Married to a Man who Wants to Kill me

 

 

Once Theo’s body recovered, he headed to the imperial palace to meet her.

 

It no longer mattered whether she was the real Lethenia or not. The complicated thoughts that tormented him scattered in an instant.

 

He decided to follow his heart. Neither the predetermined fate of his unfortunate life nor the lingering doubts about the demon Demonio that he hadn’t fully resolved could stop him.

 

He chose to believe in the woman from another world, the one whose real name was Kim Sejin.

 

He wanted to stand by her side until the end, no matter how little time he had left.

 

It wasn’t a sense of duty or obligation. He realized that he genuinely desired her.

 

He had never understood Lethenia’s blind love for Ianhart. He couldn’t fathom what kind of love would make someone sacrifice their life for someone who didn’t even look back at them. What kind of love would drive someone to such extremes?

 

But now, he felt like he understood a little bit of Lethenia’s tender heart that had seemed foolish to him before.

 

“Your Majesty the Empress no longer wishes to meet Lord Claflin.”

 

A palace attendant conveyed the message with a cold expression.

 

Even after several attempts to visit the palace, the response remained the same.

 

He thought that if he could just clear up this ridiculous misunderstanding—that if she wasn’t the real Lethenia, this relationship would be over—then things could go back to normal. After all, she seemed to share the same feelings.

 

However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that there might be another reason for her outright rejection of meeting him. Could it be related to Ianhart?

 

He was well aware of the rumors about the Emperor neglecting his mistress and lavishing attention on the Empress.

 

The Emperor risked his life for her sake. From some point on, he felt that the Emperor’s interest in Lethenia had become excessive.

 

He didn’t know if Lethenia’s death had caused a tremendous change in Ianhart’s heart.

 

He had a bad feeling about it. With an anxious heart, he decided to visit her at Briland Farm.

 

When he arrived at the farm, he saw her sitting on the dirt floor, laughing cheerfully with the children.

 

Her dress was stained with mud, and her sweaty hair clung to her forehead.

 

To an outsider, she seemed like an ordinary farm woman, tending to the fields in a surprisingly natural way.

 

She looked up with wide eyes and stared blankly at him. Theo thought her expression was quite cute. He approached her step by step.

 

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

 

Theo was slowly walking towards me. For a moment, my mind went blank. As I stood there dazed, he spoke first.

 

“I had to come all the way here because you wouldn’t meet me.”

 

“…….”

 

“It seems we still have things to discuss.”

 

Theo looked at me firmly, with an eye that seemed to have something important to convey. Unconsciously, my gaze went to his shoulders. Is he really okay now?

 

Even though I knew he was standing right in front of me, looking healthy, I felt unnecessarily worried.

 

We moved to a quieter place where we could have a conversation.

 

As we walked, many thoughts crossed my mind. For a few days, I thought Theo had given up on me since he hadn’t come to the Empress’s palace. But looking back, it seemed like he quietly waited until I went out.

 

Theo and I stood in a secluded place where people rarely passed by.

 

We didn’t speak for a while, as if we made an agreement . I was busy trying to figure out in my head why he had come to see me.

 

Was he here to confirm something because he didn’t believe what I had told him, or was he angry about being deceived by me all this time? Either way, it didn’t feel pleasant.

 

The awkward silence continued, and at some point, both he and I opened our mouths simultaneously.

 

“How’s your body…….”

 

“Is your wrist okay now…….”

 

It seemed like he was also concerned about my injured wrist. As that thought crossed my mind, my chest fluttered emptily once again.

 

Part of me was relieved that he didn’t look as bad as I’d feared.

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“I’m fine, too.”

 

Silence fell again. Somehow, a restless feeling crept in, and my breathing became slightly irregular. Inhaling and exhaling, my chest swelled and shrank repeatedly. At that moment, Theo asked with a somewhat casual tone.

 

“You won’t even make eye contact with me anymore?”

 

“Ah…….”

 

In response to his words, I glanced at Theo’s face. I must have kept my head down the whole time.

