Chapter 143: My Cruel Salvation
After the Queen Consort left, Olivia sat gazing at the desolate winter scenery.
"Every action, every word was reported in the newspapers. Sometimes, I had to explain myself due to misunderstandings. I had to attend big and small events every single day without a moment to rest. In the end, I came to hate the media itself."
Recalling the Queen Consort's words, Olivia nodded to herself and murmured, "I knew he hated the media."
"I was promised peace in exchange for marrying you. I received a promise from my father that I would never have to stand before the media again."
Olivia stopped breathing at Noah's voice, which came without warning.
"So, do you understand what I should receive in exchange for marrying you, what you must pay me as compensation? Don't try to do anything. It's not difficult, is it?"
A chill ran through her as if the blood was draining from her face. She groped her face with fingertips that felt cold enough to freeze, then rubbed her arms.
Love.
She thought it wouldn't exist, but she had fallen in love.
Olivia jumped up from her seat and paced around the room. Her wandering gaze, unable to settle anywhere, suddenly stopped at the long sofa.
She remembered him, occupying that space like a god of war and lust. With a slowly crumbling expression, he had looked at her and said,
"I'm not angry with you. I'm… just worried about you."
Olivia closed her eyes and held her breath.
"Just worried about me."
She desperately clung to the Queen Consort's words as well.
"Perhaps Noah's actions are… to protect you."
"Yes, that's it."
Nodding, she pressed down on her half-open heart, when suddenly, she remembered Noah standing against the backdrop of the crumbling house and the old stone path, offering her a marriage proposal. His eyes filled with a hint of pity as well.
He doesn't want her to act as a Princess Consort. He simply wants her to stay here until the public's interest fades.
Could it be that this is like a tainted emotion pushed into the subconscious? Is this mansion his last bastion of dignity?
Emotions swirled chaotically like a storm-tossed sea.
Olivia shook her head violently, trying to drive away the emotions that threatened to engulf her.
If she slept in this state, she would only fall further into despair.
What should she do? When she was in Pulder, she could distract herself with housework, but she couldn't do that anymore.
Should she take a walk in the garden? But when she looked outside, dozens of guards stood like stone statues.
Olivia wandered around the room before picking up the newspaper the Queen Consort had given her. And through that newspaper, she was able to learn about her husband's whereabouts.
Olivia stopped and began to read the newspaper.
The newspaper was filled with stories about the Magic Dome.
Even Olivia was hearing for the first time that the Magic Dome was malfunctioning. The newspaper reported that Noah had temporarily returned to the military to take responsibility for this situation.
Olivia stared at Noah's picture on the front page for a long time.
He was clearly in a difficult situation. Yet, if she were to ask him, he would answer like this:
'Don't worry about it.'
Olivia bit her lip, blinked, and slowly nodded.
Then forget about this.
What to do?
What should she do?
Olivia slowly looked around the large, ornate room.
As she did so, the sun slowly began to set. Olivia, who had been sitting there blankly, only came to her senses when the crimson sunlight enveloped her back.
"Ah……."
Olivia, chilled by the realization that she had even forgotten the passage of time, jumped up from her seat.
"I can't do this. I have to do something, anything."
She needed something to immerse herself in, something to distract her.
What to do, what……?
Olivia's gaze inevitably fell on the newspaper.
After staring at Noah's face for a long time, Olivia finally got up and headed to the study. Then, she took out the notebooks and books she had brought from Pulder.
As Olivia flipped through the notebooks filled with traces of long contemplation and effort, her hand stopped in front of a faded photograph inserted between the pages.
Her grandmother, holding her hand and smiling with wrinkled eyes.
However, the grandmother's face in the photo, which she had thought looked gloomy, didn't feel that way at all upon closer inspection. While Olivia in the photo was looking straight ahead, her grandmother was looking at her and smiling.
As if she was proud and fond of her.
"My puppy, you're here? How was your day today?"
Olivia quickly lifted her gaze, feeling tears welling up.
Looking at the ceiling, Olivia quickly closed the book to cover the photo.
Then, after calming her breath, she took out the Magic Dome blueprints she had personally drawn. She felt the helplessness and depression that had been clinging to her back receding, at least for that moment.
Olivia focused her eyes and murmured, "Don't cling to my back."
She pushed away all her thoughts and focused solely on the Magic Dome.
The Wilhelm Corporation's greatest weapons were uniqueness and secrecy. In a world where those who held information were at an advantage, the longer this battle dragged on, the more difficult it would become for the Herot royal family, and Noah would undoubtedly be in a bind as well.
In the case of the Magic Dome, it was divided into a machine that stored and converted energy and a machine that handled impacts. The Magic Dome installed in Herrington Bay consisted of a total of three units, one of which was the main body and the other two were impact units, but it was difficult to know from the information provided in the newspaper which machine had a problem.
