FMV 06

Chapter 6

“Impossible.”

A hollow laugh escaped between his lips.

“I can’t believe it.”

Damian shook his head repeatedly, his brows furrowing into a grim expression.

So, he really couldn’t believe her after all.

Well, even if the words came from a Saintess who possessed divine power, there had never been a single person in history who had seen the future or possessed the ability to predict it.

So his reaction was perfectly normal.

Still, she couldn’t help feeling hurt by the sense that even Damian, who had tried to save her at the very last moment, was pushing her away.

Feeling slightly dejected, she let out a small sigh.

“Haah, yes. I know it’s hard to believe, but……”

“Yeah. It’s an impossible story to believe.”

He frowned with displeasure, raising one eyebrow.

“Why would I die at the hands of those bastards?”

“……Huh?”

“It makes no sense. I’m stronger than those pieces of trash, so why?”

Elize blinked rapidly as she stared intently at Damian, trying to understand the situation.

His green eyes, blazing with fighting spirit, burned more fiercely than ever.

“And I died without even being able to protect you? Why the hell would I die?”

At Damian’s continued questions, Elize unintentionally let out a breathy laugh.

Apparently, the part he found impossible to believe was that he had died at their hands.

“That’s the part you find hard to believe?”

“Yeah. Why the hell is the future like that?”

He completely ignored the absurdity of her claim that she had seen the future and continued pressing her for answers.

“Tell me in more detail.”

“……Well.”

She told him everything.

How she had been betrayed by the three men, how Damian had tried to save her when they had all forced her to accept death, and why someone as powerful as him had ended up dying helplessly alongside her.

She even told him that after experiencing that death, which felt like neither a dream nor reality, she had discovered that the three men were preparing her execution by burning at the stake three months later.

“Those fucking bastards.”

After hearing the entire story, Damian’s expression turned cold.

He muttered a curse under his breath, just loud enough for Elize to hear, before speaking.

“I knew it. I told you, Elize.”

His voice dropped into a low growl, like an animal snarling.

“I told you their faces looked exactly like that. They had the faces of men who were bound to stab you in the back.”

Although he appeared relatively calm, Damian was actually suppressing a considerable amount of anger.

He had sensed long ago, through his innate animal instincts and intuition, that Esit, Ian, and Leonhardt were harboring sinister plans.

But he had never imagined that their schemes would extend to Elize.

“No wonder I kept having this feeling that I needed to protect you.”

Damian muttered softly to himself.

“……So it really wasn’t just simple stalking?”

Was that really why he had been watching over her?

Elize stared at him with astonished eyes.

“I’m the sole heir to the throne of the Deblen Empire. If it had merely been an unfounded concern, I would have put a protective spell on you or assigned you a guard.”

Despite having every reason to be offended, Damian calmly explained himself without showing even the slightest trace of displeasure.

“Even if it means going back and working through the night, protecting the woman I love is only natural, isn’t it?”

Elize’s lips slowly parted in shock.

Just how badly had she misunderstood him all this time?

Calling it a mere prejudice was almost too kind. It was more like a pair of sunglasses completely blackened by prejudice.

And the three men who had betrayed her had been the ones covering her eyes with those sunglasses.

“It’s true that I’m blinded by love, but I wouldn’t do something like that without a reason.”

“……You’re right.”

With a darker expression than before, she looked directly into Damian’s eyes.

“I think there were far too many things I misunderstood about you. I’m sorry, Damian.”

She even lowered her head and sincerely apologized.

One apology couldn’t possibly make up for the fact that she had kept him at a distance and subtly looked down on him all this time.

Still, she needed to ask forgiveness for the wrongs she had committed.

If she wanted to continue being with Damian, that was.

“Elize.”

Damian merely lifted one corner of his mouth.

“You can do anything to me.”

A deep dimple appeared at the end of his crooked smile.

As she carefully took in yet another new side of him, Elize listened intently to what Damian had to say.

“You can curse at me or hit me. I don’t care.”

“Although it’s a future that hasn’t happened yet, you were the only person who saved me. You were my savior.”

After quietly listening to him, she added with a serious expression,

“If your preference is being cursed at and beaten, then I’ll gladly…….”

“Ha!”

Damian burst out laughing at Elize’s unexpected response, covering his mouth as he chuckled.

After shaking his shoulders with laughter for quite some time, he wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corners of his eyes and spoke again.

“This is why I can’t escape from you, Elize.”

At that moment, Damian’s eyes curved into gentle crescents.

“You’re so adorable. How could I possibly not love you?”

Elize found herself staring blankly at him.

Although Damian was naturally extremely handsome, his slightly upturned eyes always made him look cold.

But seeing him smile like that, he simply looked radiant.

Apparently, that was how he smiled when he was truly happy.

There seemed to be an endless number of charms hidden within him that she had yet to discover.

Her face flushed bright red, and she gave an awkward smile as her voice trailed off.

“It’s not quite that much…….”

“You can just use me if you want. In this entire world, there’s only one person who can treat me—the Crown Prince of the Deblen Empire—like a slave……”

Damian slowly finished his sentence while maintaining his gentle smile.

“You.”

So he really did have that kind of preference……?

Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Elize cleared her throat.

“Ahem, anyway……”

She returned to a serious expression and continued.

“I don’t want to lie to you, so I’ll tell you everything honestly. There’s something I promised you when we died together.”

“A promise? Now I’m very curious what that promise was.”

Damian’s eyes gleamed brightly with interest.

Elize smiled faintly before continuing.

“I promised that in my next life, I would love you.”

At those words, Damian fell completely silent, as though someone had struck him hard in the back of the head.

“So I’m going to love you now. Honestly, I probably won’t be able to do it right away. But I’ll try. And perhaps, soon……”

Under normal circumstances, these were words she would have been too embarrassed to say.

Yet embarrassing words continued to spill freely from her lips.

“I’ll come to love you.”

Elize looked directly into Damian’s face.

The reason she could say it so confidently was very simple.

“When you came to save me, I was so grateful that I wanted to cry.”

Damian had risked his life to save her.

Those powerless hands had been desperately undoing the knots so he could get her out, even with death right before his eyes.

Even as his eyes were losing focus, he had looked at her so intently, trying to reassure her.

And finally, there had been the warmth of his embrace.

Even now, if she closed her eyes, those sensations felt so vivid that she could still feel them against her skin.

“And I need your help, too.”

“……All right. What can I help you with, my lovely Lady Elize?”

“The downfall of the three men.”

Elize’s pupils narrowed sharply, like those of a beast.

“Their complete destruction. And for that destruction…… I’ll need your help, too.”

Burning with vengeance, she slowly reached out her hand toward Damian.

“Well, that……”

Damian stared intently at the hand Elize had extended toward him.

Then he reached out and took it.

“That’s a very interesting idea, Elize.”

Yes.

That was exactly the expression she wanted to see.

In a world where everything was black and white, only she shimmered with beautiful colors.

As Damian gazed at Elize with an expression of absolute fascination, the corners of his mouth curved upward in satisfaction.