CH 19.4

Lucas looked at it curiously and tried to read it, but was surprised by the unrecognisable text.

He had never seen it in any foreign language he knew.

“… What are those letters?”

“Oh, it’s something I wrote down before.”

She used the word ‘before’ hastily, but Lucas understood.

“So, you’re saying the booklet was written before? How?”

In her words, she had crossed over from another world. But could she bring things with her? I thought she said she switched bodies?

Lila felt a twinge of regret at his question. She hadn’t told him about the secret pouch.

“Oh, I forgot to mention that.”

Lila held the secret pouch up for Lucas to see. It looked like a clutch at first glance, with a mauve ribbon encrusted with blue sapphires.

“This was my late father’s birthday present to me, and it contains my make-up box from the other world.”

Lucas’s expression grew puzzled as he listened to Lila’s words.

“A make-up box?”

“Yeah, it’s like a bag with all my make-up tools in it.”

“But you put them in a pouch? A subspace pouch?”

Lucas’s puzzled expression turned to one of curiosity.

“It wasn’t a subspace pouch, you see, the Baron wasn’t financially wealthy enough to afford one. It was…”

He took Lila’s hesitant hand and gave it a gentle tug. As if urging her to speak, Lila opened her mouth.

“It’s… at first, I didn’t realise this was a fictional world, so I just wanted to move on with my life…”

“But you knew it was a novel, how did you know?”

“Because …I told you, I heard the names of the main characters in the novel.”

“You mean, they are the Crown Prince, the Duke of Frederick, and the Marquis of Benière.”

“That’s right.”

“By the way. I’ve been wondering ever since… why you had to avoid them, and put on your ugly make-up. In fact, I’m glad you came to me, wife, but I’m curious to know why, why you had to avoid those three, and what was the novel about?”

It was awkward for Lucas, who had said he wasn’t curious when she asked if he had any questions, to suddenly start prying.

Lila wanted to avoid him, but this was a carriage with a tight squeeze on all sides. Her cobalt eyes, dizzy with panic, stared unnecessarily into space.

Come to think of it, she had instinctively avoided saying what the original was about.

Wanting nothing more than to avoid the mint-coloured eyes, Lila pursed her lips and blurted out.

“I wasn’t supposed to die, the reaper made a mistake. So as a way of making up for it, he let me live, and he let me take one of my things with me, which was pretty cool, too, hahaha.”

Lucas is jealous of his nephew, Michael. And if he found out what the three of them did to Lila in the original story…

‘I can’t tell him this!’

Lila wanted to change the subject, but under Lucas’s intense gaze, she broke out in a cold sweat and began to stammer.

“I told you that I’m actually the main character in the novel, believe it or not, but I didn’t want to be the main character, because why, even in the Vassium Empire, they have heroic epics, and if you look there, the main characters have a lot of trials and tribulations, and why do they have so many incidents… My goal in life is to live a long, relaxing life. I want to live without worries and enjoy small happiness. I don’t need luck. I don’t want the privileges of the protagonists, so…”

Lucas frowned at her rambling, his lips curling in a silent question.

He could have just said it, but the way she was gesturing with her hands was cute.

‘You’re cute, but you’re trying to hide things again.’

Should he get it all out this time, Lucas wondered. If it came down to it, Lila would never be the first to tell him.

‘What do I do… I don’t know what he’d do if he heard the full story, but I’ve already answered it.’

In spite of himself, Lucas sounded meek.

“I see, I see, and if that’s the case, then so be it, because I trust you, and you wouldn’t lie to me like that.”

Lila’s expression darkened as she looked at Lucas, who was smiling broadly.

‘Oh, what am I going to do… No. There are some secrets you can tell, and some you can’t, and this is one of them!’

Lila nodded fiercely, recovering from her weakness.

‘And you’re not lying, I’m just not telling.’

As she affirmed her words to herself, Lila heard the tinkle of Lucas’s jacket as he glared at her.

For a moment, she wondered if Michael had contacted her again, and she frantically searched for her video communication device.

Then Lucas pulled out a small bead.

“Speak.”

This was the first time Lila had ever seen a communication device that wasn’t a video communication device. Tapping his fingertips under her eyes, which had grown round with curiosity, Lucas smiled gently, despite his cold tone.

“So you let him go?”

Curiously, the words from the other side were completely inaudible to Lila. The way he could hear something and respond so calmly was unfamiliar to her, but she thought it was cool.

Lila’s cheeks flushed at the sudden thought. She liked all of Lucas’s different faces.

Whether it was the cold expressionless face he wore when dealing with others, or the cold, high-pressure look he gave when giving orders…

‘But my favourite look is when he’s…’

Is when he smiled gently at her, as he was doing now. The palpable difference in temperature between how he treated her and how he treated others made Lila thirsty.

This handsome man is my man!

…I want to scream it out loud.

His warm mint-coloured eyes rounded, but his tone was chilly.

“So you’ve confirmed that he’s gone to the imperial palace? No, he’s done what I wanted you to do, so there’s no need to chase him any further, but first, post men around the mansion. If you think he’s going to do something stupid, you can use force.”

Curious as to what he was talking about, Lila leaned her ear closer to the small bead-like device.

“Haha, no.”

The momentarily laughing Lucas froze and spoke firmly towards the knight commander who was delivering his message.

“Very well, then.”

Lucas’s eyebrows rose slightly as he tucked his tools back into his jacket.

“I didn’t think you’d be so tempting.”

With a quick, fluid movement of his eyebrows, Lucas bit her earlobe with a grumpy expression.

“I am a man who is easily seduced by the slightest hint from my wife, so please seduce me some more, so that I may fall head over heels for you.”

Lila blushed in surprise at the instant heat in the air. Wet, hot flesh nuzzled her earlobe.

“No, not that…”

Itching to burrow into her embrace, he bit and tugged at her ear like a puppy biting at an object.

It didn’t hurt, but the unfamiliar sensation made Lila lift her head gently. As if waiting for her, Lucas bit the tip of her nose, forcing her to look up.

His lips found hers, not with his fingertips, but only with his lips, and the corners of his mouth lengthened.

He pressed his lips to hers like a seal, and then he swallowed roughly.

* * *

Losing sight of Lucas and Lila, Theobald had no choice but to return to the palace with a grunt.

There was no way to find them once they had left the gates. There was no way he could follow them without being prepared.

With even the Emperor against him, nothing was going his way.

“What the hell is Baron Este doing!”

The chamberlain snapped at the fuming prince as soon as they entered his drawing room.

“Shall I summon the Baron?”

“Right now!”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The chamberlain left the parlour, leaving a chill in the air. Theobald regretted it bitterly.

“I should not have waited. Why didn’t I think of her before?”

Theobald paced, then sat down on the couch.

“I was complacent…”

He had assumed she would bend to his will as she had in the past. Theobald muttered softly to himself as he remembered the past, which had already become something that hadn’t happened.

“That’s what happens when you don’t remember.”

Theobald fought down the feeling of discomfort that had been gnawing at his nerves ever since his memory had returned through the dream.

It was a different Lila, with different behaviour and personality.

“Why the hell did she wear that weird make-up… If it wasn’t for that…”

If only she hadn’t been stolen by Lucas…

With a melancholy look of regret, Theobald struggled to control the nervousness that was already rising to his chin.

He stared intently at the parlour door, recalling a vanished past that only he remembered.

“The Baron of Este is her cousin. And he can overturn the cohabitation period at any time.”

Outside the window was bright with autumn sunshine, but inside the parlour was as chilly as the winter that had already arrived.

Theobald waited impatiently for Baron Este to arrive.