It seems that she was surprised that Noah answered so readily. Clarisse asked him carefully, looking into his eyes.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Isn’t that what you wanted from the beginning?”
“It’s not that I didn’t have those feelings, but… this is a shameless request.”
“Not really. I’m just coming forward because I also have something to figure out.”
“Something to figure out?”
Noah quietly shook his head. He couldn’t talk freely to outsiders yet.
“Mhm, okay. I won’t ask any more. Oh, by the way, I’m really glad.” Clarisse sighed softly as she touched the place near her heart, probably because she was quite nervous
“Isn’t this the most you’re asking me to do? Why are you so worried?”
Noah smiled and took the first step, and soon Clarisse followed him.
“Of course, because I’m worried about Noah. I was worried about what would happen if you were hurt by what I say.”
“Even though you know that I don’t really like wizards?”
“But this raises questions about magic itself. Even though Noah hates wizards, you like magic, right?”
“Of course, but it’s not that far. But aren’t I Girl’s closest friend?”
Noah’s heart throbbed for some reason when he said the precious words “friend.”
It must have been a truly merciless disease. To the girl who became his first friend, rather than being able to be grateful, he wanted more.
“Of course Noah is a close friend to me.”
Noah could no longer look at Clarisse properly and glanced down.
“….!”
At that moment, Clarisse’s fingertips, bright red from the cold, caught his eye. Why did he only notice it now?
Clarisse was only wearing the cape provided by the monastery. On a windy day like this…!
‘I, I just wanted to go outside for no reason!’
He hurriedly took off his robe and swiftly covered it over Clarisse’s head. He also forgot the important rule that outside the wizard’s castle that he must wear robes to make their identity clear.
“I, if it’s cold, say it’s cold!”
“It was more okay than I thought.”
“It’s not just okay!”
He quickly took Clarisse’s hand.
After using magic to bring warmth to her pitifully frozen hands, he finally sighed.
“Be sure to tell me next time. Because… I don’t know.”
This monstrous body can’t even sense temperature properly, so he left the girl he liked out in the cold and didn’t notice it.
Noah was… truly pathetic.
“Anyway, now it would be better to go back.”
While saying that, they were about to go back the way they came.
“Noah knows.”
Clarisse said, grabbing his wrist.
“You still knew right away. Right?”
Although he was not grabbed with very strong force, Noah stopped in place as if his entire body had been tied.
Somehow, when he turned around, Clarisse had tightly wrapped his robe around like a blanket, giving a shy smile
‘Ah…’
Noah felt like his legs were going to lose strength for a moment. Clarisse was so cute wearing his robe.
“W, we’d better go back quickly!”
He quickly turned around and headed toward the monastery.
And when he went back…he felt like he should immediately take away that enviable robe and wash it thoroughly.
If he doesn’t do that, the scent Clarisse left behind will bother him, and he won’t be able to live properly.
* * *
The eyes were beautiful but harsh.
Devina, having felt that coldness most intensely, visited the workhouse of the first city wall. For a moment, she felt sorry and pity for those who were grateful for the queen’s kindness.
Returning in the simple carriage she used when coming to the workhouse, she gazed absently out her window, thinking of her father’s letter.
The letter was already burned in the fireplace, but the impact of its contents remained deep in her heart.
‘The lost daughter of the Marquis of Curno… That woman? Really?’
The letter clearly said so. It was clear to her because she reread it dozens of times before she burned it.
Also, her father said this.
Right now, handing over the highest-grade gem to the wizard’s castle prevented the news from spreading, but there will be no eternal secrets.
[Devina, this will be a fight to keep your position. What will happen to you if you lose that position…You will know even if I don’t tell you.]
Other people won’t understand.
Why does Brielle Sheridan becoming noble become a threat to Devina?
In order to know this, it was necessary to know the Great Queen’s past behavior. She has compared Maximilian and Lysander to the point of disgrace. So, if Maximilian had anything better, she would always put something better in Lysander’s hands. From a piece of clothing, jewelry, status, and even a wife.
So, if it were known that Maximilian’s wife was actually the ‘Marquis of Curno’ who inherited power.
‘…I’m.’
There was nothing more to see.
She will be pushed out right away.
The Great Queen will search the country, or even the continent, to find a bride better than Brielle and place her in the position of queen. Otherwise, even if it means taking Brielle away, she will try to give something better to her son.
Just like she always has.
Moreover, in this case, Devina didn’t have her husband’s love or even a child to protect her.
Lysander, who likes to imitate a dutiful son, could have declared that they had never slept together and invalidated the marriage itself.
‘That’s… absolutely not.’
It was a story that completely erased Devina’s time as queen from the history of the country.
‘I’d rather get divorced…Ah, what am I thinking!’
Whether it’s an annulment or divorce, isn’t it the same thing that can never be tolerated?
