Chapter 5: For the First Time

Though Oberon worried about the danger, asking where he was going at this hour,

Edmund made Oberon close his mouth with just one cold glance.

He still had things he wanted to discuss with Clea when she woke up.

Not forcing her to write these useless contracts.

‘Why am I so irritated?’

Edmund Wilhelm, who was guaranteed his future from birth as the emperor’s only child.

The nobles targeted him as someone to keep in check, even though there was no one who could compete for the throne after fierce battles within the imperial family.

Without blood relatives as political opponents, he would wield unprecedented power once he ascended to the throne.

That’s exactly what the nobles feared.

Throughout history, emperors wanted to take power from the nobles, and nobles fought against such emperors to protect their power.

Edmund’s appearance at such a time was like a disaster for the nobles.

While some were already serving him who would hold immense power, many were gathering forces in preparation for imperial power becoming stronger when he ascended the throne.

Edmund found their existence laughable and didn’t pay much attention.

Whether they united or tried to check his power, it would all be useless once he ascended 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 troublesome situation of empowering any particular family.

So while he could just wait for time to pass, a variable appeared for Edmund.

‘Think of it as being bitten by a dog? Haha, damn it.’

Edmund, who had slept for nearly half a day due to accumulated fatigue after his guard suddenly dropped, sighed while running his hand through his hair.

If he had woken up earlier, he wouldn’t have let her leave like that.

At least for the time he spent with Clea, he thought to hold onto her and talk.

About what they should do going forward.

His words about her not regretting weren’t meant to dismiss it as just one night of pleasure.

“I wonder what would happen if I visited the Odoi duchy now.”

Fortunately, since he ordered Oberon to guard from a distance, no one heard his words.

If Oberon had heard this, he would have knelt right there to block his way.

The Odoi family was counted among the noble families that opposed the emperor, to the point where they would block his path even with a knife at their throat.

Saying he would go to their mansion from here was like saying he would walk into the heart of the enemy territory.

It would be very troublesome, considering how much attention it would draw.

‘What should I do.’

Edmund slowly wandered the streets.

Whenever he needed to organize his thoughts, Edmund enjoyed taking walks outside the palace.

Usually, his worries would be resolved while strolling and observing unfamiliar streets and passing people after leaving familiar spaces.

So this time too, he was organizing his thoughts while walking along the street.

He unconsciously stopped when he looked at the bridge.

“…Clea Odoi?”

He examined the person on the bridge with disbelieving eyes.

There she stood, with silver hair gleaming even more brilliantly in the moonlight, and eyes as beautiful as the lake flowing beneath the bridge.

And with a pitiful gaze looking down at the water below.

* * *

Clea stepped outside without hesitation.

Though she wanted to stop by her room on the way out to check if there was anything she needed.

If there had been anything she needed in the first place, she wouldn’t have acted that way in front of Grit.

She walked out with a bright smile.

On her way out, Grit and Steve cast glances at her.

One with eyes saying she would return here anyway, the other filled with anger as if finding her pathetic.

Seeing their gazes, Clea wanted to sneer while looking straight ahead.

‘When 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 sent by the servants.

Even if she returned their gazes, they seemed to have absolutely no respect for Clea who was no longer even a noble lady.

Others might get angry, but Clea didn’t.

Anger, too, needed to have meaning.

To Clea, everything including the Odoi family had no meaning.

The last time she announced breaking off the engagement was before the curse appeared, so she wrote an apology letter. It was a foolish thing.

She felt some regret, thinking if she had known it would be like this, she should have left sooner.

‘How much time is left?’

She suddenly stopped walking and looked at the back of her hand.

The curse mark that wasn’t there until a year ago.

The clock kept turning.

After watching the continuously turning clock, Clea lowered her wrist and smiled.

A body destined 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, like hell?

When she tried to live while forgetting, her heart caused pain as if it was telling her not to forget.

Though she tried to ignore even that pain, her heart only wore down more.

