Chapter 4
“Damian!”
With tears filling her eyes, Elise immediately threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
Caught off guard by her sudden action, Damian looked slightly flustered, but he gently patted Elise’s back as though she were a precious treasure.
“I didn’t expect this.”
The corner of his mouth curved upward.
Elise stepped out of Damian’s embrace and stared at him.
Perhaps his slightly pointed fangs looked especially adorable today because Damian was the only person who hadn’t demanded that she sacrifice herself.
“Damian, in my next life… I’ll definitely… love you.”
She intended to keep the promise she had made to him in their final moments.
“So you really have loved me all this time, haven’t you, Elise?”
“…Maybe I have.”
Elise lied calmly without even batting an eye.
“Exactly!”
Damian broke into a wide smile as though he genuinely believed her.
His cheeks, which were usually so pale that he looked almost bloodless, even took on a faint blush.
Seeing him look so innocent, almost like a pure-hearted child, Elise couldn’t help but smile softly.
“How did you get here so quickly?”
“I’ve always been watching you.”
She took back her earlier thought about him looking like an innocent child.
Elise stared at Damian incredulously and spoke in a joking tone.
“…Are you a stalker?”
“Stalker? I have to keep an eye on you at all times. I couldn’t help it. Who knows what those filthy bastards might do to you?”
At his words, her eyes trembled slightly.
Could Damian have noticed long ago that something was suspicious about them?
Elise looked around before taking his hand and pulling him toward a secluded corner of the garden.
“I didn’t expect this either.”
The place was already quiet and deserted, but as she led him deeper into an increasingly shadowed area, Damian followed obediently, his body trembling slightly as though he found the whole thing incredibly amusing.
At last, they reached the darkest, most secluded corner of the garden, where no one was likely to come.
Elise pressed herself close to Damian.
Then she began whispering in a very small voice.
“This place is a little dangerous, though.”
“Who’s in danger? Me? Or you?”
He sounded playful, clearly intrigued by Elise’s sudden change in behavior.
“I’m not joking. Damian, what did you mean when you said you didn’t know what they might do to me?”
“People like them are so predictable, Elise.”
Damian casually shrugged.
“It’s disgusting how desperately they try to pretend they’re perfectly righteous.”
“…Is that the only reason?”
“Yeah. Do I need another reason?”
He tilted his head in confusion, and Elise let out a small sigh.
She had thought Damian knew something more, but apparently, he didn’t know anything after all.
“I’m glad you’re not running away from me anymore, Elise.”
At his words, Elise’s brows twitched.
In fact, she had always run away whenever she saw Damian.
It was partly because the three men had constantly fed her terrible stories about him.
“I heard Damian kidnapped children living near the border of the Ariaton Empire.”
“He’s an absolutely cruel bastard. I heard he killed northern nobles this time, too.”
“He even kills civilians. He’s no different from a demon. You must avoid him at all costs.”
But now that she thought about it, they had all been nothing more than rumors.
And Damian had never once treated her badly.
She had simply been frightened and kept her distance because she had heard the words ‘villain’ and ‘madman’ so many times that they had become ingrained in her mind.
But now that she knew the future that awaited her, she no longer wanted to push Damian away.
“Yes. I’m not going to do that anymore. Do you dislike it?”
“Of course not. I like it. It feels like we’ve become much, much closer than before. Or… are we already close?”
His face suddenly moved closer to Elise.
“…Ah.”
Only then did she realize how closely their bodies were pressed together.
“This is why I love you.”
Damian’s vivid green eyes gleamed as he stared at Elise, whose face had turned bright red.
“You’re unpredictable.”
“Neither can I predict you, considering you confess your love in a situation like this.”
“Elise, are you any different?”
He covered his mouth and chuckled softly.
So this was how Damian laughed so casually.
Aside from the fact that he was just as handsome as Leonhardt, Ian, and Esit, there was nothing particularly unusual about him.
Once she removed the preconceived notion that he was a villain, she began to see Damian for who he really was.
Suddenly, she became curious about when his feelings for her had begun.
Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Elise avoided eye contact and cleared her throat.
“…Ahem. When did you start loving me?”
“At first sight.”
