CH 12

“Lord Blake?”

Lily’s faint voice drifted near the back door of the Winter Castle. However, as the door was not used often, the surrounding area was quiet.

“Lord Blake, look… are you here?”

She opened the door.

The cold snow clung to her skin.

Soon there was so much snow that she couldn’t see more than a few meters ahead, but then Lily spotted the tracks left in the snow field.

Footprints. It was much larger than hers, it must be Lord Blake’s.

Although she didn’t have the eyes of a hawk like the servants in the winter castle, the steps that seemed to be buried in the snow were oddly clear in her vision.

The words of Gianna came to her mind.

“Keep in mind, you should not be outside when there is thunder. The altitude is very high, so it’s easy to get electrocuted. It’s a whole roast ………………………. No, it’s a roasted chicken.”

But somewhere outside, Blake must be shaking with war neurosis.

Lilly knew very well about that fear.

It was 6:50 p.m., time for her husband to come home after an evening of entertainment with the rest of the upper class.

She would sit upstairs and stare out the window breathlessly.

-Is he drunk again today? Will he slap her again?

Her hands would shake with fear when her husband came back to the house and looked drunk. And the sound of his footsteps coming up the stairs would make her heart skip a beat. Thump. Thump.

“Lord Blake……..!”

Lily didn’t hesitate to walk into the snow storm and search for the man. 

But within a few seconds, her footprints were buried in the snow and gone forever. Soon she was trapped in the heavy snow, unable to see an inch of the way.

She couldn’t even see her way back, but she kept her composure. 

‘I have a few minutes left before my tracks disappear. I haven’t walked much, so I can go back to the winter castle, so don’t worry. Calm down. Lily Hedwick.’

At least there was less shivering among the servants than there had been at dinner. Lily walked slowly forward. By the time she felt the freezing, stinging pain in her cheeks, a very small house came into view. It was an intermediate resting place for the hunters… and there was a faint glimmer of light. 

Knock.knock.

She knocked on the door. And Blake was right there. 

“…Lady?”

He was in the corner, curled up like a wounded wolf. His black hair, which he had been well organized, was disheveled, and a few strands fell over his eyes, and the insane Blake muttered gruesomely 

“Crazy. It’s suicide to go outside in this weather. You should go back before it gets worse.”

“I can’t leave without you. Are you okay?”

Blake lied. 

“What the hell are you talking about? I’m just here on an errand.”

Actually, he was just stopping by the stable and suddenly there was a thunderstorm and he had to take shelter in a hurry.

“Don’t be nosy, just take care of yourself..……….”

And that was when the thunder boomed nearby.

Blake held his breath as the sound of battlefield gunfire came to his mind.

It had been a long time since he had been there, but his soul still felt like it was going to battle.

It was as if any moment now he would have to tear the enemies to pieces for this horror to subside.

“I’m coming in, Lord Blake.”

Lily grabbed the doorknob proudly.

Blake wanted to stop her, but he didn’t have the strength to stand up.

It wasn’t locked, so he figured she’d come right in.

‘D*mn it, I don’t want to see anyone right now……….’

Lily tried to turn the doorknob. 

Blake closed his eyes tightly, but to his surprise, she couldn’t get in.

“Huh? It doesn’t work.”

It was an intricate knob in a very different style than the one in the capital.

Moreover, she had rarely opened the door with her own hands.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Blake suddenly felt ridiculous.

Tsk. Tsk.

The fear that had gouged his body was gone in an instant, and he could now even open the door for her.

“Thank you…..it looks like the doorknob malfunctioned.” (Lily)

“The latch here is perfectly normal. It was probably someone’s hand that malfunctioned.” (Blake)

Lily lightly ignored the man’s crude joke and looked inside.

The interior was small enough to hold a man and a woman. 

All it had was a small fireplace and an old bed.

“It doesn’t get very warm in here, does it?” (Lily)

‘It’s a place to rest for a while, only when the weather conditions worsen. There is no heating system. So why did you come here?” (Blake)

“Well, I got lost.” (Lily)

Lily wanted to say “I’m here because I’m worried about Lord Blake.” But perhaps that would offend him, so she lied.

“Hmph.”

Even as she did so, the man who knew the truth inside and out snickered.

He didn’t know which servant’s mouth was light that told Lily, but he intended to make that person work hard.

“Rest then go back.”

