CH 13

Chapter 13: Don’t Tempt Me

Linzel grabbed the head of the chair to keep herself from falling, but her body had already started to tilt forward.

She squeezed her eyes shut, imagining the pain she would feel when she hit the floor.

But she didn’t feel any pain.

Instead, Linzel felt a large hand gripping her shoulder.

She opened her eyes and saw Hernan. With his quick reflexes, he seemed to have caught her.

“Did your leg give out again today?”

“Yeah. But it’s going to be alright…… woah!”

Linzel tried to say that she would be fine, but she couldn’t finish. Because Hernan lifted her up in a flash.

He picked her up so effortlessly.

“I’ll walk you to the carriage.”

She had no reason to refuse, and it was comforting to be carried by him.

Linzel looked around at her surroundings.

Delta and Angel were grinning like they’d just witnessed something funny, and Izekiel stood unnaturally close.

He almost looked like he was trying to reach her.

‘Was he trying to catch me too?’

Linzel’s thought was lost in space. Because Hernan pulled her closer to him.

“We’ll head out first.”

With those words, Hernan led the way out of the dining room. The lift ride was unforgettable.

***

When Hernan and Linzel stepped outside, everything was bathed in scarlet. The sun was setting.

The overwhelming light of the setting sun painted Hernan’s black hair and white face a deep red. He looked flawless in the crimson glow.

They say the face is the mirror of the heart, and right now, Hernan’s heart must be filled with nothing but beauty.

A deadly beauty, one that could drive others to their deaths if they were drunk with it.

That face never failed to strike Linzel. Maybe she would never get tired of it.

They were halfway through the beautifully cultivated garden when Hernan spoke.

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

He sounded quite serious.

Of course, Hernan was almost always serious. But this was his most serious voice yet.

“Ask me,” Linzel replied in an equally unplayful voice.

He stopped in his tracks and stared down at her, his dark eyes holding nothing but her face.

Linzel wondered how she looked to him.

She wondered if he would find her beautiful, bathed in red, just as she found him beautiful in the warm light of the sunset.

“Are you sure…… you’re okay with me?”

He asked seriously, meaning that he was sure Linzel was suitable for marriage.

“Of course, I’m fine with you. I’ve never thought ill of you.”

If she didn’t like Hernan, she wouldn’t have treated him so carefully. Even if her life depended on it.

“I’m not good with people. Especially women. Maybe my blunt honesty will get you in trouble again.”

“…….”

“And…… perhaps I might go to war again.”

Another sigh escaped Hernan’s lips; he seemed to be pessimistic about his situation.

Linzel tried to temper the negativity of his words with positivity.

“You’re not perfect, so you’ll be more careful. And you’re honest, so you won’t lie to me. I really don’t like people who lie to me.” Linzel let some more warmth into her voice as she continued, “And you’ll cherish every day you spend with me even more because you think you could be off to war tomorrow.”

She blinked and then finished her speech.

“Am I wrong?”

She hated flirts and people who were one thing on the outside and another on the inside.

“Linzel…….”

His voice sounded raspy, emotional as he called her name.

The sunset glow deepened, and so did Hernan’s eyes as they met Linzel’s. She felt that if she kept looking into his eyes, she could be sucked into them.

“Your words were touching…… and you’re the first woman – no, the first person – to make me feel this way.”

“People like me are not common.”

“You’re right, and you were not even scared of me.”

“…….”

“That’s what makes me want to give you anything.”

If so, would he also help her achieve her ultimate goal of entering the Royal Archives?

Linzel had a hunch. Now was the time to lay the groundwork.

“Your Highness, then do me a favor later, whatever that may be.”

Hernan answered without hesitation.

“I will. I promise.”

Not even knowing what she would ask.

What if she asked him to do something that would cost him his life?

“If I asked you to die for me, would you do it?”

Instead of answering, Hernan smiled. He didn’t look the least bit afraid of death.

“Linzel. Do you know that I am called the War Demon?”

She gave a small nod in response.

“I’ve been to countless battlefields, and from the time I was a child until now, I’ve always faced death, always thought I could die suddenly tomorrow.”

“Your Highness Hernan…….”

“I think that should suffice for my answer. What do you think?”

Linzel nodded again. She knew what he was trying to convey to her.

‘I would die for you.’

She couldn’t believe his commitment to her – someone he’d only known for a few days.

‘How could he risk his life for me?’

Was it because he was a war hound? Because he’d always been close to death?

