I marched over with my mouth still hanging open and swiftly snatched it out of his hand.
“H-Hey! That’s someone else’s—!”
“Didn’t feel like it belonged to someone else.”
Eric scoffed softly.
With a voice that shrank into itself, I asked,
“You didn’t… read the inside, did you?”
“If I say I didn’t, will you believe me?”
…Yeah, he read it.
I pressed my lips tightly together.
“...If you insist, I guess…”
But I shook my head after a pause.
“I can’t. Why’d you even read it…”
“I read this too.”
Eric held up a crumpled slip of paper.
...
Just take the money and leave.
Damn it.
It’s always these things that get found out.
I took the note from him, and there it was—my mother’s familiar handwriting.
I killed your father.
Helena’s broken voice echoed in my ears.
Something inside me churned violently.
I looked up at Eric—at those steady, upright eyes of his.
What does someone like him think when he reads a note like this? About people like us, who treat others’ wounds like leverage, evidence for blackmail?
People who steal what’s not theirs… who cheat and swindle because that’s the only way we’ve survived.
But if we had known another path, we would’ve taken it. Don’t you get that?
“…So you’ve read everything. What now?”
I asked coldly on purpose. Eric gave no reply.
“You really think you can keep this farce of a cultivation marriage going with someone like me? Someone who’s always scheming to exploit others? I’m a wretched person. I have no dignity, no honor, and surprise—I wasn’t even born noble, I’m a commoner by blood—”
“Family’s supposed to protect each other.”
Eric cut in, pointing at the journal.
“You said you wanted to protect me.”
I want to protect him.
I froze—realizing then that Eric had overheard my conversation with Helena.
My eyes widened.
“Y-You… You…!”
“You already protected me.”
“What nonsense are you spewing now? When did I ever—”
Eric calmly tucked the journal into his robes.
“The fact that you didn’t want me to read it… That alone was enough.”
“Don’t say nonsense. I was ready to betray you and Mother, run away on my own. It’s dangerous, sure, but I still—”
“You wouldn’t run. That’s not the kind of person you are.”
Eric’s crimson eyes met mine, steady and unwavering.
And once more, my vision blurred.
You don’t know anything.
I
am
that kind of person.
I… I killed Biolrod.
You said no twelve-year-old could kill their own father. That it defies all common sense.
But I’m
not
bound by that kind of sense. I’m the one who lives outside of it.
Yet none of that came out. Not a word.
Eric, now free of the journal in his hands, reached forward and grasped my trembling ones firmly.
“Lift your head, Emelline.”
I shook it. I couldn’t.
I kept my head bowed as I trembled.
“You’ve grown well. You’re a decent person. A bit strange, sure, but with a sense of honor in your own way…”
“Bullsh—…”
I muttered, my voice choked with emotion.
But Eric didn’t scold me for my crudeness. He just let out a low chuckle and said,
“Do you know what they call someone who doesn’t run away, who stays and protects others—their hearts?”
I looked up.
Eric was staring right at me.
And his crimson eyes—
They were trembling.
“A good person.”
He said it firmly.
“That’s what you call someone like that. You’re not a ‘nice’ person, but you are a good one, Emelin.”
Eric’s hand, holding mine, trembled just like his gaze.
✵
✵
✵
I was sitting in a corner of the Princess Palace’s inner garden, gently applying salve to Eric’s lips.
Only then did I notice—his hands were wrapped in bandages too.
“What happened to your hands?”
“Hm…?”
Eric tried to hide his hands behind his back.
And that’s when it hit me—
Back at the West Tower, he had swung a whip with his bare hands.
“Oh right! That door! You tried to break through that gate, didn’t you?”
“Ah… well…”
Eric scratched his cheek, flustered.
What’s with him?
Honestly—trying to shatter a gate forged with mythril alloy with brute force… no wonder he hurt himself.
“You couldn’t even break it, could you? The princess opened it from the outside, right?”
Who breaks mythril with bare hands? He’s not some legendary aura-wielder.
Eric nodded quickly at my teasing tone.
“Y-Yeah, exactly.”
