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Chapter : 08
As I met Cedric’s gaze, I couldn’t help but feel conflicted.
It felt like just yesterday that I was relieved there were no signs of getting entangled with the main characters of the original novel…
“And now here I am, completely entangled…”
“Pardon?”
“Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself.”
I quickly waved my hands in denial.
Cedric blinked his gentle hydrangea-blue eyes and looked at me.
I gave him an awkward smile and turned away.
Damn it… Life really doesn’t go the way I want it to.
It wasn’t enough that I got involved with the young villain—now I’d ended up meeting his older brother too, the very person who becomes the trigger for his descent into darkness.
And now—marriage?
Seriously, this is absurd.
Marriage isn’t like casually saying, “Let’s grab some tteokbokki tonight!”
As I opened my mouth, unsure of what to say, Cedric spoke first.
“Of course, you don’t need to consider anything Calib said.”
“Uh… What?”
“This is merely a matter between brothers. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Oh…”
“Even if Calib has never opened up to anyone else before…”
Stab.
“And even if this is the first time he’s opened his heart so quickly…”
Stab.
“And even if this is the first time he’s chosen someone else over me…”
Stab, stab.
“That doesn’t mean you need to take his absurd suggestion seriously.”
Ugh. Every word Cedric said was like an arrow piercing my conscience.
But he wasn’t wrong.
Calib’s suggestion—asking me to marry his brother to break the curse and live together in the Grand Duchy—was completely absurd.
So why does his tearful face keep bothering me?
Calib had bared his entire heart to me, someone he’d only spent less than a month with.
That just shows how lonely he’s been.
And Calib is, truthfully, a prodigy.
He definitely knew how ridiculous it was to ask someone to marry his brother to break a curse.
But the fact that he said it anyway meant he must’ve been desperate.
If Cedric were to fall into eternal sleep, Calib would have no one left on his side in the Grand Duchy.
He was so afraid of that, he buried his face in his palms.
But… but even so, I couldn’t get married.
Even if this was a possessed life, it was still mine.
It was essentially my second chance at a new life. I couldn’t let myself get tied up in some half-baked marriage.
Yes, rejecting it was the right thing to do.
I opened my mouth to voice that decision.
But then, a thought struck me.
Wait a second… Does it have to be marriage?
The brothers think the only way to find the key to breaking the curse is by going to the “Sanctuary of Knowledge,” which requires being married.
But I’ve read the original story, so I already know.
The one who cast the curse—the “evil fairy”—will appear soon!
If I intercept the evil fairy who shows up to kidnap the heroine, and get her to lift Cedric’s curse first…?
Then even if she later kidnaps the heroine or gets executed, Cedric’s curse would be gone, and Calib won’t go dark!
Which means—I don’t have to marry Cedric!
Once that clicked, I slammed the table and jumped up.
“Cedric! There’s another way!”
“…Sorry?”
Cedric blinked in confusion, as if wondering what I was talking about.
“A way to break the curse!”
It occurred to me belatedly that shouting like this might wake Calib, but oh well.
“A different way to lift the curse…?”
“The evil fairy! I mean the caster! If we can find her, she should be able to undo it, right?”
“Yes? Oh… yes, that’s true. But we still don’t know where she is.”
I flashed a confident grin.
“That’s something I can help with.”
The reason Cedric couldn’t find the evil fairy no matter how hard he looked was simple.
He had no information about her!
If the only thing anyone knows is “the fairy who cast the curse,” how could they find her? It’d be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
But I’m different.
Because in the scene where she’s executed, her name and physical description are mentioned.
That evil fairy…
She had silver hair tinged pink at the ends, rare pink gemstone eyes, and ivory-like translucent skin—beautiful, like a real fairy.
And her name was…
“Elia?”
“…”
“Elia? Are you alright? You’ve gone pale.”
Wobble.
My legs gave out and I dropped to the floor.
“E-Elia?!”
Holy sh*t.
How could I be so out of it?! Sure, she was only called “the evil fairy” for most of the 200 chapters! Even if they only called her by name once, right before her death!
