My Will Did Not Mean This

People usually weighed down by the disaster they brought upon themselves

 

“Vivian, I looked for you for a while because you weren’t in the bedroom. What are you doing in a place like this?”

 

“That is…”

 

It was a warm sunny afternoon. Vivian, who was hiding among the garden bushes and looking left and right, raised her head creakingly. Her fiancé, who she would marry next month, Aslan Rezef Astaroth, was looking down at her with his arms crossed. He was nearly two meters tall, with broad shoulders, a sturdy chest, and forearms with ugly veins. It was a body so threatening that anyone who looked at it would think of a wild beast. However, as he faced his fiancé, his eyes were beautifully curved like a half moon.

 

“If you wanted to go for a walk, you should have called me. I wish we had come out together.”

 

“Well, you look so busy…”

 

“If you want to, I can find the time.”

 

As Aslan walked, he could hear her stepping on the gravel. That was all, and cold sweat ran down Vivian’s back. It was like that. In fact, she had been caught trying to sneak away.

 

“You don’t look good. I’m not feeling well, so I shouldn’t overdo it. Let’s just go in.”

 

“Well, that’s difficult.”

 

“Are you in trouble?”

 

“I have an urgent letter, so I think I need to go out and check it out. Here’s the letter…”

 

But she fully expected this level of difficulty. Vivian took out Plan B that she had prepared in advance. It was a letter from her half-sister, who was dead and not alive. Between her vigorously raised fingers, a brilliant golden envelope sparkled in the sunlight. For some reason, the crown prince’s letter was there… 

 

“Why is this here? You obviously threw it away?!”

 

“Ah, I see.”

 

Aslan’s eyes hardened at the appearance of a letter that was different from the plan. She didn’t know why this ominous object was here, but she knew it made Aslan very uncomfortable.

 

“Haha, my vision has been a bit blurry these days.”

 

Vivian smiled awkwardly and quietly hid the crown prince’s letter behind her back.

 

But it was already too late. Aslan went behind her and tore the prince’s letter into pieces.

 

The gorgeous golden envelope crumbled into powder and disappeared.

 

“I guess there will be no problem going back to the bedroom now.”

 

“It was a mistake earlier. This is really Iris’s letter, right?”

 

In any case, the crown prince’s letter disappeared. Now that the evidence was gone, Aslan couldn’t do anything anymore. Vivian smiled confidently as she took out a letter from her half-sister. But what she didn’t expect was that, to Aslan, Iris was also just a thorn in his eyes, hindering his honeymoon with his fiancee.

 

“You definitely don’t want to go, do you?”

 

“Why, why are you opening your eyes like that?”

 

“You promised to stay with me today. I’ve been waiting for today.”

 

As she had said repeatedly, it was a sunny afternoon. An afternoon where bluebirds chirp and cats take a nap. But Vivian couldn’t stand it because it was so cold. Aslan’s eyes go down to the freezing point, and it’s so cold she couldn’t stand it!

 

“Coff, coff, coff!”

 

“Vivian…!”

 

“Ugh, it’s nothing. I just think it’s a little chilly.”

 

This was the moment when Vivian, who had been staggering due to her cough, was accidentally hugged to Aslan’s chest. The coldness that had been spreading in all directions around her calmed down in the blink of an eye. Feeling the warm spring breeze blowing gently again, Vivian cried inwardly.

 

‘So when am I going to run away?!’

 

Aslan’s voice, as he hugged her around the waist, cracked low like an excited beast.

 

“It’s not long until we become a real couple. When I thought about that day, I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep at all. The same goes for you, Vivian, right?”

 

Vivian, unable to shout confidently, just cried inside. When she thought back on why she had ended up in this situation, she realized that all the disasters had been caused by a poorly written will.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

[By the time this will is discovered, I will no longer exist. My exit is for everyone’s benefit, so don’t look for it or wait for it. I inherit all my property and land rights to my fiancé, His Highness Aslan.]

 

The Empire’s second prince and Grand Duke, Aslan Rezef Astaroth, glared at the paper held out in front of him with an unpleasant expression. Without even reading the contents of the will, he scanned the signature written at the bottom.

 

Vivian Eleonora.

 

It was chosen for political reasons, but it was the name of his fiancé, whom he ended up deeply disliking. Because she had committed all kinds of dirty and cruel evil acts just because she loved him. The Grand Duke’s voice naturally became sarcastic.