Blake threw an old blanket at Lily and sat down in the corner.

Thunder kept hovering around them.

Still feeling better, the man quickly exhaled again, keeping his mouth tightly shut. Lily became concerned and asked,

“Lord Blake?”

“…… What’s wrong?”

He let out a short syllable, as if he was struggling to even breathe.

“Are you okay? You don’t look okay at all, but I know you might answer with a straight face that there’s nothing wrong with you, but I’ll ask you once.” (Lily

“You are a prophet, aren’t you?” (Blake)

“Come here, dictator.” (Lily)

Lily lifted her covers and held Blake’s head. He was half asleep, but he couldn’t refuse. He didn’t have that much strength.

“I’m not a newborn baby….. “

Their distance was close enough that they could smell each other’s scent. Lily’s peachy body scent and the heavy scent of the man. It mingled with a seductive scent that he couldn’t tell who it belonged to. However, Lily focused only on patting him and was satisfied when his condition improved.

“Much better, isn’t it? A human touch is better than a warm, inorganic one. It’ll calm down to the sound of the other’s quiet heartbeat.” (Lily)

Blake wanted to say sarcastically, “You make it sound as if you’ve been through this before,” but he couldn’t. His whole body felt like it was leaning into hers. Being so close to each other in a small house. 

‘I think I’m going crazy.’

Not to mention the beating of her heart, and the way her hair tickled his cheek….

Blake chuckled to himself. 

A meek woman like Lily might leave her seat immediately if she knew what he was imagining. He despised himself for that. 

It was shameful to feel this way about a woman who had run away from her husband. 

‘It’s because I’m confused by my childhood memories. That’s all.’

At that moment, Lily asked.

“Why did you participate in the war?” 

It might have been a sensitive question, but Blake was rather glad.

He really needed to immerse himself in other thoughts, so for once today he was being frank.

“I wanted to leave the castle; I couldn’t trust anyone after my father died five years ago. Tsk, that father, how can he drink poisoned alcohol in the middle of the house and go to the other world?” (Blake)

“Then the culprit. ……….” (Lily)

“Yes. I thought there was a good chance it was a servant. I felt a great sense of betrayal.”  (Blake)

Blake was in the middle of talking when he was distracted by Lily’s lightly tapping hand. It was nothing like his rough hands. When he put that thing in his mouth, it seemed to taste as sweet as pigmented sugar.

Then he suddenly regained his reason and continued to speak.

“I don’t know if you know this but the bond between the people of the dukedom is special. It’s not like the children in the capital who sell out their friends for a few gold coins.” (Blake)

“No cursing.” (Lily)

“Oh, my father was poisoned by a servant when we believed that we were each other’s protective shield…………… I wanted to leave the dukedom, so I toured the battlefields. Killing pirates wandering the imperial ocean or greeting neighbors on the frontier.” (Blake)

He heard the thunder again.

The man was glad to be out of his energy, instead.

“But as time passed, my mind became clear. It wasn’t the fault of any of us. Probably from the outside…They must have approached it with a very secret and dirty trick. As soon as I realized it, I came back to Winter Castle.” (Blake)

“So you do trust your employers after all.” (Lily)

“Well, I can’t trust them blindly, so I used a few other methods. All employees were investigated very thoroughly.” (Blake)

Blake laughed strangely, half in jest, half in earnest, as he bared his steely teeth.

“I knew they were all innocent, but my heart was still heavy. So even after returning to the castle, I usually don’t eat in the dining room. It reminds me of my dead father.” (Blake)

The snow was disappearing through the small old window.

There was no more thunder. The moon should be visible from its hiding place soon.

“Shall we go back to the Winter Castle?” (Lily)

“Yes, we should.” (Blake)

That was the moment Lily was about to get up.

Rejuvenated, Blake grabbed Lily’s arm tightly.

Their gazes collided with each other.

“…”

“….”

Lily noticed that the space within them instantly became hotter. Was it because of their breath? Or….. 

She tried to leave with an inexplicable feeling of embarrassment and outrage, but she was blocked.

It was because Blake had hugged her thin waist under the covers.

“You’re fearless.”

Blake’s wrenchingly low voice somehow caused Lily’s body to begin to shake.

“You said you’d be a Lady after you divorced.”

Blake’s copper skin brushed against Lily’s stark white face.

He smiled like a villain.