Waking up as Cinderella’s Stepsister

Waking up as Cinderella's Stepsister - Chapter 8

"So, you're saying that the commander over there is Sir Drake's father, we're on vacation at a villa owned by Sir Drake's family, and there's nothing wrong with the palace?"

Drake, who had been leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, opened his mouth at Anastasia's interrogating questions.

"It wasn't that there was nothing wrong. It turned out that there was actually a conspiracy with some forces.”

Anastasia asked, raising her eyebrows.

“You’re talking in the past tense?”

Then Drake tilted his head.

"It wouldn't have made any difference. We had to prepare as much as possible for various possibilities."

But contrary to what he was saying, he knew that the situation wasn't too bad. It was because he knew that the heart of the King was being shaken by the Prince's hard attitude that he would rather die if he could not marry Ella.

“Anyway, it wasn’t not that dangerous, but you made it seem like something serious happened and lied to me.”

“The resulting situation seems like that, but as I said before, we only prepared for various possibilities.”

Drake, who responded to Anastasia, turned his head to look at his father, Havel, and narrowed his eyes.

‘If he hadn’t appeared like that, it would have been a smooth ending by now.’

As he revealed his resentment in his eyes, Havel shrugged his shoulders as he sat in his seat.

It's a pity that he wasn’t prepared for the unexpected variable of his father, and as Drake shut his eyes tightly and opened it, Anastasia's voice was heard.

“Why did you do this?”

Anastasia's eyes were full of confusion. 

How much should I hide and how much should I reveal?

The thoughts on Drake's mind flashed back to the day she and him first met.

'This bread! Eat the Siberian Husky with watermelon seeds!’

It was the way back after patrolling around the castle. He stood up at the shrill voice resounding through the trees covered in twilight shadows and looked around.

As he covered his footsteps and approached, he saw a woman screaming into the air.

Even though he could not understand her words, he felt as if his stuffy heart was being cleared out as he listened quietly.

It was ridiculous to see himself secretly spying on a woman he did not know while hiding in the bushes, but strangely, he kept looking at her.

For a while, she had alternated between sad lamentations and shouts, and then quietly turned her body and disappeared, as if she had never done so.

He wanted to talk to her, but he stopped himself in case she would get in trouble.

With regret, he stared endlessly at her empty spot, where she had been standing, and turned away with heavy steps.

Just in case, he visited the hill again the next day, and fortunately, he was able to see her again there.

The next day, the next day. So his search for the hill continued for a long time.

He could feel her changing emotions as he listened to her, from her emotions being bitter to then being lighthearted.

After screaming her heart out, she used to go down the hill at dusk, but one day she left in a hurry after dark.

He followed her secretly until she had descended all the way down the hill, lest a wild beast appeared, and the next day he sprinkled mirror ore on the ground so that she could see her way, and waited for her.

But she never appeared again.

He waited a few more days, but he couldn't see her. He was worried about what had happened.

Then he realized that he didn't even know her name. It wasn't until he went down the hill that he had no idea where she lived.

Even he couldn't understand why he was so obsessed with a woman who had never had a conversation with. He tried to brush it off, but it kept bothering him.

The place where he met her, who had been tormenting him like that, was none other than the royal ball. He was happy and surprised at the same time, because he never expected to see her again.

She was dressed up for the ball, but she was recognizable at a glance.

But her eyes were on the Prince.

Could it be that she has a crush on the Prince? The thought made him nervous, and his head was cluttered.

His complicated gaze watched her throughout the ball. Then their eyes met, and after a while, he approached her and asked her to dance.

But something unexpected happened. Following the Prince who had pursued Ella, he had no choice but to leave.

There were still a lot of things he had not said to her yet, so he urged her not to go anywhere and to stay there.

But when he returned, she was gone again.

After going through the same thing again, he felt like he was going crazy with an unknown sense of despondency.

Was the name she gave him even real?

Even while escorting the prince who went out to find the owner of the glass slipper, he was filled with thoughts of the woman who had disappeared as if she was teasing him.

But the moment she lifted her eyes, he saw, unbelievably, her foot tucked into a glass slipper.

He blinked his eyes several times to wonder if he had seen incorrectly, but it was definitely her.

Rather than expressing his delight, he was more disrespectful, as he couldn’t control his conflicting emotions.

As soon as she said that that she hoped to never see him again came out of her mouth, he was awakened.

So he spoke frankly. I waited. I was worried.

The moment he saw her eyes flutter, he felt a sense of relief.

He realized that his own feelings for her were no different from those the Prince had for Ella.

Just as the Prince couldn't forget Elle and missed her, he too was spending days full of thoughts about Anastasia.

Finally, he was relieved with his heart, but the Prince's marriage began to make noise.

The King who tried to push ahead with a political marriage and the prince who refused to do so did not break each other's will.

As soon as he heard that some nobles were of the opinion that getting rid of the woman would be the simple solution, he felt like his blood was gushing upside down.

It was because the problem was not limited to just Ella. Fortunately, the idea was tossed by the King and his wife, but he had to worry about the safety of Anastasia and her family.

After contemplating, he exaggerated the situation to her. It was a pity that she was scared for him, but there was nothing wrong with being careful.

Fortunately, he heard a circumstantial report saying that the King was likely to back down. However, he moved to the villa while hiding this fact. And they confirmed each other's feelings and spent the night together.

The fact that Anastasia was his own fated companion was already proved by the ring. For the ring to fit on her hand, the ring itself would recognize its master for itself. It was the same for his mother, and his grandmother and his great-grandmother. The magic of the ring had been around for a very long time.

After spending a few more days at the villa, he was planning to return, saying that the situation with the royal family seemed to be in order.

But suddenly, his father appeared out of the blue. To catch up with his son who was enjoying a leisurely vacation at the villa.

Drake, who was gently rubbing his chin, thought there was no need to scrape for nothing.
 

Unnecessary information that she did not need to know could be kept secret for the rest of his life.

After much consideration, Drake strode closer to her.

“You really don’t know? Why l did that?”

Then, he tilted his head and sent her affectionate but earnest eyes.

“Because I love you. I couldn't help but worry."

I could see her eyes flutter as I whispered in a deep, low, serene voice.

Hmmm, Havel, who had been coughing in vain, sprinted out of his seat.

He didn't care, curving his eyes softly and gently pressing his lips to her ringed finger.

He knew she wouldn't be mad anymore.