Because She Had A Time Limit, She Became The Villain’s Daughter-in-law - Chapter 134

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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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“…Why do you keep protecting me? I don’t fit in with anyone anymore.”
After a long silence, Evan finally spoke quietly.
“Still. Cough, cough, cough!”
Laria began coughing again, and he quickly brought a handkerchief to her lips. Fortunately, there was no blood. But in that instant, the distance between them closed dramatically.
In that brief moment, Evan wondered whether Laria’s words were pretense or sincerity, because her tears lingered in his mind in a way that resembled how she had brushed his hair when they were very young.
“You….”
I had thought that when life was difficult, there was no room to let others in.
Laria and I hadn’t been particularly close. But now that I thought about it, just as she regarded me that way, she was the closest person to me. Over seven years, at some point, she had seeped into my life like water into soil. During all that time, I had been indifferent to her, and I thought she had no particular interest in me either. Yet she was apologizing for all those years of indifference, weeping for the child I once was.
“…Is this pretense, or is it sincere?”
“What?”
“You’re good at that. Enchanting people with lies.”
A brief silence fell.
Laria, who had been watching him quietly, whispered her question.
“Was I enchanting you?”
“When we were children.”
That statement meant he was no longer a child now.
No longer thirteen and fourteen-year-old children, but two young adults well past their majority, facing each other.
In any case, two parched souls who had only each other began to intertwine their hearts for the first time. As they each revealed the intimacy they had built up alone, unexpected emotions surged forth.
“The fact that you’re confused about whether it’s pretense or sincerity….”
Laria smiled with her eyes closed.
“You’re still a little enchanted right now.”
“….”
“How enchanted are you?”
“Don’t smile like that.”
With his indoor robe hanging open, Evan held the handkerchief to her lips and spoke in a low voice.
“Not unless you can handle the consequences.”
“…What do you mean?”
“It means you’re not a child anymore who would only blush at the neck when you openly enchant me like this.”
Evan spoke in a low voice and tried to pull away from her, but his wrist was caught. For seven years, they had shared the same bed while pretending not to know about the duty and desire between them.
“What should I do?”
Laria whispered.
“If I meant it sincerely and still got enchanted?”
The handkerchief he held against her lips slipped through his fingers. He felt the warmth of her lips trembling against his fingertips.
While Evan remained silent, Laria spoke quietly.
“But I’m not a child either.”
Their bodies were tense with anticipation.
“Just like you told me, I’ve learned that holding hands at night doesn’t make a child.”
Evan said nothing. Or rather, he couldn’t. Ludba had said that being close to his wife was a betrayal of his father. At thirteen, he had believed those words.
‘And I’ve lived by that inertia until now.’
Casting him out hadn’t meant overcoming it. True healing was responding sincerely to someone who wept sincerely for you. Before anyone could say anything, their lips met. And soon after, their skin began to intertwine.
“…It’s fine.”
Laria whispered to his hesitant touch.
“Really, it’s fine.”
“No. Ask the physician first. You can’t strain your body.”
Evan, who had stopped at last, refused to press further no matter what Laria said. He simply held her thin frame close.
At the end of that night, Laria murmured softly in his embrace.
“…I’m sorry for being sick.”
Suddenly, he felt as though his heart was being torn apart.
* * *
Once acknowledged, his feelings flowed swiftly.
“I regret it, Laria.”
He spoke to Laria, who seemed to have lost her appetite, cutting meat for her as she barely ate.
“We had so much time since childhood, yet I wasted all of it.”
“But those were just childhood years anyway.”
Laria laughed weakly, and Evan answered in a low voice as he watched her.
“I should have loved you from the age of thirteen.”
“What does a thirteen-year-old know.”
“At least I felt good when you stroked my hair. I should have clung to you then, saying I loved you.”
“Now that you mention it, I regret it too.”
She spoke with a laugh, even as she coughed.
“I wish I had been kind to you from the day we first met. Even if it was just an act.”
The conversation could not continue long.
Laria coughed up more blood and grew tired more easily with each passing day.
Around that time, Evan had taken on quite a lot of Calaudin’s work. With Evan joining in, the power struggle with Duke Orlando came to a close. He had become the undisputed leader of the Nobility. Even the Emperor had no choice but to heed his will now.
Leaving the exhausted Laria to sleep, Evan went to the Study to make several reports to Calaudin.
Evan and Calaudin had no particular paternal bond. Yet he listened to Calaudin quite well, and lately had become even more obedient. This was because it was through him that he had met Laria after all. And there was one more reason….