If not, then…….

“Your Highness Hernan, do you like me enough to risk your life for me?”

Hernan did not answer but tilted his head.

His dark eyes, the color of the evening sun, grew closer and closer. Linzel felt like she was in heaven all over again.

His breath was now clearly on her skin. It was hot enough to give her goosebumps.

‘Wait, is it time for a kiss?’

Linzel instinctively closed her eyes. She hoped he wouldn’t mind her lips as they were.

A kiss with Hernan would be wonderful.

Linzel’s heart began to beat faster. She couldn’t wait to see how good Hernan’s lips would feel.

But no matter how long she waited, she couldn’t feel his lips on hers.

Why……?

She even stuck her lips out a little for him, just in case he couldn’t find them.

Soon, she heard Hernan’s voice.

“Your eyelash fell on your face.”

……Huh?

Linzel opened her closed eyes. Hernan was staring at something on her cheek.

“I can’t look away when something is bothering me. I’m sorry if I interrupted the conversation.”

Nonsense. He was leaning into her face to look at her eyelashes?

Disappointment washed over her in waves.

“…..Why……!”

“Eh?”

Linzel shouted, my voice full of sincerity.

“Why didn’t you…… kiss me!”

‘That was kissing time, you idiot!’

She was so ready to accept it!

“I thought you were going to kiss me to tell me you liked me.”

Hernan, who had a puzzled look on his face, burst out laughing.

“Ha, ha, ha.”

It was the first time she’d ever seen him laugh out loud. The corners of his mouth were pulled up and his eyes were gently curved.

Hernan was actually a more beautiful person with a smile than an expressionless face, a secret that few people knew.

Linzel had to wonder how many people had ever seen his hearty laugh.

No. Do others who had witnessed what she had even exist?

Her disappointment quickly turned to excitement. How could a person change their mind so quickly?

Hernan laughed a little, amused, and said.

“Another time.”

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to.

“Don’t tempt me,” Hernan said, his mouth still curving seductively upwards, “You won’t be able to handle it.”

Hernan let out a long breath. As close as they were, Linzel felt its heat.

* * *

After helping Linzel into the carriage, Hernan returned to his office and looked serious.

‘Linzel is so light.’

She was so frail and thin that it wouldn’t be surprising if she was suffering from a serious illness.

If she hadn’t been so cheerful, if her complexion had been darker, he would have suspected that she was being abused.

Although he couldn’t detect any negative emotions from Linzel.

‘It can’t hurt to find out about the duke.’

When Gatt, the man responsible for escorting Linzel’s carriage, returned, Hernan would instruct him to investigate the duke.

Leaning back fully in the chair in front of his desk, Hernan twiddled his thumbs.

He thought back over the events of the day.

When he’d seen Linzel talking to Izekiel, his heart had tightened, and he’d thought he couldn’t breathe.

He hated to hear the sound of their conversation. He didn’t like the way she looked at him.

So, he spread out his palm in front of her to stop her from looking at him.

It was an unconscious gesture.

When Izekiel showed a sign of catching her as she was about to fall, Hernan hurried out of the dining room with her.

He wouldn’t let Izekiel speak to her.

Izekiel was a kind man to almost everyone except him. It was natural for him to be nice to her, but why did it feel so bad?

The garden was drenched in the light of the setting sun. When he saw her there, painted in breathtaking red, his heart skipped a beat.

Not because it made him sad, but because it made him excited.

Linzel had said something touching…… about how the face is a mirror of the heart.

He asked himself, could she read the excitement on his face?

He wished, inwardly, that she would be able to read him, for he was not good at expressing himself.

They were halfway to the carriage when Linzel asked.

‘If I asked you to die for me, would you do it?’

He hesitated to answer.

But by the time he realized it, his lips were already moving naturally.

He would be willing to die for her.

‘I’ve been facing death since I was a child,’ he said to Linzel.

But the truth was, he was afraid of death, too. He was also human.

Perhaps less so than the average person, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t afraid of death.

Even Hernan himself was surprised to hear that he would die for her.

‘Do I really like Linzel that much?’

He thought love was a long way off. And yet here he was, only a few days after meeting her…….

‘Your Highness Hernan, do you like me enough to risk your life for me?’

Linzel had asked, but he had been too distracted to answer.

“Maybe it’s better.”

As he mused nonchalantly, the corners of Hernan’s mouth slowly turned up.

It was at that moment that a knock sounded on the door of the office.