/
I yelled out of pure embarrassment. Then, Kylian’s expression changed. He stood in front of me, and my ears felt like it was about to explode from embarrassment.
“Did you burn it?”
“Yes?”
“You dare burn my wife’s diary?”
“No, why would you even look at a dead person’s private belongings? Your Majesty, would you like someone to steal your diary? I don’t think so!”
I looked at Kylian who looked like he was holding back his wrath and grinded his teeth. I couldn’t understand why he was mad at me.
Who in the world would like to hear that my husband read my diary?
It wasn’t even just a letter, but a diary full of personal secret stories and feelings.
The diary contained many emotions that could not be put into words. Such complex emotions that are embarrassing and shameful, yet indescribable.
These were the things I had written since I was a child, hoping that someday I will be able to solve them through conversation with Kylian. But now.
I was angry and embarrassed that he had read it regardless of my will.
“I’ve said it before, but it seems that words are not enough for you.”
“Excuse me?”
“No matter how hard you try, you can’t be real to me.”
“Kylian.”
“When I wondered who burned it, it was you. Do you know how hard it was to restore it?”
“Why would you restore it? Didn’t you think that it was burned because Your Majesty is not meant to see it?”
I had never seen Kylian so angry. His glaring eyes were bloodshot, and his hands were clenched and trembling. He sighed heavily as he bit his lip, and then I realized something was wrong.
It was definitely me who should be angry, but it felt like all the blood in my body was draining out when I saw that he was angry for the first time in my life.
The shame had already flown away.
“I shouldn’t have saved you in the first place.”
“What?”
“I should have left you the day I saved you, the day I found out you weren’t my wife.”
“
What?”
Seeing his face that seemed to hold back anger, I shuddered unknowingly. He turned around and walked away without hiding his murderous energy.
I unknowingly tried to grab his arm, but to no avail. Even though I hadn’t reached him yet, he frowned and looked at me as if I had reached something I shouldn’t, and then walked away again.
For some reason, Kylian’s distance felt like an illusion. Why was he angry about burning my diary? Wasn’t it rude to look at other people’s diaries with common sense? And if he read the diary, it makes sense to some extent why he was doing this to me. There must have been a lot of things written there that I couldn’t honestly say in my lifetime.
But it was never completely restored. It was also burned so that it could not be restored by magic. My body temperature was dropping because of the cold rain, and it was worse to feel the cold in my heart than the cold in my body.
I got a creepy feeling, and suddenly I saw the sky. Then there was a loud thumping noise.
* * *
When I opened my eyes, it was Phileal’s room. Come to think of it, it must have been a while since I hadn’t been able to return to my room, but I couldn’t tell if Lewarren was doing well.
“Anais.”
“Did you sleep on the sofa all the time?”
“I’m good at sleeping on the floor, too.”
He was smiling, but he wasn’t smiling in any way.
“Something happened?”
“Yes.”
“What was it?”
“His Majesty was very angry.”
It must have been because of what happened yesterday.
Kylian looked at my diary. So, if he wanted to see me, it was clear that the feeling was not true love.
Rather than loving me, maybe it was because he felt sorry for reading the diary and wanted to save me because of that?
“I see.”
“He said you would be sent to prison once you wake up.”
“How long?”
“One week.”
A week isn’t bad. If he got angry and locked me up for a year, it would have been difficult.
“Still, it’s good that he waited until I woke up.”
“Good?”
“Yes.”
Phileal tilted his head, not understanding it, and he looked like a white snake at first sight, but now he looks like a fox.
“I’ll have to go for now.”
“Yes.”
When I opened the door after calming myself down, there were knights who were really trying to take me away.
“Lilith Isadora.”
“Yes.”
“Follow me.”
“Yes.”
It was the captain of the imperial guard who spoke to me. I knew this man’s face well. Because he was the one who opened the gates on the day that Duke Percival’s rebellion turned into a coup. He was from Kylian’s side. Not my father, Duke Percival’s.
I slowly blinked, looking towards the hallway. It was strange that it felt like a space I had never seen before. When Lewarren opens his eyes, I will come out after completing the week. No, I can’t even be sure of that. This Kylian was very different from the Kylian I knew, and his relationship with Lewarren seemed to have changed a lot during the five years I wasn’t here.
What the hell happened during those five years? Lilith pretended to be me, and Lewarren said he helped? Then, Kylian was about to give up his life, and Lilith brought the priests of death to the imperial palace?
I don’t know which of these stories were true and which were false.
The only thing that didn’t change was me, who stood still for 5 years.
“You can go in here.”
“Yes.”
Perhaps, luckily, or not, I’m imprisoned across from my father, Duke Percival. There was a glass wall, and the inside was clearly visible. It looked quite luxurious, but it was so clean that I wondered if it was really a prison.
“Reducing prison quality doesn’t mean lowering the crime rate.”
“What are you talking about, Wife?”
“Literally. After being released from prison, the recidivism rate does not go down. On the contrary, the higher the quality of the prison, the higher the chance of being rehabilitated when released again.”
Kylian didn’t seem to believe me, but when I showed him the results, he agreed. I had only read a few books about prisons in European countries in my previous life. But I didn’t know it would work so well.
There was also a bookshelf inside the prison, and the bookshelf was full of books. If it wasn’t for Duke Percival, who was staring at me from the other side, I might have been reading a book quite comfortably.
Suddenly, the feeling that was pulling my arm became clearer, and I spoke to the knight who was taking me.
“You said a week?”
“Yes.”
“I see.”
“The food is served only at set times. And at 11 o’clock, the lights go out all at once.”
“All right.”
As I went inside with a dry answer, the glass door closed with a click.
Then everything went quiet. On this floor, it was only me and Duke Percival. Kylian must have imprisoned me here on purpose. Because if he thinks I’m Lilith, it’s hard to see Duke Percival
“You look good.”
He said as he lowered the book he was reading with his legs crossed. Not weird. It’s obviously a sarcastic remark, and it was all on his face that he hated me.
Perhaps it was because it reminded me of the wrinkled face, gray hair, and the face that always gave me a gentle smile.
“Don’t be harsh on Kylian. He is my husband now.”
“He is just an excuse. Don’t give him too much thought, I can not trust the people of the imperial family.”
“Kylian is different.”
“This Father of yours used to believe so, just like you. But the reward for my faith was my sister’s demise. I can’t lose you like that.”
Duke Percival’s love for his daughter was fierce. Maybe it’s because I’m the only one left who he really thinks of as a family. I’m sorry for the Duke, but I was shot for Kylian. But thanks to that, Duke Percival is still alive.
According to the original story, Father should have died sooner or later.
“Dad.”
“You’re still out of your mind even when you’re locked up.”
“You still do it.”
“

