WGMFTR | Chapter 24

Episode 24

Lydia spoke with a sigh.

“She looked really angry, but at the same time, it also seemed like she desperately wanted to retrieve that ‘heart.’ Since she keep approaching me first, I’m sure she will come again. I’ll get proper information out of you next time.”

Or perhaps she simply had to defeat that being.

No matter how great a being it was, its power was diminished to the point where it couldn’t manifest in the real world, and when it came to Solem’s power, Lydia wasn’t exactly lacking confidence either.

“Don’t try anything reckless.”

Ilian spoke as if he had seen right through Lydia’s thoughts of throwing herself into a power struggle with a full-on confrontation.

“But… if it were me, I’d want to endure that pain even one day less. How could anyone…”

“As long as you’re here by my side, that’s enough.”

Ilian held Lydia’s hand with his uninjured one as he spoke.

Ever since he had started spending more time physically close to Lydia, the pain from the curse had considerably lessened.

It now echoed faintly, like a dull reverberation.

Even after just half a day, the curse would eventually return to fill in the void, but that much was bearable.

Ilian had to admit that a part of him didn’t mind getting what he wanted by not rushing.

Even if it meant whittling away at himself, he didn’t hate the feeling of Lydia’s worried gaze focusing solely on him.

Ilian gave a self-deprecating smile at the mad thought that had briefly surfaced — maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be so bad if the curse never disappeared and stayed like this forever, just as Lydia had been warned in her dream.

“Besides, nothing serious has happened yet, has it? So whatever that heart thing is, we’ll figure it out in time. And if it’s you, I’m sure you’ll find out.”

“Do you trust my abilities that much?”

“Shouldn’t I?”

Lydia was at a loss for words at Ilian’s comment, which effectively ended the discussion.

How could she respond to a question about whether she herself believed in her own abilities and knowledge?

After a long moment of silent thought, Lydia finally furrowed her brows slightly and suddenly asked a practical question.

“But… how are we going to sleep?”

Indeed. A very immediate issue awaited them.

“There are plenty of chairs here.”

Lydia looked incredulously at Ilian as he took a seat on one of the chairs by the window after letting go of her hand.

“Are you seriously planning to sit there all night?”

At the look on his face that seemed to say, ‘Why not?’, Lydia realized that Ilian surprisingly wasn’t picky in some strange ways.

Like how he’d once fallen asleep all cramped up in the library, this man seemed unusually tolerant of discomfort.

Ilian leaned back into the chair and said leisurely,

“I can’t sleep well when someone’s lying next to me.”

“I’m not really sleepy, so why don’t you sleep here, Marquess?”

“You looked tired earlier.”

“I’m not really tired anymore now that I’ve woken up.”

More than that, she didn’t think she’d be able to sleep.

She didn’t want to have that kind of dream again.

Now that she thought about it, maybe it was just stress making her have that pointless dream.

“Since neither of us is very sleepy, come here and take off your shirt.”

“If you’re hoping I’ll fulfill my duties as your husband…”

“That’s not what I meant!”

Lydia shouted, realizing how her words could be interpreted as she patted the blanket beside the bed, her face turning red.

It wasn’t until she saw the amused smile on Marquis Esteban’s face that she realized he was teasing her, but that didn’t help hide her flustered expression.

“If my wife insists, I suppose I have no choice.”

The Marquis responded while already rising to his feet and approaching her.

The moment Lydia saw him start unbuttoning his white shirt, she internally cursed her blunt way of speaking and covered her eyes with one hand.

“Weren’t you the one who wanted to see me undressed?”

“Absolutely not.”

At the voice right next to her, Lydia squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.

Ugh, why did he have to say it like that?

“Someone once tried to splash water on me just to see this body, you know. It’d be a shame to miss such a rare sight.”

Marquis Esteban truly had no mercy.

The moment he gently took her hand and raised it, Lydia reflexively blinked, only to be met with a display of bare skin in front of her.

She could only remain silent.

At her gaze, Ilian spoke teasingly,

“It’s not like it’s your first time seeing it. Don’t you think you’re being a bit too obvious?”

“Have you ever thought that maybe people who act hostile toward you have a good reason to?”

No matter what she said, she couldn’t win.

Lydia decided to just fix her gaze squarely on Ilian’s shamelessly smiling face.

“Well, maybe they’re all just jealous because I have so many great qualities.”

“Enough nonsense. Lie down here. I want to properly check your condition for once.”

Lydia took a deep breath and actually grabbed the Marquis’s arm, pulling him toward her.

For someone who had been teasing her moments ago, he followed along rather obediently.

The sense of calm she felt whenever she touched him had become familiar by now.

Even the thoughts that once clouded her mind began to settle on their own.

Lydia gently placed her hand on the shoulder darkened by the curse and closed her eyes as if concentrating deeply, her expression serious.

To him, it was merely the difference between some pain or none, but what must it feel like for her, directly facing the curse like this?

Her slightly trembling eyelashes revealed how focused she truly was.

“…Is there a problem?”

“Just a moment.”

Her purple eyes, which had been faintly visible between her slowly blinking lids, vanished again.

“There’s no noticeable change. As always, the curse is just slowly eating away at your body.”

She had asked out of fear — afraid that his condition might have changed or worsened drastically.

But actually, the curse was shrinking, just as she had hoped.

“What about you? Are you alright?”

“I’m fine too.”

Ilian nodded at Lydia’s words, but still observed her carefully.

Lydia gave a slight smile, as if aware of his gaze.

“I told you, I’m perfectly fine. I even got tons of rest before the wedding, so I’m full of energy.”

“That’s good, then.”

Ilian tried hard to ignore the familiar sense of unease and fear.

Everyone who had ever been by his side had always left him suddenly, without warning.

That’s why he had decided to let Lydia stay by his side, but to keep the door to his heart firmly shut.

But if that had worked, he wouldn’t still be sitting here like this.

Perhaps the curse in his life had started ever since he lost his birth mother to illness.

He later learned, to his despair, that his mother’s frailty — the face that had always greeted him with such sickly gentleness — had begun shortly after he was born.

After Ethan’s departure, it was merely a reflexive sense of duty to uphold the name of “Esteban” that kept him going. But that was all.

That’s why, when his older sister Katrina said she wanted to marry Count Rodrigo, he had actually wanted to plead like a child — like “Katrina’s little brother.”

Had he done so, maybe she would have reconsidered, unable to turn down the heartfelt plea of the brother she cherished more than anyone.

<Ilian. I love him.>

<He’s leaving for the Lescal Archipelago — so far away.>

But he came to understand that even his sister, who was only a few years older than him, needed someone to rely on.

So of course, he couldn’t hold her back.

The irrational question — “Are you leaving me too?” — had to be buried deep in his heart.

<As long as you’re happy, that’s enough for me.>

But the fact that she was leaving him behind completely alone in this mansion — that alone was hard to bear.

Society mostly believed that even his closest family had been used as a means to solidify Esteban’s position, but the truth was the opposite.

Now, he couldn’t even tell whether it was the curse that was causing his suffering, or his own life suffocating him from within.

That was when he felt a gentle touch at the corner of his eye. Lydia, now the recipient of his questioning gaze, gave a slightly awkward smile and said,

“I was just wondering if you were in pain.”

Ilian silently took her hand in return.

With Lydia here, the air in the mansion had undeniably changed.

More precisely, his once colorless daily life had started to fill with an incredible variety of colors.

The biggest problem was… she didn’t even seem to realize it.