How could I forget the villain’s name?!
Thunk!
I clutched my head and slammed it onto the old wooden desk.
“Elia?”
Elia, Elia, Elia!
The one who cursed Cedric, the one who triggers Calib’s descent into darkness—
“Waaaaaaah…”
Is none other than me.
Elia.
“What? Really? Is that true?!”
Calib asked over and over again.
I gave a pained but affectionate smile and nodded.
“Yeah. I’ll go to the Grand Duchy with you.”
“You’ll really marry my brother?”
“Yeah. I’ll become your sister-in-law.”
Whoosh—unlike earlier when he’d come out of the bedroom with a gloomy face, Calib’s expression now bloomed like spring.
He looked up at his brother, eyes sparkling.
“Isn’t that great, brother?”
But Cedric looked just as uncomfortable.
Well, of course he would. He had no idea why I suddenly agreed to the marriage.
“It’s great, really great, right?!”
“Y-yeah. It’s… it’s great. Yes. Definitely great.”
I let out a deep sigh as I watched Calib grinning from ear to ear and Cedric smiling awkwardly.
Haaaah… Damn it, how did it come to this?
I went over the conclusion I’d just come to.
I’m Elia. And Elia is the “evil fairy.”
I’m the source of everything, but that also means I’m the only one who can undo the curse and fix it all.
But the problem?
I have no idea how.
Because I have zero memories of being her!
If things continue like this, my identity will be exposed, and I’ll end up with a sword at my throat.
The one saving grace is that Elia always wore a black hood, so no one knows what the “evil fairy” actually looks like.
That’s probably why Calib didn’t suspect a thing, even after living with me for 20 days.
Although my voice must’ve been similar…
Ah, maybe it’s because the “real Elia” always wore that drab black hood?
So he probably never imagined she could look this beautiful.
In fact, if I don’t wear the hood, maybe no one will suspect a thing?
Alright. I calmed my racing heart.
I just wanted a peaceful, cozy life, free from the chaos of the main plot.
But if things aren’t going my way… there’s only one option.
Break the curse fast and earn my freedom.
Sure, in some romance novels, the protagonist ends up married, with kids, and happily settled down…
Yeah, well, that’s fiction. Not me.
I don’t know about other heroines, but if I get found out—I’ll be dead.
Anyway, it’s best if Cedric and I stick together to find a solution. It’d be faster than me trying alone.
So I said to Cedric:
“Let’s get married.”
And just like that, I ended up blurting out a proposal.
Clearing his throat, Cedric turned to an excited Calib.
“Just so you know, Calib, this won’t be a typical marriage.”
“Huh? Oh, right.”
“It’s going to be a contract marriage.”
“Yeah. That’s… yeah, it makes sense. Elia’s just helping you to break the curse.”
Thankfully, Calib was a very smart kid.
He understood the situation perfectly and wasn’t too disappointed by the idea of a contract marriage.
“Right. So once the contract ends… once my curse is lifted, Elia will return here.”
Cedric and I had agreed beforehand to make that clear to Calib, who was so fond of me.
He’d be sad, sure—but maybe I could come visit like it was some countryside vacation?
That’s what I meant to say, but Calib spoke first.
“No, there’s no need for that.”
“Huh?”
“Even if you divorce my brother, that doesn’t mean you have to leave the Grand Duchy.”
“Uh, what?”
Wait, what is he saying now?
Calib looked at me with a resolute expression as I blinked in confusion.
“Once you and my brother divorce, you can just live with me.”
“Wha—huh?”
“You’d need an appropriate status to marry my brother anyway.”
“Well, yeah…”
“Then I, as the heir to the Grand Duchy, will officially become your guardian.”
“W-wait a minute!”
Things were spiraling out of control.
I hurriedly tried to stop him, but Calib was one step ahead.
“That way, even after you divorce my brother, you can still live in the Grand Duchy as my ward!”
There’ll never be a time when we have to say goodbye!
Calib beamed brightly as he said it.
Oh no.
I’m doomed.
