I’m a Villainess but So Popular

Editor : Aru

Side Story 1. Summer Vacation (9)

[The Duke’s dream is generally peaceful. There are many days when you don’t dream at all. I don’t think you’re particularly anxious or worried. I hope you don’t feel uneasy because it’ll be more peaceful in the future.]

The contents of Mrs Tarien’s notes that I checked when I returned to the villa were more ordinary than I thought.

I was doing it for fun, but, fortunately, no bad content came out.

‘Peaceful, she said.’

Wasn’t it something that I always wished for even before I was possessed, even when I had possessed this body?

‘The wish has come true.’

I put down my hand holding the notes and looked still at the ceiling.

Although it seems like it went well beyond ‘peaceful’ for dating the Emperor and became the head of the 7 Imperial Families.

When I was rolling around on the bed thinking about one thing and another, I heard a knock on the door.

“It’s me, Yerine.”

“Yes, come in.”

When the door opened, Cassius, who had changed into a comfortable pyjama, came in.

As soon as he saw me, he came up with a smile and sat on the bed.

I also got up from the bed and sat down with my knees together.

“How’s your ankle?”

Cassius asked, naturally handing down my hair that ran down my face behind my ears.

“It’s been a long time since I got better.”

“Really?”

He turned around and looked at my ankle.

Of course, my ankle was perfectly fine without a puffy spot.

“See? It sure got better fast.”

I smiled triumphantly at Cassius, who looked around at my ankle.

Nevertheless, he asked with a serious look, as if he was upset.

“May I take a closer look?”

“You don’t believe that I got better?”

“You always lie to me, saying that you’re not sick even when you’re sick.”

Seeing Cassius facing me with a sulky expression, I wondered if I had lied so much.

“No, but it looks fine on the appearance, and since a lot of time has passed, it must have been healed.”

But Cassius was tough.

“You can’t tell from the appearance only. Stick out your feet.”

In the end, I inflated my cheeks and stuck my ankle, which had been sprained in the shopping street, to Cassius.

Cassius, who was looking down at me, carefully supported my heels and asked.

“Is it hurt if I hold it like this?”

“It doesn’t hurt at all.”

“Okay, then excuse me.”

He supported my ankle with his hand, pressed it slightly with his fingers, and turned it around little by little.

Whenever that happened, he asked me if it felt hurt.

My answer has always been no.

“Well, it looks like it really got better.”

“Right?”

“But it was a little dangerous today. You almost got hurt.”

“Cassius, I don’t think I’m going to be seriously injured if I trip over a rock.”

“But you can’t walk for a while. We’re here for a vacation, but if you get hurt, you can’t go around. It’ll be upsetting.”

Cassius made a pathetic expression like a dog hit by the rain and brought it up, and my conscience was pricked.

“Sorry…….”

“Huh? No, it’s not Yerine’s fault.”

Cassius shook his head and said.

“The stone there was wrong. It’s dangerously sticking out of there.”

“What?”

It’s good to defend me, but isn’t this too serious?

“Should I support Dayseina’s sidewalk maintenance project? I’ll have to think about it seriously.”

“Cassius, the maintenance business itself is fine, but the belly button will be bigger than the belly itself.”

(T/N: meaning the costs outweigh the benefits)

I sighed and teased Cassius.

“And I couldn’t see and fall because I was so distracted, not because of the stone.”

“I don’t care. It’s because of that stone”

Cassius leaned his head sideways beside my leg and said.

“I really can’t stop you.”

As I shook my head, Cassius shone his playful eyes.

I looked at him like that and thought.

‘Yeah, what can I do when I really like this side of him.’

There is nothing I can do. I have to live with it.

“Whew.”

I sighed as if I couldn’t help it and pulled myself close to Cassius. And stroked his hair as black as ebony.

“Yes, whatever it is, Cassius will always be on my side.”

As I swept over his soft hair, his golden eyes grew bigger.

His golden eyes, as if containing the sun’s light, glanced at me.

A gaze with a soft, warm light that is not dazzling.

“Thank you.”

Those eyes will face me until they lose their light.

No, they will turn to me even after they lose their light.

“I’m also, always on Cassius’ side, too.”

Because he’s a person who won’t know if I don’t say it.

Even if I say it, he’s always anxious if he cannot constantly check it.

He may not be used to holding happiness in his hands yet.

So I have to say it.

“As always, forever.”

I know that they are words of weight that cannot be taken carelessly.

But I can say this word in front of him.

And I know he’ll say that in front of me, and he’ll keep that heavy promise.

“Yerine…….”

Cassius called my name in a trembling voice.

His golden eyes twinkled like the light of the sun just rising at dawn.

“I’m so happy right now that I’m about to cry.”

My heart ached again when I saw his gentle smile.

“I was really happy before, so I thought it was a dream.”

‘Why is he so…..’

Does he not know that the happiness in his hands belongs to him?

He’s the sole owner of that happiness and he’s worthy of it.

The hand that was stroking Cassius’s hair was laid down.

I clenched my fist in anger.

“But not anymore.”

“What?”

