Chapter 40

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Chapter 40

This morning, before Lily came, there was a short talk in the conference room.

“Just as scheduled, I accepted the Pope’s visit.”

“Our poor Imperial Majesty. What if he runs out of the palace crying?”

“As expected, Lord Lubich moved.”

Odil nodded his head. It was the Prime Minister, Lubich, who handled the paperwork while the Emperor completely abandoned his work. Lubich said it would take a day or two because he escaped so often, but the longer the wait without a promise, the more his patience reached the limit.

So, instead of helping him with the work, Odil asked Lubich, who could act on behalf of the Emperor in his absence, to permit the Pope’s visit.

Unlike the Emperor, Lubich was a person who believed that politics required not only the powerful imperial power but also the priesthood, so negotiations with him were not difficult.

“Odil, what did His Majesty say?”

“He said he could never accept it, but I sent him an answer right after I finished talking with Lubich… Thanks to that, he ran away again.”

“The palace is going to be busy. First of all, as we said, I think we’ll just have to pretend we don’t know Lady Lily. If a specific matter is decided, then Odil will inform us again.”

Odil nodded his head at Endymion’s words. The emperor was one who would never reconcile and commune with Terra. But, like Lubich, Odil and Endymion also felt that they needed a political stronghold through the church’s support. If it was the emperor, Kyren, even the name of god could be used politically.

At least, that was the public reason for it. It’s just that they wouldn’t mention the private reason, which was Lily.

“I’d rather not tell her where the ring is.”

Not everyone answered Damian’s words, but he agreed. Lily now knew that the ring was in the Holy Empire. In any case, she could have left Ciel and went directly to retrieve her ring.

“Ah, how did everyone get obsessed with a succubus?”

“I am not obsessed.”

“Don’t step on my pure heart like that.”

“I… I may have gotten a little obsessed.”

Damian laughed out loud at the words that came out at the same time. And he felt someone’s presence outside the door. Hesitating footsteps, small breaths. It was Lily.

“Excuse me…”

After she hesitated, she opened the door and entered.

Thinking of what had happened in the morning, Damian nudged Ares on the side.

“It’s not that I won’t say anything at all, it’s that I’m just going to tell her later. Even you agreed, Hyung, so why are you doing this?”

“I fear that the Lady will be hurt when she finds out the truth.”

“You should do it.”

“When she finds out… I’m afraid she’ll just leave.”

“She was full of thoughts of leaving without knowing the truth.”

“Even though she can’t lie and show all her thoughts on her face, I don’t really know what she’s thinking. She doesn’t really talk about herself.”

Ares smiled bitterly. The only thing he had heard stories from the exhausted Lily was why she became a succubus and about her ring. He still didn’t know what Lily likes to do or what she wants to do.

“I feel the same way. Maybe all the other hyungs do too? So…”

Damian’s brow furrowed. So, that was why she must have cried like that. He didn’t even know what Lily was thinking because she said it so easily… So he thought she might be angry instead.

“Hyung, are you going to her now?”

“Huh? Yeah. Eddy was supposed to go, but Odil called Eddy. Guess something’s wrong So I’m going instead. She doesn’t even know where the dining hall is, so I’m going to go with her.”

“Then let me go, too. Actually, I have something to apologize to her for.”

“…Damian. You mustn’t trouble the Lady.”

Damian nodded his head bluntly, as there was too much to be said for a proud rebuttal.

“I’ll try.”

The sun was warm, so I lay down for a while, and I think I fell asleep in the meantime.

I’m dreaming. Right now, I’m sitting in the midst of that same bright flower field that I had become accustomed to, enough to realize right away that it was a ‘dream’. I stared at the pale pink sky.

Looking down, I saw my grandmother’s ring and the threads tied to my fingers. A white shiny thread and a red thread. And a few more strands were tied.

“Don’t worry too much.”

I heard the voice and raised my head. A beautiful woman with dark hair hanging down stood in front of me. A smile floated on her alluring red lips. Still, I felt she was very clean and pure.

Her face was somehow familiar.

“You don’t have to worry. No need to be afraid. There will be no problem.”

The hand with the thread tied to her finger moved slowly, towards the succubus mark below her belly button.

“It’s okay. Don’t hate me too much. Because it is also ‘you’.”

