CH 99

Stop Me

Nathaniel’s eyes twinkled. Yes, no matter how hard she tries to ignore him, she will eventually see the person who saved her, even if she doesn’t care. Has she changed her mind now?  He smiled more kindly.

[Is it time to give up slowly?]

But in the next moment, Kyrie shakes Nathaniel’s hand without any notice.  Her pale purple hair and hem of her robe floated in the air, fluttering like a flower blooming in an instant.

Kyrie immediately fell down.

Nathaniel luckily caught her before Kyrie reached her floor.  He clenched his teeth while holding Kyrie in his arms. His shocked heart felt as cold as ice.  It had been a long time since he had been so surprised, but when he thought about it again, what Kyrie did always surprised him more.

Nathaniel belatedly looked into Kyrie in his arms.

[Kyrie Buchanan.]

He was going to tell her to wake up, but Kyrie was not looking at him. She just muttered in a cute posture with her eyes open like a squirrel and her arms and legs curled up small.

“Ha.”

[‘Ha’?]

He followed Kyrie’s murmur because it’s weird

[Kyrie Buchanan. There’s a limit to running wild like a raging deer.]

Kyrie floundered her limbs without answering.  Nathaniel put her down without a hitch. She started walking again, while Nathaniel covered his face with his hand behind her.

It had been a long time since he wanted to rip and kill someone like this.  But he couldn’t kill, neither could he ignore her nor could he let her go. Usually, when he killed the people around him, they would listen.  But now, it was unlikely that Kyrie would change her mind, even if he killed anyone.

Suddenly saw something rising and fluttering in Nathaniel’s sight, who was suppressing his emotions.

– Green leaves butterfly. It is the magic of a forest beast.

Nathaniel looked at Kyrie, who went out of sight, once again, he then cast a spell of confusion on the butterfly and sent it back.  And followed Kyrie again.

Nathaniel crossed his arms behind her and watched as Kyrie struggled.  Many thoughts came and passed by but all the mundane thoughts gradually subsided as the sun went over the mountain, and only one thought remained.

As expected, she is too weak to let go.

It didn’t make sense from the start of this person’s (Kyrie) willingness to cross the rugged Rubmenian Mountains with her bare body.  He purposely bought Kyrie and moved away from the branch. Left alone in the deserted deep mountains, he thought she would at one time admit defeat and ask for help.  It was okay to cry, no, even if she didn’t cry, she could only hold his hem with those small hands.  Then he might be joking around a bit, but in the end he intended to cover her back with a cloak.

However, Kyrie never asked for help even though she tripped and fell several times. She truly thought she didn’t need such assistance. It seemed like she believed that she could do everything on her own and didn’t need protection. So it’s funny to hi. that, apparently, the only reason he is besides her is because they have a ‘good relationship.’

It’s not fair.

As the sun went down, the mountain quickly darkened.  Kyrie seemed to realize later that she should have searched for a place earlier.  She’s confident there won’t be any beasts, but the mountains are still cold.  Kyrie, who tried to make a fire by scraping the branches, ultimately failed, dug a shallow hole and curled up.

Nathaniel, who had been watching the scene from beginning to end, looked up at the sky with a frustrated heart.

How in the world can there be so many insignificant beings?

She can’t use magic, she can’t wield a sword, she doesn’t even know magic, and she doesn’t have divine powers. Her bones are not as hard as diamonds, and if she gets stabbed, she will bleed, and if she gets stabbed further, she will die.

Nathaniel sighed again. To be so insignificant and fragile.

He sighed and looked around him, finding a moderately large rock and cutting it crosswise with a sword. Tired of wandering the mountains, Kyrie Buchanan didn’t wake up when he hugged her.

Nathaniel laid Kyrie on the rock, then removed the coldness from the surroundings.  Kyrie’s pale face, which was getting tired, just then changed the complexion and dyed red.

Nathaniel sat next to her and sighed. As he ran his fingers through her bangs, Kyrie flinched a little and fell asleep again. His blue eyes that were capturing her image blinked slowly.  Without realizing it, greed leaked out between his lips.

[Should we leave?]

He doesn’t care about the world or anything else. Everything is fine if it causes Kyrie to give a response to him. However, Kyrie is completely ignoring him and it bothered him more than he thought. She never acknowledge him unless his name came out of others mouth

Nathaniel slowly reached out and touched Kyrie’s messy hair on her forehead.

How about locking her up again?  This time, how about tying her hands and feet so that she can’t move at all, covering her mouth and eyes and letting her sit like a doll?  Will she then cry out his name and spit curses at him?

Once he thought about it, darkness settled under his feet, he then licked his lips.  Nathaniel smirked.  In fact, when it comes to imprisoning someone, he was confident he could do it better than anyone in the world.

[Get up and stop me, Kyrie.]

He murmured. Of course it couldn’t happen.

The sleeping Kyrie’s face was still.  The slightly cold impression still remains as she sleeps, but he liked it better. What are you not good at doing?

Nathaniel was arranging Kyrie’s hair and wiping the dirt off her cheek and hands, but suddenly found something he had never seen before.  Near the nape of Kyrie’s neck, a pale blue stain could be seen through her collar.