Cassius nodded when I raised my head to unexpected remarks.

“These days, I don’t really think about whether this is a dream. I know it’s real.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Cassius said with his eyes shining.

“I know you’ve always told me that you like me and that I deserve to be happy.”

Cassius spoke in a calm voice. It was a voice filled with pure sincerity without adding anything.

“This happy life is really mine.”

“Cassius….”

Cassius rolled up the corners of his lips when I called his name.

As if he’s saying it’s okay.

“Now I’m talking about it, but I had a nightmare until a few years ago. It was like that too when our days at the Academy.”

At that moment, what happened at Mrs Tarien’s shop passed through my mind.

This was a bad dream Mrs Tarien talked about.

“What kind of nightmare was that?”

Cassius did not answer immediately.

For a short time, his eyes looked sad.

“The dream that you die.”

“Yes…?”

“Yes. Actually, I often had that dream for three years even after the coup.”

Cassius spoke calmly as if nothing were wrong.

But I knew very well that it wasn’t.

“In my dreams, you always……always lying down, and I couldn’t do anything but watch it all the time.”

His golden eyes glowed faintly like the evening sun.

“No matter how far I reached, I couldn’t reach you. As if a transparent wall blocked me. Even though I screamed like crazy, my voice didn’t come out of my mouth.”

My heart thumped and seemed to sink.

I can’t believe he was carrying that alone.

I was about to press him to ask why he was carrying that all by himself, but Cassius’s voice came out as calm as the surface of the unwinded lake.

“But you know the dream we saw at Mrs Tarien’s shop earlier. It’s not like that in that dream.”

I frowned slightly and asked, looking at him.

“Not like that? What?”

“I’m definitely appearing in that dream. I’m definitely touching you and talking to you.”

Come to think of it, it was.

The dream was flowing from Cassius’ gaze, and it was clearly felt that he was the dreamer.

“You heard my voice, too.”

“Looking back, that’s right.”

When I nodded, Cassius replied with a big smile.

“Mrs Tarien said in her note. Unlike before, I’m having a happy dream where I’m the main character, now I admit that I’m a person who will enjoy that happiness.”

The moment I heard that a corner of my heart trembled.

But it was different from before.

It didn’t feel sorrowful like before.

“So, now I think I know very well that this happiness is mine. I accept this life without any doubt as mine.”

Somehow the tip of my nose turned sour.

In the end, I couldn’t stand it and wrapped his shoulders in both my hands.

“Yerine?”

I did not shed tears.

However, I remember that my eyes turned blurry and hazy for a while.

“Why, why didn’t you tell me, why are you holding it all by yourself……”

If I did a little wrong, tears would overflow.

Cassius was embarrassed by my reaction and got out of bed and hugged me in his arms.

“Sorry, I’m so sorry, Yerine. I’m so sorry to make you worry.”

He supported me on the head with one hand and patted me on the back with his other hand.

His voice was full of sorry.

“I’m sorry, I just…….”

There was a sigh behind my ear.

And a hesitant voice rang in my ears.

“I just wanted to say that it’s thanks to you that I’m able to enjoy this peace of mind…….”

“Why is that all thanks to me? Cassius was originally a man who deserved it all.”

Cassius replied with a ragged smile.

“You say it is very encouraging to me.”

Really, he is an inevitable person.

I took off my face against Cassius’s shoulder and looked up at him.

“It hurts me that you hide your nightmares, but I understand.”

It is not easy to reveal the most painful part of yourself to others.

And the reason why he didn’t want to tell me, is originally human instinct that made him do that.

“It must have been hard to say, but thank you for telling me.”

Finally, tears flowed down.

Why?

There are only things left to be happy.

Why do I cry when I don’t have to?

“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize it, and great job.”

Tears flowed down my cheeks, but I smiled brightly.

“Great job, Cassius.”

His eyes, which look like they contain the sun, glistened.

Does he know?

I really love his straight eyes that are always gazing straight towards me.

“Yerine.”

A soft voice called my name.

He then wrapped his hands around my cheek.

His lips touched my tearful eyes.

The spot where his lips had passed was warm as if it’s burning.

It was a friendly kiss as if a wolf licked his pet’s wound.

“I made up my mind today.”

He wiped away the remaining tears with his fingers and talked.

“I won’t be anxious anymore.”

His smile was soft and lovely.

“Now that this happiness is mine, I won’t run away from it, and I don’t have to be anxious.”

Cassius’ words somehow relieved my tension, and I laughed unknowingly.

Cassius then smiled more brightly, perhaps relieved.

“So now I’m going to enjoy it at ease.”

When I answered that smile with a tearful laugh, Cassius smiled happily and lifted me up with both his arms and hugged me.

“With you.”

Cassius looked so clear and happy.

So I laughed with ease.

Cassius kissed me again, on the forehead like that.

“Everything that hurts and sad has gone away!”

He rolled up the corners of his lips and bent his upper body.

A lovely sound echoed through the room.

Then, putting my forehead in the place where I kissed him, I said quietly.

“The hurts and sad things, I wish it for fly away.”

May you always be happy.

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