It was a small, shabby attic.
A clean but empty place where furniture and other things that have not been used for years have been covered with white cloth and stored.
However, it’s possible to look at the scenery of the capital city through the large windows.
Instead of answering, Lilian tugged the hem of her skirt and sat down next to Damian.
And she said, looking at the window full of the sunset in a straight light breaking intensely.
“I can see the graveyard where the sun emperor rests over there. Is it a coincidence?”
“It might be, but it might not be. My older brother is more meticulous than I thought.”
“Is that so?”
Damian, who was lying on the floor, turned around and hugged Lilian around the waist. And he murmured as he smelled the scent of Lilian wafting from her dress.
“Actually, I don’t know what kind of person my eldest brother was. I think I could have known better before…”
After being naturally coddled, Damian stiffened. It was because he belatedly realized that his hand was still in a bizarrely deformed state. Habits are so terrifying.
“Wife…”
When Damian lifted his head, Lilian tilted her head slightly and smiled as if asking what was wrong.
Even when his grotesque hideous hands touched her body, she didn’t seem affected. Even though it’s not the first time he’s in this situation, Damian was still in awe, but he couldn’t move his hand because he was afraid.
He was afraid that if he moved this hand, Lilian’s expression would distort. Even if he knew it wouldn’t, the learned fear was deeply rooted.
It was only then that Damian’s fear was vividly captured in Lilian’s eyes.
‘Hm, so that’s what it was.’
She roughly expected it when he avoided people this morning, but… Lilian held back her wry smile. She took Damian’s hand and laid it on her skin.
“It’s okay.”
There’s no way it’s okay.
“I won’t run away.”
There’s no way you won’t run away.
“You are lovely.”
Don’t run away.
Lilian’s kindness settled on Damian’s wounded heart one more layer. Once again, the disbelief thinned and his fearful cold heart began to regain its warmth.
Lilian gently pulled Damian’s hand and kissed it. Damian just stared at the incredible sight.
“Why…”
“I’m very grateful that you saved Turin with these very hands.”
“Besides that, it saved my life many times.”
This hand was the one that saved Lilian.
“You seem to be misunderstanding something, so I’ll say it one more time, I love you.”
“…”
“Listen. I don’t like to see these hands and they’re terrible, but I’m not enduring it because I love you…”
The cramped and shabby wooden attic was filled with the golden sunset like peach juice.
Lilian’s words filled Damian’s devastated inner world like gold and sunshine.
“I love you, including these hands.”
“That means I love you.”
“I…”
Damian finally got up.
“To me, you are the first luck I’ve ever had in my life. I…”
Damian couldn’t speak. Sometimes, in fact, more often than not, he’s afraid that he’ll lose the good fortune of having Lilian.
But Lilian only laughed lightly.
“If I’m lucky, then Your Highness miraculously saved me.”
It was true. Lilian said that if it wasn’t for Damian, she would have slowly lost her life.
“It’s secret, but in fact, sometimes I feel sorry for Your Highness since you seem to be in pain to save me.”
“How come.”
That’s the best luck that Damian has ever had.
She pinched his cheek, but Damian didn’t hate it, and Damian, who rarely denied his wife, was frowning.
“What you want to say right now is exactly what I want to say.”
“Hurh.”
Lily’s eyes widened as Damian muttered.
“I didn’t pinch very hard. Are you flirting with this right now?”
“Cowect…”
Damian grinned as he mumbled the word “correct”.
Leaning his forehead on the sun-covered shoulder of his beloved wife with her unique smile, Damian murmured.
“I think I know how you got here.”
This room was like that place. It resembles the shabby room in the detached palace where Damian was imprisoned as a child.
It’s a place with nightmare-like memories, but Damian had a habit of looking for this attic whenever he had something to run away from.
“People are so strange.”
“It’s not so, Your Highness. I-“
“It’s fine. Because you gave me good memories.”
He didn’t like the atmosphere of her being burdened with the unpleasant stories of his past. Damian raised his head, met her eyes, and smiled ecstatically at her beauty.
“For example, the memory of my dear and respected Grand Duchess of Rupenwein making a hat with noodle dishes for His Majesty the Emperor, who is her father-in-law.”
Lilian finally groaned.
“I’m embarrassed…”
“I will never forget it until the day I die.”
