Chapter 70

“Don’t lie! If that’s true, why didn’t I get injured at all? We fell in the same water, but why were you the only one who got hurt? Does the Benoit Waterfall have any eyes that distinguish people?”

“It’s because I’m so unlucky… ”

As soon as he caught her eyes, however, he felt that he had to restrain himself. He wanted to say a lot, but shut his mouth.

Some emotions sometimes brought about the opposite behavior, just like how one would get angry when somebody expressed worry. That was the case for her.

“Why did you do this to me? Do you think I’ll swear allegiance to you if you act like this? If that’s the case, then you’re completely mistaken. I already told you that I would cooperate with you fully even if you don’t do me a favor!”

He already knew that the target of her fiery fury was him.

“Don’t be angry. That’s not what I intended.”

If she thought she was trapped in the bondage of escape, he himself was much worse.

Eckart found a plausible excuse instead of saying what he wanted to say.

“I just kept my promise. Because I promised it on the honor of the Frey family.”

His low voice continued speaking as if to soothe her.

Hearing that, Marianne remembered one thing he said before, which was as clear as a stigma.

Keep the promise? She thought it was nonsense as well as a ridiculous excuse.

How many promises were there on Earth that were comparable to the emperor’s life?

And was there any promise he shared with Marianne whom he took as a hostage?

“What good is your honor? What’s the big deal about breaking such a promise? Do you think that the honor of the dead is better than the shame of the living? No! It can’t be! You should survive to ensure the next!”

“Marianne!”

“What is the big deal about taking me hostage? Why did you do that? Why! Which emperor did this kind of reckless thing to keep his promise to the hostage? If you are in a hurry, you have to throw away even your most important hostage!”

“That makes sense, but I think you’ve forgotten that the hostage is you.”

“That’s why I’m telling you this. See, you’ve sacrificed your safety on the promise that nobody would know if I died!”

“You have to take care of your own safety! While you think the world of the horseman’s life, why can’t you be more selfish when it comes to your own life? Even if your partner is a royal member, you should know how to use him or her as your shield when your life is at stake.”

“How you and I are in the same…”

“Enough. If you want to express your gratitude, it’s enough already. If I hear your gratitude, I’m afraid I am going to be given a good scolding.”

Letting out a sigh, he swept his messy hair.

At first glance, his voice was cold, but it was only a pun to cover his sense of guilt. Marianne was more upset by the fact that he replied sneeringly.

She almost lost all this: his eyes more blue than the bottom of the waterfall, his sincere voice and his embrace of her shoulders before her fall, which he did for her safety just like her father in her previous life.

“I’m not afraid to die. I’m more scared if somebody died because of me. I hate that a hundred times more than me dying. If something happened to your life, I really would have…”

Marianne buried her face in her hands while pressing on his shoulders and cried again.

It was her shameful tantrum. She knew it. Nonetheless, she couldn’t stop it. Comfort and anxiety, faith and disbelief, hope and despair, hate and love were all mixed up together in her mind.

“Marianne!”

Eckart slowly pulled down her hands covering her face. Instead, he wiped her wet eyes and cheeks quietly.

“It’s true that you’re injured a bit. Given that you fell off the top of Benoit Falls, you survived unscathed. You and I are alive anyway.”

Basking in the warm sunlight, Marianne felt his warmth on her face. Resentment and anger of him inside her melted away like burnt ash.

“So, don’t cry. I will never make you an excuse for my death. Never.”

His blue eyes appealed to her earnestly. Even Eckart himself did not know how earnest and desperate his gaze was.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. It’s all my fault. I know…”

Only Marianne felt it and only she could know it.

In the end, she cried while she apologized to him. As if she was trying to hold back crying, she bit her lower lip.

“This is not your fault. It’s just an accident,” Eckart said, shaking his head.

Knowing that he didn’t reproach her at all, Marianne recalled her actions and blamed herself.

Wouldn’t this have not happened if she had not offered him a deal? Was it because she stayed with him that her loved ones got hurt and died? What if her desire to protect everyone was a curse that hurt everyone?

She began to question numerous things that she would never have had if she had lived as an easygoing and optimistic woman. When she had doubt and fear, she was anxious to get out of this hell desperately.

But the blood stains on the dress she grabbed as well as the lingering pain on her face woke her up. At this moment, drops of her blood will continue to flow out and be mixed with the river and disappear, and the divine protection surrounding her remaining life will wear down. Probably not much time would be left for her.

She took a deep breath. Aside from political interests and private feelings, her instincts for life and death motivated her.

“As you have protected me as promised, let me make a promise to you too.”

With her two hands wet with his blood, she grabbed one of his hands wet with her tears.

The thong tied to each of their wrists finally broke.

“I will protect Your Majesty from now on.”

She swallowed anxiety and despair with her lingering cries. Her green eyes shone with strong determination as if it showed her steely will.

***

Tak, Tak.

Firewood in the fireplace was burning noisily. As if to boast that it was the only warmth in a cool temple, it made a cheerful and clear sound. Along the spot where the warm noise passed, the humidity of the nearby waterfall and cold air of the mountains disappeared.

Wearing a snow-white robe and putting on a hood upside down, a priest sat in a chair in front of the fireplace and held a stick. When she flipped the tangled firewood with the long stick, the noise from firewood got louder.

Tak. Tak. Tak.

The priest stirred the stick more briskly as if the noise of firewood burning was music. At her gesture, firewood burned high at once, then burned down before burning high again. It was a burning fire on the ground, but it became hot air to warm the sky, geothermal heat to dry the water, and then a heat wave to melt the ice.

“Your Eminence, Cardinal!”

A young priest came running from the entrance of the main hall at a distance.

Cardinal Helena, Aslan’s chief priest, as well as Aslan’s 35th Cardinal, turned her head slightly.

“How naughty you are, Hilde!”

She rebuked Hilde with an elegant voice and put down the stick.

“But he is not just an ordinary guest! A grand duke is here!”

“The Grand Duke has come here in person?”

“Yes. A few more knights have come along, but anyway, he was a grand duke!”

Priest Hilde repeated the same words many times with a trembling voice. Helena was about to scold him, but she quit. She felt Hilde could make a mistake as a young apprentice. Hilde was only 12 years old. The grand temple was originally a difficult place for lower-class people to come in, and even the imperial event at the temple, where high-ranking aristocrats showed themselves, had stopped for decades. For Hilde, it was her first chance to meet such a giant figure.

“I’m sorry, Your Eminence!”

Arsenio, who popped up behind Hilde, apologized instead.

“Hilde, go back to your room right now. Why did you stop writing a letter of apology and ran away? And now you acted so rudely before her eminence. Eat dinner in your room and write three more letters of apology by tomorrow morning.”

Pulling the hem of Hilde’s dress, Arsenio made a dreadful look. Hilde responded with a pitiful look, pulling down her eyebrows.

“You always hate me, Arsen. You’re so mean. Even Her Eminence Cardinal Helena doesn’t get angry with me.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Arsen is kinda mean.”

“Your Eminence!” Arsenio looked at Helena with an unpleasant look. Helena beckoned at Hilde. Hilde stretched out her tongue as if to mock Arsenio and ran next to Helena.