Chapter 19

Chapter 19

“Do you know what the first thing you need to do if you go hunting but have nothing and are in distress?”

Dark golden eyes that she could not understand were staring at her intensely, as if penetrating her.

“Whether it’s summer or winter.”

“No.”

Possessed, Kathleen answered. Alexis put his lost and wandering arm around her shoulder and said.

“Maintain body temperature.”

“Ah.”

“The way you did it is right. If you’re not alone, you should share your body temperature.”

He tightened his arm on her. Kathleen drew closer to him. Her face flushed red at the intimate gesture.

“When it rains, you usually take off your clothes, light a fire, and sit next to each other. If you dry your clothes while you are wearing them, your body temperature will drop even more.”

“I didn’t know that.”

Kathleen then realized what he meant. Had she known, she would have dried her clothes first and then put them back on.

“If you know now, be still.”

“B-But.”

She knew that they had to stick together naked to stay warm, but now, their clothes were already dry. Moreover, this position was quite embarrassing.

“Is this really how it’s supposed to be?”

Kathleen asked cautiously.

“Uhuh.”

Unlike her, he was calm as if he wasn’t aware of it.

“I think it will be difficult. I’m quite heavy……”

“Did you think I was a weakling?”

“That’s not it. But.”

“Then don’t move and stay quiet.”

It was strange. They both opened their eyes, laid on their backs and hugged each other.

Anyway, since he went hunting a lot, he knew best what to do in a troublesome situation. Kathleen was bothered by his shoulders, so she lowered her arms again and hugged him by the waist.

She thought he might push her away, but Alexis didn’t refuse. This put Kathleen’s mind at ease.

After staying in that position for a while, his warmth seemed to reach her as well. Kathleen’s legs were exposed through the torn skirt. When the wind touched her legs, she lowered one hand down and tried to cover them.

She felt a bulge on the side of his left thigh pocket.

“Don’t touch it.”

“Ah! I’m sorry.”

Kathleen, startled at the thought that she had made a mistake, raised her arm again.

An awkward time passed by again.

In the meantime, she felt the warmth from his lower abdomen on her body. She had been worried that he would be in pain again, but she was convinced that he was fine now.

Only the sound of the fire burning in the silent cave could be heard. Kathleen, relaxed, nodded, and began to doze off. She tried to fight off the drowsiness repeatedly, but failed.

After succumbing to sleep Kathleen’s head fell. She unconsciously dug deeper into his arms.

Alexis spent his day holding Kathleen like that.

Around dawn.

He gently laid Kathleen down using one of his arms, then reconfirmed that she was completely asleep.

He took out the ice flower he had kept in his left pocket. The transparent flower, like a piece of glass with a slightly bluish tint, was fine, although the shape was a little squashed.

‘I have to go now.’

He didn’t think he should delay any more.

He tore Kathleen’s apron, placed the ice flower inside and covered it, and then tied it to the cloth that was wrapped around his shoulder.

“It’s a mess.”

It was absurd, but strangely, he laughed.

The piece of cloth that Kathleen had used was wrapped clumsily, but it was so tight that it was difficult to untie it with one arm.

Upon closer inspection, it looked as if her skirt had been torn.

Hiding the ice flower in the cloth tied to his shoulder, Alexis looked back at her.

She had a cut on her hand, probably from dragging him to the cave and making a fire.

He was surprised that her leg, which was exposed up to her thigh, was thinner than expected.

It was startling compared to the last time he saw it three months ago. She already had a slender body, but now it was worse.

Come to think of it, looking at her forearm, it was so thin that it looked like it was going to break.

‘If you keep skipping meals that’s what will happen.’

He didn’t give her the Duchess’ seat to starve her.

Unlike when she was a maid, she could eat all the food in the world if she wanted to, but he didn’t know why she wasn’t eating.

It would be her loss if she kept losing weight and he just couldn’t understand why.

Alexis wondered what the hell his wife was thinking.

***

The day was bright.

Kathleen was woken up by the blinding sunlight that penetrated into the depths of the cave.

Alexis was nowhere to be seen.

Maybe he left her.

Frightened, she hurried to get up and thought of the baby.

‘I have to be careful.’

Joseph had told her many times. In the early stages of pregnancy, she needed to be careful whenever she sat down or stood up.

-You have to be more careful as Madame is mixed with fairy blood. Pregnancy is longer than normal, so you can think of it as a long unstable period.

She disobeyed his advice several times last night and wanted to be careful now.

“Are you awake?”

Alexis entered the cave.

“When did you leave?”

Kathleen quickly removed her hand from her stomach and moved closer to him.

“As soon as the sun rose. I needed to find out where we are.”

