Save Me

15. Why Did They Do That?

 

only once.

Jillian pleaded with a pale, tired face.

Even the shadow cast by his long eyelashes was so pitiful that Bianca could not say no.

“Please allow me.”

The man pretended to be weak.

He knew how to sway Bianca.

Forcing or dominating had no effect on Bianca.

Having been rightfully plundered all her life, Bianca was accustomed to the feeling of her rights being taken away.

Private goods and money were basic and sometimes even the most basic human rights, but she was naturally deprived of them.

Bianca had no problem being submissive because she had lived like that all her life.

As long as she acts obediently on the outside, she can protect her feelings deep in her heart, so she could go through that a thousand times, or even ten thousand times.

It was something that made Jillian so upset.

That’s why he never gave Bianca orders.

He always begged Bianca politely and kindly.

And until she responds about what she wants truely, he would wait endlessly.

Like right now.

He made generous use of his tired face.

Even just a little bit of snow gives off a dangerous atmosphere.

Bianca herself was the one who was sick, but having gone through the last three days, his face looked so bad that he looked like he would collapse at any moment.

“Jillian.”

“I don’t want to eat any more.”

He slowly stretched out his hand and supported Bianca’s trembling back.

The warmth of another person running down her spine reminded her of the night she had nearly forgotten about.

With a gentle hand moving slowly along the hollow of my spine.

‘Good night.’

I heard a soft voice full of warmth.

On that day when I felt like I was left alone, I remembered the kindness of Jillian who willingly gave me his arms and something struck me deep in my heart.

Bianca couldn’t hold on any longer and nodded.

However, with conditions attached.

“Just this once.”

Jillian said it was just one time, but it was clear that his one time would be eventful.

“Well, just for today.”

Look at this…

Bianca burst out laughing at Jillian’s quick change of words.¹A mother hen😂

This man was professional in changing the meaning of his sentence with all kinds of minor word tricks, such as saying that he would only feed her soup ‘today’, instead of only feed her soup ‘once’, or that he would emit ‘soup’ from the statement completely.

“Just today?”

“Today.”

When I asked again just in case, he changed his words again to ‘today’.

She should have been angry at the sight of him somehow tricking her before her eyes, but instead of being angry, Bianca kept bursting into laughter.

Bianca whispered, pressing her hand on Jillian’s arm as she tried to feed her the soup.

“Today…let’s eat together.”²For those who don’t understand, I took a while to get it, too. So he played with his words to go from feeding her the soup once to just feeding her today, that of course happened very subtlely, so she decided to play his game,too and change it from feeding her today to them eating together.

I didn’t forget to pull the corners of my mouth tightly and smile.

That was exactly what he did.

“Ah.”

Then a low laugh erupted from the man across from me.

Jillian was a great speaker.

I already guessed it from the way he cut off the conversation and steered the conversation in a way that was advantageous to me, but I had to add that he was a lot better than I expected.

She asked to just have dinner ‘together’, but during the meal, he naturally waited on Bianca as he took care of their meal, while skillfully leading the topic.

“The dedicated maid has been decided, right?”

“Yes, Julie.”

“Julie?”

The moment I opened my mouth to say “yes,” a bowl of cooled soup fell into my mouth.

Bianca swallowed the delicious food that filled her mouth and answered, “Yes.”

“She may be young, but she works really hard.”

After chewing a small piece of bread and swallowing it, Jillian opened his mouth.

“It’s good to be enthusiastic, but wouldn’t it be more comfortable for you to have an experienced maid?”

“Oh, no. I like Julie.”

“She’s probably going to be clumsy.”

As if to explain it at the end, Gillian added, ‘‘I heard she is young.’’

At that moment, Bianca thought of Julie.

‘The age of the majority in the North is fifteen.’

‘I’m not young.’

Bianca quietly shook her head.

“No. Julie is enough for me.”

Hmm.

Jillian said no more.

However, he made a small snorting noise.

Bianca added hurriedly, as one of his slightly raised eyebrows seemed to be hiding his displeasure.

“I really like Julie. She was worried that I might be bored today, so she talked to me all day and put in a lot of effort.”

“What did you she say?”

“A story about the North.”

“The North?”

Bianca’s expression suddenly hardened at Jillian’s inquiring words.

She shouldn’t have talked carelessly just because she wanted to keep Julie by her side.

Was it seen as Termina spying on Balock?

Bianca, thinking it was too late, cleared her throat and tried to say it was nothing, but it was no use.

“What story from the North?”

Ah.

As I was hesitantly choosing my words, a spoon filled with still warm soup was pushed in my mouth.

Bianca glanced at Jillian’s expression as she chose her words.

Did he think I was spying on him?

The smile disappeared from Jillian’s face.

“Ah….”

Bianca’s mind went blank as she saw Jillian’s expression suddenly cool down.

“Sorry.”

“…….”

“I definitely wasn’t trying to find out anything. I was just curious about the north…”

“Ha…….”

At Jillian’s sigh, Bianca shrugged her shoulders and muttered softly.

“Sorry.”

Click.

The sound of him putting down the spoon he was holding resounded.

Tuk.

And then the sound of empty dishes being set down rang out one after another.

The sounds that were supposed to be not loud rang out like a roar.

Jillian, seen out of the corner of her eye, had an unreadable expression.

