that it was beyond the limits of what he could accept.
Lilian didn’t criticize or reprimand him. It was fine this way.
“Even if you don’t understand or accept it, it’s okay.”
It’s okay, it’s okay.
Amid the repeated words, Damian’s heartbeat slowly subsided.
That was enough for now. Even though there’s a long way to go, there was no impatience.
Lilian had enough patience to enjoy this long journey.
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