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Chapter 18
When Liriope first possessed this body, she had been so focused on nothing but avoiding Liriope’s gruesome ending that she had forgotten about all the unfortunate events that occurred throughout the original novel.
In the original story, the Empress regarded the Grand Duke of the North, who might one day stand in the way of her son, the Crown Prince, ascending the throne, as a thorn in her side. She was constantly looking for an opportunity to get rid of him.
The Empress wanted to weaken the North before the Crown Prince ascended the throne. For that reason, she eventually sought out and hired someone who practiced the forbidden black magic of the Empire.
And the first evil act that began it all was the flood.
It was an incident in which black magic melted all the frozen cliffs, resulting in the deaths of countless people in the North.
Liriope could accept tragic events if they were absolutely necessary to the original plot, but she couldn’t stand by and watch innocent people in the North die meaningless deaths simply to build up a villain’s evil deeds.
Besides, so many parts of the original story were bound to change simply because she was alive and hadn’t died.
So preventing the villain’s evil deeds wouldn’t suddenly make the villain stop being a villain.
‘That’s right. Now that I know what will happen to the North, I can’t just pretend I don’t know.’
Truthfully, all Liriope had wanted was to make sure she didn’t die after possessing this body.
Yet somehow, it felt as though her ambitions had grown.
She also didn’t want to see the people of the North—the people under Theo’s rule—become victims of the Empress’s schemes.
Of course, this had nothing to do with the way Theo made her heart flutter.
Nor was it because of his irresistibly handsome appearance.
And it certainly wasn’t because of the engagement contract that would soon become nothing more than a useless piece of paper.
It was simply because everyone in this world was alive and moving around like real people, so if there were deaths she could prevent in advance, she thought it would be better to prevent them.
At least, that was what she told herself.
She swore that it wasn’t because she had started liking Theo and wanted to protect his North.
‘Yeah. No. Absolutely not.’
Liriope convinced herself of that and once again resolved to protect Theo’s North.
The Duke, who was having breakfast with Liriope for the first time in a while, looked at her with slightly widened eyes.
Liriope had suddenly told him that she wanted to visit the Grand Duke’s castle.
Technically, she should have asked Theo first, but judging from his attitude lately, Liriope felt that if she merely mentioned the words Grand Duke’s castle, he would immediately tell her to come.
There were far too many things she needed to check herself by going to the Grand Duke’s castle if she wanted to prevent the events that would happen in the future.
Most importantly, she needed to build a dam in preparation for the black mage causing the flood.
She knew practically nothing about such things, but Theo would surely find someone knowledgeable about dam construction and have them build one.
If that happened, the damage caused by the flood would probably be minimized.
“You want to go to the Grand Duke’s castle?”
“Yes.”
The Duke put down his fork and knife and looked at her with concern.
“But, Liri. The North is much colder than you might think.”
“I know.”
“You’re sensitive to the cold, too. Do you really have a reason to go all the way there?”
“I just want to see it… Hmm, maybe for sightseeing?”
Liriope tilted her head as she answered, and the Duke gave her a short sigh.
“There is absolutely nothing to see in the North.”
“There is. There are ice waterfalls, too.”
“Even if you see them yourself, I doubt you’ll like them very much.”
“I want to go.”
“Well, going there isn’t really a problem…”
“Then can I go?”
“I just don’t understand why you would want to go somewhere so cold. What if you catch a cold…?”
“I can take Linix with me. Then I won’t be cold at all.”
“Hmm…”
The Duke looked extremely displeased at the idea of Liriope going to the North.
Liriope couldn’t understand why he was so worried about her going there when he had readily brought her the engagement papers with Theo without even asking her anything.
“Dad, do you not want me to go to the North?”
“No, it’s not that I don’t want you to go… It’s just that the place is so cold.”
Apparently, the Duke really was simply worried that his only daughter might catch a cold if she went to the North.
‘Aren’t you planning to marry me off there anyway? If I marry Theo, I’ll have to live in the North. Well, of course, I’m not planning to get married.’
“I won’t be staying there for several days. I’ll just go for a little while during the day, so don’t worry too much.”
“Oh, really?”
Only then did the Duke’s face brighten as he smiled and continued.
“I see. Since there are teleportation portals, you don’t have to spend the cold nights there. All right, just make sure you come back before sunset at the latest. The nights in the North are unbelievably cold. Cold enough to make your ears fall off.”
“Yes.”
Liriope smiled at her father and nodded.
Only then did the Duke relax and resume eating.
Liriope stared at him.
Once again, she found herself admiring his handsome appearance. He was still a remarkably attractive man, even approaching his middle age.
The Duke had been something of a romantic in this era. After Liriope’s mother died immediately after giving birth to her, he never remarried and lived solely for his daughter.
That was why he had treasured his only daughter so dearly.
And later, after learning that his daughter had died, he abandoned everything and disappeared somewhere, forcing his loyal subordinate Gray to search for him.
In any case, Liriope hoped that this man would be happy too.
She even wondered whether she should try to play matchmaker for him.
[You want to come here?]
The handsome face inside the communication sphere wore a peculiar expression.
“Yes.”