For a moment, it felt like his heart was going to drop. It must have been a bruise from the big bump on the back in the wagon. He didn’t know because she didn’t make a single sound of pain, but seeing the bruises burning up to the nape of her neck, it looked like she had been hit hard.

[…….]

Nathaniel covered his mouth with his hands for a moment. He felt a weak sense of shame. He can’t believe he lived so long and let himself get hurt by playing tug-of-war with a bloody human being.

Nathaniel took a deep breath and looked again between Kyrie’s collar.  It’s been so long since he had been hurt, so he didn’t remember, but surely a bruise can kill someone, right?  Kyrie is exceptionally light as a feather, so her bones may have been broken or pus may have accumulated.  Looking back, it seems that she was exceptionally skinny.  Wouldn’t her skin be crushed if she lay in an upright position?

Nathaniel quickly became serious. It was the moment when he lifted up Kyrie’s collar to take a look.

“…….”

Kyrie opened her eyes like a lie. She was startled, and he heard a hum between her lips, leaking out. Her purple eyes blinked in disbelief.

[….Misunderstanding.]

Nathaniel is now very upset when he realizes that he may appear to be molesting a sleeping lady.  But, surprisingly, something even more troubling happens.

Kyrie had her eyes closed again before Nathaniel could say anything.  She had a stiff face as if she said she never wanted to see what was going to happen. As she gracefully gave strength to her pointed chin, she also seemed to clench her teeth. Her body temperature rose, and her loosely laid hands clenched into fists.

Nathaniel’s cold expression hardened. The fact that he was seen as a ‘person like that’, when in actuality his actions were just misunderstood. He hated the ‘misleading situation’ with his entire being, and tried to deal with the unintended aftermath that was bound to happen. Since she would most likely ignore him.

[Kyrie Buchanan.]

Nathaniel let out a laugh and put his hand on Kyrie’s head.

[Am I being ignored in this situation?]

He asked fiercely.

Kyrie turned her head as if she couldn’t hear those words.  The forest without moonlight was dark, and the nape of Kyrie, who turned her head, was exceptionally white. So much that he thought if he were an ordinary human, he would be seduced.

But now, his voice resounding inside Kyrie was only fear and sadness. Clearly, the situation was misunderstood, but surprisingly, he didn’t really feel the slightest expectation or even the slightest excitement.

All sorts of thoughts ran through his mind. His mood was messed up.

[Kyrie.]

“…….”

[Answer me.]

Still, Kyrie didn’t answer. As if testing him, she was docile even when her wrists were clasped together, as thin as a branch.  She looked as if she was really asleep, except that her heart was pounding hard containing her emotions.

The sight itself was good even though he was in a terrible mood.

[Aren’t you going to stop me?]

Nathaniel leaned his upper body a little more and whispered. He turned Kyrie’s head with his hand that didn’t hold her wrist, and put her forehead against his. Her eyelids twitch weakly.

[I would just stay still because I know dignity, but you probably don’t know that the most effective way to harass you remains.]

Perhaps because of tension, Kyrie’s lips parted a little.  Nathaniel swallowed the breath almost as it flowed out through her chapped lips.

In an instant, an impulse flooded Nathaniel’s head like a lightning bolt, but fortunately he managed to withstand it by giving strength to his hands

[……Or are you really looking forward to it?]

With those words, Nathaniel’s mood subsided a little more. He knew that too. Even if something really happened, Kyrie wouldn’t give up on her will.

She didn’t shed a single groan of her kyrie that she hated her to the end.  Even if she blinks her eyes in the distance where the eyelashes are tangled, but that’s it.

Nathaniel, who had been contemplating whether to warn her a little more, got up.  Apart from getting sick of the situation, the place and season are not good.  She might get caught a cold.

[The wound must be shown to the forest beast.]

He spoke calmly and released his hand that was holding her wrist.  Then he saw a blue bruise on the hand which he was holding.  Seeing her, Nathaniel sighed silently again.  Softer than a cotton candy, and obviously nociceptive, the woman in front of him was irritating once again.  

If I stay here any longer, my patience may really run out.

It was the moment Nathaniel thought so and got up from his seat.  A very weak and obvious breath of relief escaped from Kyrie’s tightly closed mouth.

[……Yes. You must have hated it a lot.]

He realized what he was most upset about.

(T/N: the reason why he was upset is because Kyrie isn’t sexually attracted to him but he is attracted to her, so he realised it now)

***

The next day, Nataniel cleverly got Kyrie’s approval. It was very annoying that the sound of the stomach growling in Kyrie’s stomach while she did not ask him for help even if she had to die.

Although he induced her, it was almost evening when Kyrie found the inhabited house. Kyrie led her exhausted body and knocked on the door of the log cabin.

“Is anybody home?”

Not long after knocking, the door swung open.

“Who are you?”

Coming out of the house was a large, bearded middle-aged man. He seemed quite embarrassed when he saw Kyrie in front of him, overshadowing his loud voice.  His gaze moved to Nathaniel behind her, and then to Kyrie again.

“I’m a traveler, can you please take care of us?”

Kyrie asked politely. The man looked at Kyrie and Nathaniel with a serious face, and then smiled.

***

Rubinia