TFLCM - Chapter 38

Her heart sank.

As if waiting for this moment, heat seeped into her body.

She felt trapped in a deep, dark fire, even more so than when she first faced Noelier.

"Eve!"

Noelier shouted as if to tell her to stop.

However, Eve did not stop. If she just held on a little longer...

Suddenly, her vision blurred. It was just as she was about to stagger.

"Cough! Cough!"

A cough burst from the collapsed man's mouth. As she burrowed into his body, the heat gradually subsided. Only then was Eve able to touch him.

'Ah...'

Eve, startled just as much, slumped down in the snow. Her whole body burned. It was an intense heat she had never felt before.

However, it was still bearable. Eve quickly looked at the man.

"Ugh..."

The man slowly opened his eyes. As the heat that had consumed his body subsided, his vision and hearing also slowly returned.

He felt a sharp pain in his forehead. Before he could even raise his hand to check his forehead, his vision went dark again.

This shouldn't be happening. I was trying to take the Leader and the Young Lady aside, but...

With that thought, he dozed off.

He heard a shout of, "Hey! Open your eyes!" but he could not answer.

***

"..."

The man opened his eyes after quite a while.

"...Uh?"

He was lying in a house he had never seen before.

'What on earth is going on? And where am I...?'

The man frowned.

His mind wasn't working properly. He felt dazed, as if he had been struck by something. He felt like an idiot.

It was around the time he was just blinking his eyes blankly.

“Huh? You're awake!”

A boy with silver hair and blue eyes hopped towards him. The man recoiled in surprise.

"Are you okay?"

"What..."

"Back then, you ate something weird and stuff, and my brother...!"

The silver-haired little boy rambled on with incomprehensible words. It was around the time he was confused by the disorganized language.

"Oh! You're awake?"

A woman with an appearance similar to the boy came inside.

Her silver hair looked just like snow that had fallen at dawn. He blinked blankly.

The woman sitting on the chair placed something steaming on the side table.

"Well then, excuse me."

Then, she sat on the chair placed next to him.

"...?"

She grabbed his hand.

"Hmm, there is definitely no fever."

The woman nodded slowly and muttered.

"Th-what is this, th-th-th-what...!"

"It should be fine now. Oh, just in case, make sure you drink this. It's nothing strange."

The woman smiled gently as she said that.

The man, who had been stammering incoherently, suddenly stopped speaking.

At that moment, a bell rang in his head.

"..."

The man's face flushed red.

Suddenly, he remembered what his eldest brother had said.

His older brother, who had him sit down and said he had something to tell him about love, said this:

"In life, there comes a time when a bell rings in your head; you must hold onto the person who made that bell ring."

"Did it catch my brother?"

"It's not like I'm doing this because I couldn't catch it, you punk!"

A bell on your head.

The man clamped his stammering mouth shut. It felt as though his older brother's voice was coming from somewhere, telling him to catch that person. Suppressing his pounding heart, the man mustered the courage to part his lips.

Just then, the door suddenly opened. Someone entered amidst the swirling snow.

He was a man with black hair and deep red eyes.

It was a face dripping with coldness, enough to give you goosebumps.

“Noelier!”

The woman brightened up and called out to him. The man turned his head toward her.

"I have brought water just as Eve said."

The man's coldness vanished in an instant. His face, tinged with a smile, was incomparably beautiful. His eyes met those of the smiling man.

Then, the gentle face changed drastically in an instant.

"...You're awake."

A voice that had grown cold. The man involuntarily flinched.

"..."

Noelier's red eyes turned toward the hands the two were holding.

***

“Hi!”

As soon as his eyes met Noelia's, the man trembled like someone struck by lightning. He abruptly pulled his hand away and knelt before Noelier.

"Chief! Please, spare my life!"

"..."

Then, he slammed his head against the floor with a loud thud.

It was a voice filled with fear. He looked at Noelier with wide eyes. Noelier's eyebrows twitched. The chameleon trembled and repeatedly banged its head on the floor.

"We Chameleons merely wanted to escort you, Chief! Please spare my life...!"

He repeatedly admitted his mistake and slammed his forehead against the floor. Bang! Bang! Loud noises continuously kicked up the floor.

"Do you know what your fault is?"

Noelier asked in a cold voice.

It was a face similar to the one that attacked me in the forest. A face that did not allow even a shred of emotion toward others. It was the exact opposite of when he used to blush and act shy.

'As expected, a leader is a leader.'

He also looked like a dragon.

It was around the time he was slightly impressed by his charisma.

"..."

Noelier's gaze fell upon me.

"...Eve."

The murderous intent that had filled the blood-red eyes scattered.

The fierce look in his eyes instantly calmed down.

"This is, well..."

"...?"

He tilted his head. For some reason, he was fidgeting. He looked like someone who had been caught in a way he shouldn't have.

Noelier let out a deep sigh as he looked back and forth between the kneeling man and me.

"...Wake up."

He spoke in a low, subdued voice. Then the man trembled and muttered.

“Ha. But…”

"Get up first. He's scared."

At the voice that seemed light but settled heavily, the man cautiously raised his head.

"Um... won't you kill me?"

"..."

"Why on earth...?"

He muttered with a confused look on his face, as if it were a deserved punishment.

He had a rough idea from the novel how cold-hearted he was, but hearing it directly from him was incredibly intimidating.

It was around the time he was shaking his head in disbelief.

“Kill him?”

"..."

Zion widened his eyes and asked back.

"Second brother, are you dying? Why?"

Zion scurried over to Noelier's side.

At this point, he shifted his gaze toward Noelier. Noelier also seemed flustered by Zion's innocent question.

“It’s not about dying…”

“No?”

Zion asked back with a tearful expression.

"Die..."

"Die...?"

"By killing..."

"Second brother, are you dying...? Sob..."

"...I mean, he almost died. He went through a lot too."

Noelier placed his hand firmly on the man's shoulder. At the tremendous grip, the man let out a small groan, "Ack...!"

As expected, it seemed that Noelier also could not overcome Zion's crying face.

The man, who had struggled to take Noelier's hand, barely managed to ask.

"C-Ch, Chief, what on earth are you saying..."

"You went through a lot, didn't you? You could have just died."

"Ah! Ch-Ch... Chief...!"

"You can even hold hands, huh? I can barely hold one myself."

Noelier dared to smile and emphasized the end of his sentence.

The man nodded repeatedly with a frightened look on his face and his mouth tightly shut.

That nod was as if shouting, "No matter what you say, you are absolutely right!"

"That's right! Second brother. He almost died."

His simple younger brother approached the man with a wide smile, as if nothing had happened.

As Noelier's hand let go, the man groaned and moaned.

"I was so worried. Ruby was crying, and my sister was cursing too."

"Ru, if it's Ruby...?"

"That's right. Is your forehead okay?"

Zion looked at the man's face with a worried expression.

The center of his forehead was swollen as if he had a bump. It must have been quite painful. A feeling of guilt crept up inside me.

He glanced at Noelier behind him.

Noelier's expression was grim. He seemed displeased, or perhaps sulky.

'Was hitting a Southerner really going too far?'

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