Liriope nodded as she answered, and Theo tilted his head slightly to the side.
Apparently, he was wondering why she suddenly wanted to come to the Grand Duke’s estate.
“I, um, wanted to look around a little… There are also some things I need to check, and…”
[Ripe.]
She shifted her eyes around awkwardly under his intense gaze and continued speaking, only for Theo to call her name in his pleasant, low-pitched voice.
Liriope’s heart still pounded whenever Theo called her by that nickname.
Instead of answering, she stared at Theo inside the communication sphere.
[You want to come to the Grand Duke’s castle.]
“I told you I do.”
Theo smiled at her answer.
And he even lightly bit his lower lip as he did so.
At that breathtakingly handsome smile, Liriope’s heart began pounding like crazy.
[I don’t understand why you keep doing such adorable things.]
“…Pardon?”
[If you’re trying to seduce me…]
“Gasp! Me?! No! Of course not!”
Liriope had no idea how saying she wanted to visit the Grand Duke’s castle could possibly be interpreted as seduction, but he seemed to genuinely misunderstand her, so she hurriedly shook her head.
“I just want to go there because there’s something I can help you with!”
[Help?]
“Yes. This isn’t something I can properly explain over the communication sphere. There are things I need to tell you in person. You might not believe me otherwise.”
[I believe you.]
Theo immediately said that he believed her.
‘Is this man the type to just blurt things out without thinking first?’
Liriope sighed briefly and asked the man who seemed far too quick to make decisions.
“How do you know what I’m going to say? And you’re already saying you believe me?”
[Because it’s something you’re saying. Of course I’ll believe you.]
At those words, Liriope’s expression immediately turned bright red again, and she quickly lowered her head.
‘Where does this guy even learn lines like that? He was talking about how I was trying to seduce him, but you’re the one seducing me right now!’
[So, when are you coming?]
Theo asked while looking at her red, tomato-like face.
“When should I go?”
[Anytime is fine, if it’s you.]
“Th-then, since we’re already talking about it, I’ll go early tomorrow. My father doesn’t want me staying overnight, so I’ll have to travel back and forth through the teleportation portal, and it’s already a little late today. I also have a tea party scheduled.”
[I see. It’s a shame your father doesn’t want you to stay overnight.]
‘W-what exactly is such a shame, you idiot?’
[Ah. I also have one thing I’d like to ask of you.]
“Yes? You want something from me? What is it?”
Liriope raised her head and asked.
Her eyes immediately met Theo’s, and her heart gave another sharp thump.
[Could you lend me Linix for a while?]
“Linix?”
Liriope looked bewildered at the name she had never expected to hear from him.
Theo simply nodded as he looked at her.
[I want to borrow him for about two days.]
Although she had created Linix herself, calling it “borrowing” a living creature felt a little strange, so Liriope corrected him.
“If you’d like to take care of him for a couple of days, that’s fine.”
She remembered how well Linix had taken to Theo when he visited before, so she readily agreed.
At Liriope’s answer, Theo smiled, his eyes curving slightly.
According to the original story, he was a man who rarely smiled except when he was around the female protagonist.
‘A man like that really shouldn’t be smiling this easily.’
[All right. Then I’ll keep him with me for about two days.]
“Yes, go ahead. When will you come pick him up?”
[Now.]
And with that, the communication sphere abruptly disconnected.
“……”
Liriope stared blankly at the communication sphere, which had disconnected without even giving her a chance to say goodbye.
Apparently, this man had absolutely no concept of telephone etiquette.
Just as Liriope was thinking that, Gemma came rushing in from behind and shouted,
“L-Lady Liri! His Grace the Grand Duke is here!”
Apparently, he had somehow opened a coordinate directly from the Grand Duke’s castle to the Duke’s estate.
That was way too fast.
“You’re here.”
The moment Liriope entered the reception room, she greeted him.
Then her eyes widened when she saw Linix already perched on Theo’s arm.
“When did he come down here…?”
The words slipped out before she could stop herself.
Theo answered,
“I called him.”
“You called Linix?”
Seeing Liriope’s bewildered expression, Theo smiled slightly.
Then, suddenly, he whistled.
Wheeeet.
At the sound, Linix spread its wings from where it had been perched on Theo’s arm and flew around the reception room once.
Then it landed back on Theo’s arm.
Liriope blinked several times, looking back and forth between Theo and Linix.
Then she suddenly wondered if that firebird would fly to just anyone whenever they whistled.
Without thinking, she pursed her lips and gave a quick whistle.
Of course, all that came out was a weak, breathy sound that sounded nothing like Theo’s whistle.
“……”
Perhaps because of that, Linix, still perched on Theo’s arm, and Theo both looked at Liriope with expressions that seemed to ask what exactly she had just done.
Liriope gave them an awkward smile and scratched her cheek with her index finger.
“I’ll bring him back in two days. If you miss him, you can come to the Grand Duke’s castle anytime.”
Fortunately, Theo didn’t comment on Liriope’s ridiculous attempt at whistling and simply continued speaking.
“Yes, well. I’m going there tomorrow anyway…”
“Ah, that’s right.”
“But why do you want Linix?”
