“Your Highness, could it be… you didn’t know anything about the imprint?”

Seeing Elliot’s very surprised reaction, I awkwardly rolled my eyes.

“I wouldn’t ask… if I knew, would I?”

At that, this time his jaw dropped.

‘What on earth is this imprint that he’s acting like that?’

Was it perhaps something I absolutely had to know as the Duchess of Twins?

I thought I had been diligently learning about the duties of a duchess, but…

As I tilted my head in confusion, that’s when it happened.

Elliot, who had by now composed his surprised expression, slowly opened his mouth.

“…No, this might actually be for the best.”

“How could this be for the best?”

“If you don’t know about the imprint, it means you’ve never received one either.”

“…”

“From our perspective… this might actually be better.”

The more I listened to his words, the more question marks filled my head.

I looked at Elliot with bewildered eyes, but he just shook his head.

“By the way, Your Grace, I knew it, but you really are an amazing person.”

“…”

“To have kept it hidden so thoroughly during your long marriage…”

Elliot looked at me as if I were the most pitiful person in the world and let out a long sigh.

“My goodness. You must have been very lonely all this time, Your Highness.”

How many more times did he sigh after that?

Elliot suddenly checked his wristwatch.

“Ah, it’s already this late. It was an honor to meet you, Your Highness. Then I shall…”

After spouting a bunch of words I didn’t understand and treating me like a pitiful person, he was going to leave without explaining anything?

That won’t do.

I pouted my lips and lightly tugged at the end of his sleeve.

“Elliot, you should properly explain what an imprint is before you go.”

“…”

“If you leave like this, I’ll be up all night wondering what it is.”

“But Your Highness, it’s a bit… embarrassing for me to explain it myself.”

Elliot scratched his eyebrow with a troubled expression.

“…It’s awkward.”

I crossed my arms and spoke firmly to him.

“Elliot, the more you delay answering, the more curious I become. Tell me quickly.”

“But Your Highness…”

“Come on?”

After that, Elliot’s lips opened and closed several more times.

It seemed he was torn between just telling me due to my insistence and feeling too embarrassed.

How long did he hesitate like that?

“An imprint is a quality that only demons possess. It’s about bonding with the one and only partner they allow. And the imprint…”

Elliot paused for a moment before speaking again.

By now, a red flush had crept up his neck.

“It is formed through… spending a night together with someone.”

It was such an unfamiliar story.

As I just blinked my eyes, Elliot gave a slight smile and continued speaking.

“It must be difficult to understand. It’s a concept that doesn’t exist at all in the human world.”

“Yes, that’s true…”

“It might be easier to understand this way. If Your Highness were to receive an imprint from one of the demons, it would mean…”

Elliot’s steady gaze fell on me.

“That Your Highness would become the one and only lifelong companion for that demon.”

The one and only… companion?

I blinked my eyes in a daze.

Elliot smiled faintly as if he had expected such a reaction from me.

“So in a way, it’s an extremely unfair thing for demons who are connected to humans.”

“…”

“The human partner can leave if their affection cools, but the remaining demon must live their whole life waiting for that person.”

“…”

“Perhaps because of this, a demon’s affection and obsession for their partner is tremendous. It has caused major problems several times already in the history of the demon world.”

Elliot paused for a moment, a faint crease appearing between his brows.

“In particular, most of those incidents were… related to ‘Lillian’s Heart’.”

I had heard of Lillian’s Heart a few times before.

‘Maybe this time I’ll finally be able to properly learn what it is.’

Elliot, not noticing my eyes sparkling, sighed and continued speaking.

“Given the situation, His Grace the Duke must have had even greater concerns.”

“…”

“As you know, His Grace is responsible for sealing that wicked object along with the head of the Norman family.”

Elliot spoke as if I would obviously know about that object.

I quickly nodded my head so as not to miss the opportunity.

“Ah… that’s right. I suppose it would be dangerous if the seal on that object were broken, wouldn’t it?”

To my probing question, Elliot shook his head with a serious expression.

“No, actually that object is dangerous enough even in its sealed state.”

Having let his guard down once and started speaking, he continued more smoothly this time.

“It enchants the person who faces it in an instant, and even tries to use that person to break its own seal.”

“…”

“Only His Grace the Duke and Lord Vincent can resist being enchanted by it. That’s why the two of them keep its buried location a strict secret.”

“I see…”

“That object sweetly tempts people by saying it will give them what they desire, and it certainly does provide some help to an extent,”

“…”

“But what that person ultimately gains is only the destruction of their soul. Moreover, if that object were to fall into the hands of someone in power…”

Elliot suddenly shuddered slightly as if getting goosebumps, then let out a long sigh.

“From that moment on, this world would head towards catastrophe.”

Lillian’s Heart.

The heart left behind by the primordial goddess Lillian when she cursed the world after being betrayed in love, the ‘source of evil’.

The history I heard from Elliot was truly shocking.