Devina bit the tips of her nails slightly.
‘Why didn’t they kill her?’
She also felt resentful of the criminals who kidnapped Brielle a long time ago.
‘It wouldn’t be that difficult to kill a little four-year-old girl.’
It would be nice if she could go back to the past like in any other novel.
If such an opportunity arises, Devina will definitely step forward and kill that woman. It’s an important task for Devina’s fate, and she can’t leave it to someone else.
If that happens…
She will never marry Maximilian.
She won’t suddenly regain her identity and threaten Devina.
‘Wait, that’s…It hasn’t happened yet, right? No one knows yet; no one knows that she is the Marquis! Even…’
Devina lifted her head.
‘Even the woman herself…!’
Now, only her parents reside in the territory, and she knew that information.
The wizard who was in touch with her father probably also knew this fact, but he certainly wouldn’t go around talking about it after receiving a bunch of jewels.
And even if they’re making a fuss.
‘…After Brielle Sheridan is dead, it is of no use.’
The dead have no power.
She couldn’t inherit the title, and she couldn’t have children.
‘Child.’
Devina frowned slightly.
The news she heard a while ago disturbed her mind again.
‘Brielle Sheridan had royal offspring.’
Since this news came, Devina has not yet met the Great Queen. No, in fact, she has consciously avoided her by making herself busy.
The Great Queen is obviously very angry at the fact that her handsome son is having children ‘later’ than Maximilian.
‘This problem is the same. She hasn’t had a baby yet…?’
Above all, whatever Brielle’s real bloodline was, it was clear that she was a maid. Considering that fact, there isn’t a law that says the child’s father is Maximilian, right?
“Oh my?”
Is it called a coincidence?
At that moment, Brielle was seen beyond her window.
She heard that her mother, a maid, was at the first castle wall, and it seemed like she had come to tell her that she was pregnant. She wondered if Maximilian was also there…
Surprisingly, the man who soon ran in front of her was not Maximilian.
A neatly dressed young man was holding a newborn child in his arms. Soon, Brielle received the child, held it in a familiar manner, and smiled as she faced the man.
She looked very happy.
So much so that people passing by glance at it.
“….”
Devina kept her gaze on the scene until her carriage passed them completely.
Was it really just a coincidence that she found her like this?
No, Devina shook her head. This was the ‘right answer’ given to her by God.
Devina clutched her clothes tightly.
She couldn’t go back to the past, but she could still protect the future.
Now that she had a reason for it, she had no reason to hesitate any longer.
* * *
“Oh really, Harry!”
Brielle held the child and looked at it alternately with her close friend several times.
“How can your child be this pretty? I always say this, but you have to treat Nora like a goddess.”
Nora was a maid who used to work for the Count Darrington, and she was a very close friend of Brielle.
Harry and Nora naturally came to rely on each other after leaving the Count, and they are now a passionately loving couple.
“I know, my daughter is so cute because she looks like my wife. Ha… I will kill anyone who marries my daughter.”
“Oh my, isn’t that too much?”
“All men are the same! Our princess will live with her dad forever, okay?”
Harry quickly took his cute daughter from Brielle’s hands and held her tightly in his arms.
“Hmm… Are all fathers like that?”
Brielle opened the front door of her mother’s house and asked a question.
Today was the day Harry had decided to come and proudly introduce his daughter to Mrs. Woods for the first time, and Brielle, having arrived first, went out to meet him.
“Anyway? If any punk was holding my daughter’s hand, I would want to rush over and grab them by the collar.”
“Would the Duke… do the same?”
“Oh, of course. Why? I heard the little lady is bringing a boyfriend?”
Harry, who knows Brielle’s situation, seems to have already figured out that the main character of the story is Clarisse.
“Mhm, it’s not like that. When I talk about Clarisse’s close friend, his expression seems to change sometimes.”
“As a father whose daughter is the most beautiful woman of the century, I can say this with certainty.” Harry answered confidently, comforting the whining child. “Honestly, teenage boys… no, I don’t trust anyone, no matter how old they are! They’re all just pawns.”
“What?”
“So this is what your duke will think now.”
Harry held his chin high in a smug manner.
“Rather, let’s live happily ever after with this dad…!”
Forever, for a long time.
The words Harry chose so casually didn’t fit their situation, so Brielle couldn’t reply at all.
The child whined again.
“Our princess is going to live with her dad for the rest of her life, right? Right? Phew, yeah! Ah, you’re so cute; how can you live in this harsh world…?”
But Harry’s eyes, absorbed in his daughter…
The look in Maximilian’s eyes when he was worried about Clarisse was not the slightest bit different.
“…Ah, and.”
Just as it seemed like the right time, Brielle changed the subject.
“Another question? Ask me anything.”
“If a child receives an expensive gift… it’s right for me to come and greet that person at least once, right?”
