IHMEB - Chapter 273 < A Man's Heart >

"Euaaaahhhh!"

The moment he raised his sword while screaming, Kai'an looked like an animal with its fur standing up.

A human body couldn't do that, but for a moment, his entire body's muscles twitched and expanded, creating the illusion that they had done so.

Kwaang! Crunch.

The ice that had been like an invincible shield shattered with human strength.

When the elite knights quickly tied a thin rope around Kaian's waist, he jumped into the lake without hesitation.

'Claudel!'

She was unconscious, her arms caught in the rope.

'Ugh.'

The movements that had been thought to indicate that she was alive were all an illusion.

The water under the ice swirled as explosives exploded one after another, causing the broken pieces of ice to fly and pierce his body painfully.

Kaian hugged Claudel tightly. If he made even the slightest mistake, he felt like he would be swept away in the swirling water.

"Phuha!"

As Kaian poked his head out of the water, those who had been stirring the water with sticks to prevent it from freezing immediately grabbed onto him and pulled him and her up.

Crunch. When he got out and knelt down, his pants froze and stuck to the ice.

Kaian held Claudel’s hair so that it wouldn’t touch the ice and shouted,

“Carriage! Get the carriage ready quickly!”

“Yes.”

In an instant, a blanket flew over them and covered them.

Kaian laid Claudel down and pressed her chest, breathing into her.

The woman was so cold. Since her breathing wasn’t coming back, it was hard to tell if she was hopelessly cold or if her body heat had simply been stolen.

But he didn’t give up.

“Reaper? Don’t make me laugh. You can’t take her.”

Kaian had already snatched her from the wings of death several times.

So he desperately hoped that would happen this time too.

“Ugh. Gulp.”

When Claudel, who had vomited water, let out a shallow breath, he picked her up and ran toward the carriage.

***

I had a dream.

In my dream, I was on the border between life and death.

It was a place where there was nothing, neither light nor dark, neither cold nor hot.

The third death.

And it was a place very familiar to me. It was not my first time here.

But unlike before, my heart was very sad.

There should be nothing here, but this time, my emotions were not empty like they were when I had come before.

'Why do you have that face?'

The grim reaper asked me.

'Haven't you always welcomed me with joy?'

When I had first almost died from herzol, I had desperately wished every day that I could die a day sooner.

So that I could escape the terrible pain that tormented me.

At that time, I had thought that both my parents were dead, and I had even wondered if I would be able to see them after I died.

When I realized that my baby was dead, I no longer had any regrets or desire for life.

But there were so many eyes watching me and those who cared for me, so I couldn’t even die openly, so I stopped eating and drinking and waited for my life to end by killing myself. I was sick of Vermont, Temnes, and Oberon.

I felt that there was no way to end this except for my death.

At that moment, it felt like a lost baby who had not felt the warmth of its mother, crying every night and begging for me to come quickly.

I was seeing and hearing things.

‘I’m so sorry for that person.’

I had done something so wrong to Kaien.

‘He was right.’

When would I be able to completely trust him?

How could I shake off the fact that I had been forced into a marriage without love?

If I hadn’t been so shocked as if I had been burned, he would have secretly kept an eye on the Duke of Vermont.

If he had, he could have known in advance that my uncle, who was in custody, would have escaped the castle and committed such a terrible act, and stopped him.

The device that set off a chain of explosives in the lake was horrible and cruel.

My uncle said he was trying to lure the enemy into action, but he was planning to drown everyone, regardless of whether they were on his side or not, under the ice water.

'I hope you don't think I was wrong because of you.'

I told him to run away as best he could until the very end, even though he was running to save me with no hope.

Fortunately, I lost consciousness quickly after losing my body temperature in the extremely cold water, and I wasn't in much pain.

However, human affairs were really unsettling.

When I was waiting for the moment of death, I was forced to live in agony, but now, when I was so full of regret for life, I faced the Grim Reaper more clearly than ever.

My mother, father, and even my baby, whom I had thought I would be able to meet if I were to be held in the arms of death, were all alive.

Now that I was alone, my heart ached at the thought that Evan, Leonie, and Julien would think like me, 'Will I be able to meet Claudel and my mother after I die?'

And Kaian too...

'I want to live.'

The Grim Reaper looked at me.

'Not yet. Give me a little more time. Yes?'

'That's not something I can control.'

The Grim Reaper looked bored.

'Look. There's one guy who's interfering with my work, and he's really bad.'

