A familiar voice, yet trembling violently.
Odely barely managed to raise her head.
Ludville’s face was pale, and his breathing was uneven.
Without even having time to catch his breath, he knelt down in front of Odely.
Then he pulled out a thin piece of cloth from his waist and hurriedly covered her mouth and nose with it.
“In the very center of the epidemic, and without even covering your respiratory tract……!”
“…….”
It was the sharpest voice she had heard from him so far.
It even carried a hint of killing intent……
He was expressing his raw emotions through every breath he took.
And yet, his actions moved instinctively and naturally to protect her.
As if it were a habit ingrained in his body.
“Never do something like this again. If you do……”
If she did?
“If you do, I’ll…….”
His words stopped.
Ludville could not bring himself to finish the sentence.
He closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath.
It was a gesture of desperately trying to suppress his emotions.
“……If you’re curious about what I’ll do to you, then try it again.”
He pulled Odely tightly into his arms as if trapping her there, muttering the words like a threat.
His words, breathed out like a sigh, contained worry and anger, along with a possessiveness that was somewhat dark for something that could be called normal.
‘Ah.’
I’m screwed.
That was her first thought.
Judging by his reaction……
‘Could he be seeing the blue-eyed woman in me right now?’
Feeling troubled, she gathered every last bit of her remaining mental strength and forcibly held on to her fading consciousness.
“……You already knew that I could purify things.”
Then, pretending nothing was wrong, she calmly began to speak.
“I thought you had already figured out that I’m not affected by the epidemic either.”
At those words, Ludville’s eyes turned cold as ice.
His lips twisted, and deep, fierce wrinkles formed between his brows.
“You…… call that something you should be saying right now?”
His voice was low, but uncontrollable anger seeped into it.
Then he suddenly poured out his words.
“Why did you go and do something you weren’t even told to do in the first place!”
Odely had nothing to say.
She had never expected him to follow her this far.
No, even if she had been unlucky enough to be caught at the scene, she had never expected him to get this angry.
She had actually expected him to be impressed that she had completely stopped the epidemic.
‘Isn’t this a pretty small price to pay?’
When Cardel had forced her to repeat purification work over and over, she had often been pushed to the brink of life and death.
Compared to that, coughing up blood and fainting seemed like a very minor side effect.
But apparently, he did not see it that way.
‘……Do I look really sick?’
Did she look so terribly weak right now that she reminded him of the blue-eyed woman from his memories?
Or perhaps……
‘Was the problem that I secretly left without telling him and tried to save people?’
At that moment, a very old scene came to mind.
One of the thousands of regressions, when Ludville had started a rebellion and taken the throne as emperor.
The Ludville from that time had held a bloodied and collapsed Odely in his arms and said,
“There’s no way your body can endure this.”
“Please, stop. It doesn’t have to be you.”
“It just has to be anyone but you……”
His face had been so anguished that it looked as though he were the one who had coughed up blood.
His voice had trembled violently.
He had clung to her desperately, like a drowning man.
His determination to somehow keep her alive had been painfully clear.
……But not now.
The Ludville of now remembered nothing.
He did not know that purification was eating away at her body, nor that she was becoming weaker each time she repeated this process.
Odely lowered her head.
Without saying a word, she forcibly suppressed her trembling breath.
This person was not the Ludville from before.
And…… it had to stay that way.
‘He must not remember.’
She repeated those words silently to herself.
He must not remember someone like me.
If he remembered that he had loved her, he might once again throw himself away in an attempt to reclaim that love.
His life, his heart, his entire life.
Wouldn’t that be far too cruel an ending?
So, instead, she hoped that he would live like this, without remembering her.
She wanted him to live without remembering who she had been or what she had endured.
She wanted him to fill that empty space with things that were warmer, more loving, and kinder.
Because only then could he live.
Odely tightened her cloak and tried to stand again.
But……
“……!”
“Don’t move.”
With that short command, her body was lifted into the air.
More precisely, Ludville had picked her up effortlessly, as though she were a piece of luggage.
“Your Highness?”
Odely protested quietly in surprise.
But Ludville did not answer and simply strode forward.
“Your Highness……”
“Be quiet. Do you even know what you look like right now? You’re as pale as a corpse……”
Ludville’s voice was low and firm, but his breathing was strangely unsteady.
He could not understand the source of these emotions that were swirling inside him like madness.
It wasn’t anger, nor was it sadness.
‘Worry?’
No, this was……
‘……Fear.’
Yes.
As far as Ludville could remember, he had never experienced fear in his life.
And yet now, he was definitely afraid.
All because Odely had disappeared for a moment.
All because she had staggered right in front of his eyes.
He, who had never even blinked while watching allies and enemies alike die on the battlefield, had never imagined that he could fall apart this badly because of one young lady.
Faced with an emotion he could not even explain himself, he pulled Odely deeper into his arms.
Then he placed her inside the carriage that had followed him.
****
The air inside the carriage was awkwardly quiet.
Odely looked at Ludville with mixed feelings.
She knew why he had rushed over, why he had gotten angry, and why he was taking her away in the carriage……
‘This shouldn’t happen…….’
With that thought, she fell deep into contemplation.
She had to stay by his side and watch over him so that he would not take his own life, while at the same time keeping enough distance so that he would not regain his memories of her.
Could there be a greater contradiction than this?
Just then.
“……Damn it.”
Odely heard Ludville mutter in a low, hoarse voice as he stared out the window.
He stared into empty space for a moment before finally fixing his gaze on her.
His eyes looked as though he had finally given in, his anger somewhat subdued.
“……I’ll acknowledge your ability, Lady Cardel.”
And then he said it.
“Let’s get married right away.”
Odely blinked.
“……What?”
“Do you have that contract you mentioned earlier?”
Odely stared at him blankly before reaching a hand inside the hood she was wearing.
As she pulled the contract from her clothes, the necklace around her neck slipped out from beneath her dress.
Ludville’s gaze briefly fell on the necklace, but his view was soon blocked as she held out the neatly folded contract.
“Here it is.”
Ludville stared down at the document for a moment before looking back at Odely.
“Let’s add a new clause.”
“What kind of……”
He pulled a fountain pen from his clothes and immediately wrote a new clause.
[Article 8. If leaving alone, report the route and estimated time of return in advance, and leave a confirmation message upon returning.
However, if the destination or circumstances of the outing are deemed dangerous, or if there are any psychological or physical factors that may cause concern, the other party shall have the right to accompany them, and no objection may be raised against this.
If this provision is violated, the party concerned shall bear all consequences and responsibility arising from it.]
“…….”
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