Until The Real One Shows Up​

‘…was it a mistake?’

She couldn’t see him as a mistake. Because she had feelings for him. But for him, it was a different matter.

‘Should I ask?’

The atmosphere of the moment was strange. There must have been a temptation in the atmosphere. He could have been swept away.

‘I should have asked you why.’

She missed the timing. It was because she was amazed to have allowed him to cross the line after the kiss.

Although she blamed the Goddess who made her say goodbye before that, it was only her own grievance to the end. It was another problem to attract him and cause an accident like this.

‘I’m crazy. No matter how hard it was, how could I do that?’

She had been patient for a year and never thought she would have this kind of accident.

‘Even if you spill ash in the cooked rice, it’s still oily….’*

*TN: idiom for something that was almost done but got ruined

Anastasia sighed deeply inside.

‘It was crazy good… No, not this.’

Wait, maybe she was taking it too seriously.

‘This guy might not have any thoughts.’

That’s right, didn’t he not seem shy even after kissing her? Right after that, until now, all the way!

Maybe he doesn’t put much meaning into what he did earlier. If he didn’t have a lot of feelings for her, it was possible.

Anastasia thought about it and looked at Wilhelm again. Wilhelm, who immediately noticed her gaze, looked at Anastasia and smiled.

… she thought that was the case. If he sincerely kissed her before, he wouldn’t be able to keep smiling at her like that.

No matter how much she loved the man she had been with since her last life, she couldn’t penetrate his heart because the situation was so different from back then.

‘Besides, since we’re a married couple right now, he may have thought that it was okay to have that kind of touch between us as a couple. He encouraged me to keep trying…’

In the end, it seemed that she was the only one who was unbearably embarrassed.

Anastasia’s face started to get redder and redder, and eventually she turned her head away from Wilhelm.

Even after that, Anastasia could feel his gaze, like never before! She struggled not to look at him again.

“At this point, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to Her Majesty, Empress Anastasia, who saved my humble life, and I would like to offer my blessings.”

At Lyell’s words, Anastasia’s concentration shifted to Lyell. At the same time, everyone’s eyes turned to her.

“Your Majesty, will you come up?”

Anastasia got up from her seat and went up to the altar thinking it was good.

Wearing a white dress, she climbed to the altar with her hair half-up with a pin with red roses, as if the goddess Roshenia had risen to the front of the imperial people.

Her beautiful appearance, which even seemed sacred, was silently admired here and there.

Anastasia quietly stood in front of the statue, and Lyell raised his arms over her head and swung a red rose and an olive branch.

“To Her Majesty, the beloved daughter of the Goddess and the benevolent mother of Rosenberg, with all my heart and allegiance, I convey the blessings of the Goddess.”

Soon, white light began to bloom from Lyell’s red roses and olive branches, and people watched the mysterious and sacred scene without taking their eyes off them.

Anastasia also felt her mood fade, and she quietly closed her eyes and accepted her blessing.

After a while, he announced that the white light was extinguished and the blessing was over.

“I hope that Goddess Rosenia’s grace will continue to fill the future of Your Majesty’.”

Lyell politely bowed her back to Anastasia, showing her respect, and Anastasia responded with a grin and nodded her head.

“I will close the ceremony by saying a prayer of thanks to the Goddess.”

Then Lyell’s prayers rang quietly over the altar, and Anastasia clasped her hands and glanced at Wilhelm under the altar.

‘Ah…’

Then, as soon as her eyes met Wilhelm’s, she hurriedly averted her eyes. However, Wilhelm, who saw the figure, laughed again like an auditory hallucination.

‘Why are you looking there again?…!’

Anastasia screamed inside and scolded herself, but it was too late.

‘Anyway, it doesn’t seem like he cares too much about what happened earlier, so let’s not express it too much. I shouldn’t act shameless.’