“Love at first sight?”
She stared at him in shock and recalled her first encounter with Damian.
Their first meeting had been absolutely terrible.
He had suddenly approached her from behind, startling her so badly that she had punched him directly in the face.
“I distinctly remember punching you when we first met…”
“Ah.”
One of Damian’s eyebrows rose leisurely.
“You were pretty even then.”
Even then?
Elise tilted her head.
“But that wasn’t our first meeting.”
“That… wasn’t?”
She stared at Damian in confusion.
He raised one corner of his mouth, looking thoroughly entertained.
“Seeing that expression on your face, the one that says you’re dying to know, makes me want to keep it a secret.”
“…Then I suppose I shouldn’t be curious.”
Elise turned her head away with a pout, pretending to be offended.
But Damian gazed at her with an expression that made it obvious he found her genuinely adorable.
Her cheeks immediately flushed.
“Ahem. Let’s stop talking about this…”
“Would you believe me if I said I fell in love with you at first sight every single time I saw you?”
“…What?”
He answered immediately, without the slightest hesitation.
“The first meeting you remember—the moment you punched me in the face. It was the same then.”
No wonder people called Damian a madman.
Wait.
Maybe he wasn’t a madman.
Maybe he was just a pervert.
Elise blinked rapidly at his completely unexpected answer.
“It was the first time in my life that someone’s hand had touched my face. And when the face of the person who struck me was more beautiful than any work of art I’d ever seen…”
But Damian wasn’t finished.
“On top of that, the person who hit me possessed an ability unlike anything else on the continent.”
He spread both arms excitedly, as though proudly showing off his most treasured possession.
“You’re simply perfect.”
“I’m… perfect?”
“Aesthetically, functionally, religiously, symbolically…”
He scrunched his nose slightly and smiled brightly.
“How could anyone not love a woman like you?”
Elise stared blankly at Damian.
She had been betrayed by three men simultaneously.
Each of them had their own reasons for betraying her.
Esit had done it because her abilities were too powerful.
Ian had done it because she was prettier than him.
Leonhardt had…
Honestly, she didn’t know.
But after hearing Damian’s answer, she realized one thing.
There was someone who loved her for every single quality those men had betrayed her for.
And she also realized that she had no way of stopping herself from loving Damian, who loved her so desperately.
“Damian, there’s something I want to tell you.”
“Go ahead.”
“You see…”
Just as she was about to continue with a determined expression—
“Lady Elise!”
A familiar voice came from behind them.
“How could you possibly be here with Damian…!”
Leonhardt grabbed Elise roughly by the wrist and pulled her behind him.
“Get out of here immediately!”
“The captain of the Ariaton Empire’s Guardian Corps certainly doesn’t know much about manners.”
Even though Damian had just had Elise taken away from him, he didn’t respond by doing the same thing.
“To think you would speak like that to the crown prince of a neighboring country.”
“It’s unfortunate for the people of the Devlin Empire to have someone like you as their crown prince…”
“That’s enough. He’s my guest.”
“Lady Elise’s guest…?”
Leonhardt stared at her in complete disbelief.
“What on earth is going on? How could a villain like him be your guest? I wasn’t even informed that you had come here.”
“Do I have to report my every move to you?”
Elise sharply retorted as she pulled her wrist free from his grasp.
“Not to me. But the guards stationed at the entrance are obligated to report—”
“That’s convenient.”
She cut Leonhardt off coldly.
“I have something to say to you as well, Sir Leonhardt.”
At being addressed as ‘Sir Leonhardt’ instead of the affectionate ‘Leon’ she had always used, the muscles in his face twitched slightly.
“…Lady Elise. I don’t know what happened, but you seem angry with me…”
Leonhardt’s eyes slowly moved as he gauged Elise’s mood.
Then, apparently deciding that changing the subject would be the best way to calm her down, he glared pointedly at Damian and spoke.
“Ah, as it happens, I also have something to tell you. About the upcoming Spring Festival—”
“Let’s break up.”
But Elise was the one who spoke first.
Wheeeet—
The garden instantly fell silent.
The only sound echoing through the stillness was Damian’s whistle as he watched the two of them from behind.
