"What nonsense…"
Lloyd's hands were tense
His eyes darkened black and he rubbed his lips, but when Aria frowned, he let go of her.
The boy gritted his teeth and spoke as quietly as he could.
"There's only one marriage in my life. You're the first and last."
Do you understand?
Aria paused for a moment at the question, and then slowly nodded her head.
Because he said it when he was still young.
'When you grow up, you will change your mind'
He stared intently at the back of her hand, which was red with the handprint.
His brow wrinkled, but he looked like he was agonizing in a gaze that asked, 'Does it hurt?'
"I have to let the world know you."
"….."
"You're not a ghost, Ariadne. You exist here."
Aria patted the back of her tingling hand, and hardened.
Ariadne.
Every time he called his name, her heart felt strangely pounding and rattling.
Is that okay?
Can he tell the world about her?
'That…..'
Her heart raced faster when he said she wasn't a ghost.
Not a siren, not a ghost, not Ariadne Cortez,
'Ariadne Valentine.'
It meant accepting herself as his family, not her songs.
She was afraid. She was looking forward to it.
Contrasting emotions disturbed the regular rhythm of her heart.
'No, I can't.'
All the memories of her previous life flashed through Aria's mind.
Naturally, Aria had no choice but to think about the past first.
Lloyd, who read her anxious gaze, added with a savage smile.
"I wanted to set an example for what would happen if someone dared to touch you."
Aria looked at Lloyd's wicked smile, and the him in the future overlapped for a moment.
With a lush rich voice, the devil who announced her revenge and plunged her into hell.
'Ah.'
At that moment, Aria realized.
'I like you.'
She seems to have liked him a long time ago.
Even back in time, she saw Lloyd alone and came to the Grand Duke's residence without any countermeasures.
She wondered why she hadn't noticed this before.
'But I think I like you even more.'
A person who gives salvation every time for no reason.
A person who is consistent even when she takes off her mask.
A person who tells her that she can stay here even if she doesn't prove her worth with a song.
A person who she wants to live again with even if there is another life.
'I can't believe I realized this now.'
It's bad luck.
Aria bit her lip.
'You can't say that.'
It is better to bury this heavy heart for the rest of her life.
Lloyd shouldn't know.
Instead of giving happiness, what if she gave him a burden of her heart that he might carry for the rest of his life?
"….."
A storm broke out inside Aria.
But she captured all of her feelings and pretended to be as calm as possible.
– It's forgiven.
Then a small smile formed on the boy's lips.
The sweet scent of hyacinth emanating from the crevice of the window filled the hallway.
It was the name of a flower that said even if it dries and withers, the fragrance never disappears.
'It hurts.'
Aria slowly patted her own heart.
Her heart continued to pound and she felt it fall to the ground.
***
"Take care."
"Yes."
"Don't push yourself too hard."
To Veronica's worried words, Gabriel answered with a faint smile.
"I will come back stronger for sure."
"Don't do that."
The saint bluntly rebuked him so that he wouldn't get hurt for no reason.
However, the boy evaded an answer with a hazy smile and got onto the prepared carriage.
Soon the carriage departed.
Valentine.
'I want to protect the saint from all threats. So that she can be free to do whatever she wants….'
Gabriel stared out the window.
Veronica's figure, waving her hand, grew smaller and smaller.
'Five years.'
It's short and long.
Gabriel had to stay on Valentine as an apprentice during that time.
It was something he volunteered for.
'The priest said that 'the devil malice' must be purified with divine power.'
It was a contract of some sort, passed down from generation to generation between Valentine and Garcia.
Once a generation, they sent a young priest with great divine power to purify evil as a kind of training.
Malice exactly means 'malignancy that has been corrupted after being possessed by the devil from hell'.
And he heard that the younger they are, the better their ability to purify that malice.
"I won't lie to brother. Valentine is a very dangerous place. But there is no better place to practice your divine power."
The boy gladly accepted the offer.