It seems that she was surprised that Noah answered so readily. Clarisse asked him carefully, looking into his eyes.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Isn’t that what you wanted from the beginning?”
“It’s not that I didn’t have those feelings, but… this is a shameless request.”
“Not really. I’m just coming forward because I also have something to figure out.”
“Something to figure out?”
Noah quietly shook his head. He couldn’t talk freely to outsiders yet.
“Mhm, okay. I won’t ask any more. Oh, by the way, I’m really glad.” Clarisse sighed softly as she touched the place near her heart, probably because she was quite nervous
“Isn’t this the most you’re asking me to do? Why are you so worried?”
Noah smiled and took the first step, and soon Clarisse followed him.
“Of course, because I’m worried about Noah. I was worried about what would happen if you were hurt by what I say.”
“Even though you know that I don’t really like wizards?”
“But this raises questions about magic itself. Even though Noah hates wizards, you like magic, right?”
“Of course, but it’s not that far. But aren’t I Girl’s closest friend?”
Noah’s heart throbbed for some reason when he said the precious words “friend.”
It must have been a truly merciless disease. To the girl who became his first friend, rather than being able to be grateful, he wanted more.
“Of course Noah is a close friend to me.”
Noah could no longer look at Clarisse properly and glanced down.
“….!”
At that moment, Clarisse’s fingertips, bright red from the cold, caught his eye. Why did he only notice it now?
Clarisse was only wearing the cape provided by the monastery. On a windy day like this…!
‘I, I just wanted to go outside for no reason!’
He hurriedly took off his robe and swiftly covered it over Clarisse’s head. He also forgot the important rule that outside the wizard’s castle that he must wear robes to make their identity clear.
“I, if it’s cold, say it’s cold!”
“It was more okay than I thought.”
“It’s not just okay!”
He quickly took Clarisse’s hand.
After using magic to bring warmth to her pitifully frozen hands, he finally sighed.
“Be sure to tell me next time. Because… I don’t know.”
This monstrous body can’t even sense temperature properly, so he left the girl he liked out in the cold and didn’t notice it.
Noah was… truly pathetic.
“Anyway, now it would be better to go back.”
While saying that, they were about to go back the way they came.
“Noah knows.”
Clarisse said, grabbing his wrist.
“You still knew right away. Right?”
Although he was not grabbed with very strong force, Noah stopped in place as if his entire body had been tied.
Somehow, when he turned around, Clarisse had tightly wrapped his robe around like a blanket, giving a shy smile
‘Ah…’
Noah felt like his legs were going to lose strength for a moment. Clarisse was so cute wearing his robe.
“W, we’d better go back quickly!”
He quickly turned around and headed toward the monastery.
And when he went back…he felt like he should immediately take away that enviable robe and wash it thoroughly.
If he doesn’t do that, the scent Clarisse left behind will bother him, and he won’t be able to live properly.
* * *
The eyes were beautiful but harsh.
Devina, having felt that coldness most intensely, visited the workhouse of the first city wall. For a moment, she felt sorry and pity for those who were grateful for the queen’s kindness.
Returning in the simple carriage she used when coming to the workhouse, she gazed absently out her window, thinking of her father’s letter.
The letter was already burned in the fireplace, but the impact of its contents remained deep in her heart.
‘The lost daughter of the Marquis of Curno… That woman? Really?’
The letter clearly said so. It was clear to her because she reread it dozens of times before she burned it.
Also, her father said this.
Right now, handing over the highest-grade gem to the wizard’s castle prevented the news from spreading, but there will be no eternal secrets.
[Devina, this will be a fight to keep your position. What will happen to you if you lose that position…You will know even if I don’t tell you.]
Other people won’t understand.
Why does Brielle Sheridan becoming noble become a threat to Devina?
In order to know this, it was necessary to know the Great Queen’s past behavior. She has compared Maximilian and Lysander to the point of disgrace. So, if Maximilian had anything better, she would always put something better in Lysander’s hands. From a piece of clothing, jewelry, status, and even a wife.
So, if it were known that Maximilian’s wife was actually the ‘Marquis of Curno’ who inherited power.
‘…I’m.’
There was nothing more to see.
She will be pushed out right away.
The Great Queen will search the country, or even the continent, to find a bride better than Brielle and place her in the position of queen. Otherwise, even if it means taking Brielle away, she will try to give something better to her son.
Just like she always has.
Moreover, in this case, Devina didn’t have her husband’s love or even a child to protect her.
Lysander, who likes to imitate a dutiful son, could have declared that they had never slept together and invalidated the marriage itself.
‘That’s… absolutely not.’
It was a story that completely erased Devina’s time as queen from the history of the country.
‘I’d rather get divorced…Ah, what am I thinking!’
Whether it’s an annulment or divorce, isn’t it the same thing that can never be tolerated?