'...Yes?'

The Grim Reaper waved his hand as if he were chasing her away.

'He's a human, and you think he can beat the Grim Reaper.'

My surroundings gradually darkened, and my body suddenly became heavy.

***

I opened my eyes slightly.

I wanted to open my eyes, but my eyelids were heavy and wouldn’t open as I wanted.

“Haa.”

As I took a deep breath in frustration, I heard familiar footsteps approaching me.

“You’re awake.”

Large hands, warm and warm, were quickly moving around my forehead and cheek.

“Kaian.”

“Fortunately, you seem to be conscious.”

“Am I alive?”

“Yes.”

Kaian’s small laugh reached my ears.

“Have you forgotten? I can steal you from the God of death many times.”

“So that’s why. It seemed like the God of death hated you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Cough. Cough.”

I coughed softly, and Kaian carefully held me in his arms, helped me sit up, and placed a cup near my mouth.

After drinking some water, my throat seemed to hurt more than before.

“What happened?”

“The Duke of Vermont was planning to send us all away at once.”

“You felt something strange the moment you saw the lake?”

Kaian nodded.

“Yes. There is a secret that only the heads of the clans know.”

Other people would make up excuses for it.

“If they were just trying to see if the ice had frozen, they could have just used one or two lines, but I wondered if there was a need to set up ropes all over the place.”

He felt a strange difference between the reason given by the servant of the castle of Valmonde and the enormous device he could see.

“What happened to me? I fell under the lake.”

“I saved you.”

Kaian said plainly.

“Try to run away one more time. What I’ll do to you.”

"I didn’t run away.”

“It’s the same either way.”

When I opened my eyes weakly, I saw Kaian sitting on the edge of the bed.

His bright red eyes looked down at me.

“Claudel. I’ve told you several times, stay by my side.”

He lightly kissed the back of my hand wrapped in bandages.

“You’ll get caught anyway, so you’ll only get hurt if you try.”

“I didn’t run away.”

I was wrong, but I was a sinner who felt sorry for him.

“I’m sorry.”

“I just saved my wife, so don’t say anything.”

I was finally able to trust him completely.

Only after he foolishly saved my life three times, did the resentment that had lingered in my heart completely disappear.

“Kaian.”

“Huh?”

“I really like you.”

I spoke with my heart full of emotions.

“I love you.”

At my words, Kaian was speechless for a moment and covered his mouth with his hand.

“Whew.”

After a while, he lowered his hand and pressed his heart on his left chest, then frowned.

“Like this all of a sudden?”

“Didn’t you say you’d accept me if I confessed?”

“Haa. You should’ve given me time to prepare myself.”

“So you don’t like it?”

Kaian carefully grabbed my wrist and lifted it up. My hand and arm were wrapped in bandages.

“You have frostbite all over your body and you can’t touch anything. Do you think confessing is appropriate in this situation?”

“Isn’t the heart important?”

You kept making a fuss about confessing to me someday.

“A man’s heart is difficult.”

You said you would accept my confession if I confessed to you. If that’s the case, you should have said that there were other conditions.

“Did I get frostbite?”

“Do you know how long you were in that cold water?”

My last memory was being dragged into the water as if my ankles had been snatched in an instant.

“How did you really save me?”

“I was lucky. Luckily, your arm was caught in the rope, and someone saw you and shouted that you were there.”

“Under the ice?”

“Yes.”

My eyes widened.

“Then how did you...”

The man, who had simply answered, “I saved you,” just a moment ago, narrowed his eyes.

“I broke the ice. The Duke of Vermont lent me his family’s treasured sword.”

Vermont’s treasure, which he had instinctively embedded in the ice with its scabbard to gain more power, shattered into pieces.

After saving Claudel, he was a little concerned that he had destroyed the family treasure that had been passed down for generations, but Irena didn’t seem to mind.

“Don’t worry about it, there are five more of the same in the warehouse.”

After sharing one of the secrets that only the head of the Vermont family knew, Kaian somehow felt that the relationship between the two families had truly become stronger.

“I see.”

“Don’t put yourself in danger again.”

Kaian carefully hugged me.

“If you’re in danger, I’m in danger too.”

I slowly raised my arms and hugged him.

“Even if I can’t touch you, can’t I just kiss you?”

Kaian flinched at my words.

“Ha. You really are...”

The next moment, our lips, filled with the rich scent of Temnes, covered each other.

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