Bianca collected her dry saliva and swallowed it.

‘I just treated you like a human being, so did I delude you into thinking you are the real duchess?’

‘I saved you because I couldn’t kill you, but it’s like you are running wild without knowing your own purpose.’

Just when I thought it would be easier to endure being sarcastic out loud.

My eyes met with his calm golden gaze.

“Madam.”

“Yes.”

Even as she saw his hand slowly reaching out, Bianca could not avoid it.

No, it was more accurate to say that I did not want to avoid it.

If I avoid this, he’ll think I’m really spying on him.

Bianca held her breath as Jillian cupped her cheeks and pulled her closer.

Even when their foreheads touched each other, and the sharp bridge of his nose tilted and pierced her cheeks, Bianca didn’t blink even once.

“Madam. If I do this, will you be able to see it?”

His golden eyes were so bright that I could see them through his long, dense eyelashes and I couldn’t look away from him at all.

“I was absolutely sincere when I said this was your home.”

Bianca couldn’t move even though the hand that was cupping her cheek slipped into her head and then tightly gripped the back of her head.

His voice, whispering his sincerity, was so heartbreaking that it was hard to believe he had made it up.

Bianca only now realized what his stern expression meant as he cleaned up the dishes.

This….

He wasn’t angry.

“Sorry.”

Bianca handed an apple to the sad man.

“No. In times like this, you should ask me to tell you the story of the North.”

Jillian had a knack for making orders sound like pleas.

“You have to beg me to tell you about my country.”

I couldn’t even refute him.

Bianca bit her lip.

His fingers that had been moving slowly, as if wandering through the hair, moved to the nape of my neck.

Their foreheads parted, but Bianca was still staring at Jillian, unable to move, as the long fingers clutching the nape of her neck were like spiderwebs.

Hurry

I wasn’t sure if he had said it out loud.

But I guess it was a good guess.

“Do it.”

Because he laughed at the words I whispered softly.

He climbed to the head of the bed.

And he stroked my hair with a gentle hand that I had never felt even in my childhood.

The hand, which moved carefully as if grazing, was incredibly gentle, and Bianca felt like she was losing touch with reality.

I feel like I’m floating on a cloud.

“How much have you heard of the story?”

“The winter waves and ice wall and um… She said it was time to hear the story of the Seven Citadels.”

I didn’t mean to do that, but perhaps because I was lying down, or perhaps because it was late at night, my voice became so muffled that it almost sounded like a mumble.

“The seven citadels….”

Jillian reached out and ran a hand through her long hair.

“Do you know the rumor that only Baloch can deal with the monsters beyond the ice wall?”

“No.”

Bianca answered, blinking slowly.

My body was so tired that it felt like I was sinking deep into the water.

“Ice walls have existed since time immemorial. Ever since Termina existed, ice walls have always been present in history.”

As Jillian’s voice seemed to sink in, Bianca found it difficult to come to her senses.

“People have tried to deal with the monsters coming from beyond the ice wall, but no one has succeeded. Except Balock ancestors.”

His voice rang softly in the night air.

“It was natural for Baloch to settle here. Because they couldn’t stand by and allow the monster to set its claws on Termina.”

Why did they need to protect Termina by nesting here in permafrost?

If only Baloch can deal with monsters, wouldn’t it have been more convenient for Baloch to have this empire?

There was no reason to protect Termina for the Emperor.

For what reason.

In a moment, numerous questions appeared in Bianca’s mind.

But because she didn’t aske questions, no answers could be heard.

“…That’s why, Termina had to be completely protected.”

With questions filling her head, Bianca lost track of Jillian’s words.

I have to say I couldn’t hear anything and my eyelids were so heavy.

I could barely lift my closed eyelids.

“That’s how the Seven Citadels were built. The product of Baloch’s efforts to protect Termina until the very end.”

Jillian’s eyes glowed distantly, as if they were looking somewhere far away.

It was infinitely sweet and vague at the same time, as it looked lovely and then very sad.

Bianca felt very familiar with Jillian’s gaze.

Where did I see it?

It was while I was rummaging through vague memories with my head half-asleep.

When I felt a warm feeling on my forehead, I lifted my gaze and saw Jillian smoothing my forehead by pressing it with his hand.

“If you do this, you’ll get wrinkles.”

The distant gaze had completely disappeared.

His golden gaze touched my cheek and was as warm as the sunlight.

Bianca felt so nostalgic and sad that it brought back old memories that didn’t even exist, so her eyebrows frowened without her knowing.

‘Why all of a sudden.’

When Bianca raised her hand to cover her face in embarrassment.

An auditory hallucination that seemed quiet started ringing in her head and her vision was distorted to its own accord.

‘Why did you do that?’

At the sound of her own crying voice, the golden eyes that met hers blinked gently.

“Sorry.”

 

***

TL:

I know that I have not updated this series for a while, but I am keeping count, the delayed chapters are 7 and so I have two pieces of news:

Bad. After I reach the 20th chapter I will lock one chapter weekly, I didn’t originally plan it like this, but my income is so bad that I am forced.

Good. All the delayed chapter will be released this week continuously after I finish a chapter I will release it immediately and like my other delayed series this chapter is extra and there are 7 left.

What’s your thoughts about this is it okay?