Chapter 68

Cough! A small cough came out once more.

She couldn’t stand the nausea, so Marianne raised her upper body halfway. Her head turned sideways. As she didn’t have time to cover her mouth with her hands, she began coughing like a patient with asthma for about 20 years.

“Cough…cough! Oops!”

A strong force squeezed her body as if it were going to pull out her intestines. Water and air came out of her mouth profusely, half through the nose and half through the mouth.

She had a sore nose and throat that caused tears. Her chest felt so painful, but strangely enough, the more she coughed, the more refreshed she felt.

“Cough! Cough! Ahhh…”

It wasn’t long before her breath was back to normal. Marianne raised her hand to wipe her wet lips. Her arms felt heavy like a stone when she did so.

Soon, she looked at her wrists with her green eyes, which were loosely tied with a leash, or an embellished belt worn by the emperor.

At that moment, she recognized the reality. Everything that happened right before she lost consciousness came to mind at once. The sense of relief that she survived was fleeting.

“Your Majesty!”

She called him and leaned toward the opposite end of the sagging leash. A dress wet with water tangled her legs. Even though pebbles on the shallow riverbed pressed hard on her knees and shins, she didn’t care.

“Your Majesty! It’s me, Marianne! Can you hear me…”

Almost dragging herself to Eckart, she couldn’t finish her words. Her lips curled up between her upper and lower teeth before she tightly bit them.

“…Your Majesty!”

She put her trembling hands on his firm chest. She shook him slightly, but Eckart didn’t even move. Red blood stains were clear on his forehead, which were visible through his wet and disheveled golden hair. On his smooth cheeks and nose ridge as well as near the slightly open anterior clavicle, red bloodstains were engraved as if they were cut by a blade.

“What the heck is this…”

Embarrassed, she dropped her hand. Ominous feelings choked her throat. Even though she coughed a lot, she seemed to be suffocated once again.

“No? Your Majesty! Are you kidding me? Open your eyes! Please, Your Excellency!”

Uncontrollable fear brought up her defense mechanisms. Marianne shook his shoulders, trying to smile.

But Eckart did not answer. Like a doll made out of wax, he was shaken as she shook, just lying in one place.

“I don’t like this kind of play…Don’t…”

She kept crying, making a pitiful request. As if she were struck by thunder, she put her trembling hand under his nose. There was no breathing.

This time, she pressed on the neck of his chin with her three injured fingers. His freezing cold body welcomed her. As her hands were trembling so much, she couldn’t feel the pulse well under his nape.

“No…I hate this…Please, please…”

She poked through his wet clothes urgently with her hands. She barely fell down over his bare chest after she removed a couple of thin clothes. She shut her crying mouth with her ears on his heart.

Please, please, please… … .

Her desperate wishes for his survival barely supported her mental strength. All the senses of her body were focused on her hearing. She closed her eyes, holding her breath.

Then the wind of the forest, the chirping of birds, the sound of the river rippling over the gravel…

Pounding. Pounding. Pounding.

She heard some fine heartbeats fading away.

“…!”

It was a pretty weak heartbeat, But Marianne jumped up. She was shocked and embarrassed at the same time, which soon turned to hope.

‘He is still alive!’

Marianne rummaged in her dizzy memories.

But she had never saved a drowning man. She had never seen anyone around her losing their lives for a similar reason. If there was anything remotely related to it, it was her own drowning in the water, assuming that this was an experience.

“I need to have him breathe again…”

Of course, her experience didn’t help much. There was nobody around at the moment. She couldn’t ask for help, and she had nobody to give first aid to him. All this meant that his survival totally depended on her.

While trying to stay calm, she laid Eckart straight down. And she whipped her brain that didn’t want to think of anything as if she whipped a horse.

‘Come to your senses, Marianne! You have got to think of anything to save his life. Resuscitation. How to wake up consciousness. How to bring back breath. How to save people’s lives…’

After agonizing for a moment, she squeezed Eckart’s forehead gently and took a deep breath.

Soon her red lips touched his slightly open cold lips. Her trembling breath was blown into his heart like ink soaking a piece of paper.

All she thought of while she was at it was to save his life. As she herself was just awake, she became dizzy and found it hard to take care of her own body every time she took a big breath.

But she did not stop. Again and again, she cleaned his closed airway. Like a knight desperately breaking down the strong wall, she was squeezing all the remaining energy within her body.

Eckart’s chest shook a little whenever Marianne breathed into his heart. Over time, his chest shook more. At last, she did enough to recognize with the naked eye that he was in better shape than before. But he still did not recover consciousness yet.

Once, twice, three times… At first she easily counted, but it became more and more difficult as she continued to count. She felt exhausted from her shortage of breath. At the same time, the despair that she had pressed deep down raised its ugly head again.

The tree of pessimism sprouted from the seed and began to grow its roots and branches at a terrifying speed, upsetting the whole applecart. Words like ‘maybe, if, by any chance’ wandered like evil spirits and created an ominous atmosphere. Her cold nape, which had been soaked in the river, was soaked with sweat.

In the end, Marianne sat back. She thought she might not save him, but her fingertips again fumbled between his nose and the nape of his neck for any sign of hope. There was still no sign of his breathing.

Her weary body fell again on his chest. When she held his wet collar, she felt cold but very faint warmth.

“Please… Save him…I shouldn’t lose anyone in this life. I promised I would lose nobody…Our god and goddess, please save his life!”

Her lament soon turned to her crying. When she grasped his wet lapel, water drops dripped like tears. The sun hadn’t set yet. She didn’t know exactly where she was, but maybe it was a one corner of Roshan that their god Airius protected.

Accordingly, the temple that they were supposed to arrive at today would not be far away. Perhaps the gods sitting on the pillars of the temple might overlook this scene.

Thinking as far as that, she suddenly got enraged.

“What did I do wrong? If you’re gonna take it all like this, why did you let me live again? Weren’t you satisfied with taking my father’s life alone? What are you going to take away next time? Who promised that? This is my life, but it sucks to be me right now! Why?”

As she was angry, she spoke out curtly and bluntly. Her wet green eyes were filled with anger instead of resignation. Half was God’s share, and the other half was her own.

She was happy to have a second life. She was so grateful. So, she vowed that she would never repeat her sorrow of the past life. She vowed it dozens of times before she went to bed. She vowed to do everything she could, and she tried very hard.

Was this the result?

‘I lost my father in my previous life. Do I have to lose the emperor and play into Ober’s cunning tricks in this life? How much more precious things should I lose before my nightmares end?’

“Save him right now!”

Bang!

She pounded on his serene chest with her clenched fists to blow off some steam.

* * *

In the splendid back garden of the Imperial Palace, the weather was clear without a cloud in the sky. Warm sunshine rained down, and the fragrant wind blew through the sunny side and shade. Every time he stepped on a properly grown lawn, he felt its pleasant crisply sound..

Alt, the pet dog he raised since childhood, wandered around the bridge, sniffing here and there. It wagged its tail wildly at the sight of its owner. When he threw the round silk ball, Alt was excited and ran wild on the grass. Its yellowish hair was blown by the wind to create a golden orbit.

“Karl!”

Eckart looked back when someone called him.

“I’ve been looking for you for a long time. I didn’t know you were here.”

Blair grinned her his son and embraced him. While the familiar smell of perfume tickled his nose, she kissed her son’s forehead and stepped back. Only then did she see his face. He was so handsome. Under his bright blonde hair that resembled the sun, his deep blue eyes sparkled beautifully. There was no speck of sorrow on his face. It was full of happy smiles and warm affection.