Lilian of Turin

‘That was dangerous…’

Really dangerous.

It might have been from the moment he met Lilian, or perhaps from the moment he identified Lilian’s presence, which was infinitely light and slow, among the sounds of people coming from the hallway.

Slowly, a vicious desire began to boil inside Damian.

He wanted to snatch that blind, innocent looking woman right away and disappear into a place no one knew.

He wanted to be by her side, locking her up in a place where no one else could enter or see her.

Even Damian was embarrassed by the wild and ferocious desire he felt for the first time in his life.

Besides, because the man reacted to his greed, Damian could smell the very faint scent of herbal smoke and the soft smell of sun-dried stones from Lilian.

The day he first met Lilian, he wanted to rub his head on her hands and behave like a charming cat, which was different from his greed.

It was so deep that he couldn’t even compare it.

While Cedric was quietly interfering, Damian missed Lilian.

As time passed after the first contact, the old pain was coming back to life. Damian’s body slowly began to crave the rest he felt then, the rest that had given him intense pleasure.

But he never expected his blood to boil so much before he even actually meet Lilian.

‘What the hell?’

It seemed like his whole body, even every drop of blood that ran through his veins, wanted Lilian.

Had he known in advance, he would have avoided her. He had to hide the fact that he was a monster from Lily.

In Damian’s opinion, the difference between a war hero and a murderer was one piece of paper. Even more, he was a monster before a murderer. Even knowing that, will Lilian still want to marry him?

Imperial law was very lenient on divorce. So Damian was going to keep it hidden for the rest of his life if possible.

Tier High, no matter where they go, is a genius who stands out among geniuses. Just that much.

He won’t let her know more than that.

Lily should never have the thought of leaving him.

A familiar burning sensation began to rise from his fingertips. Damian cupped his left hand around his right hand, which was clenched into a fist.

This pain would disappear as soon as he touch Lily, but he doubted whether he could end it by just touching her.

It was as if the screws had come loose. As if the castle of patience he had built up all his life had collapsed.

However, this castle was not a battlefield. Damian made up his mind to be distracted.

This wasn’t a place where he could freely become a monster.

***

Moments later, after Lilian started to move toward the inner castle.

“I’m here to pick you up, lady.”

The ones who appeared as if they had been waiting were the brother and sister Allen and Rita Hayworth, whose calm expressions resembled each other.

She was caught but she was more impressed.

“I came out secretly but I didn’t expect to be discovered so quickly. How impressive.”

“Not at all. It’s just that there weren’t many places the lady would have dared to sneak to.”

Well, there was that too.

“By the way, the fact that you personally found me…”

“Yes, the Lord knew.”

“I knew it.”

The attitude of both the messenger and the receiver was neat and refreshing.

“Let’s go. He’s waiting for you.”

“Oh, I guess he’s a little free today?”

“That can’t be. Isn’t it the time when the farming season has just ended? Due to facility maintenance and tax collection issues, construction continues to be hectic today.”

Still, the one who had time to wait for his sister was a man named Cedric.

“Rather, it’s hard to stop him from saying he would go find you himself. Don’t you know that, my lady?”

“Yeah…”

For the past 7 years, Cedric made a name for himself as one of the two great mountain ranges in the empire along with the late Fuedal Lord Hemenlinna.

“You’re the only person who can have an audience with the Elector of Turin at any time, regardless of his schedule.”

“It sounds like he’s in a hurry to scold me regardless of the schedule.”

When the conversation reached this point, a thin smile formed on Allen’s usually expressionless lips.

“You’re very clever.”

“Will he scold me a lot?”

“I don’t know. I wonder if he’ll be sullen rather than angry.”

“That is scarier.”

There was no opponent more difficult to defeat than her sullen older brother. A sigh came out, but Lilian soon made up her mind.

“Alright, let’s go. I can’t make someone who’s already busy wait for a long time.”

“Good idea. It would be better if you get it over and done with.”

However, Cedric, who greeted Lilian in his office, brought up a serious subject in a different sense.

“Lily, what if you think about your marriage again?”

“Pardon?”

It was unexpected. Reconsider the marriage?

“Brother, we have already…”

“We already exchanged marriage certificates seven years ago. Yes, the time when an annulment of a marriage is possible is over. But divorce is not an impossible story.”

