Chapter 38: Ruphia Philip

 “……You still say that even after knowing my secret?”

 “I don’t see how your secret changes anything.”

 “But you heard it.”

 Clea had been uncomfortable telling Edmund about the curse.

 Honestly, she was afraid that he might change after learning she was terminal.

 However, the bewilderment that had been on Edmund’s face when he first heard the news had completely disappeared.

 He spoke to her gently as if nothing had happened, smiling at the corners of his mouth as usual.

 For a moment, Clea thought Edmund wasn’t accepting the reality.

 So she deliberately spoke mischievously.

 “I don’t know how long I can stay with you like this.”

 “Then shouldn’t we make that time all the more valuable?”

 “But Edmund, you have a duty to continue the bloodline……”

 “What do you think is more important to me than that?”

 Edmund’s expression remained unchanged.

 Looking at Edmund’s smile, Clea thought,

 Perhaps it was predictable.

 That nothing would change in him after learning the truth.

 Yet Clea had been anxious.

 A tiny anxiety that he might give her up due to his responsibilities as a member of the imperial family once he learned of her condition.

 “It was a very dull life.”

 “Edmund.”

 “From birth, it was decided that I would succeed to the throne. So I had nothing but the fact that I was the future emperor.”

 The atmosphere, which had been dampened by Aria, began to warm up.

 He stood up holding the ring case he had presented to Clea.

 Clea watched as Edmund approached her.

 Edmund came to Clea and showed her the ring again.

 The ring, which she hadn’t been able to properly look at earlier because of Aria, now reached her eyes.

“Even if you are facing a terminal condition, my feelings will remain the same.”

 She already knew his heart from the time they spent together.

 Clea’s anxious heart completely melted away as if it had never been there.

 “Should I really be by your side?”

 “Don’t think you shouldn’t be. I’ve never even considered anyone but you by my side.”

 “It might have been different before you met me.”

 “Even then, I only cared about myself, never anyone else.”

 “And now?”

 “Now I have you.”

 At Edmund’s gentle words, her drooping mouth corners rose again.

 She felt lighter in body and mind than ever before.

 “I want to escape this curse as soon as possible.”

 “If you don’t give up, there will always be a chance.”

 “Then can I stay by your side a little longer? Even though I might become a burden.”

 Until the curse was broken, she might become a burden.

 Things she had silently ignored under the desire to live might surface and become troublesome.

 “I’ve been saying it since that day. I have no intention of letting you go.”

 Clea couldn’t help but laugh at Edmund’s declaration that began with asking if she would regret it and ended with saying he wouldn’t let her go.

 By now, Clea could also understand.

 Where his heart lay.

 She had doubts from how he treated Aria, but now she could be certain.

 He liked her, not Aria.

 “I had no intention of letting you go either.”

 Until just now, she had been prepared to leave whenever he pushed her away, but now she decided to lie for Edmund’s sake.

She didn’t want to dampen the improved mood.

 Clea shifted her gaze to the ring.

 When she looked at the ring, Edmund took it out and quietly held it out to her.

 Clea accepted the ring he offered.

 She felt happy seeing the ring carefully placed on her ring finger.

 “This is actually the first ring I’ve ever owned.”

 Even at the Odoi mansion, dresses and accessories befitting her position as Lloyd’s fiancée had been prepared.

 However, they were only the minimum necessary to appear appropriate to others, and those items held no heart prepared for Clea.

 Rings are usually accessories one acquires either as self-indulgence or as gifts from someone, but neither applied to Clea.

 “I think this is the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. Thank you, Edmund.”

 Perhaps because it was the first gift she had received with heart, it looked even more beautiful.

 Especially since the giver was someone special to her, she was all the more delighted.

 Watching Clea’s admiring appearance, Edmund felt both happy and somewhat incredulous.

 ‘What exactly did her family and Lloyd ever do for her?’

 Before becoming close like now, Edmund had only watched from afar.

 Edmund regretted only watching what he considered someone else’s family matter.

 He imagined how she might have been less hurt if he had helped her from back then.

 Seeing the dark shadow on Edmund’s face, Clea took both his hands.

 “But I’m very happy now.”

 She held his hands tightly and met his gaze as if understanding his heart. Edmund decided to focus on her before him.

 For now, they would focus only on each other, not thinking about anything else.

 Clea opened her mouth with a slightly hesitant face.

 “Can I propose a condition in exchange for accepting your proposal?”

