Oberon expressed concern about where he was going at this hour, worrying about danger.
But Admund silenced Oberon with one cold glance.
He still had things he wanted to say to Clea when she woke up.
Not forcing her to write this useless contract.
‘Why am I so irritated?’
Admund Wilhelm, born as the emperor’s only child with his future already secured.
The nobles made him a target of checks and balances, as there was no one even capable of fiercely competing for the throne within the imperial family.
Without blood relatives as political rivals, he would wield unprecedented power once he ascended to the throne.
That’s exactly what the nobles feared.
Throughout history, emperors had sought to strip power from the nobles, while nobles fought to maintain their power against such emperors.
Admund’s emergence at such a time was like a calamity for the nobles.
While some were already currying favor with him who would wield immense power, many were rallying in preparation for the imperial authority becoming stronger than ever once he took the throne.
Admund found their existence laughable and paid little attention to them.
Whether they united or tried to keep him in check, it would all be futile once he ascended to the throne.
In that sense, unlike other emperors, he didn’t need to be obsessed with marriage.
He wasn’t particularly interested in anyone, and he didn’t want to create the hassle of empowering any particular family.
So he just had to bide his time, but then a variable appeared for Admund.
‘Think of it as being bitten by a dog? Haha, damn it.’
Admund, who had slept for nearly half a day due to fatigue that had built up over time as his guard was let down in an instant, sighed while running his hand through his hair.
If he had woken up earlier, he wouldn’t have let her leave like that.
He had intended to hold onto Clea and talk with her for at least as long as the time they had spent together.
About how to proceed from here.
His words to her about not regretting weren’t meant to dismiss it as just a night’s pleasure.
“I wonder what would happen if I visited the Odoi Duke’s residence now.”
Thanks to his order for Oberon to keep his distance while guarding, no one heard his words.
If Oberon had heard this, he would have knelt down on the spot to block his way.
The Odoi family was counted among the noble families that stood against the emperor, to the extent that Oberon would block his path even if a knife were held to his throat.
His intention to go to their mansion from here was tantamount to walking into the heart of enemy territory.
Considering how much attention it would draw, it would be extremely troublesome.
‘What should I do?’
Admund slowly wandered the streets.
Whenever Admund needed to organize his thoughts, he enjoyed taking walks outside the imperial palace.
Usually, his concerns were resolved as he strolled unfamiliar streets and observed passersby, away from familiar spaces.
So this time too, he was in the process of sorting out his thoughts while walking along the street.
Inadvertently glancing at the bridge, he stopped in his tracks.
“…Clea Odoi?”
He scrutinized the person on the bridge with an utterly disbelieving look.
She was standing there, her silver hair shimmering even more beautifully in the moonlight, with eyes as beautiful as the lake flowing under the bridge.
And with a pitiful gaze looking down at the water below.
* * *
Clea stepped out of the house without hesitation.
She wanted to stop by her room on the way out to check if there was anything she needed, but.
If there had been anything necessary in the first place, she wouldn’t have acted so rashly in front of Grit.
She walked out with a bright smile.
As she left, Grit and Steve cast glances at her.
One with a look suggesting she would inevitably return, the other filled with contemptuous anger.
Seeing their gazes, Clea wanted to laugh in their faces while looking straight ahead.
‘There’s no reason for me to return here anymore.’
Under their great misunderstanding, Clea moved her feet.
She didn’t want to keep facing the impure gazes from the servants.
Even if she returned their gaze, they seemed to have no intention of respecting Clea, who was no longer even a duke’s daughter.
Others might have been angry, but Clea wasn’t.
Anger, too, only had meaning if there was a reason for it.
For Clea, the Odoi family and everything else had lost all meaning.
The last time she had been notified of the broken engagement was before the curse appeared, so she had written an apology letter. It was a foolish thing to do.
She felt a bit of regret, thinking if she had known it would come to this, she should have left much earlier.
‘How much time do I have left?’
She suddenly stopped and looked at the back of her hand.
The curse mark that wasn’t there until a year ago.
The clock kept ticking.
After watching the ceaselessly turning clock, Clea lowered her wrist and smiled.
A body fated for death.
How did the female protagonist endure this?
At least for her, life in this world must have held great meaning.
Wouldn’t each day have been terrifying and hellish?
Whenever she tried to forget and live on, her heart gave her pain as if telling her not to forget.
Even when she tried to ignore that pain, her heart only wore down more.
Clearly, in the original work, Clea Odoi’s death wasn’t covered in detail.