 

“Did you interrupt official work just to show me a piece of paper?”

 

“It’s not just paper…”

 

“Yes, a will. Ha! I guess she’s just making up her own jokes to get my attention. What a great woman she is. She is testing my patience every time.”

 

Just thinking about the princess’s snake-like, venomous eyes made his head pound. But this nonsense was not far from coming to an end. Until now, he had been silent about the princess’s atrocities out of consideration for their political relationship, but now he had a legitimate reason to break off the engagement.

 

‘Duke Eleonora has a hidden extramarital child. He committed the disgrace of nobility.’

 

Nobles were sensitive to gossip. They enjoyed using their tongues like knives to overturn the boring routine that repeated like a treadmill. However, the Duke touched his innocent maid when she was young, and when she became pregnant, he was afraid that the then-head of the family would find out, so he tortured her until she was about to die and then abandoned her in the mountains. His maid passed away shortly after giving birth to her daughter. However, the child, unaware of these circumstances, was coming to the capital in search of her biological father. After all, there were no eternal secrets in the world.

 

‘If you do anything behind her back, Eleonora’s social reputation will fall to the bottom. Breaking off the engagement will be much easier.’

 

Vivian also knew this. Because he said it directly to her face. So, this suicide commotion must have been a last-ditch effort before she was abandoned. However, the Chamberlain’s expression when looking at Aslan was still dark.

 

“Well, that’s… It seems like it’s real this time.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“The princess has lung disease.”

 

Aslan, who had been nervously scanning the documents, stopped. The chamberlain, who received the master’s gaze, spoke quickly.

 

“Haven’t we been recruiting servants of the Eleonora family in utmost secrecy? Among them, the attending physician said that by the time he discovered the princess’s symptoms of lung disease, her condition had already reached its peak and there was no way to treat her.”

 

“You mean the hemoptysis seen at the last banquet?”

 

“Yes, after hearing from the doctor that night that there was no solution, the princess’s behavior became somewhat strange. She looked like she was a different person.”

 

“Lung disease is an incurable disease that not even the imperial doctor can cure.”

 

Aslan remembered her face. To be precise, the eyes were as emotionless as a dead fish, hidden under a fancy mask.

 

‘What kind of man would believe someone who whispers her love with eyes like that? I coveted this illusory power and the ending was also vain.’

 

He thought it was a pity, but that was all. But his personal sentiments and political situation were separate. There was no way Crown Prince Johannes, his half-brother who was always aiming for his leash, would miss this opportunity. It was clear to him that if the princess really died, he would somehow take responsibility for it. It was for trivial reasons such as not doing his usual duties as a fiancé or neglecting her state as a princess.

 

“Was there any reaction from the Emperor?”

 

“Your Majesty’s fiancée is no different from his Majesty’s daughter-in-law, so he has ordered a close investigation of the cause of this tragedy.”

 

“Damn it, find it first. What I’m saying is, do whatever it takes to find it before she dies!”

 

Aslan’s voice as he hit the desk contained anger that could not be hidden. Until the last moment, she was a woman who was tired of always holding herself back. But now that things were like this, she could never just let herself die. He had to get rid of everything about her that might cause the emperor to find fault.

 

“Certainly… Find it and bring it to me. If he’s already dead, bring his body. I need to put on a crazy play.”

 

“Yes, master.”

 

He would have to lavishly decorate the Duchess’ room and prepare for her wedding and funeral at the same time. The Chamberlain bowed his head deeply, foreboding that he would be busy for a while.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

How many days had it been since she wrote her will and secretly escaped from the Duke’s residence? Vivian realized that her situation was not very good. Well, she didn’t know when it would have been better, but right now, she felt with her whole body that she was becoming worse than ever.

 

‘I just left a little early before I died… Wanting to spend the rest of your life in peace isn’t such a deadly sin, right?!’

 

Vivian regretted going against the grain of the original, but it was already too late. A black lion the size of a house was lurking before her eyes. A life with ghastly golden eyes and a frighteningly tight leash. The moment she turned her back and runned away, she would surely be torn to pieces and die.

 

‘Why is Aslan, who should quietly inherit my wealth in the capital, here, and in such a hideous manner?’