 “Anything.”

 Since she was accepting, Edmund was willing to grant whatever she asked.

 He was determined to give her anything for her sake, while she maintained her smile and said,

 “If I ultimately fail to break the curse and face death, marry someone else. That’s my condition.”

 Hearing Clea’s request, Edmund almost narrowed his brows.

 He liked neither the idea of her dying nor having someone other than her by his side.

 But thinking she might not accept the marriage if he didn’t accept her condition, he nodded.

 “I’ll find a way to break your curse.”

 “I’ll find a way to break it too. So I can stay by your side longer.”

 With those words, the two continued their warm atmosphere.

 Although their current situation couldn’t be called good, there were still many gains.

 ‘Having someone who knows about my curse could be a positive hint in a way.’

 Adding the fact that she had definitely won Edmund’s heart, it was a perfectly satisfying day.

 “Edmund, don’t drink too much no matter how good you feel.”

 Clea tilted her wine glass with a satisfied expression.

 * * *

 The atmosphere at the Philip household was as cold as ever.

Oberon’s father, who was now essentially the former head of the family, still emphasized family meals where everyone gathered together.

 He believed that without even that, family unity would surely crumble.

 The table of the forcibly assembled Philip family was very quiet.

 In the precarious atmosphere, as if walking on thin ice, the first person to speak was Philip’s father, Azar.

 “When do you, the so-called head of the family, plan to get married?”

 At the topic Azar raised, his wife Emma also smiled.

 Oberon, who had been calmly cutting his meat until just now, furrowed his brow.

 “Is that all you have to say after abandoning the position of family head?”

 “What’s wrong with inheriting early a position you’ll get anyway?”

 “Don’t you even think about how that ruined my life? Why do you so easily give up what other families try so hard to protect?”

 “Just because others do something doesn’t mean we have to follow suit. And if you hate it so much, why not give it to your younger sister?”

 As her father’s target shifted to her, Ruphia audibly put down her spoon and looked at Azar.

 “Brother, it seems you inherited it at the right time? Seeing that you’ve forgotten I went abroad to study specifically to avoid inheriting the family headship, I suspect you might have dementia.”

 “Dementia? My dear, I’m not quite there yet.”

 “You insolent girl! What are you doing! Your father is being insulted like this, hurry up and disown her!”

 “I can’t abuse disownment for something this trivial.”

 “Trivial, you say? Trivial!”

 While Azar’s angry voice echoed throughout the dining room, the other three family members paid no attention whatsoever.

 This was the Philip family’s daily life, so they hardly cared.

 “By the way, brother, interesting rumors have been spreading in the imperial palace.”

 Meanwhile, Ruphia completely ignored Azar’s words and directed her gaze at Oberon.

 Oberon found Ruphia’s gaze uncomfortable.

 She was a sister he hadn’t faced in several years.

 Although their relationship wasn’t bad and Oberon welcomed Ruphia’s return…

 The topic she brought up happened to be very uncomfortable.

 Both Azar, who had been heated at the topic Ruphia raised, and Emma, who had been fanning the flames beside him, turned their attention to it.

 They weren’t completely uninterested in imperial matters either.

 And they too were intrigued by what they had recently heard.

 “So, is it true that His Highness the Crown Prince has found a lover?”

 “That’s none of your business.”

 “It seems to be true.”

 Though he said it was none of her business, he failed to control his expression at the word ‘lover.’

 Seeing this, the sharp-eyed family members immediately realized. The rumors were true.

 Oberon also frowned, recognizing that he had been found out.

 “Then is it really Clea Odoi?”

 “Ruphia, no matter what, that can’t be true.”

 “Indeed. How could a daughter of the Odoi family possibly appeal to His Highness the Crown Prince?”

 To Ruphia’s successive questions, the other family members insisted it must be someone else, saying there was no way it could be true.

 At their reactions, Oberon briefly thought of Clea.

 Thinking about how different the Clea they knew was from the Clea he had seen with his own eyes, Oberon said,

 “It’s true.”

 “To think that was true!”

 He spoke without hiding it, since it was information that would become known soon anyway.

 The family members all looked surprised. Oberon liked their expressions.

 It was the pleasure of shattering prejudices that were considered absolute.

 On the other hand, Oberon regretted it when he heard Ruphia’s next response.

 “Then let me meet her. I want to meet that person.”

 He hadn’t expected such an unreasonable request at all.