When I looked down as if possessed, all the blooming flowers had disappeared, and I was sitting on the clear water. On the other side of the clear mirror, there was Lilith, a succubus holding out her hand with a seductive smile.

And the moment her hands touched mine, I woke up.

Tick, tock. The sound of the clock hand moving pierced my dazed ear. I got up from lying on my stomach, pressed my forehead and exhaled a breath.

Why couldn’t I remember until now? Why did I not notice? This was already the third time I had this dream. And when I thought that the woman in that dream was familiar, somehow she was… Exactly like Lilith. Looks were looks, but the atmosphere she had was the same.

Even though it was a dream that I couldn’t understand, I was strangely reassured. Maybe it was because of the friendly whisper. I think I wanted to hear the saying ‘there will be no problem’.

Suddenly, I started to cry. It was when I was sniffling and rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand that I saw Ares and Damian, who had come inside, as they stared at me with hardened expressions.

“M-Milady, why are you crying? Huh? What happened?”

“No. That’s nothing… sniff.”

I didn’t know why I felt more flustered when someone talked to me. It’s nothing, but I keep crying.

Then Damian approached me and hugged me. Both me, who accidentally buried my face into his chest, and Ares were both speechless in bewilderment, but Damian whispered in a low, subdued voice.

“Sorry. I keep doing whatever I want.”

“…Huh?”

“If you really don’t want it, I’ll let you go back. So don’t cry.”

“…Huh?”

“…Damian.”

…What to do. These people seem to be misunderstanding me very much right now.

In fact, I was annoyed, angry, and upset. Those negative emotions were constant, but that wasn’t the reason why I was crying now. Even so, the two of them had such complicated expressions that it became awkward to correct their assumptions.

Oddly enough, these days, I often had mood swings. So whenever I got annoyed, tears would come out first, so it led to this misunderstanding.

I grabbed Damian’s arm and raised his head to look at me.

“No, it’s not about that.”

“……”

“I had a dream…”

Even while I was talking, I frowned in embarrassment as to what to explain. They weren’t emotionally close enough to me to talk about everything and confide in my worries.

I thought about it and said it slowly.

“Anyway, it’s not because of you, Damien, so don’t worry about it.”

“What did you dream about?”

“It’s just personal… No, rather than that, can you let me go?”

I removed his hand, which had loosened up to some extent, and when I asked, Damian looked at me without saying a word. After making eye contact for a while, he got up and avoided my gaze in an awkward feeling. Ares, who was standing in front of the door, asked with a drooping face.

“Miady, are you really alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

It was strange. really. It wasn’t the first time I’d cried in front of these people, but today’s reactions were so sensitive and unfamiliar. Ares, who seemed to want to say something, sighed and looked at Damian.

“Damian.”

“Not now.”

“Something’s wrong?”

“Yes, something like that.”

“…….”

Does that mean that we’ll talk about it later? I was impatient, but I also couldn’t explain everything properly myself, so I didn’t want to ask. I rubbed my hand and asked Ares, who was still standing with a dull face.

“But what did you come here for?”

“Ah. It’s because you still don’t know where the dining room is, Milady. Eddy asked me to pick you up. If you don’t want to eat, they’ll force me to bring it.”

Even when I was working at the main palace library, they were so careful about my meals, but I think they got even more determined once I came here. How did they know so well every time I lose weight?

I picked up the key he had left on the desk and glanced at Damian. He continued to stand there with a complicated expression, but he soon schooled his features, sighed and reached out to tousle my hair. I followed him who had a sullen face as he left without a word and locked the door.

As I went down the stairs with the key in my pocket, Ares said.

“Milady, don’t you know the way here?”

“Yes. I know the Commander’s office…”

While answering without thinking, Ares blushed, and my face became hot as well. He was easier to talk to than when we first met, but whenever Ares responded like this, even I became embarrassed.

Damian, who was walking ahead, clicked his tongue.

“Why don’t you just go and shout out that you like her? Your face burns so much every time you say anything.”

Ares’s face, as well as his ears and neck, turned red at Damian’s arrogant remarks. Then he covered his mouth with his hand and didn’t say anything, but when our eyes met in mid-air, he quickly avoided my gaze.

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