Because She Had A Time Limit, She Became The Villain’s Daughter-in-law - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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His breath brushed against my ear, and my shoulders flinched.
Between us, there had never been any intimate physical contact. Even when we occasionally held hands, it was more a gesture of affection than the flutter of lovers’ hearts. So, even now….
“In any case, the fact that you worry about me is intoxicating.”
As his lips began to press against my ear, I found myself unable to breathe.
“I really don’t want to remain a thirteen-year-old child in your eyes. The truth is, what I want from you isn’t your concern.”
My heart pounded wildly, as if possessed.
“You… you have no idea what I truly desire.”
His voice turned thick and heated.
“What I crave desperately is….”
I said nothing and held my breath.
While my entire body went rigid, my heart seemed to drop with a thud.
“Ah… am I really nothing but a beast driven by instinct?”
Evan hastily pulled away from me and slammed his head against a nearby tree.
“Forget it, Laria. Forget what I just said. I wasn’t in my right mind.”
“….”
“Let’s just go back to our earlier conversation. My childhood was nothing special.”
“Evan, that’s….”
“If only Mother had lived, I would have thought about it every single day. It’s pathetic beyond measure.”
I had already suspected as much from reading his diary.
“It’s not pathetic. Why would that be pathetic?”
I asked impulsively, watching Evan avoid my gaze.
“If Matilda had lived, would your life have changed so much?”
“… Perhaps it would have.”
The distant chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves in the wind filled the silence between us.
Not knowing what to say, I stood still when Evan slowly turned around. Then he removed his outer shirt and spread it across a flat rock beside the forest path.
“Evan?”
“Sit down, Laria.”
“… Suddenly?”
“You injured your ankle—you shouldn’t stand for long.”
He had been glancing around anxiously since earlier, and it seemed he had been thinking about my ankle all along.
“No, I’m fine. I don’t really need to sit just because I’m not pushing myself….”
“Hurry.”
“It’s okay… ow!”
Suddenly, my feet left the ground. Evan had lifted me up effortlessly.
Startled, I gripped his shoulders, then realized our faces were closer than expected and swallowed hard. I couldn’t even tell if the thundering heartbeat was mine or his.
“Now that I’m holding you, you can’t hit me anymore.”
He chuckled softly and began to set me down on the rock. So I quickly clung to his neck instead.
“Then I’ll just have to stay in your arms. So you can’t let me hit you.”
“Laria, don’t do this. Really. I don’t want to make any more mistakes with you.”
“Even if you don’t want to, you’ll have to bear it.”
I’d heard that Evan disliked physical contact with women at the masquerade, but that was his own affair, after all.
“I really hate being the right wife for him.”
Evan let out a shallow sigh, and I couldn’t help but smile, thinking my opinion had prevailed once again.
He carried me to the rock, but when I refused to let go, he simply sat down on it instead. This left me perched on his lap, nestled against him.
“It’s been a while.”
“…What has?”
“When we were young, you held me like this often. It reminded me of those days.”
“….”
“Earlier at the Magic Tower, you asked me to touch you. Other women disgust you, but I’m acceptable, right? We did this constantly as children, so it’s hardly an inappropriate form of contact.”
Evan’s ears flushed crimson in an instant.
I continued speaking softly.
“You probably hate being treated like a child, but right now the truth serum prevents you from refusing, doesn’t it? So just stay in my arms while the drug’s effects linger. Don’t be embarrassed.”
Whether it was a rational argument or not, Evan had nothing particular to say. As he remained silent, I suddenly asked him a question.
“But… hasn’t thirty minutes passed already?”
“It hasn’t.”
His answer came very quickly.
“The drug’s effects still seem to be active.”
“…Really?”
I was somewhat suspicious, but I could verify it soon enough.
I knew the method of verification very well. And being held by him after so long brought back old memories—it felt good.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed myself closer against his chest, and each time I did, his refreshing scent tickled my nose.
Evan awkwardly supported my waist to keep me from slipping away, and he seemed quite uncomfortable, his entire body tense with effort.
“Laria, I don’t understand why I become so pathetic whenever I’m in front of you.”
Evan murmured quietly.
“If you asked me to destroy the world, I’d do it without question, yet I can’t seem to give you anything truly meaningful in return.”
Why were there so many people speaking of world destruction before me? First Sven, then the Scroll Book, and now Evan….
“You’ve given me so much. Truly, more than I could ever count.”
I leaned against him and spoke slowly.
“For example… the way you scan for places where I can rest the moment we start walking the forest path.”
“Hm?”
“How you always create shade for me when the sunlight is harsh, walking beside me.”
Even if it was kindness tinged with concealment, even if he’d said he didn’t desire me as a woman, there were so many things to be grateful for.
“The way you always drape a blanket over me when I fall asleep in the carriage. I could list a hundred more things like these.”
At my words, Evan let out a hollow laugh in response.
“Those are all trivial, insignificant things.”
“There are so many trivial things that they’re no longer trivial at all. And there’s no one else who has ever treated me that way….”
I hadn’t even inhaled the truth serum’s smoke, yet I couldn’t understand why I was revealing my true feelings.
“…except you.”
Perhaps, knowing there was a high chance I would leave soon, I harbored an inner desire to tell him these things before that happened.
Evan remained silent for a moment, then spoke in a hoarse voice.
“It’s strange. I feel like I’ve experienced every conceivable thing at the Magic Tower….”
He dropped his forehead gently against my shoulder.
“Only this moment, being with you like this, feels vivid to me.”
Somehow, I felt like I too would never forget this moment. Yet at the same time, it seemed as though thirty minutes had already passed. So I quietly asked him, partly to verify the efficacy of the truth serum.
“Evan, do you happen to like sweet things?”
“No.”
“…Let’s go. Thirty minutes have passed.”
I withdrew my arm from him. Now that I thought about it, Evan had never once said with his own mouth that he liked something. It seemed as though his childhood—when he couldn’t bear to show any sign of affection—had hardened into his very nature.
‘So asking whether he likes me would be meaningless anyway.’
Evan carefully lifted me and set me back down on the path.
“Yes.”
His crimson eyes averted from me once more.
“My head is finally starting to feel clear.”
Looking at his tender expression, I felt a slight sadness wash over me.
“Come on, let’s go now.”
Evan spoke plainly as always, then walked beside me along the forest path, matching my pace.
We arrived at the carriage and parted ways as we normally did.
“See you in two months, Laria.”
Evan mounted his horse, Lawrence, and smiled kindly at me.
“Take care of yourself.”
“You too. Lawrence, please look after Evan on the long journey.”
I kissed Lawrence’s cheek lightly and stroked his mane.
It was a farewell as ordinary as if nothing had happened at the Magic Tower. And with a heart heavy as waterlogged cotton, I climbed back into the carriage.
I didn’t want to dwell deeper on thoughts of Evan. My head was already aching from weighing every possibility in my mind.
Two months. One week after the Imperial Palace banquet. Elani would make her declaration of marriage. The time remaining was truly short now, and I quietly fingered the teleportation scroll in my pocket.
“Only this moment, being with you like this, feels vivid to me.”
It was the same for me.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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