~Chapter 111~
Damien’s red eyes quietly watched me.
Then his gaze softened, curving gently like the moon.
“Ha-ha, what are you saying?”
Damien let out a small laugh.
“I’m not a doctor, so I can’t say for certain that Rubiana’s illness is completely gone. But the symptoms caused by the Swallower have improved recently, haven’t they? From now on, you’ll only get better.”
I stared directly at Damien.
“Maybe my short lifespan wasn’t caused by the Swallower at all. Isn’t that possible?”
At those words, the smile vanished from Damien’s face.
I quickly grabbed his hand, not letting the moment pass.
“Damien, it’s okay. You can tell me the truth.”
As I thought, that smile earlier had been forced.
Now, his face was deadly serious. His eyes were full of worry, but he was trying to keep it to himself, carrying the burden alone.
“How did you know?”
“Oh… just many little things.”
The first spark of doubt, of course, came from the vampire curse.
“When you suddenly brought that vampire here, I thought it was strange. I hadn’t heard any news about vampires running wild recently.”
But when Damien told me he only brought it because he thought I’d like it, I had let it go.
After all, he often brought me gifts I enjoyed. This time, I assumed it was just another kind of gift.
But the more time passed, the stranger it became.
“Most of all—you never once let me see that vampire curse up close. No matter how much it likes blood, it was just trapped inside a cage, looking like a bat.”
“…I see.”
“And besides, I already knew something.”
I folded my knees together, bent forward slightly, and turned to look at Damien.
“I knew that if a vampire curse tastes someone’s blood, it can see how much lifespan that person has left.”
Damien closed his eyes and sighed deeply.
“You’re right. Since you love curses so much, I worried you’d notice. And in the end, you did.”
My suspicions had already been piling up, and when the third rite was mentioned, they turned into certainty.
Whenever we talked about the third rite, Damien always asked me if I still wanted to go through with the soul contract. But today, he hadn’t asked once.
It felt like he was assuming I would definitely go through with it.
“So… how long did it say my lifespan is?”
When I asked him directly, Damien hesitated.
“Don’t worry. Just tell me honestly.”
Finally, he confessed.
“It said… about seven years.”
“Mmm.”
So even in this life, I wouldn’t live past my thirties.
Still, that’s longer than in my last life…
In a way, it felt like a small improvement.
Since I had already once received a terminal diagnosis in my past life, and even in this life I’d been told I had an incurable disease, I wasn’t too shocked.
Of course, there was some regret, and it felt a little empty… but that was all.
“You had your lifespan read too, didn’t you, Damien? How long did it say for you?”
Again, Damien didn’t answer right away.
That alone told me the answer.
“Ah, I get it. It said you’d live a long time.”
“…Yes.”
“That’s a relief.”
I’d heard that Maledictus bloodlines often die young. So it was truly a relief.
“Ruby…”
Damien clasped both my hands tightly in his.
His sad yet determined eyes met mine.
“Do not worry. Everything will be fine.”
His gaze was so firm, so strong, that even I felt reassured.
“Once we complete the third rite, everything will be all right.”
His grip on my hands grew stronger. I could feel how desperately he wanted to save me.
“You’ll live as long as I do. Healthy and strong.”
His words struck me like a spell, or perhaps a prayer.
Healthy, long, here with him.
There were too many things I wasn’t ready to leave behind. Truthfully, I wished the same thing—
to stay here in this mansion, living with Damien for a long time.
“I’ll make it happen. So don’t worry.”
When we first married, Damien promised to give me freedom. And he did.
He also promised to take away my fear of death—and he had.
He even took away the terror of the Swallower.
And now, he was trying to grant me another wish.
“The bat said I’ll live past ninety. Ruby, once the soul contract is complete, you will too.”
Damien kept speaking, trying to reassure me.
“So truly, there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll make sure of it—”
“Damien.”
I smiled faintly at him.
“I know. I know you never lie to me.”
He was always sincere, always trying his best to give me everything.
That’s why I wasn’t afraid.
“I know you’ll fight with everything you have to change my fate. That’s why, even after hearing I only have a short lifespan, I’m not scared.”
“Ruby…”
“And this time, it’s not like there’s no way. We know there’s a solution, right?”
Lifespans are fixed from the start. Whether I knew about it or not, nothing would change.
What mattered now was that there was a way to change it—and that I had a strong partner beside me.
“So really, it’s fine. Because I have you with me.”
A light flashed in Damien’s red eyes.
Our hands, tightly joined, were full of trust and bond.
“Let’s fight against fate—together.”
I smiled brightly and declared in a strong voice.
* * *
A few days later, we released the vampire curse.
It hadn’t wanted to be bound, and it preferred freedom. So Damien allowed it—on the condition that it wouldn’t attack living humans.
“Who attacks living humans these days? Getting blood at hospitals is faster anyway. Well, goodbye.”
Even at the end, the vampire curse argued back with a sharp tongue. Then it flew away in the form of a bat.
“So noisy until the very last moment.”
Damien turned back from the window, his amethyst-colored eyes gleaming.
Three days had passed, and he had returned to human form. His eyes and fangs were back to normal.
“Exactly.”
“Let’s go inside now. The night wind is cold.”
Damien let me enter the room first, then locked the window.
Lately, I felt like he worried more about my health than I did myself.
“Damien, you really don’t need to fuss over me this much.”
When I first learned about my short lifespan, I was disappointed.
After all, I had finally been living happily, enjoying my hobbies freely… only to find out my life wouldn’t last much longer.
But since I knew that the soul contract could fix it, I was calmer now.
These days, I hardly thought about it at all.
“Once we finish the soul contract, I’ll be fine—just like you said.”
If a spouse made a soul contract with a Maledictus, they not only shared the same lifespan but also became healthy.
It wasn’t just living longer in a weakened state—the illnesses disappeared entirely.
“Yes, but still…”
Damien had brought me a thick blanket, but his hand froze in mid-air.
“Does it… bother you too much?”
Seeing his drooping eyes, I realized he thought his fussing was making me uncomfortable.
“That’s not it. It just feels like you’re worrying too much.”
So I took the blanket from his hands myself and wrapped it around me.
It was so thick that it almost made me feel hot.
Just then—
“Madam, are you inside? A letter has arrived for you.”
A servant handed me a letter.
“For me?”
I turned the envelope over, thinking it might be from a sponsor.
But when I saw the sender’s name, my eyes widened in shock.