She closed her eyes and clenched her gathered hands tighter as if she had given up.

~~~~

After the memorial service, Anastasia tried to escape from the temple faster than anyone else.

“Where are you going?”

At least it meant she ‘was going to’.

When Wilhelm, who had already seen through Anastasia’s plan, grabbed Anastasia and asked, Anastasia looked at him with a perplexed expression and asked again.

“Anything you want to say to me….”

“There’s nothing like that.”

Wilhelm shook his head, still smiling.

“I feel like you’re running away.”

“…No way.”

He got her, damn it. Anastasia sighed inwardly.

“I just want to go back quickly.”

“Good for you. We can go back together.”

“What?”

“Let’s go in the same carriage.”

“There’s no need to…”

“What do you mean? You were blessed by the Goddess.”

Wilhelm looked at Anastasia with an expression as if asking how she could say such a thing.

“I think I’ll be much safer with you.”

“…”

“Don’t tell me you’re avoiding me…”

“No, you can.”

Anastasia snapped back. Never give him the impression that she cared about what happened earlier! She didn’t want to give it.

“Let’s ride together.”

“…”

Wilhelm looked at Anastasia with an unexpected look on his face, as if he thought her innocent attitude was unexpected.

Anastasia, who tried to ignore the gaze, put Wilhelm in her carriage pretending to be as casual as possible.

Mrs. Rochester looked at her as if she were looking at a rabbit with horns on her head, but she also ignored it and climbed on.

Soon the carriage departed, and Anastasia looked out the window as much as possible.

She could feel Wilhelm’s gaze staring at her, so she couldn’t move her head even when it hurt.

“What happened earlier.”

When he spoke bluntly about what had happened earlier, Anastasia responded calmly and nervously on the inside.

“I know.”

“…what?”

“You don’t have to apologize. You don’t have to make excuses.”

Anastasia said calmly.

“Thank you for your comfort. That’s what the atmosphere was like back then… … I admit it.”

“Why does it sound strange?”

Wilhelm narrowed his brows and pointed out.

“It sounds like I kissed you impulsively.”

“It’s not like you did it on purpose.”

“… No, it is.”

Wilhelm, who was momentarily stunned, bit his mouth and spoke again.

“I mean, I didn’t mean to do it to you carelessly.”

Mean. Anastasia, who flinched at that one word, was speechless for a moment.

And after a long time, she picked the right word and asked.

“…was it pity?”

He asked back with a puzzled expression.

“Can you kiss a person with only compassion?”

“That’s not true, but…”

Anastasia replied cautiously.

“Since we’re a couple, I thought you could.”

“Oh, really?”

And thought it was a line-drawing answer, but it didn’t seem to be accepted that way over there.

Strange unpleasantness mixed in, but it felt stark that joy dominated the voice as if it were overwhelming.

“Seeing you say that, you must have finally agreed with my proposal.”

Wait, her answer was… did it mean that?

“It was good, right?”

Anastasia, who was speechless at the sudden attack, was unable to say anything with a blank face, and his answer immediately followed.

“I liked it, too.”

‘Too? I didn’t say I liked it yet.’

Anastasia was dumbfounded, and his words were heard again.

“Then we should keep going like this.”

“Like this, that’s…”

“The person who has been the biggest comfort to me in the past year.”

Wilhelm said, looking straight at Anastasia.

“It’s undeniably you.”

“…”

“I don’t think there wasn’t any heart behind it.”

At those words, Anastasia was speechless once again. Strangely today, it made her unable to keep her mouth open.

“Actually, I have never once comforted you, but I succeeded once today… … Honestly, I was happy.”

He was happy, at that one word, Anastasia’s heart started beating rapidly.

“It was the first time I helped you in this way.”

“…”

“So, let’s keep going like this.”

Wilhelm glanced at Anastasia and smiled.

“Like I said, I like it.”

From those words, Anastasia understood.

‘Thank god.’

And she was relieved.

‘It’s not love yet.’

Let’s admit it frankly. She had failed in her initial plans.

It was an impossible plan from the beginning. If she wanted to keep her distance from him, she had to do nothing for him, but she had already done too much for him.

So it was no wonder that he recognized her as ‘on his side’ and had good feelings.

In addition, he must have tried to like her more because of the obligation of the relationship between husband and wife.

So, it’s still at that level. Not love, but affection.

“Sure.”

When Anastasia happily answered, Wilhelm looked surprised at the unexpected answer.

“If you want.”

At this point, the likability seemed fine.

It was less than a month before Avelin showed up anyway.

‘It’s unreasonable to push him more here. It’s dangerous to raise doubts for nothing.’

During that short time, his crush will not develop into love.

‘Until that’s the case, I’m not going to give Wilhelm any room.’

Anastasia was not wrong. As she thought, Wilhelm thought she still had a crush on him. Regardless of whether it really was the case.

However, both of them overlooked something.

It was not long before the oracle turned out to be misguided, and Anastasia would volunteer to be deposed.