Admund examined his neck.

Feeling the intermittent stinging, he looked at Clea.

“My neck hurts.”

“Isn’t it better than your lips?”

“Ha, you’ll never say you won’t bite, will you?”

Clea smiled gleefully as she looked at the marks engraved on Admund’s neck.

“I like these marks.”

The traces she had left seemed to announce who he belonged to.

Clea quietly caressed Admund’s neck.

Admund briefly took her hand and brought it to his cheek.

“I like you too.”

Then he kissed the back of her hand.

Clea found Admund’s action adorable and moved closer.

But Admund saw the time outside the window and got up first.

“If I don’t get up now, I’ll have less time to spend with you at night.”

“Then I should let you go.”

“You’re letting me go too easily.”

“Because I too have much to regret if I keep you longer.”

Admund wanted to ask her what she regretted at the end, but he laughed it off.

“I’ll visit often.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

“Talking with you is like a rest time for me too.”

“Alright. Then visit often.”

With those words, Admund rose from his seat.

Even as he reached the door, he turned back and waved at Clea.

When she was with Lloyd, she always saw only the back of his head, but this was a completely different situation.

‘Who am I comparing to whom?’

It was absurd to even compare the two individuals.

If Lloyd was someone who relied on the prestige of the Grand Duke’s family and acted like an immature child, Admund was different.

He was always cautious not to burden others, was more rational than anyone, and was a practical person.

He was already a man with a clear sense of responsibility to rule a vast empire.

After Admund left, Clea, alone in the spacious room, examined the back of her hand.

“Indeed, has it slowed down a bit?”

Since being cursed, the second hand had only ever sped up, never slowed down.

So even when she was with Admund, she never thought the second hand would slow down.

Even if she felt that way, she thought it must be her imagination.

But recently, she felt a definite sense of discomfort.

She felt comfortable in body and mind just by being around him.

The curse had taken away her health and seemed to give her periodic pain as if to make it impossible to forget.

However, when she was with Admund, the pain disappeared as if it had never existed.

“It’s still difficult to be certain, but.”

Clea thought.

It’s too early to be certain.

Even if the second hand had slowed a little, it could quickly return to its fast pace as if nothing had happened.

The clock hadn’t stopped. It had only slowed down a bit.

She tried hard not to forget this point.

“I don’t want you to be sad because of me. So when the time comes.”

Looking at her palm where the warmth from earlier had disappeared, she clenched her fist.

It was still just imagination, but it could be right in front of her at any moment.

After feeling greedy and reflexively becoming melancholic, she made one firm resolution.

She wanted to make sure Admund wouldn’t be sad because of her.

Yet she still wanted to be by his side.

‘To do that, I need to find a way to break the curse.’

She began to reason seriously.

Until now, she had never thought about breaking the curse.

But as a glimmer of possibility began to appear, she thought that maybe there was still a chance.

A chance to live happily here with Admund.

After finishing that thought, she rose from her seat.

‘If I look into anything related to the curse, something will come up.’

She first wanted to organize her memories of the original story she knew.

Originally, she hadn’t even thought about the original story, thinking she would quietly die and disappear when the time came.

Just then, a maid from outside brought news.

“Lady Clea, Duke Philip requests to meet you.”

At the news of Oberon’s appearance, she recalled his last actions that she had seen.

“Come to think of it, I still have things to talk about with that person.”

Thinking she had been spared the trouble of going to find him, she changed her clothes and prepared to receive the guest.

* * *

Oberon was looking at Clea with a serious expression.

On the other hand, Clea ignored Oberon’s gaze.

“When do you plan to reveal it?”

“Reveal what?”

It wasn’t that she didn’t know what he was asking about.

And Oberon also knew well why she was avoiding answering.

Confirming that she had no intention of talking about this, he decided to ask something else.

“Since when have you been like this?”

Clea closed the book she was reading and looked at Oberon.

There was neither displeasure nor sadness in that gaze.

As their eyes met, it seemed that Oberon’s body stiffened even more.

However, Oberon did not back down either.

He really wanted to know information related to her.

‘Because she’s going to be the Crown Princess, and above all, the future of the empire depends on it.’

So he was rationalizing to himself that he absolutely had to know.

But for some reason, he was becoming more and more restless inside.

On the other hand, Clea, who was watching this, could easily notice his feelings.

So she felt less displeased than before.

“I don’t even remember since when.”

“…Have you never thought about getting better?”

“What if I go to the hospital and get examined by a doctor? Wouldn’t continuing this terrible life afterwards be like choosing to live in hell?”

“Hell, you say.”

“At least it was like that back then.”

If not hell, how else could she explain it?

Clea laughed when she thought of those times.

Although it was a time she had lived without paying much attention, she could at least distinguish how she was treated.

As Grit had said at the end, she had lived there as a tool.

‘But I’m happy now.’

If darkness and light existed, that time was darkness, and now life was covered in light.

Meeting Admund was like light to her.

“Then how are you now?”

Oberon asked, watching Clea smile happily, unlike before.

Clea hesitated for a moment, but soon said.

“I’m happy.”

“Then shouldn’t you at least get treatment?”

“There’s no need for that.”

“Why is that?”

Desperation was evident in Oberon’s question.

Clea wasn’t surprised by why he had become desperate.

She was just annoyed.

Still, she was in a good mood today, so she answered.

“Because treatment is meaningless.”

“What do you mean it’s meaningless?”

Oberon was about to ask something else.

But Clea turned her head away, seemingly unwilling to answer any more.

Oberon felt complicated, but he didn’t bother her any further.

He was careful not to stress her, fearing that bright red drops of blood might come from her mouth like that day.

In fact, Clea hadn’t meant anything special by what she said.

‘If others could treat it, Aria would have been cured long ago. The imperial doctors aren’t likely to be any different.’

It was impossible to leave it to others.

It meant she had to solve it herself. But Oberon was unlikely to understand that.

“Please don’t do this.”

“What are you doing?”

Oberon knelt on the floor in desperation.

Clea, who had been watching quietly, frowned and asked him.

Then Oberon answered.

“At least the people in the imperial palace like you.”

“I know that too. But what does that have to do with anything?”

Anyone with eyes and ears could tell.

At least everyone in the Crown Prince’s palace treated her without prejudice.

It was a world apart from those who had tormented her because of the rumors.

She could understand Oberon’s words, as their behavior was too natural to say Admund had warned them in advance.

But it was difficult to understand why he said not to do it.

As she narrowed her brow, Oberon swallowed.

“What do you want?”

She asked, narrowing her brow even more after hearing Oberon’s words.

“Oberon, what on earth are you talking about?”

“Would you like to take revenge on those who hurt you?”

Suddenly the conversation had gone off track. Clea found it hard to follow.

One thing she could be sure of was that he was making some big misunderstanding.

She wished someone would point out where it had gone wrong.

But there were only her and Oberon in the room.

Oberon had a sharp look in his eyes, like when they met in the carriage.

It was as if he would pounce like a wolf the moment she nodded.

‘It’s certainly what I want, but.’

Still reluctant to leave her affairs to others, she shook her head and said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I won’t do what you suggested, so why don’t you sit down?”

Oberon stood up at Clea’s attitude of clearly avoiding the answer.

“No. I just remembered something I need to do.”

“I still have something to say.”

“Then please speak.”

“Don’t ever tell others.”

Clea repeated what she had warned before, thinking he might have forgotten.

The reason for the warning was also the same as before.

“I don’t want others to worry because of me.”

Having roughly guessed how things would become troublesome, she explained briefly.

But this time too, Oberon misinterpreted her casual answer.

That she was worried about the sadness of those who liked her, and disliked the joy of those who hated her.

“Yes, I understand.”

So Clea sent Oberon away, regretting not explaining a little more.