 

His face, which I hadn’t seen in a long time, looked somewhat gaunt, but it didn’t appear as pale as it did at the Marquis’s manor.

 

The severe wounds that had made it hard for him to even regain consciousness seemed to have been thoroughly treated. But then I remembered the black marks on his chest, and my heart grew heavy. He spoke.

 

“If it weren’t for the healing stone, I might not have been able to get up for a while. Thank you for helping me.”

 

“I also owe you a lot. I just did what anyone would have done.”

 

“I saw the letter you left behind. The contents were really hard to believe.”

 

Perhaps he came to hear a direct explanation about that incident. People wouldn’t easily believe the bizarre statement that I was an outsider from another world.

 

I didn’t entirely fail to anticipate his reaction, but his straightforward words brought a subtle sadness. Avoiding his gaze, I spoke honestly.

 

“However, all I can say is that those contents are true. There’s nothing more I can do if you don’t believe it.”

 

I thought to myself, I won’t be seeing him after today’s conversation anyway. I might as well ask him what I wanted to know since we got a chance to talk alone. I decided to take the opportunity to ask about what had been on my mind all along.

 

“There’s something I wanted to ask.” My voice trembled a little, but I held it together.

 

“I won’t ask about your connection with Xenos or why you joined such a dangerous organization. I’m just curious about one thing.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“That day, while I was treating you, I found out that you are a black mage. I don’t know much about it, but I’ve heard that black mages gain magical power at the cost of their lifespan…”

 

“…….”

 

“I was worried that something might happen to you because of that.”

 

Theo didn’t answer for a while. I lifted my eyes to look at him.

 

His face darkened a bit and suddenly, fear struck me if my ominous speculation was correct.

 

My heart started beating abnormally fast. He looked at my anxious face for a moment, then smiled faintly and said,

 

“I belong to a quite robust lineage, so I should be fine in the future.”

 

“Really…?”

 

As I still couldn’t dispel my doubts, he calmly added an explanation.

 

“It’s a rare blessing. Moreover, unless it’s an unavoidable situation, I don’t use magic and deplete my lifespan.”

 

Upon hearing this, I involuntarily sighed with relief.

 

“If that’s the case, I’m very glad to hear it.”

 

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

 

He asked with a subtle gaze and a meaningful question.

 

“Not at all.”

 

“Even if I were a maniac who became a minion of demons and killed people indiscriminately?”

 

He asked, as if testing me. I couldn’t understand why he was asking such an absurd question. I looked at him with a slightly puzzled expression and answered as if it were obvious.

 

“There’s no way you’d be that kind of person.”

 

“Do you truly believe that?”

 

“Of course.”

 

Then he smiled playfully. And with his next words, it felt like time stood still for a moment, and my mind went blank.

 

“I believe you too.”

 

“What did you just say…”

 

“Not as Lethenia, but as Kim Sejin, I believe in every story you’ve told. So… please don’t avoid me again.”

 

“Are you serious?”

 

“It doesn’t matter who you are anymore. So, there’s no reason for our relationship to change.”

 

His words, as soft and sweet as cotton candy, made me question whether this was a dream or reality. It was as if the enchanting magic of Bonneflower was recreated.

 

Under his exceptionally beautiful and warm smile, the tension that had stiffened my entire body instantly melted away.

 

There was an unseen heat in his green eyes, and once again, a subtle and peculiar atmosphere surrounded us. However, this time, he avoided my gaze and fell silent.

 

I felt as if he were hiding something that he couldn’t reveal to me, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask. If I pried too much, it seemed I would drift away from him again.

 

Of course, I wasn’t as desperate as I had been then, because now I was just happy that he trusted me completely.

 

I no longer had to calculate in my head or put on an awkward act to look like the real Lethenia. I could be Kim Se-jin, at least in front of him.

 

With a relieved heart, I spoke to him,

 

“Meeting a friend like you is the greatest fortune in my life. It feels like getting stranded in this strange world was fortunate for some reason.”

 

We looked at each other and lightly smiled.

 

 

*ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

 

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