The original work certainly didn’t cover Clea Odoi’s death in detail.

Perhaps that’s why Clea could calmly accept when the curse mark suddenly appeared.

That this was the signal foretelling her end soon.

Because the villainess’s death was a predetermined event.

“It’s pretty.”

The words came out unconsciously while looking down from the bridge.

An honest appreciation emerged at the soft moonlight reflecting on the flowing water.

Though someone might look if they heard, there were almost no people walking around at this late hour.

Clea thought while looking down,

‘If I meet my end in such a beautiful place, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.’

She didn’t know when she would die.

With her death foretold, she had no reason to live in this world.

In the novels she read before, those who transmigrated struggled desperately to survive somehow.

But even they had their reasons.

However, Clea had no reasons left at all.

Unfamiliar spaces, unfamiliar people, and unfamiliar gazes.

Faced with unfair treatment she had never experienced in reality, Clea grew to hate this place.

To the point where she felt that meeting death might be the fastest way for her to find peace, even if just a day sooner.

“Remember what I said about regretting it?”

At the voice of another in her ear, Clea turned her gaze.

Perhaps because she was 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 striking black hair matching the night and red eyes.

“What brings Your Highness here when you should be at the palace?”

She smiled.

That smile held no mockery or derision.

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 in her not-so-good mood, she had met someone whose presence didn’t feel bad at all.

If she had encountered Lloyd, Grit, or Steve here, Clea would have climbed over the wall and thrown herself down without hesitation, whether they tried to stop her or not.

But Edmund, who was before her, was different from those people above.

Unlike before, his gaze was not cold and sharp, but soft yet somehow tense.

Remembering last night, her mood improved.

“I left home.”

“Left home?”

“I am no longer an Odoi, Your Highness.”

“My lady?”

Though he called her ‘my lady’, Clea didn’t respond. Because she was no longer a noble lady.

Despite her eyes being more serious than ever, Edmund 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’s side.

Clea just quietly watched him approach, not stepping back.

“Remember what I said before? About whether you would regret it.”

“If I remember?”

“Then how about now?”

Saying that, Edmund took Clea’s hand.

Like someone who wouldn’t allow her to disappear from here.

Clea didn’t shake off his hand. Though it hurt a little.

She still examined Edmund’s nape with a relaxed expression.

She smiled at her marks that still remained.

“I don’t regret it at all.”

Edmund 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, afraid she would disappear again like when he woke up, if he released this hand.

Watching Clea’s relaxed appearance, he felt a sense of urgency for the first time in his life for some reason.

Urgency.

It was the emotion he felt looking at her, who somehow seemed like she would disappear.

Even though she was an ordinary person who couldn’t use magic, it felt like she could vanish from his side in an instant.

Just like how she had disappeared as if she never existed when he woke up, though he thought she would be beside him.

“Odoi.”

“Clea.”

“Yes, Clea.”

Clea spoke her name like she was allowing it once but not twice.

As the man who would have everything in the empire, she would have to follow however he called her.

Nevertheless, she wanted him to call her by name.

Edmund also had no objection to calling her by name, so he corrected himself.

“Even if you regret it later, it’s too late now.”

He pulled the hand he was holding toward himself.

The wind in the early spring night was still very cold.

And her body had become cold as ice.

Edmund spoke while embracing her, sharing his warmth with Clea.

“Because I’m going to keep you by my side now.”

Clea almost laughed at this situation.

Though they had only slept together once, she also didn’t dislike the man called Edmund.

She wondered if his desire to keep her by his side was merely to enjoy his own pleasure.

‘…The pain has lessened a bit.’

For some reason, she looked up at Edmund before her while feeling the pain temporarily disappear.

And in place of the vanished pain, her heart somehow began to sting.

His red eyes, no different from before, couldn’t take their gaze off her.

Clea thought,

That perhaps he was the first person in this world to look at her with eyes that weren’t of hatred or mockery.

And that maybe she still had some feelings of wanting to be loved, even just a little.