While You're In Love

I nodded my head automatically.

It was as he said. I was curious. How will Count Larestine, who values money more than people, react when his dead wife’s legacy gets stolen?

‘How dare you, how dare you!’

I can imagine him jumping up and down in anger, but rather than being scared, I wanted to see and laugh at him in person.

“And then…….”

After a moment’s pause, he smiled.

“I’ll let you know more later. I assure you, you can look forward to it.”

He added that he would make them think it’s better to live the rest of their lives locked up in a dungeon rather than being outside.

I should have been intimidated by his stern tone, which matched the content, but I was not intimidated at all by Aslan’s narrowed eyes.

I asked, fiddling with his handkerchief.

“Will you be okay with that?”

“It’s alright.”

Aslan replied coolly, without a hint of regret, snapped his fingers belatedly saying “Ah”.

“I should not be the only one who benefits from this contract. I’m not a despicable human who preys on the weak and powerless.”

I blinked, trying to take in what he was saying, and then he added quickly.

“I’ll give you what you want.”

What I want…….

Does he even know what that is?

I stared blankly at Aslan, who looked so confident. Our gazes met. His seductive lips moved.

“I will find them for you.”

I didn’t need to ask what.

“Although Count Larrestine is looking for them, he would not be able to solve the problem quickly because he will dislike the disturbance. The pursuit will be slow. So, I’ll find them first and protect them.”

He mentioned that he would solve the problem that had been weighing on my mind all along.

I couldn’t believe it at all.

Aslan had a serious face without any hints of smiling.

It wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t a bluff.

ah ah.

“Thank you. Thank you very much, thank you very much.”

I bowed my head and repeatedly thanked him in a trembling voice.

Aslan’s calm voice came over my head.

“We’ll discuss other details later, it’s getting late, and you’d better get some sleep tonight.”

He rang the bell to summon a maid, who brought out a cup of hot tea.

“Drink it.”

He offered me a cup of steaming tea.

“When you’re done drinking, you’ll feel better.”

It wasn’t a big deal.

He didn’t say much.

Strangely enough, from the moment I accepted the tea he offered, something choked up inside me.

And when the hot tea touched my lips.

“Oh my god!”

Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.

I didn’t know why I was crying, it just happened.

“Oh, my.”

He doesn’t deserve this, I came to him, offered him a contract marriage, withdrew it, asked him again, deceived him, confessed the truth, and now I’m crying.

“…….”

He patted my shoulder without saying a word. As if to say it’s okay, to cry your heart out.

“Hmph.”

I sobbed into his comforting hand.

The past years of being kidnapped by Count Larrestine and then forced to live as a stand-in for Helena by using threats.

The tears and emotions that I endured all these years even though it was hard and painful exploded.

Why now, why was it happening in front of him?

And why did he comfort me instead of kicking me out for being a nuisance?

I felt a sudden chill as I was touched by a pat.

It wasn’t the same chill I’d felt when Count Larestine called me Helena when we first met on the road.

Whereas then I had felt an instinctive sense of dread, a vague sense of events to come in the near future, now it was similar but different.

It wasn’t chilly but warm. It felt like opposites that didn’t belong together at all. It was a bittersweet sensation that had been thrilling me the entire time I’d been with Aslan.

---

After leaving the parlor, I was shown to my room by Dalton, the butler.

It was the same room where I had bathed and changed into my dress. It didn’t look like it was for guests, so I wondered who was using it.

I looked around the room awkwardly, which was too bright for me to live in, and lay on the bed without overcoming fatigue.

The large bed, which was bigger than the size of the attic in Count’s mansion, hugged my body with its plushness.

My tired body cried out for sleep, but I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep immediately.

So much had happened today.

It had been painful, desperate, horrible, disgusting, hopeful, and finally relaxing.

It’s been a long, hard day.

As I drifted off to sleep in the hazy pre-dawn hours, I dreamed.

Glock was found dead after I left, and an enraged Count Larestine hunted me down.

I was seized by the hair and dragged away, to die a miserable death, just like the girls before me had.

Before dying, I was subjected to all sorts of terrible things, then my family, who had run away, were recaptured and tormented before me.

I cried and cried.

Then I opened my eyes, I felt relieved that it was all a dream.

‘This is the Duke of Tordell’s mansion, and he has promised to protect me, so no one, not even Count Larestine, can take me away, and my family…… is safe because Aslan promised to find them first. It’s okay.’

I put my hand on my throbbing chest and tried to soothe myself,  I could barely fall asleep again.

But this time again, I couldn’t fall into a deep sleep and started dreaming.

“Helena Larestine, Aslan’s ex-wife, gazed at the two lovers from afar.”

In my dream, I became Helena from the “original” and caught a glimpse of the main characters in love.

Aslan and Rosalyn smiling at each other, two people shopping together, a beautiful couple walking with arms linked…….

Feeling the aura of lovers from afar, I had to fight off the throbbing pain in my chest. I begged myself to wake up quickly if this was a dream.

When I opened my eyes, tickled by the morning sun, my pillowcase was damp.

“Ha.”

I pressed my fingers through my greasy hair and thought back about my vivid dream.

Dreaming of the original on the day I had decided to marry Aslan felt like a warning.

Don’t forget he has a real partner.

I’m just a role that stays with him for a while and disappears later, and I shouldn’t hope to remain an important part of his life.

“Yes, that’s right. I must not covet anything beyond my means.”

Marriage to Aslan was a business that will leave him with nothing.

He did say that he, too, had something to gain from the marriage, but that was only to reassure me.

It was not a great gain for a duke who already had so much.

But I was different.

I got a new life through this marriage. So it was a sweet deal.

But there was something that had to be premised on.

It’s the heart.

I must not give him my heart, for him marriage to me is only a contract on paper.

I must not beg for his love, for that would be a breach of our contract and will embarrass him, who had pitied me and willingly agreed to the extra bargain.

“So remember, Lyla Violet.”

Just three years.

Don’t love him, don’t demand love from him.

Quietly, dutifully, and to the best of your ability, play the role of the wife he deserves.

And then, when the woman of his dreams comes along, you’ll just have to slip away.

Without even opening my eyes properly I made a firm commitment.

….. But stupidly enough I fell head over heels for him.

---

In my defense, it wasn’t all my fault. Aslan’s attitude towards me was also to blame.

It would have been better if he was full of thoughts of using me. Even if it wasn’t, it would have been enough if he was indifferent or cold to me.

Then I would have held my heart and when the time came, I would have walked away from him gracefully.

But Aslan was too devoted to a marriage of convenience.

The next afternoon, after the night I fled to Tordell Manor.

He was too sweet and thoughtful every time we were together.

He kept acting like he cared about me when he didn’t. No wonder I was falling for him so quickly, like an idiot.