 

Vivian slowly recalled how she ended up in such a wonderful situation. After her accidental death, she possessed a character in a hardcore 19+ novel, ‘The Curse of Astaroth’, which she had read just before that time. This novel began in distant ancient times, when an unnamed hero subdued the demon Astaroth. Astaroth, the black lion demon, placed a curse on the hero as he died miserably.

 

[I will definitely be resurrected! I will take away your descendants, your descendants’ descendants, and the human bodies that carry your blood, and use them as sacrifices for resurrection!]

 

The hero became the Emperor of the empire, and strange things began to happen in the imperial family. Princes and princesses who were born from human wombs but turned into black lions began to appear. When they died, the curse was passed down to other members of the royal family like a bridle.

 

Aslan, the male protagonist of this novel, was a prince who ‘artificially’ overwrote such a curse. The royal family member who should have been cursed originally was Johannes, the Crown Prince of the Empire. However, the Emperor used black magic to transfer the curse to Aslan, the second prince of the bedroom maid.

 

Vivian was Aslan’s fiancée with such a miserable story. Unaware of the curse Aslan had placed on him, he was only obsessed with his appearance and power, and in the end, when he fell in love with the female lead, her half-sister, he tried to kill her and was executed by her, a typical evil woman.

 

‘It was fortunate that I possessed her before the female protagonist appeared, but…’

 

Vivian was possessed a month ago, which was at the beginning of the original story. She thought that since it was before the incident started in earnest, she could just live quietly as if she was holding her breath. But she didn’t have anything going her way in the world. Due to the nature of the villainess, for whom no specific narrative was given, there was a serious problem that was not revealed on the surface of the novel. Vivian was dying of lung disease.

 

The doctor said, ‘At most, a year.’ As if to prove his words, her face reflected in the mirror was as pale as a sheet of paper, her body was thin and thin, and no one in her duchy came close to her because they were reluctant to see her. Even though it was assumed that the lung disease in this world was not contagious. Vivian realized that even her employees were ignoring her. She decided not to think hard about it though.

 

‘It’s better because no one cares about me. I possessed her for the best, but it’s unfortunate that he’s terminally ill, but I have to enjoy the time I have left.’

 

Coincidentally, she had inherited a huge fortune from her mother, the Duchess, and her maternal family. It was enough money to last her a thousand years.

 

‘If we just take a little bit, she can live the rest of her life in abundance, so let’s run away without looking back.’

 

She immediately made an escape plan and wrote her will.

 

[By the time this will is discovered, I will no longer be a person in this world.]

 

She’s planning to launder her identity.

 

[My exit is for everyone’s benefit, so don’t look for it or wait for it.]

 

The rest of her life will be spent leisurely at one of the finest resorts in the South. Please do not disturb me just to find someone.

 

[The rights to all property and estates I own, I inherit to Her Highness Aslan, her fiancé.]

 

‘What will happen if we don’t keep the original? It’s money that I can’t pack up and take with me anyway, but this amount will be okay.’

 

She knew that if she left, her father, Duke Eleonora, would take over the remainder of her fortune, which she somehow disliked. Even though he knew that she was terminally ill and was being mistreated by servants, he never came to visit and did not show his face. Even if he happened to come across it in passing, he would just turn his head as if he were looking at trash.

 

‘It’s done now. Let’s leave.’

 

Although the run away started off as an exciting one, she had to be extremely careful during the first few days. She dressed as simply as possible and took detours along the way. But as there were no pursuers or obstacles until she crossed the empire and reached the southern gate, Vivian relaxed. She returned to her original fancy attire and took her carriage. Since she had been going through a hard time, she wanted to travel the mountain path comfortably. In the meantime, it could be said that she was unlucky to have encountered a group of thieves. Not to Vivian, but to the thieves.

 

“How dare you rob my carriage! You’re crazy because you want to stop living as a group, right?”

 

“Save people…!”

 

As Eleonora’s family was a prestigious warrior family that had been passed down from generation to generation in the empire, Vivian was also skilled in swordsmanship at a high level. Thanks to this, she was able to beat down all the bandits that attacked her group and cut off her express journey to the underworld. But Vivian’s ordeal was just beginning.

 

“Crrr.”

 

Inside the bandit’s camp, when she removed the suspicious-looking cloth, she found that a wild animal was lurking inside a huge iron cage. A huge black lion with golden eyes shining brightly between its jet-black fur. He was clearly the male protagonist, Aslan Rezef Astaroth.

 

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Translator Note: