Chapter 55
Actually, there was no grand scheme to speak of. The Guildmaster and his wife’s thinking had been simple.
When it came to pushing for a marriage the family opposed, what method was the easiest and most effective?
‘Did they seriously think that if they stole our clothes, we’d just naturally get in the mood?’
How lewd! Lottie wanted to scream. The only reason she didn’t was for fear that the clothes barely covering her naked body might slip off.
Ultimately, after some discussion, the two decided to stay the night.
They couldn’t exactly wander through the mountains naked, and they might get lost if the Guildmaster couple didn’t come to fetch them.
She was lethargic from the long soak in the hot bath, and even in summer, the mountains were cold at night.
‘It’s not like sharing a room is a big deal after we’ve already bathed together.’
She wasn’t unaware that there was a flaw in that logic, but she didn’t care much. It was a thought she would never utter out loud anyway.
‘That’s all it is. I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine….’
Lottie repeated the sentence to herself as she pressed her back firmly against the headboard.
Inside the old guest room, which was barely ten pyeong.
Seeing the four-poster bed—far too grand for the room’s scale—and the ornate bedspread with a pattern at least a century out of style, the absurdity of her situation finally hit home.
“It will be warm soon.”
Having lit the fireplace, Calyx began making rounds through the small room, trimming the wicks of the lamps.
Lottie watched him from behind, clutching the edge of the blanket.
Every time he reached for a wall-mounted lamp, his muscles and the scars etched upon them rippled firmly. They looked like a map. A history of pain—of being torn and cut, bleeding, then healing as new flesh filled the gaps.
Lottie’s fingers moved as if tracing the shape of the scars, following the trajectory of his life.
She hadn’t even touched his skin, yet her throat felt tight and heat rose in her body. Her fingers, tracing the scars in the air, fluttered like a small, shackled beast.
‘I want… to touch them.’
No sooner had she been horrified by her own scandalous thought than Calyx came to a dead stop. No way. Was she caught?
“You’re going to burn a hole in my back.”
A muttered comment, thick with suppressed laughter, reached her. Startled, Lottie quickly averted her gaze.
As she stared intently at the edge of the blanket, quiet footsteps followed. A moment later, the cheap sofa across from the bed creaked.
“This should make it easier for you to look.”
Calyx sat facing Lottie, resting his chin on his hands with his elbows propped on his thighs, and watched her.
He even wore a confident, effortless smile. Lottie let out a scoffing sigh.
“Are you… not bothered at all? Looking like that, in front of me….”
“Looking like what?”
“You know, having to share clothes due to… unavoidable circumstances….”
“Well, it’s not exactly a noteworthy situation. In the army, it was a daily occurrence for men to roll around half-naked.”
She was trying to express her discomfort because she had nowhere to look, yet he responded nonchalantly that since he had nothing to hide, he had nothing to be uncomfortable about.
Lottie, feeling their conversation had been strangely out of sync for a while now, opened her mouth to add something but then closed it.
The one who is more desperate is the one who moves. Lottie lowered her gaze slightly and fixed it on the corner of the bed.
“I plan to stay up all night, so if you’re going to sleep, I’ll step aside.”
“Just stay there. I have no intention of closing my eyes tonight either.”
As Calyx stood up to check the latch, Lottie let out the breath she had been holding in tension.
“Since we’re in the mountains, the temperature will likely keep dropping. Aren’t you cold?”
“I’m fine. It’s warm enough inside the blankets.”
More importantly, wouldn’t you be colder, exposed to the raw air while half-naked? Those words remained stuck in her throat like a thorn, but as Calyx finished closing the curtains tightly and turned around, he gave a short laugh.
“You’re shivering, though.”
“It’s because… my hair isn’t fully dry yet.”
“Or perhaps the blanket isn’t doing its job.”
He laughed soundlessly at his light remark. It was a truly suggestive laugh.
The sound of crackling logs and the rattling of the window behind the curtains knocked against the silence between them.
“Would you… like to check?”
Lottie threw out a provocative question. The smile on Calyx’s face stiffened slightly.
“To see whether the bed is actually doing its job or not?”
She felt a surge of pique at his constant teasing, and she also felt guilty for hogging the bed all to herself. That was her only reason.
“Come in. It’s still warm inside because I’ve heated it with my body temperature.”
“…Are you saying that, sincerely?”
Calyx asked after a brief silence. The smile that had been lingering on his lips was gone.
Facing his stiff expression, which was clearly showing signs of tension, Lottie nodded readily.
“I can’t keep monopolizing the bed by myself forever. I’m a person who knows the meaning of shame. But….”
“…….”
“Judging by your expression, could it be… you misunderstood me? Thinking I meant we should share a blanket, for example.”
When Lottie pulled back the covers as if such a thing were out of the question, Calyx took a step forward. It was a sign for her to stop.
Lottie swallowed a laugh at his distorted expression, which looked like he’d been outmaneuvered.
“I think I finally understand how you feel.”
“…….”
“So this is why you tease me.”
Calyx crossed his arms and looked at Lottie with narrowed eyes. Lottie giggled, unbothered. Fortunately, she was able to bury the fact that Calyx’s misunderstanding had been quite serious until a moment ago behind her laughter.
“I’m sorry. But my concern about you being cold was sincere. There’s only one blanket and the night is long, so, um….”
Her light green eyes, sparkling in the lamplight, slowly scanned the room. A slender finger pointed to a basket sitting next to the dresser opposite them.
“It seems the thoughtful and meticulous Guildmaster couple has prepared a small gift for the young couple-to-be.”
Inside the basket Lottie pointed to sat a lone bottle of wine without a label. A ribbon tied around the neck made it look even more ridiculous in such an out-of-place setting.
“Wouldn’t one glass be enough to warm us up?”
Just one glass. Lottie’s lips curved into a soft smile as she added that.
Again, her eyes were clear, devoid of any lewd malice or scheme.
Calyx, who had been meeting her eyes with a stiff face, finally let out a hollow breath after a long while.
“It’s cold.”
After her second sip of wine, Lottie’s words began to decrease sharply at some point.
“No…. If you sleep when it’s cold… your mouth… will get crooked….”
Lottie forced herself to keep talking to shake off the approaching drowsiness. Even as she spoke, she was nodding off.
Calyx, who was sitting on a single chair next to the bed where Lottie sat, looked into the wine in his glass and then gave a short laugh at her.
“You have to cover yourself tightly with the blanket so you won’t be cold.”
“No…. If I cover up… it’s stifling. Stifling… I hate stifling things.”
“It’s better than catching a cold.”
Calyx tucked the blanket tightly around the whining Lottie. Lying wrapped in the thick blanket, Lottie blinked her eyes repeatedly.
“Why are you being so sweet? Is it because we’re friends…?”
Calyx paused for a moment at Lottie’s question, then tucked the blanket in meticulously again.
“Friends don’t do things like this. They don’t pretend to be lovers, and they don’t kiss.”
“They don’t exchange tokens of affection, either.”
Lottie finished Calyx’s sentence. Calyx stayed still for a moment, then laughed lowly.
“It’s because you are a precious person to me.”
“I see…. A precious person….”
Calyx nodded slowly at Lottie’s murmur.
His hand, which had been touching the edge of the blanket, moved bit by bit.
Brushing past her earlobe, his hand carefully swept back her damp hair. Clumsily, and cautiously.
“Why?”
“…….”
“I… haven’t done anything for you.”
Calyx’s hand moved slowly down the hair he had tucked behind her ear.
The orange hair that made his breath hitch every time he looked at it.
He wrapped his fingers around the sunset-colored locks. His lips lightly pressed against the hair he held.
“Nothing… I’ve done nothing for you. So… why. What am I, that you….”
Her heat-flushed voice echoed and hummed. It sounded like a voice heard from deep underwater. His face before her eyes gradually grew blurred.
It was either because of the late-onset intoxication or an instinctive defense mechanism to protect herself from fearful and confusing emotions.
When Lottie closed her eyes completely, a heavy breath escaped Calyx’s mouth.
He was about to pull away from her with a sigh when, suddenly and unexpectedly, Lottie sat back up.
“Don’t be so good to me.”
Lottie mumbled without even opening her eyes.
“If you’re good to me… I’ll end up turning back into that stupid fool from before….”
With that one sentence, Lottie’s body collapsed helplessly.
Calyx reflexively reached out and caught her as she fell forward. Lottie’s forehead landed on his shoulder.
After a moment of silence, the sound of steady breathing could be heard.
Calyx, who had held his breath without realizing it, slowly inhaled. The scent of skin from her damp body swept dizzily through his lungs.
Holding the scent of her, his breath hitched again.
He was afraid she might wake up and flee at even the slightest sound.
“…Ha.”
By the time he silently exhaled his held breath, his hand, which had been hovering in the air, had finally wrapped around her delicate back.
He didn’t stroke her, but just stayed still, frozen as if trying to measure the size of the person in his arms. Like an ignorant boy experiencing his first puppy love.
Her shirt must have slipped a little, as her rounded shoulder was exposed.
Even though he knew he had to endure it, he couldn’t stop.
Finally, his head dropped.
He pressed his lips to her white, slender shoulder.
The heat that started from where their skin touched spread through his entire body in an instant.
Every part of his body that held her ached. As if he had caught a fever.
How did someone like you come into my mud-like world?
How do you make it so I can’t let go, even though I know you’ll end up rolling through my hell too?
“I’m afraid of losing you.”
His constricted throat whispered. The bodies pressed together rose and fell steadily. They touched and parted repeatedly through a single layer of thin cloth.
“But….”
“…….”
“Watching you without doing anything is even more painful.”
Calyx, who soon realized the truth of Sasha’s words, laughed bitterly. Even that was a quiet laugh, for fear of waking the delicate body in his arms.
The night, where the sound of burning logs and the rattling window were irregularly intertwined, passed like that.
