Chapter 87.2

Chapter 87.2

This kiss was a close contact, like injured animals licking each other’s wounds. A sympathy that embraced and caressed each other’s sore spots. After a while, as Iellie parted her lips, Zachary stared at her.

“Look, Zachary.”

Gasping for breath, she said, staring straight into Zachary’s eyes.

“I am here.”

“…Len.”

“Right in front of you, within reach of your eyes.”

She uttered firmly. Zachary’s eyes trembled like a windswept lake as he looked at her.

“Then, don’t be afraid.”

“However…”

“I have told you many times that I will never leave you.”

Iellie’s words left him speechless.

Never leave you.

…It was a sweet word, as if a dream.

“You say everyone leaves you because of you…”

“….”

“…I will prove you wrong.”

Iellie smiled confidently while wrapping her arms around Zachary’s neck. He caught his breath. It felt like a lie. Still, there was a glimmer of hope. His heart swelled.. he wanted to believe her words somehow.

“Zachary, do you believe me?”

Iellie’s eyes sparkled like the sunlight on a spring day. Zachary couldn’t resist that gaze at all.

“…Yes, I believe you.”

Hearing his low voice, she smiled brightly before she wore a worried face.

“Your body is hot.”

“I’m okay.”

“You don’t look okay at all!”

Saying so, she narrowed her brow a lot.

Zachary laughed at Iellie. He had been outside too long and was soaked in the rain. Even the biting cold that covered his whole body felt as far away as others.

“Even so, because you’re by my side, you worry about me… I’m glad.”

He really meant it.

At the same time, Zachary’s breathing was disrupted. His knees buckled limply, and his body titled. His forehead was hot like a ball of fire. Because of that, Iellie’s face, which was touching his forehead, turned pale.

“Zachary? Zachary!”

That voice that desperately called out to him was the last thing he remembered. At the same time as relief, his mind darkened.

After that day, Zachary fell seriously ill. It was because his fatigue piled up, and he was also mentally exhausted. Besides, since he was soaked in the rain, it would be even weirder if he didn’t collapse.

“….”

His hearing was the first part of his body to recover.

The air around was warm as his vision was covered by darkness like a soft curtain, and the sound of people talking lowly tickled his ears.

“Why is Zachary so distracted?”

The owner of that crying voice was Iellie.

…Len, why are you talking like that?

He focused intently on their conversation. The voice, which at first sounded like a mumble, slowly finds form.

“I heard that the Head has not been able to sleep properly lately.”

“That’s right, but…”

“Besides, since the previous Head passed away not too long ago, it must have been very difficult mentally.”

It was the doctor who gave the explanation. The doctor spoke to Iellie in a soft tone.

“Still, he is so strong that he’ll get out of bed in no time. Don’t worry too much.”

“But, he had never closed his eyes for so long.”

“Well, Miss. It’s only been five hours. He is just sleeping.”

A moment of silence passed, and he could feel a warm towel wiping his forehead and cheeks. Zachary wanted to open his eyes. He wanted to open his eyes and tell Iellie not to worry and that he was fine.

‘…But, I’m too tired.’

His whole body was tired like wet cotton. Zachary wanted to go back to sleep like this. How could he be sleepy even with his eyes closed? While thinking about this and that, he was caught in the swamp of his sleep.

He fell asleep helplessly.

Zachary was asleep like the dead. Memories of the past came and went arbitrarily through the layers of dreams. The dream he had now was the dream of his childhood, before meeting Iellie, when he was suppressing himself.

“Isn’t the Young Duke a bit scary?”

It was a banquet that was rarely held at the Duke’s castle. The children who were hanging out with each other chattered and chattered.

“I heard that the winter magic of Hessenweitz has the power to freeze the whole world?”

“And the Young Duke is said to have been born with the purest blood of the Silver Dragon.”

The children’s eyes were filled with many colors.

Jealousy of a boy of the same age as them casually building up martial arts that even strong knights could not achieve. Fear of others… The second coming of powerful magic seemed to come out of legend.

The children rolled their eyes and continued talking.

“My father said that he made countless majors in battles with barbarians.”

“Ah, not just the barbarians. They say he even took the lives of those terrible beasts in an instant.”

Zachary sneered.

The power to take away a person’s life at once and freeze beasts in an instant… Even if he touched it with his finger, everything crumbles. Everyone said he was a monster. It was the power to make people unhappy…

“…Ev, everyone around me is unhappy because of me.”

Crunch.

The leaves got trampled. The faces of the children who looked back without thinking about it froze in an instant.

“Young, Young Duke?”

“Uh…”

Although they spoke a lot, they must have been afraid to see the subject of such overwhelming stories right in front of their eyes.

“…I’m, I’m scared.”

“Monster…”

Zachary’s very existence evoked visceral fear in people. The children soon wept.

“Oh my God, what are you guys talking about in front of the Young Duke!”

“Everyone, come here!”

At that time, the noble ladies hurriedly ran this way. The noble ladies with their children wrapped in their skirts bowed their heads to Zachary.

“Sorry, Young Duke!”

“They made a mistake because the children are young and don’t know much. Please have mercy…”

The children in front of him were the same age as Zachary. But otherwise, the children were wrapped in their mother’s skirt. They could be childish with their parents, and they took it for granted that they were loved.

“….”

The world they lived in was different, and sometimes he felt skeptical… when could he be part of their world?

“—ry.”

Suddenly, a friendly voice came.

Zachary raised his head with a twinkle. A world full of warmth, free of loneliness. The only person who opened the door to the world he had always wanted was calling him…

“…Zachary.”

A warm, soft hand, a familiar touch. She brushed the messy hair on his forehead and brushed his cheeks.

“Ah, really.”

Followed by a slightly hoarse voice. Oh, this person. He laughed without realizing it.

‘…My Iellie.’

“How long are you going to sleep?”

Iellie grumbled in a small voice. As he heard the voice, Zachary felt it was time for him to wake up.

“I am waiting for you like this.”

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