Chapter 8
The room was filled with smoke to the point where the view was blurry. Luke looked at the smoke rising from the tip of the candle he was holding with partially narrowed eyes, then opened the window. The bitter scent of herbs wasn’t bad, but breathing was uncomfortable due to the smoke.
However, as the autumn night air entered through the open window, his body, which had been quite drowsy, stiffened. In just a few seconds, along with a nasty headache, his eyes began to sting. He sucked in the smoke deeply and then grabbed the window again.
But before closing the window, something outside caught his attention.
“…A person?”
A small shadow, resembling a small animal at first in the darkness, moved slowly through the garden. As it stood up from its crouched position, it became apparent that it was just a small person. Soon, his eyes adjusted to the darkness and caught sight of the white hair.
It was her. Marie Edant.
He didn’t even think it might be someone else. He leaned against the window with a strange conviction.
At midnight? Why? What is she doing there alone? What about Gideon? Isn’t she cold? If she’s weak, then why there…?
“…”
Forgetting his intention to close the window, the man stubbornly stared at her face, which distorted for a moment.
The woman’s shadow collapsed to the ground as if she had fallen.
—
“I can’t find it…”
Chloe sighed as she rummaged through the herb garden behind the annex in the middle of the night. She wanted to bring at least one lamp, but she had to rely solely on the sense of touch in the darkness, fearing she might be seen from the annex.
She had thought she wouldn’t take a step out of the bedroom until Luke returned to the palace, as Gideon had said. So, as long as Luke didn’t demand additional painkillers in the form of candles.
At first, she had to reluctantly go out to the herb garden for a moment, but after Gideon went out and came back with only strange weeds, there was nothing she could do. Not all green things were the same.
“Come on, come out. Let’s go back quickly.”
Murmuring a prayer while almost crawling through the midnight herb garden, Chloe finally stopped when she found the herbs she had been searching for. After sniffing the ground and confirming the scent, she quickly collected them in a basket.
“Just in case, I’ll find a few more…”
Ah.
For a moment, Chloe’s nerves tingled. She realized that someone was watching her. And not just anyone, but someone quite skilled. Reflexively, thinking it might be an assassin, she lowered her body and reversed the gardening tool she was holding. As the sense of impending danger approached, she held her breath and tensed her muscles for a single strike.
One, two, th-.
“Hey!”
Luke?
As rough hands grabbed her shoulders, Chloe half-turned and indeed saw Luke. It was hard to see in the darkness, but there was no mistaking him. His silhouette wasn’t ambiguous, and there was no one else who could be mistaken for him.
“…Your Majesty?”
In a questioning call, the rough hand that was lifting her abruptly stopped. But even that momentary pause didn’t alleviate the pressure as his hand dug into her earlobe, gripping her neck and jaw tightly.
“Ah…!”
The throat was a vulnerable spot where life could be snuffed out in an instant. With his hand firmly pressing on the important blood vessels of her neck, she couldn’t even stand up, frozen in place. Her heart raced. Was he trying to kill me? Why? Does he know my true identity? How?
“Breathe.”
In a low, muffled voice, Chloe’s response was barely a whisper. It might have been her imagination, but the grip on her neck seemed slightly softer.
But even though Chloe knew it was just a misconception, she slowly relaxed her body, breathing slowly to release the tension.
If he wanted to kill her, she couldn’t resist.
Even at the moment she was dragged to the slaughterhouse, like an animal nuzzling its head against the owner’s hand, she smiled gently. As she leaned her cheek against his fingers that touched her face, there was a sudden increase in pressure on his jaw, as if his jaw was tightening.
“It’s okay, Your Majesty.”
You can kill me, Luke.
“I’m okay…”
“You don’t seem okay.”
Luke’s laborious response was completely different from what she had expected. He didn’t call her by her real name, nor did he mention the crimes of the Langshers or his revenge. On the contrary.
“You fainted. What were you doing here alone tonight with such a weak body? And why is your pulse racing so fast?”
Chloe’s eyes became dark with questions, and finally she realized that Luke had completely failed to notice her true identity. Only then did the things that didn’t seem like fear become visible.
For example, Luke’s lightly dressed attire, the light in the second-floor window behind his shoulder, and the hand pressing lightly on her neck as if checking her pulse.
“My body is cold.”
The brief remark seemed to indicate her displeasure. Chloe blinked. He really didn’t know. He ran over thinking I had collapsed.
Even though she wouldn’t have been clearly visible from the second-floor window, what would he have done if she were an assassin or some other dangerous opponent…?
And she didn’t even have a weapon!
Chloe realized that she had only put on a thin robe over her pants when she woke up. Hoping that she might have hidden a weapon somewhere, she found herself disappointed by the scant covering on her body. Even in the darkness, the scars crossing the musculature of his body were quite distinct.
From the right flank to the left ribs, Chloe sighed inwardly at the scars that covered his chest. Normally, one would be cautious for a lifetime after sustaining such injuries due to an ambush.
Feeling her gaze probing his scars, Luke’s lips twisted with discomfort. “Is it repulsive to you? I would think Gideon’s body would be more scarred.”
“Oh, no…” Chloe hastily shook her head, scrambling to her feet from where she had been half-sitting on the dirt floor. Realizing she wasn’t about to die but instead facing an unexpected turn of events, her mind was in turmoil.
“It’s not repulsive. No, not at all, so I…”
Just shut up. Closing her mouth obediently at Luke’s somewhat rational remark, Chloe spotted the basket of herbs on the ground. Rather than picking it up, she just wanted to disappear from there as quickly as possible.
“…Sorry, Your Majesty. Then I’ll be going-.”
“Aren’t you taking this with you?” Luke interjected, gesturing with the herb basket. Annoyingly, she felt resentful toward her past self who had decided to come out to harvest herbs at this time of day. A curse against the fickle hand of fate that had briefly created this situation crossed her mind, but she held it in and quickly picked up the basket.
“Is this herb used for the painkiller you sent to me?”
As she nodded her head, Luke, peering into the basket, added, “The sedative effect was quite good as well. Have you considered making it into a sleep aid?”
“This herb isn’t used as a sedative…”
“Why?”
“It’s often used as a stimulant depending on the mixture, so it can actually be disruptive to sleep.”
Painkillers, in essence, weren’t meant to eliminate pain but rather to deceive the brain into not sensing it. They were a kind of trickery for the brain, and such remedies were often used as stimulants to make the brain that wanted rest more active.
“In the case of the painkiller I gave you, dizziness or drowsiness is an initial side effect, and the longer you take it, the more it can produce effects similar to a stimulant, so it’s best to reduce or discontinue it, Your Majesty.”
“I didn’t feel anything at all.”
“Did you not feel any nausea?”
“A little.”
There’s no way it was just a little. Dizziness or drowsiness were typical side effects of the medicine, resulting from nausea caused by motion sickness.
“More than feeling dizzy, I felt like I was pouring sleep. I liked it so much that I would have mixed it with the sleep aid I was using if it wasn’t for smoking.”
“It’s dangerous to mix medicines without a doctor’s prescription.”
“It’s better than drinking poison.”
Chloe swallowed the words that Luke’s sleeping pills seemed more like poison than medicine. Luke, looking down at her without a response, touched the edge of the herb basket with his hand.
“Later, try using similar herbs to make a stronger potion. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sleeping pill or a painkiller.”
Was he trying to provoke a fight to the death? Countless rebuttals swirled in her mind. Some of them were too harsh to utter. However, she calmly responded with a touch of sarcasm.
“As dull, boring, and uninteresting as a woman can be.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I will do my best.”
Her slow, deliberate voice lacked the earlier panic. If she hadn’t thought she’d been caught, or even if she’d simply stumbled upon it by chance, she wouldn’t have been so flustered.
Luke, who was staring at her silent attitude, called her by another name for the first time, not Chloe.
“Marie Edant.”
“… Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Am I resentful of holding your husband in custody?”
“It is an honor that Your Majesty requires my husband to such an extent.”
Her formal response sounded rehearsed. At least Chloe thought so. But apparently, he didn’t think so, as a brief chuckle was heard. Not that he was particularly pleased, but more like a grumble…
“Aren’t you very lacking in affection for your husband? Gideon seems to have a deep affection for his wife, it’s a pity.”
Was this person in a good mood or a bad one? If a person suffered from extreme insomnia, they would be in a bad mood every day, but he seemed fine earlier, why pick a fight all of a sudden?
No. Maybe her eyes, which seemed fine earlier, were the problem.
Chloe herself couldn’t be objective about Luke Olfenster.
“Loyalty? Isn’t it affection?”
If she was the quietest and most boring woman in the world, what answer should she give to this question? Chloe briefly considered her options and chose to praise Gideon politely for now.
“Regardless of whether it was me or someone else, he would have remained loyal until the end. He is a good person. Always faithful to his partner.”
To be honest, Gideon Edant was a man with a stubborn streak and somewhere mushy around the edges. But anyway, Chloe thought he was a good person.
Thanks to Gideon, she hadn’t died at Luke’s hands. She survived, and she was going to keep living.
Of course, there were still many things to hide, which annoyed her.
“Well…”
Unconsciously, she huddled up. The cool autumn air that she hadn’t paid attention to suddenly felt unusually cold. She thought it was just a boring, uninteresting compliment, but there was a strong interest in Luke’s voice. Or rather than interest…
“If loyalty to anyone is enough to protect you, would that bastard be angry when I touch you?”
– Intense curiosity. Or impulsive venting.
“How much?”