Perhaps that’s why Clea was able to calmly accept it when the curse mark suddenly appeared.
That this was the signal foretelling her imminent end.
After all, the death of the villainess was a predetermined event.
“It’s beautiful.”
It was a spontaneous remark that escaped her lips as she looked down from the bridge.
An honest appreciation for the soft moonlight reflecting on the flowing water.
If someone had heard, they might have given her a glance, but there were hardly any people walking around at this late hour.
Clea thought as she looked down.
‘If I were to meet my end in such a beautiful place, it might not be so bad.’
She didn’t know when she would die.
With death foretold, there was no reason for her to live on in this world.
In novels she had read before, those who were possessed tried desperately to survive somehow.
But even that had a reason.
For Clea, however, no reason remained.
Unfamiliar spaces, unfamiliar people, and unfamiliar gazes.
Faced with unjust treatment she had never experienced in reality, Clea grew to dislike this place.
To the point where she felt that meeting death might be the quickest way for her to find peace, even if just a day sooner.
“Do you remember what I said about regretting?”
Clea turned her gaze at the voice of another person reaching her ears.
Lost in her own thoughts, she hadn’t noticed someone approaching.
As she slowly turned her gaze, there stood a familiar man.
A man with black hair that matched the night and striking red eyes.
“What brings Your Highness here when you should be in the imperial palace?”
She smiled.
There was no mockery or ridicule in that smile.
That purely smiling expression just looked pitiful.
As if she could disappear at any moment.
“And why are you here?”
Clea wanted to point out that she had asked first, but she showed patience for now.
Because even in her not-so-good mood, she had met someone whose presence didn’t make her feel bad at all.
If she had encountered Lloyd, Grit, or Steve here, Clea would have climbed over the wall and thrown herself off without hesitation, regardless of whether they tried to stop her or not.
But Admund before her was different from those people above.
Unlike before, his gaze was soft yet somewhat tense, rather than cold and sharp.
Remembering the previous night, she felt better.
“I left home.”
“You left home?”
“I’m no longer an Odoi, Your Highness.”
“Duke’s daughter?”
He tried calling her duke’s daughter, but Clea didn’t respond. She was no longer a duke’s daughter.
Although her eyes were more serious than ever, Admund couldn’t believe it.
He couldn’t make sense of how this had happened.
But that didn’t change what he needed to do.
He slowly approached Clea.
Clea just quietly watched him approach, not backing away.
“Do you remember what I said before? About not regretting?”
“If I remember.”
“Then how do you feel now?”
As he said this, Admund took Clea’s hand.
Like someone who wouldn’t allow her to disappear from this place.
Clea didn’t shake off his hand. It hurt a little, but.
She still looked at Admund’s nape with a relaxed expression.
She smiled at the traces of herself still remaining there.
“I don’t regret it at all.”
Admund thought.
Even if she said she regretted it here, he had no intention of letting go of this hand.
He didn’t want to let go, fearing she might disappear again like when he woke up.
Watching Clea’s relaxed appearance, he felt, for the first time in his life, a sense of urgency.
Urgency.
It was the emotion he felt looking at her, who seemed like she might disappear at any moment for some reason.
Even though she was an ordinary person who couldn’t use magic, it felt like she might vanish from his side in an instant.
Just as she had disappeared as if she had never existed when he thought she would be by his side when he woke up.
“Odoi.”
“Clea.”
“Right, Clea.”
Clea called her own name as if to say she’d let it slide once, but not twice.
As the man who would possess everything in the empire, she would have to follow however he called her, but.
Nevertheless, she felt she wanted him to call her by name.
Admund also had no objection to calling her by name, so he corrected himself.
“Even if you come to regret it later, it’s too late now.”
He pulled the hand he was holding towards himself.
The early spring night breeze was still very cold.
And her body had become as cold as ice.
Admund embraced Clea as if to share his warmth with her and said.
“Because I’m going to keep you by my side from now on.”
Clea almost laughed at this situation.
Although they had only slept together once, she also found Admund not unpleasant as a man.
She considered that his desire to keep her by his side might be for the enjoyment of pleasure, but.
‘…The pain has eased a little.’
For some reason, feeling the pain subside momentarily, she looked up at Admund before her.
And in place of the vanished pain, her heart started to tingle for some reason.
His red eyes, no different from before, couldn’t tear away from her.
Clea thought.
That perhaps he was the first person in this world to look at her with a gaze that wasn’t hatred or mockery.
Moreover, that she might still have some lingering desire to be loved, even if just a little.
Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
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