Episode 46
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Familiar, yet violently trembling voice.
Odelia barely managed to lift her head.
Ludville's face was pale, and his breathing was uneven.
Without a moment to catch his breath, he knelt before Odelia.
Then, he took out a thin cloth from his waist and hurriedly covered her mouth and nose.
"In the middle of an epidemic's epicenter, without even covering your respiratory system...!"
"......"
It was the sharpest voice she had ever heard.
So much so that she could even feel a murderous intent...
He was expressing raw emotions in every breath.
But his actions were moving to protect her, familiarly and naturally.
Like a habit ingrained in his body.
"Don't ever do this again. If you do..."
If she did?
"If you do, I will..."
His words were cut off.
Ludville couldn't finish his sentence.
Then, he closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath.
A gesture to suppress his emotions somehow.
"...If you're curious about what I'll do to you, try it again."
He hugged Odelia tightly, as if imprisoning her in his arms, and muttered threateningly.
His words, exhaled like a sigh, were mixed with worry, anger, and a possessiveness that was somewhere darkly obsessive.
'Ah.'
I'm screwed.
That was the first thought that came to her mind.
Judging by his reaction...
'Did he perhaps see the Blue-Eyed Woman overlapping with my current appearance?'
Feeling the predicament, she gathered all her remaining mental strength and forcibly held onto her fading consciousness.
"...You already knew that I could perform Purification."
And as if nothing was wrong, she calmly opened her mouth.
"I thought you would have guessed that I wouldn't be affected by the epidemic."
At those words, Ludville's eyes turned as cold as ice.
His lips twisted, and his brow furrowed fiercely, creating wrinkles.
"Are you... saying that now?"
His voice was low, but an uncontrollable anger permeated it.
And he poured out his words in an instant.
"Why did you do something you weren't even asked to do in the first place!"
Odelia had nothing to say.
She didn't expect him to chase her all the way here.
No, even if she was unlucky enough to get caught on the spot, she didn't expect him to get this angry.
Rather, she had expected a reaction of admiration, as she had perfectly prevented the epidemic.
'Isn't this a cheap price to pay?'
When she was forced to repeat the Purification work in Cardel, it was common to go back and forth between life and death.
Compared to that, coughing up blood and fainting was a very minor side effect.
But it seemed he didn't think so.
'...Do I look like I'm in a lot of pain?'
Does my current appearance look so sickly that it reminds him of that Blue-Eyed Woman's illusion that remained in his head?
Or maybe.
'Was it the problem that I secretly went out to save people without telling him?'
At that moment, a very old scene came to mind.
During one of the thousands of regressions, the time when Ludville started a rebellion and rose to the position of Emperor.
Back then, he held Odelia, who had coughed up blood and collapsed, and said.
"Your body can't handle it."
"Please stop. It doesn't have to be you."
"It just has to not be you..."
Those were the words he spat out with a face so pained that it seemed like Ludville was the one who had coughed up blood.
His voice trembled violently.
His gesture of desperately clinging to her, like a person drowning in water.
His will to save her at all costs was conveyed to her.
...But not now.
The current him remembers nothing.
He doesn't know that Purification eats away at her body, and that she is getting weaker and weaker as she repeats this work.
Odelia lowered her head.
Without saying a word, she forcibly suppressed her trembling breath.
This person now is not the Ludville of the past.
And... it had to be.
'He mustn't remember.'
She repeated inwardly.
He shouldn't remember someone like me.
If he remembers that he loved her, he might abandon himself again to regain that love.
His life, his heart, his very existence.
Wouldn't that be too cruel an ending?
So, she rather hoped that he would live on as he was, without remembering her.
Living on, having forgotten who she was, what she had endured, everything.
Filling that place with things that were warmer, more loving, and more affectionate.
Only then could he live.
Odelia wrapped her cloak around herself and tried to stand up again.
However...
"...!"
"Don't move."
With a single word spat out, her body was lifted into the air.
To be exact, Ludville had picked her up in his arms like a piece of luggage.
"Your Highness?"
Odelia protested quietly in embarrassment.
But Ludville moved forward without answering.
"Your Highness..."
"Be quiet. Do you even know what you look like right now, Princess? As pale as a corpse..."
Ludville's voice was low and firm, but his breathing was strangely trembling.
He couldn't figure out the source of these swirling emotions.
It wasn't anger, nor was it sadness.
'Worry?'
No, this is...
'...Fear.'
That's right.
As far as Ludville could remember, he had never felt the emotion of fear in his life.
But now, he was clearly feeling fear.
Just because Odelia had disappeared for a moment.
Just because she had staggered in front of his eyes.
He, who hadn't even blinked an eye on the battlefield where allies and enemies were mixed and dying, was collapsing so much because of one Princess.
In the face of this emotion that he couldn't explain himself, he hugged Odelia even more deeply.
And he put her in the carriage that had followed him.
* * *
The air inside the carriage was awkwardly silent.
Odelia looked at Ludville with a heavy heart.
She knew why he had run over, why he was angry, and why he was putting her in the carriage, but...
'This shouldn't be happening...'
With that thought, she became lost in thought.
To monitor him from the side so that he wouldn't take his own life, while at the same time keeping the line so that he wouldn't regain his memories of her.
Could there be a greater contradiction?
It was then.
"...Damn it."
Odelia heard Ludville, who was looking out the window, mutter in a low, cracked voice.
He stared into the air for a moment, then finally fixed his gaze on her.
With a look of surrender, as if something had given way.
"...I will acknowledge the Princess's ability."
And those words came out.
"Let's get married right away."
Odelia blinked her eyes.
"...Pardon?"
"Do you have that contract you mentioned, Princess?"
Odelia looked at him blankly, then reached inside her hood.
As she took the contract out of her arms, the necklace around her neck popped out of her dress.
Ludville's gaze briefly went to the necklace, but his view was blocked as she handed him the neatly folded contract.
"Here it is."
Ludville looked down at the document for a moment, then looked back at Odelia.
"Let's add a new clause."
"What..."
He took out a fountain pen from his pocket and wrote a new clause on the spot.
[Article 8. In the event of going out alone, the route and estimated time required must be reported in advance, and a confirmation greeting must be left upon returning home.
However, if it is determined that the destination or situation of the outing is dangerous or has psychological or physical anxiety factors, the other party has the right to accompany, and no objection may be raised.
In the event of violation, the party concerned shall bear all consequences and responsibilities associated therewith.]
"......"