He had come to anticipate the pain of losing someone he loved.
“Yes. Have you finished everything I asked?”
“I sent two men to the Ozberg Region and decided to close the Fabianne Mine.”
“Yes, I understand.”
It was a brief exchange.
However, unlike usual, Evan did not leave.
“Is there something else you need?”
“Yes.”
At Evan’s response, Calaudin slowly lifted his head and looked at his son.
“What exactly is Laria’s illness?”
Evan did not miss the brief confusion that crossed Calaudin’s expression.
“I asked the physician Avery, but he said he cannot speak without your permission.”
Calaudin had barely exchanged more than a few words with Laria until now. This was not particularly strange, as he had not really conversed with Evan either.
“I am curious what illness it is that Laria herself does not know of, and that cannot be revealed to me, her husband.”
“…Why are you curious about that now?”
Calaudin’s voice trembled slightly.
“I heard you were completely indifferent to your wife all this time.”
“That’s not entirely accurate.”
“With that girl….”
Evan had never seen Calaudin display such emotional turmoil before.
“…Don’t tell me you’ve grown attached to her.”
“We’ve shared the same room as husband and wife for seven years now. How could I not have grown attached?”
“But still… you only sleep in the room and leave at dawn….”
At this unusual response, Evan’s eyes gleamed with interest.
Just as he was about to speak, Calaudin pressed his forehead with a look of profound despair.
“Leave.”
“Father.”
“Just go. Please, I’m begging you.”
“…I’ll leave for now.”
Evan answered with a glint in his eyes.
“I’ll return tomorrow. By then, you’ll have had time to collect your thoughts.”
It was essentially a declaration that he would absolutely get answers tomorrow.
* * *
“So.”
That evening, Laria lay on Evan’s lap and asked as she listened to his account.
“He just came and left?”
“To hear my answer tomorrow.”
“Hey, Evan.”
She rolled her eyes and asked carefully.
“…What kind of person is your father? I’ve never met him, so I don’t really know….”
“Well, he’s not like most fathers. In a bad way.”
“I know it’s strange to say this, but… I was still grateful to your father.”
Laria hesitated before speaking in response to Evan’s indifferent words.
“After my parents passed away, I had nowhere to go. My body was weak too, so I would have been a burden wherever I went, but I was so fortunate that your father took me in.”
“….”
“He sent me a doctor, gave me a nice room, assigned me a maid. Honestly, I wouldn’t have been able to live this comfortably anywhere else.”
“Well, Laria.”
Evan sighed and hesitated. Calaudin’s reaction just now had been somewhat shocking to him too. Was it really so surprising that he and Laria had grown attached to each other?
“To be honest, my father doesn’t act without reason. He might have brought you here to use you for something.”
“Still, it’s a shame.”
Laria reached up and gently ran her fingers through Evan’s hair as she spoke.
“If I were just a little healthier, I’m sure I could have gotten close to your father somehow.”
“Close to my father? Our father doesn’t get close to anyone.”
“You don’t know. Even like this, I’m incredibly good at pleasing others. I’m confident about it.”
“Yes.”
Evan took her hand and brought it to his lips, whispering softly.
“So get some rest and recover.”
“Understood. But I heard there’s a masquerade ball tomorrow for the first time in ten years. Aren’t you going?”
“I’m not. Only my Aunt and Father will attend.”
“Your Aunt?”
“Yes, she’s really a terrible person with an awful personality.”
“Oh? I actually like people like that. I’m confident I could make a good impression on her.”
“That won’t be easy.”
“No, I think we could become close enough to attend the masquerade together.”
“Why would you go with my Aunt? You should go with me.”
The conversation continued with talk of things that could never come to pass.
“Just imagining it makes me happy. I really want to see something like that. It must be spectacular.”
“Let’s sit side by side and watch until we’re tired of it. On the way back, I’ll carry you.”
That night, Laria suffered through a fever. She coughed up blood and became delirious. It was only natural that Evan pressed the physician Avery relentlessly, turning the Count’s Manor upside down.
And in the dawn hours when Laria lost consciousness, Calaudin quietly called for Evan.
His face was shrouded in an indescribable anguish. He had already decided not to attend the masquerade ball. That no one from Icard would attend was not a courtesy to the Royal Court, which was hosting a grand event for the first time in ten years, but such things no longer mattered.
That day, Calaudin told Evan everything.

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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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