Chapter : 112
The path to the lake felt extremely long because of the Kiss Demon’s continuous kisses.
“Wow…”
Finally, when the lake in the Misty Forest came into view, Liriope couldn’t close her mouth in awe.
And it was no wonder—mist floated above the lake like clouds, reflecting in the water to create a picture-perfect scene.
The trees and grasses surrounding the lake were planted just right, neither too much nor too little, forming a perfect circle around the water.
“It’s really beautiful.”
As Liriope murmured in admiration, Theo gently brushed his lips against the top of her head and spoke softly.
“It looks even better at night. Let’s come later.”
Seeing Theo whisper so tenderly, Liriope smiled brightly, nodded, and turned her gaze back to the lake.
She was so captivated by the lake’s beauty that she became lost in thought for a moment, slowly looking around—until she noticed some strange objects scattered in one area.
“What’s that?”
Pointing with her index finger toward the scattered objects, Liriope asked Theo. When he saw the objects, his face stiffened instantly, and Liriope’s eyes widened.
“Lipe, don’t let go of my hand.”
“Huh? What’s going on?”
Tensing as Theo grabbed her hand and led her toward the objects, Liriope held tightly onto his arm with her free hand, as if hiding behind a mother.
Following him, what they saw was truly shocking.
“Wh… what is this…!”
The strange objects were piles of corpses of monsters that lived in the Misty Forest.
These monsters were lower-ranked creatures that would flee or hide when seeing humans.
Yet here they were, slaughtered and stacked in one place.
Unlike the shocked Liriope, Theo’s gaze sharpened, and he reached inside his jacket to take out his communicator.
Just as he was about to contact someone, it rang.
It was Kadin.
[Theo, come here. There are monster corpses…]
“It’s the same here. Where are you?”
[At the large tree hill.]
“This is by the lake. There are quite a few corpses here.”
[Same there? It’s terrible here too. What in the world is happening?]
“I need to go back to the palace and report this first.”
[Alright. We’ll take a portal from here as well.]
Theo nodded once at Kadin’s words, ended the call, and turned to Liriope.
“Lipe, I think I should head to the palace…”
“I’m coming too.”
Liriope preemptively spoke, thinking Theo would tell her to wait at the grand duke’s castle.
“I’ll stay with Rose; let’s go together.”
At her words, Theo nodded without objection and began looking for a teleportation portal to the palace.
Liriope glanced down at the hand Theo had never let go of, then looked at the monster corpses.
A sense of inexplicable unease washed over her, and she gripped his hand tighter.
Something was clearly happening.
“S-so many monsters were dead, I couldn’t even count them all.”
Sitting across from Liriope and drinking tea, Rosearin spoke with a worried expression.
“It was the same near the lake… Grey, did you hear anything?”
Liriope asked Grey, who had rushed to the palace to protect her at Theo’s call. Grey looked at Liriope and replied:
“I haven’t received a separate report. But on the way here, I overheard the royal guards. It seems it’s not just the Misty Forest—monster corpses are scattered all over.”
At Grey’s words, Liriope and Rosearin’s expressions darkened.
“What on earth is happening…”
Rosearin muttered, fiddling with her teacup.
Liriope let out a long sigh, increasingly uneasy.
Something was clearly happening, though she had no idea what it was.
‘Could it be the Black Mage causing this…?’
Her face stiffened at the thought but she shook her head immediately.
There was no evidence that the Black Mage was responsible for these incidents.
After all, nothing like this had happened in the original story.
‘And the Black Mage likely fled to another country.’
Since Kadin had already persuaded the empress, Liriope thought the strange events happening now couldn’t be his doing.
She had no idea how wrong that assumption was.
“But Rose…”
“Yes, Liri?”
“Have you talked to Kadin much?”
Putting aside the current events, Liriope asked about something more important—Rosearin and Kadin.
The serious expression on Rosearin’s face instantly flushed at the mention of Kadin’s name.
“Yes.”
Nodding shyly, Rosearin made Liriope’s eyes sparkle with curiosity.
“So, what did you decide? Will you become the empress?”
