Chapter 7
Of course, now that peace had been restored, no one would track Edrion’s movements even if the dissolution papers were submitted.
The problem was that the previous Duke Akshard, who had been a party to the contract, was already dead.
Therefore, it had become difficult to revoke the engagement through ordinary means.
‘Noble marriages aren’t simple promises.’
They were contracts between families, absolute norms that persisted across generations in noble society.
If descendants could overturn such promises as easily as flipping a hand, who would trust the words and actions of nobles?
Thus, the legal dissolution of a contract was strictly limited, without exception, to while the signatories were still alive.
Or if one of the parties died and could no longer fulfill the promise.
‘But both Edrion and I are perfectly alive…….’
So did that mean she really had to marry him like this?
Lilith racked her brain in denial of reality, but no matter how she thought, there were no cases where the marriage itself fell through.
At most, after the wedding, if the couple fought to the death or lived separately with lovers on the side.
So the conclusion was one.
‘Farewell, my precious limbs…….’
Lilith buried her face in her hands and fell silent.
Interpreting her action somehow, Edrion’s expression hardened, and he ended up comforting Lilith instead.
“It’s already in the past, so don’t worry about it.”
“But…….”
“I think what’s important is the future, Lilith.”
Edrion took off his jacket and draped it over Lilith’s shoulders.
Only then did Lilith realize her hair was still damp and that she’d been standing in the hallway for a while in thin indoor clothes.
“It’s late, so you should sleep now. We can talk about the rest later…….”
“No.”
The idea came to her without warning.
Dissolving the engagement might be hard, but what if she delayed the marriage as much as possible?
What if she made Edrion lose interest in her?
As a soldier, he was strict about hierarchy and would find insubordination unpleasant.
So if she opposed everything he said, he’d surely come to dread their marriage too—a very plausible and reasonable assumption.
“I don’t want to sleep tonight, Edrion.”
“Pardon?”
Following the flow of her thoughts, Lilith adopted the contrarian approach.
Sure enough, it worked; Edrion’s golden eyes deepened as he looked at her.
“Do you really mean that?”
“Of course…….”
About to affirm, Lilith sensed something off in the atmosphere and closed her mouth.
She’d expected him to be displeased, but the effect was too strong.
The politeness from before was gone, replaced by impatiently gleaming eyes, low and rough breathing, a jutting jaw with bulging veins, and tense forearm muscles…….
‘Hmm.’
At this rate, she’d end up as an unidentified corpse before even dissolving the engagement!
Lilith quickly discarded the contrarian approach.
“Of course…… not? It was a joke, haha!”
“Oh, that’s a shame.”
It shouldn’t be a shame!!
But Edrion sighed deeply, as if truly disappointed.
Moreover, he pressed his forehead as if suppressing some rising urge, so Lilith decided to vanish from his sight like the wind.
“I should go to bed now. Yawn, I’m sleepy. Good night!”
“Yes, good night, Lilith.”
Edrion kissed the back of her hand and slowly pulled away.
His vividly shining eyes resembled a predator releasing a small, precious rabbit.
But the moment their gazes met, Edrion erased the dangerous aura as if it had never been, curving his eyes like a gentle large dog.
Lilith felt an immense unease.
‘Why is he always smiling? In the original, he was all icy winds…….’
About to slip into bed, Lilith suddenly poked her head out through the door crack again, struck by a worry.
Edrion was still standing in the same spot.
“Um, Duke Akshard.”
“Speak.”
“It’s nothing much, but…… could you keep my presence in the capital a secret for now? Especially from the Noella family.”
Facing her family wasn’t particularly pleasant for Lilith.
And she figured they felt the same.
‘If only the young miss hadn’t been born, Madam would be…….’
‘Shh, quiet.’
Hearing her request, Edrion fell silent for a moment.
She planned to make up an excuse if he asked why, but contrary to expectation, he nodded without further words.
“I’ll do that. In return…….”
“Yes?”
“Lilith, please grant me one request.”
“I’ll hear it and decide.”
Having left her family at twelve and wandered the world, she’d learned one thing.
To coldly refuse things like co-signing loans, body waiver forms, cult recruitment, insurance pitches, and the like.
Whether aware of Lilith’s wariness or not, Edrion continued smoothly.
“Don’t respond if a suspicious person speaks to you.”
“……?”
“Don’t look at them for long or follow them, and if necessary, come to me immediately.”
Anytime is fine.
Whispering that, Edrion reached out and gently stroked Lilith’s flushed cheek.
“You’re cold. You should go in now.”
“Ah.”
Edrion withdrew his hand, pushed her into the bedroom, and closed the door.
The hallway light was cut off, plunging the surroundings into darkness.
Feeling oddly unsettled, Lilith touched the cheek he’d fiddled with and approached the window where moonlight filtered in.
‘Why did Edrion say that?’
Don’t respond if a suspicious person speaks to you, don’t follow them, don’t even look at them for long.
No matter how she thought about it…….
‘Isn’t that like warning me about kidnapping?’
It made sense in a way, but she wasn’t an eight-year-old child—she was turning eighteen this year.
‘Why on earth?’
She couldn’t fathom the reason.
Thanks to that, Lilith was left with an inexplicable discomfort.
* * *
That night.
In the innermost sanctuary of the palace, where everyone slept, a brilliant cascade of light poured forth.
The World Tree emitted a dazzling radiance never before recorded, and its leaves began turning an incomparably vibrant, fresh green.
“Wh-what is this…….”
“It’s so bright I can’t open my eyes properly!”
It wasn’t just the light.
The brittle, easily crumbling leaves became thick and sturdy.
Even the bark layering the trunk felt subtly infused with moisture.
The knights on night watch, astonished by this wondrous sight, rushed to the emperor and empress in their bedchamber.
Awakened in the middle of the night, Emperor Kairos sensed from the knights’ urgent faces that this was no ordinary matter.
“What did you say? There’s an anomaly with the World Tree?”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Report the details of the anomaly.”
“W-well…… the World Tree’s leaves and trunk have become fresher than ever before!”
“……?”
Not only the emperor but also Aitana, listening beside him, wore a subtle expression.
In fact, she’d spent the evening enduring all sorts of nagging and complaints from the administrator trio, finally losing her temper, chasing them out, and going to bed early.
They’d taken turns pleading: Lady Noella’s actions are a desecration of the sacred, send her far away, make sure she never comes back, and so on—her head was throbbing.
“What on earth is going on…….”
“We should go see for ourselves. Aitana, will you come?”
“Yes, let’s.”
About to rise from the bed, Aitana changed her mind.
After all, the root of all this stemmed from the fiancée her damned brother had brought, so asking her directly would make grasping the situation easier.
Aitana gestured to the chief attendant and commanded.
“Go fetch Lady Noella. Politely.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.”
The chief attendant, on Aitana’s order, hurried to the lodging on the palace outskirts.
But he had to stop at the stairs.
The empress’s brother, Edrion, was blocking the hallway.
“Shh.”
“Your Grace?”
“I know what you’re here for, but Lilith just fell asleep, so don’t disturb her and go back. I’ll inform my sister myself.”
“But Her Imperial Majesty…….”
A massive shadow loomed over the protesting attendant’s head.
Edrion had stepped forward.
“Do you perhaps want to shine alongside the World Tree? If so, don’t hold back.”
“Ahem.”
The coldly settled golden eyes slowly and meticulously scanned the top of the attendant’s head.
With the gaze’s meaning clear—where and how he’d make him shine—the attendant could only bow his head quietly and turn away.
Having chased off the midnight intruder, Edrion slowly turned his gaze.
It was toward the bedroom where Lilith slept.