“Wait a minute, brother.”

Lilian calmly asked, calming Cedric’s impatient behavior.

“You’re making me flustered since I don’t know why you’re suddenly saying this. Do you have any reason so that I can understand?”

“…”

After thinking for a while, Cedric pulled out an envelope she had never seen before from a desk drawer.

“The imperial family sent you an invitation. During the great reconciliation, they asked you to attend a banquet hosted by the imperial family.”

The sender was Madam Rachel Wood.

As was well known, Madam Rachel was Emperor Claude’s secret agent and mistress at the same time.

She was the most influential person behind the assassination of Cedric and Lilian’s father, the former Elector of Turin.

The most trusted and favored figure by Emperor Claude both politically and privately.

It’s no exaggeration to say that while the Empress, who had remarried her husband’s younger brother, quietly lived away from the public eye, the social world in the Capital was completely reorganized around Madam Rachel.

Under the reign of Emperor Claude, she was a woman who had nothing to be afraid of and had nothing she couldn’t have. The reason why such a powerful person pointed out Lilian and invited her was clear.

Lilian had become her target.

“After the sorority incident, Duke Blanchett betrayed the Great Feudal Lord. But he’s a small-minded man so he hadn’t spilled any important information yet. I think he must have been brave.”

Calling him brave was by no means a compliment. Cedric sighed.

“The first time I accepted the political strategy, I admit it. I didn’t even think about you at the time.”

No one expected that Claude Rupenwein’s usurpation of the throne would last this long. In the end, the Great Feudal Lord of Hemenlinna was defeated first in the fight against time.

And as Damian took on the burden of the Great Feudal Lord, he became the only pillar supporting the Crown Prince faction.

Cedric stood in front of a chessboard set up by the window, where both he and Lilian sat.

“Look, Lily. The Crown Prince is the king in this chess game. If you lose him, it’s game over, but he’s also the weakest pawn.”

Cedric lifted the most powerful piece on the chessboard, the queen and placed it in front of the king.

“In the meantime, we’re dealing with an enemy with two queens. However, due to unavoidable circumstances, we lost a queen.”

Lilian quickly realized that it’s the story of the previous Elector of Hemenlinna.

“There are now two ways for the enemy to win the game. Catch the king yourself, or…”

“…defeat the remaining queen and capture the helpless king.”

“That’s correct.”

Due to Duke Blanchett’s activities, the marriage alliance between Turin and the Crown Prince faction might already be known.

In addition, this situation was where even the magic tunnel that could subdue Turin at any time had disappeared. Soon, the Emperor’s side will find out about that too.

Now that it had happened, the best way to tear the alliance apart was to break up Lilian and Damian’s marriage.

Lilian calmly thought.

‘They’ve already killed the previous lord, so it won’t be difficult to kill the daughter.’

Cedric’s fingers holding the table were trembling slightly.

“But brother, just as my marriage was not a simple marriage, the divorce will not be a simple divorce either.”

It was like sending a declaration of war to an alliance that had been together for seven years. Lilian knew the end of the story.

‘The Crown Prince becomes the Emperor.’

When that happens, will the victor forgive Turin for betraying them?

Damian asked her a moment ago.

Is Cedric’s will Lilian’s?

If Cedric wants to break off the engagement, does Lily want the same?

She confidently replied yes, but interestingly, the situation turned out to be the opposite.

“Brother.”

From that single world, Cedric read Lilian’s rejection.

“Lily, please.”

Cedric turned his back while rubbing his face.

“No, no way. No matter what you say, this is unacceptable.”

“Loyal, somewhat obstinate, lacking in flexibility, and as such, it’s said that the character of Turin people are being righteous and upstanding.”

“…”

Seeing a person so frustratingly naive, people would get sick of it and ask, ‘are your parents from Turin?’. It was one of the famous Imperial repertoire.

“Although I will leave Islar and give birth to a child who will not be from Turin, my heart was born in Turin.”

They are loyal, somewhat stubborn, and lack flexibility. Integrity beyond honesty, determination beyond cleanliness.

“A member of Turin would never cowardly seek their own comfort.”

“Lilian Islar!”

“I can’t. I am a daughter of Turin until the day I die.”