“Well, it’s not a position you can take just because you want it. The emperor also seems to have someone else in mind…”
“What are you talking about? You’re acting as the empress’ deputy—who else would be fit for the role besides you?”
Liriope cut in, and Rosearin smiled faintly, playing with her teacup again.
“To be honest, I’m not even sure about my own feelings.”
“Huh?”
Surprised, Liriope stared at her, and Rosearin gave an awkward smile.
“I don’t know if I truly like Kadin, or if I really want to be his partner… I’m a little confused.”
“…Ah.”
“But I keep caring for him, worrying when he’s not around, and worrying even when he is… I don’t know if this is truly the feeling of love.”
Liriope slowly blinked, thinking:
‘Isn’t that love…?’
She couldn’t be certain of Rosearin’s feelings, so giving advice was tricky.
But there was a way to test it.
“Then, if Kadin married another lady, how would you feel?”
Rosearin’s expression subtly changed at the question.
“That would be…”
“When you’re unsure, imagining that scenario can help. Would it be okay to have someone else by that person’s side, or would it be unbearable?”
“….”
“If it were me… I think I’d cry just imagining someone else beside Theo.”
“…I see.”
Rosearin nodded and murmured, continuing:
“Um… I think I’d hate it… no, I definitely would hate it.”
“Isn’t that love?”
Seeing her blush, Liriope smiled brightly.
“Yes.”
Returning to the grand duke’s castle with Theo, Liriope, brimming with excitement, stood before him on the bed and recounted Rosearin’s story.
Theo, wearing a changed negligee, gave her a peculiar look, seeing her confidently stand and speak rather than hiding under the blankets as usual.
“So it seems Rose has a 99% chance of becoming empress.”
“I see.”
“If the emperor tries some absurd plan of marrying a foreign princess to Kadin, Theo, please intervene. I just want Rose to marry Kadin and be happy, that’s all I wish for.”
“Why don’t you worry about your own happiness first?”
Theo said with a faint smile, barely noticeable.
“I’m already happy. Think about it—the original story had Theo and Rose as lovers, but I ended up possessing this body and stole Theo away from Rose. So I feel terribly sorry for her.”
“And I’m doing my best to bring them together.”
“—You are? Really?”
Liriope’s eyes widened, and Theo shrugged.
“You’re apologizing to a countess lady who’s unrelated to you just because of that cursed novel. So, tying up those two, who already annoyed me, seems beneficial. I’m doing my best to ensure they can marry.”
In other words, Theo found both Kadin and Rosearin bothersome and was taking this chance to pair them together.
Liriope was surprised that Theo was helping them and even more surprised that both of them annoyed him.
Thinking about it, Theo hadn’t liked either Kadin or Rosearin much, so it made sense.
“If you’re going to help, can’t you do it with a little more goodwill? What do you mean?”
“Why should I? That’s the truth.”
“It’d be better in every way to help with a good heart.”
“I don’t like Kadin or the countess enough to care.”
“What about Rose? Why her?”
Liriope asked incredulously. Theo looked at her briefly, then stretched out his long arm and wrapped it around her waist.
Pulled in, Liriope found herself helplessly sitting on the bed before him.
“Because you like her too much.”
Theo rested his sharp chin against her stomach and continued:
“And because you feel sorry.”
“…Well, I—”
Caught off guard, Liriope trailed off, and Theo looked up at her while keeping his chin on her stomach.
“It’s the novel’s fault. Even if you hadn’t come here, I wouldn’t have noticed the countess lady.”
“…That’s uncertain. Rose did a lot for the North. Even in the original story, when the northern people were struck by plague, her heart was moved as she went about purifying it.”
Theo’s brows furrowed.
“Annoying.”
“Huh? What is…?”
“Where’s that novel? Bring it. I’ll burn it all.”
“Huh?”
“Ultimately, it was only you. If you hadn’t come to my world, I’d still be alone. Even without seeing the future, I can tell. One proof is that my heart beats only for you.”
Liriope blushed intensely at Theo’s shameless words, delivered with a completely normal expression.
With a sly smile, Theo gazed at her.
“So, what do you think about sending the marriage contract tomorrow?”