Devina bit the tips of her nails slightly.
‘Why didn’t they kill her?’
She also felt resentful of the criminals who kidnapped Brielle a long time ago.
‘It wouldn’t be that difficult to kill a little four-year-old girl.’
It would be nice if she could go back to the past like in any other novel.
If such an opportunity arises, Devina will definitely step forward and kill that woman. It’s an important task for Devina’s fate, and she can’t leave it to someone else.
If that happens…
She will never marry Maximilian.
She won’t suddenly regain her identity and threaten Devina.
‘Wait, that’s…It hasn’t happened yet, right? No one knows yet; no one knows that she is the Marquis! Even…’
Devina lifted her head.
‘Even the woman herself…!’
Now, only her parents reside in the territory, and she knew that information.
The wizard who was in touch with her father probably also knew this fact, but he certainly wouldn’t go around talking about it after receiving a bunch of jewels.
And even if they’re making a fuss.
‘…After Brielle Sheridan is dead, it is of no use.’
The dead have no power.
She couldn’t inherit the title, and she couldn’t have children.
‘Child.’
Devina frowned slightly.
The news she heard a while ago disturbed her mind again.
‘Brielle Sheridan had royal offspring.’
Since this news came, Devina has not yet met the Great Queen. No, in fact, she has consciously avoided her by making herself busy.
The Great Queen is obviously very angry at the fact that her handsome son is having children ‘later’ than Maximilian.
‘This problem is the same. She hasn’t had a baby yet…?’
Above all, whatever Brielle’s real bloodline was, it was clear that she was a maid. Considering that fact, there isn’t a law that says the child’s father is Maximilian, right?
“Oh my?”
Is it called a coincidence?
At that moment, Brielle was seen beyond her window.
She heard that her mother, a maid, was at the first castle wall, and it seemed like she had come to tell her that she was pregnant. She wondered if Maximilian was also there…
Surprisingly, the man who soon ran in front of her was not Maximilian.
A neatly dressed young man was holding a newborn child in his arms. Soon, Brielle received the child, held it in a familiar manner, and smiled as she faced the man.
She looked very happy.
So much so that people passing by glance at it.
“….”
Devina kept her gaze on the scene until her carriage passed them completely.
Was it really just a coincidence that she found her like this?
No, Devina shook her head. This was the ‘right answer’ given to her by God.
Devina clutched her clothes tightly.
She couldn’t go back to the past, but she could still protect the future.
Now that she had a reason for it, she had no reason to hesitate any longer.
* * *
“Oh really, Harry!”
Brielle held the child and looked at it alternately with her close friend several times.
“How can your child be this pretty? I always say this, but you have to treat Nora like a goddess.”
Nora was a maid who used to work for the Count Darrington, and she was a very close friend of Brielle.
Harry and Nora naturally came to rely on each other after leaving the Count, and they are now a passionately loving couple.
“I know, my daughter is so cute because she looks like my wife. Ha… I will kill anyone who marries my daughter.”
“Oh my, isn’t that too much?”
“All men are the same! Our princess will live with her dad forever, okay?”
Harry quickly took his cute daughter from Brielle’s hands and held her tightly in his arms.
“Hmm… Are all fathers like that?”
Brielle opened the front door of her mother’s house and asked a question.
Today was the day Harry had decided to come and proudly introduce his daughter to Mrs. Woods for the first time, and Brielle, having arrived first, went out to meet him.
“Anyway? If any punk was holding my daughter’s hand, I would want to rush over and grab them by the collar.”
“Would the Duke… do the same?”
“Oh, of course. Why? I heard the little lady is bringing a boyfriend?”
Harry, who knows Brielle’s situation, seems to have already figured out that the main character of the story is Clarisse.
“Mhm, it’s not like that. When I talk about Clarisse’s close friend, his expression seems to change sometimes.”
“As a father whose daughter is the most beautiful woman of the century, I can say this with certainty.” Harry answered confidently, comforting the whining child. “Honestly, teenage boys… no, I don’t trust anyone, no matter how old they are! They’re all just pawns.”
“What?”
“So this is what your duke will think now.”
Harry held his chin high in a smug manner.
“Rather, let’s live happily ever after with this dad…!”
Forever, for a long time.
The words Harry chose so casually didn’t fit their situation, so Brielle couldn’t reply at all.
The child whined again.
“Our princess is going to live with her dad for the rest of her life, right? Right? Phew, yeah! Ah, you’re so cute; how can you live in this harsh world…?”
But Harry’s eyes, absorbed in his daughter…
The look in Maximilian’s eyes when he was worried about Clarisse was not the slightest bit different.
“…Ah, and.”
Just as it seemed like the right time, Brielle changed the subject.
“Another question? Ask me anything.”
“If a child receives an expensive gift… it’s right for me to come and greet that person at least once, right?”