A red jewel about the size of a fist.

It tempted people with sweet whispers, promising to grant their desires.

Power, wealth, love.

Whatever one desired, it could be obtained with Lillian’s Heart.

The powerful of both the human and demon worlds all coveted that object, and because of it, great wars between empires and races never ceased on earth.

Those who failed to obtain it suffered and died from the ravages of war, and even those lucky enough to obtain it fared little better.

After all, deals with evil always exact a greater price than what is gained.

The rulers went mad with obsession over the wealth and power they gained through Lillian’s Heart, and blood never dried on the earth.

It was truly the ruin of the entire world.

The unsealing of Lillian’s Heart and its emergence into the world once again meant that destruction would visit the whole world once more.

‘So the keeper of that terrifying object… is none other than Cedric.’

I let out a long sigh as I climbed the stairs heading to the upper floor.

Now I finally understood why Duke Bold had gone to such lengths to marry off Cedric and his daughter.

‘So while I’m still asking nicely… bring ‘Lillian’s Heart’ before me.’

Duke Bold must have demanded that Rebecca obtain Lillian’s Heart through the imprint, just as he had demanded of me.

After the two spent a night together, Cedric would be unable to refuse Rebecca’s request.

‘But Cedric must have noticed that ulterior motive first.’

Duke Bold’s excessive interference in the couple’s wedding night, and Cedric’s continued refusal.

It felt like all the questions were suddenly being answered at once.

The one and only lifelong companion.

Cedric had endured for a long time in order not to give that place to Rebecca.

‘And yet Cedric… spent that night with me.’

His truth and my sincerity.

All those feelings I had been avoiding out of fear of being hurt finally raised their heads above the surface.

Along with that, the mesmerizing voice buried in my memories suddenly pierced my heart.

‘After tonight passes, you will become the only person who can save me, or utterly ruin me. Even so…’
‘I will never regret this moment.’

And at that moment.

As I climbed the last step, he came into my view, leaning against the glass terrace railing.

Cedric Twins.

The very man I had been searching for all along.

.

.

.

I leaned against the terrace railing, feeling the soft night breeze.

As the silence stretched on like that, Cedric asked in a low voice.

“Rebecca, you said you had something you wanted to ask me.”

Despite his gentle prompting, I remained silent once again.

I had boldly entered the glass terrace saying I had something to ask, but my lips simply wouldn’t part.

Cedric waited for me silently for a while.

How much time passed like that?

I swallowed the words that just wouldn’t come out and changed the subject unnecessarily.

“Why were you here alone?”

At my question, Cedric turned his head slightly as if recalling an unpleasant memory.

Suddenly, I remembered that he had moved to a separate place from Duke Bold just earlier.

“Did something unpleasant happen with Duke Bold perhaps?”

I became somehow cautious when the topic of Duke Bold came up.

Though I was trying hard to ignore it, he was still the biological father of Rebecca, whom I had possessed.

The thought that he might have acted shamefully towards Cedric again made me feel embarrassed first.

Cedric seemed to notice this about me and deliberately smoothed out his furrowed brow, letting out a shallow breath.

“It’s not like that, Rebecca. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“But…”

“More than that, I’m more curious about your story.”

At Cedric’s quiet words, I remained silent for a moment, looking out from the terrace.

Then I slowly parted my lips.

“Actually… I only just found out.”

“About what?”

I turned my head back towards Cedric and continued speaking.

“About the imprint.”

At the same time, a small ripple appeared in Cedric’s eyes.

“Then all this time… you really didn’t know?”

Cedric asked again as if he couldn’t believe it.

“Yes, I only just found out. And I learned something else too. About Lillian’s Heart, and the reason you, its guardian, had to keep your distance from me…”

“…”

“It was because of that imprint.”

I nodded slowly and continued speaking.

“Your choice back then was the right one.”

“Rebecca…”

Cedric took a step closer to me with an expression as if he wanted to make some excuse.

I retreated just as much.

It wasn’t Cedric who needed to make excuses now.

No, he might even be the one who should receive an apology.

After all, Cedric’s suspicion that Duke Bold was trying to use Rebecca to steal Lillian’s Heart was entirely true.

Duke Bold who tried to use Cedric, Rebecca who had secretly been helping him.

Cedric who had to watch his wife all this time, knowing but pretending not to know.

How lonely and painful must it have been for him… all this time.

Just as Rebecca had, Cedric must have resented her for a long time too.

Only now could I understand why he had so coldly turned his back on Rebecca.

A man and woman bound by marital ties.

Their relationship was stained by misguided interests, greed, and anger, and had already been irreparably damaged for a long time.

And yet…

“That night, you held me even knowing all of that.”

After gazing at the night sky for a moment, I turned my head back towards Cedric.

“Hey, Mr. Ex-husband.”

And seeing his greatly wavering eyes, I smiled softly.

“Do you like me that much?”