In fact, other moments left a deeper footprint in Damian’s memory. But Damian deliberately only mentioned that moment as a joke.
Then Lilian shook her head.
“You can’t laugh. Actually, I was thinking of doing something even bigger than that.”
“No way.”
Damian’s Lily Islar is a woman of integrity, but she poured food on her father-in-law’s head.
It must have been an unacceptable break on Lily’s common sense and morality.
So, when Damian recalled that memory, he became cheerful and happy.
‘Because it means that she loves me that much…’
Lily confessed with a slightly apologetic face to Damian, who smiled like a cat who got cream.
“It’s good that Your Highness looks highly upon me, but I almost killed his Majesty the Emperor.”
“Pardon?”
…wait, who’s killing who?
‘There were always a lot of people who wanted to kill my father…’
But Lily Islar?
Damian’s good and sweet Lilian?
Noble and upright to the bone marrow Turinian, Lily…?
Lily made an embarrassing excuse at Damian’s genuinely surprised reaction.
“It was almost instant, but thankfully I didn’t.”
“…”
Damian couldn’t believe it.
He stared blankly at Lilian. Lilian repeatedly made excuses, saying ‘it was really only for a very short time’.
Damian muttered blankly, shocked by her.
“…same.”
“Yes?”
“I think I fell in love again… What should I do?”
Damian dared to think after gaining the memory of his fragmented soul. It seems impossible to fall more in love from there.
Every memory, every experience, every sense led Damian to fall in love with Lilian.
He might be too emotional for Lilian to handle. Besides, Damian was no ordinary person.
A maniacal love that might have broken an unusual person.
Damian’s broken system accepts only commands from Lilian.
Lilian was his sanctuary and moral standard. No, it wasn’t just a standard, it was Damian’s hegemony itself.
“I wish I could mess up the whole world, but I don’t hate that you make me a good person.”
Damian was a man who could bring catastrophe to the entire continent if he put his mind to it.
What Lilian was holding was a trigger for a bomb that had the power to annihilate all life on Earth.
Thankfully for this world, Lilian is upright and moral. She doesn’t shake.
Damian wanted to live up to Lilian’s standards.
In a sense, Damian was a terribly broken man. But Lilian was fine with that.
Because even that broken man was lovely.
“Don’t worry, Your highness.”
“…”
“I will bear the responsibility of taming you to the end.”
Lily Islar is from Turin.
A Turinian who does not recant what they had said, even to the point of death.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Lilian answered without rhetoric, but with full sincerity.
“You can look forward to it. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m confident enough to make Your Highness happy.”
Eventually, Damian burst out laughing.
“That’s very believable.”
“I’m glad you could give me your trust.”
“What I mean is…”
Lily’s body fell. When she came to her senses, she was already trapped in Damian’s arms, looking up at him.
“…I think it would be good for us to move on to the next chapter of our lives at this point.”
“I don’t know what you mean, but…”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a child between us?”
Damian calmly detonated the bomb.
“Your Highness, do you wish to have children…?”
“Not necessarily. As long as my wife is with me, the rest won’t matter anyway.”
Damian grinned. His mood suddenly became sultry.
“But I really enjoy the work of having children.”
“Your Highness…”
Damian sweetly urged the perplexed Lilian.
“You won’t break the promise to make me happy, right? Because you’re from Turin.”
“Oh my gosh, is that an indispensable factor for Your Highness’ happiness?”
“Of course.”
Damian responded promptly, with no shame.
“I am determined to believe the promise made by Lilian of Turin. So, will you protect me?”
“Yes, of course, but…”
Despite the nonsense, Lilian did not back down on her promise.
Maybe tomorrow, he might not believe in this happiness again and feel anxious.
But now, he could be happy to the fullest as long as Lily soothed him.
‘Maybe I can continue to be happy like this in the future.’
So Damian was happy.
Thanks to that, the world could still be peaceful.
<Lilian of Turin> main story complete.
Translator’s Notes:
Unfortunately, the side stories are in images which is different from how I got the raws for the main story. Since I use MTL, it’ll take me longer to translate it. I tried with the first side story but it took me so long and there might be a lot of inconsistencies so I’ll stop here. When I find a better and easier way of translating it, I’ll post it whenever I can. For now, this story will stop here.
Thank you for reading.
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