.”
“You like to wrinkle one eyebrow when you smile.”
It didn’t matter if he looked incredulous. Because that’s what I really wanted to say. Seeing that I can say what I want to say without feeling regretful, the current situation may not be so bad.
“Do you know why Kylian locked you up here, Dad?”
“

.”
“It’s a deal to save my body. He also found my diary.”
“

.”
He was approaching the window. We were one hallway away, but still quite close. He came closer and was staring at me through the glass, somehow sad and happy.
“I’m sorry, really.”
“
Seeing that you’re still talking lots of nonsense, it seems you really have gone insane.”
He lost interest and turned his back and went back to the sofa where he had been sitting. So I smiled and found a book on the bookshelf behind my back.
Originally, it was something I didn’t want to see when I was the young duke, but it looked interesting when I had time to read it. Also, people should be able to relax. When I’m reborn as a human in the next life, I want to live doing something a little unusual.
I went back and forth a few times, gently touching what was stuck in my fingertips. Then I felt something strange in the palm of my hand. Lilith’s body is full of divine power. Then I could find enchanted items.
It seemed that something enchanted was inside. I stretched out my hand again to find it, trying to find it. But I didn’t feel it. Thinking that it was no mistake, I closed my eyes and ran my hand over the books again.
Then, I felt a strong magical energy from the one in the center of the uppermost part.
When I opened my eyes and stretched out my hand, I couldn’t get it out with only my fingertips, probably because Lilith’s body was smaller than mine. So I jumped up and tapped with my fingertips to get it to come out little by little.
“Uh!”
It was pushed out a little bit every time I touched my fingertips like that a few times.
In the last tap, it fell down.
“Ack!”
It wasn’t just one book that was spilling over my head. After about three books hit my body, I frowned and got up from the floor. As I woke up, I saw a familiar cover and picked it up in my hand.
“Huh? This?”
“Don’t touch it!”
It was Kylian who spoke to me with a surprised face.
“Don’t touch that diary.”
Why is this here? My diary.
Perhaps it was clear that there was a spell that alerted him when someone touched the diary. Seeing that he ran here straight away.
—
t/n: now i’m starting to wonder if phileal is the only character with a working brain here, both anais and kylian are a lost cause *sigh*