Because he thought it was a good opportunity given by God.
But he couldn't understand it apart from that.
'Valentine. Devil worshipers.'
Why were they helping them?
At least in Garcia, devil worship was strictly forbidden and the punishments were very strict.
The suspect was taken away by a heretic inquisitor and tortured, and if they were found true for doing devil worship, they would be trialed.
'Valentine is the territory of the Fineta Empire, so even if they are worshipers of the devil, we have no choice but to leave it alone.'
He understood that part.
But then, why do the Holy Empire have to purify it?
'Isn't that what happened by borrowing the power of the forbidden devil?'
It wasn't something to be helped.
It's a matter between empires, to annihilate and overthrow the evil devil worshipers.
'This is not right.'
Gabriel thought so.
However, he had no choice but to participate in this unsuccessful plan.
He had no power over himself yet.
'But when I become strong and become an adult.'
Then, I will expose this to the world and make sure the devil worshipers receive their due punishment.
Gabriel promised.
He never dreamed that he would meet the girl he could not have saved again at Valentine's Castle.
***
"Will the wedding cake sheets be vanilla or chocolate?"
The baker asked seriously.
So Aria also answered seriously.
[Strawberry flavor.]
"Understood!"
Then, the chef gave instructions to the assistants with an expression that had reached enlightenment of the principles of the world.
He was needlessly determined.
Not only that, but representatives of each department were moving in unison and preparing for Aria and Lloyd's wedding.
[Everyone looks happy.]
At that moment, Vincent, who was sitting across from her, answered.
"It must be because they saw hope."
He was constantly snacking the meringue cookies that the baker had specially prepared for Aria.
The chef glanced at him with sullen eyes.
[Hope?]
"Isn't the Madam completely cured of her illness?"
Originally, the marriage of the head of the household was an auspicious occasion.
'Normally it is.'
But has there ever been a time when Valentine's weddings, where the mistress had to die giving birth to the heir, a ceremonial occasion?
If Sabina, whom they thought was only going to die, had not recovered, the marriage would still have gone on like a formality.
"It's a vague hope that Valentine's curse, which has been passed down from generation to generation, is completely over."
Employees will be able to bless the marriage of the successor for the first time in their lives.
At least a festival was about to take place.
'Perhaps I will break that hope.'
Aria was somehow sweating.
'This marriage is also going to break down."
She thought that her time-limit should never be discovered.
In a similar context to wanting to protect the innocence of a child.
'But before I die, I intend to get rid of the curse completely. I hope they can see it that way."
She thought, smiling bitterly.
"There is no way the curse can be lifted."
Although Vincent struck the candle right away.
Aria had no choice but to ask.
[You know something?]
"Of course I don't know."
What. He doesn't even know.
He was furious as she narrowed her eyes and looked at him pathetically.
"The Valentine's secret is a top secret known only to the head and the heirs."
[Still, I thought you could guess something.]
"The fact that the Madam was cured has nothing to do with Valentine's curse."
[Then what is it?]
"There must have been an external factor."
Aria was startled, but she seemingly maintained her unconcerned guise.
Whenever she saw him as a genius, he smirked and showed off, but it seemed that his mouth wasn't the only thing alive.
[How do you know that?]
"Because even if the curse has been lifted, Valentine is still full of 'malice'."
Malice?
It's the first time she heard it.
Aria stared at him and sent a gaze to ask for an explanation.
"Damn it. Was it a secret?"
Then Vincent sighed late.
"Brother will kill me…"
The boy squeezed his long, shiny blonde hair in agony.
It was going to be ripped off right before his death for moving his tongue in front of Aria.
"Ah, I thought you knew! How could I have known that you were overprotected to this extent!"
[Can't you tell me sooner?]
"Look at this. If you look at this personality, you will know that I don't have to go around recklessly."
Vincent sighed.
As he had already said so far, hiding it was meaningless.
He eventually divulged the truth he knew about malice.