He handed her red berries.

“What are these?”

“Fruits from a Bush Fruit Tree. Fortunately, it also grows here.”

He also told her not to eat any wild food.

She hesitated when she recalled Joseph’s advice, but her stomach rumbled. Her face heated up.

“You’re not in a position to be picky about this and that, so just eat it.”

Alexis said. He must’ve thought she was hesitant because it was unfamiliar.

“It is a kind that is also grown as a fruit tree in the capital. It’s not toxic, and haven’t you already starved for a day?”

She came to her senses after his words. She shouldn’t let her baby starve for three meals.

“Why is your body like that?”

Asked Alexis, who was watching her eat her fruit.

“My body?”

Kathleen asked, not understanding what he was talking about.

“I didn’t get hurt anywhere. I’m fine.”

“I’m not talking about wounds, I’m talking about that.”

Alexis pointed down with his uninjured arms. She looked down as she followed his hand, and Kathleen was startled to see her thighs and legs exposed, and hurriedly covered them.

“Ah! I ripped this yesterday because I needed a cloth…”

“It’s not the first time I’ve seen it, but it’s surprising.”

His face, handing over the apron was calm, but she felt embarrassed because she felt like she was the only one troubled by it. As she tied her apron, Alexis said.

“Are you starving at the Duke’s mansion?”

“What?”

It was a strange question. Kathleen shook her head.

“No.”

“But why are you skinnier than when you were a maid?”

“That….”

She couldn’t even say it was because of morning sickness. Compared to the day she conceived the baby three months ago, she had lost a lot of weight, and even the dresses that used to fit well have become loose.

She thought that she didn’t have to pay attention to her body, but it seemed like she was caught due to this unexpected accident. She was afraid that he would look around her body at that moment, so made up an excuse.

“It’s because of the dress that is popular among the ladies these days.”

“A dress?”

“Yes. It looks good on you if you’re thin.”

Alexis sighed. His expression said it was ridiculous, but he didn’t seem to think it was weird, so her mind was relieved.

“Don’t do anything useless.”

“……..Yes.”

The tone was as cold as usual, but Kathleen liked it. It felt like he was thinking of her, so her heart beat wildly.

“Let’s go. I think I can roughly find our way around.”

“Yes.”

Kathleen quietly followed him.

The snowstorm had stopped. However, it was still difficult to distinguish where they were because of the thick snow.

As Kathleen, who was following him, kept falling behind, Alexis removed his robe and gave it to her.

“Hold it and follow me.”

“Yes, I will.”

However, it was not easy to traverse through the snow. Especially because she overdid it yesterday, she often lagged behind. Alexis sighed as he looked back at her who kept falling behind.

“Hold.”

He stretched out his hand. Kathleen blankly looked down at her husband’s large, firm hands.

“What are you waiting for?”

“N-Nothing.”

Fearing that he would change his mind and pull it back right away, she quickly took his hand. Unlike yesterday, she felt warm.

Her body was cold because of the snow, but her heart was warm.

They had been walking through the snow for a while when..

“Stop.”

The moment she heard Alexis’ words, he stopped. Kathleen stopped at the same time and followed his gaze.

A sarcastic voice mixed with an exotic accent echoed through the forest.

“The intruders who dared to set foot in Carmine must be clinging onto their lifelines.”

She could see thick branches on a tree that was big enough to be surrounded by hundreds of people. She saw a man standing on one of them aiming with a bow.

Furthermore.

“Sadly, one of them is the daughter of a traitor.”

The man who showed blatant hostility was a man with silver hair and blue eyes shining like Kathleen.

‘Winter Fairy.’

He was of the same race as his mother.

“Tell me why you shamelessly broke into this place.”

“‘Broke into’, you are exaggerating.”

Alexis responded.

“The Carmine Mountains belong to the Empire. Only the Imperial Family has the authority to control access.”

“Imperial Family? Empire?”

The man laughed out loud and jumped down. The anger was clear in the blazing blue eyes.

“Originally, the Trivellians were the ones who took our homes, kidnapped women and drove us out here, so it’s hard to see you crawling out here again.”

Without a second to stop him, he fired his bow at Alexis.

“No!”

Unknowingly, Kathleen stretched her hand towards the man. In an instant, ice crystals took shape and reached the arrow.

An ice pillar formed and not only did it cover the arrow that had left the bow, but also took the man’s bow and froze it. The face of the man who had been deprived of his weapon hardened.

He glanced at the ice pillar in disbelief before opening his mouth to Kathleen.

“By any chance.”

The attitude he felt at first softened his anger and vigilance.

“Are you…”

As he took a few steps closer to ask something.

“Duke! Your Grace, Duke of Walten!”