"If the problem isn't with the main body containing the Converter… it shouldn't be difficult to repair. And it's absurd to say that it can't even be operated at all."
Olivia, who had been muttering to herself, suddenly stiffened her expression and paused.
"I told you that I can't help you be recognized as Oliver, and that you can't live as an engineer by my side."
Recalling Noah's words, she chuckled and murmured, "That's right……. You had already told me."
Her inner self answered her monologue.
'If he needed help, he would have asked you.'
Still, Olivia straightened her back, which felt like it would collapse, and took out paper and drafting tools in a combative manner.
"If he says he doesn't need it, I can just pretend I didn't do it. It's not like I'm going to leave this mansion."
Then, she quickly drew the blueprints for each machine, writing down in detail the possible problems and their solutions.
Her work showed no signs of ending even as the night deepened.
As she repeatedly measured angles, drew lines with a ruler, and wrote down numbers, the passage of time surrounding her disappeared. As the thoughts filling her head disappeared, only the paper, the numbers, and she remained.
"38, 42… okay, and here… 530. …Noah?"
Suddenly, she felt a presence. Olivia, whose trance had been broken, turned around.
No one was there.
Only the door, tinged with darkness, was visible.
Besides, wasn't he away from the mansion?
Olivia felt a sense of emptiness and turned her gaze back to the desk. And again, she began to pour her heart into the wide sheet of paper.
Again, she measured angles, drew lines, and wrote down numbers. And at the moment when all the worlds were smeared like a paperweight.
"……?"
Olivia turned around again.
Only a thick darkness filled the space.
Olivia narrowed her eyes and bit her lip tightly. The darkness that had seeped into her surroundings finally began to dig into Olivia.
She would be fine one moment, then suddenly overwhelmed by something trivial, fine one moment, then suddenly filled with anguish at some meaningless moment.
Olivia dropped her pen and buried her face in her palms.
Yes, it was too much good fortune.
Because it was a salvation she never thought she could dare to grasp, she was anxious because she didn't know what to give in return.
She staggered and collapsed.
Even though what she had to pay as the price of salvation was what she hated most in the world…….
"I miss you……."
Shining blonde hair, beautiful eyes like autumn leaves, my salvation whose one corner of his mouth only turned upwards when he smiled, Noah Astrid.
"I miss you, Noah……."
The name mixed with stifled sobs was poignant and sorrowful.
Noah.
Noah.
My cruel salvation.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
Meanwhile, around that time, there was a luxury passenger ship passing through the ocean between Pulder and the Norfolk Continent.
Recently, traveling to the Kingdom of Lobus in the southern part of the Norfolk Continent was in vogue among the Pulder upper class.
The Kingdom of Lobus, made up of large and small islands, was located at the crossroads of East-West traffic and had many exotic attractions. Above all, it was a shopper's paradise where you could buy expensive Eastern spices, jewels, and tea at low prices.
The luxury passenger ship using a direct route had many people on board, from families traveling together to those going for business purposes.
The Captain, checking the direction indicator and speedometer, glanced at the VIP management manager who had just entered the wheelhouse and asked,
"Have you been to see Miss Emma? How is her seasickness?"
"She took her medicine and is sleeping now. The First Lady was also very seasick, so she must have taken after her."
"We still have a week until we arrive. Anyway, check on her often."
"Of course. She's the eldest daughter of the Pulder President, after all. He sent people several times to ask us to take care of her so she can have a safe coming-of-age trip."
"Fussy, so fussy."
The Captain and the management manager shrugged their shoulders and simultaneously looked out at the distant sea. The calm sea was still and quiet. The night sea, filled only with the sound of the ship cutting through the surface of the water, was peaceful.
After a moment of silence, the management manager scratched the bridge of his nose and suddenly asked,
"Before departure, did you have the Magic Dome checked?"
"I did."
"But what happened on the ship that Prince Noah was on a few months ago? Frankly, if the Magic Dome was working properly, there's no way they would have bothered to dismantle the Magic Dome itself at a time when they should have been launching an attack, right? Were they just unlucky?"
The Captain, fiddling with the key handle, shrugged his shoulders.
"Being unlucky enough to encounter a school of Coelacanths is unlucky in itself. But……."
"But?"
"They upgraded the Ship-based Magic Dome for free about a year ago."
"Hmph! They kept failing at upgrading it, so they did it as a show to avoid embarrassing the investors."
"That's right. But after they did that, the machine itself supposedly generated a lot of heat."
"Hmm……."
"And there's one more point of doubt that's being raised among the shipping unions."
"What is it?"
The Captain glanced around unnecessarily before lowering his voice.
"Think about it. Prince Noah dismantled the Magic Dome and fixed it, right?"
"Ah……! How did he know how to fix it? It's never been made public."
The Captain patted him on the shoulder.