“Hurt your hands for nothing. And for a so-called Commander of the Order, you don’t seem that great in combat…”
I gently dabbed more salve on his split lip.
At first, I was focused purely on the wound—thanks to that bastard Philip—but soon my attention drifted to the softness of Eric’s lips under my fingers, now slick with ointment.
So soft…
Now that I think about it…
‘That’s not how you kiss someone, you know.’
Flashy as hell for a first kiss.
Kind of… addicting.
I kept staring, unable to pull my gaze away from his lips, internally scolding myself like some lovesick fool out of a romance tale.
That’s when Eric picked up the salve container and muttered,
“Where’d you steal this from now?”
That snapped me out of it, and I quickly averted my eyes.
“I didn’t
steal
it… I just
borrowed
it from the apothecary over there.”
Eric gave a small smile at my blatant shamelessness.
“When you borrow something without asking, that’s called stealing.”
“Hmmm~ that’s weird. In my family, we call that borrowing~”
Eric rubbed his forehead like he was already exhausted by what lay ahead.
“At this rate, are you really going to survive life at the ducal estate starting tomorrow?”
“Oh come on—it’s only for ten months. Just until little Rose enters the world…”
I stroked my belly with a far-off look.
Eric narrowed his eyes and pointed at mine.
“Can you not look at me with those eyes? Even Sir Lily is starting to get suspicious.”
“That’s why we need acting! When we’re playing the newlywed couple, this kind of performance is crucial. Got it, Eric?”
“E… Eric…?”
Eric’s face stiffened.
I looked at him with a sly smile, as if to say
Really? That’s all it takes to throw you off?
“What, we’re married now—should I keep calling you
Young Master
?”
Even though you’ve been calling me
Emelin
for a while now.
“I-I guess…”
“Exactly. Isn’t it strange? A couple who supposedly got married for love so great it rocked the capital—and they don’t even call each other by name?”
Eric paused, as though weighing something deeply, then slowly nodded.
“…You’re right about that.”
“Right? E—ric.”
I deliberately drew out his name in a slow, teasing tone.
A small smile tugged at his lips—like something tickled him.
Seeing that… I could feel something fluttering in my chest too, something soft and restless.
Without realizing it, I tightened my grip around the ointment jar in my hand.
I had to hold onto something—anything—or else I felt like I’d be swept away.
By a great wave.
Or maybe… by a great feeling.
So this was what they called a
charm technique
—a heart-shaking allure not from a spell, but from the person themselves.
Just then, Eric pointed to my face and said,
“You smiled.”
“…Huh?”
I tilted my head.
“When did I…? Hey,
you’re
the one who was smiling!”
“You smiled too.”
I smiled? When?
“…Liar.”
“The one skilled in lying here is you,” he said, amused.
I smacked my lips.
I really didn’t think I smiled…
But Eric kept insisting I had, all while wearing a smile of his own that he couldn’t wipe away.
Just looking at him made my heart feel like it was taking damage from internal qi backlash.
“Hey, you know what…? If you ever get into a second marriage,” I muttered, “don’t go smiling like that too much at your next wife.”
“…What are you talking about?”
“She might die young. From heart deviation. Too much strain on her meridians.”
…Okay, maybe I shouldn’t say that out loud.
While I was struggling to rein in my ridiculous inner self, Eric said in a quiet, serious tone,
“There won’t be a second marriage for me.”
I blinked in surprise.
“…Why not? Don’t tell me—it’s because of me? Because marrying me was such a disgrace?”
Immediately, I pictured someone like Princess Ella—an obvious candidate if Eric were to remarry.
That woman looked like she’d become this nation’s ruler no matter what means she had to use. And if she did, Eric would become the king’s consort—or, more accurately, the consort to a reigning sovereign.
Why pass up that kind of position?
“Don’t worry,” I said. “No matter who she is, I’ll make sure to tell her we only ever kissed once.”
…Well, we hugged too.
But I won’t mention that.
Somehow, that feels like… something I definitely shouldn’t say.
Like it meant more than the kiss.
Too much to just casually bring up.
While I was lost in those thoughts, Eric murmured with a calm, shadowed expression:
“It’s not like that…”
Chapter 47