Chapter 78: Chapter 78

Eckart vividly recalled what happened last night. He couldn’t believe that it wasn’t a dream. He thought he snatched her wrists or saw her wet eyes in his dream, but that was not true.

‘What the heck did I do last night?’

He clenched his lower lip. His mouth was dry. He was so cold last night, and now it seemed like his body was burning away. Every time he swallowed dry saliva, his swollen uvula went up and down.

“..Marianne!”

Like a split tree, he stiffened and called her. She was breathing out instead of replying.

“Marianne, wake up now.”

“Uhhh..”

She reacted annoyingly at his second call. Following her drowsy nasal voice, she put one of her slender legs on his thigh.

He frowned more dramatically than ever before.

“Damn it, did you take off your pants too? You’re driving me nuts, man.”

He now lost his desire to wake her up. He felt time would rather stop forever.

As if he wasn’t content with his acting ugly last night, he was sharing a thin shirt with her to cover themselves! Even the Duchess Lamont couple, who were famous for their happily married life, would not have done this.

He let out a sigh. While he was touching his splitting temple, she tossed and turned several times. Their legs became more entangled. It seemed that she regarded his body as a big pillow while asleep.

He eventually gave up moving back. He couldn’t move his body freely as he was injured, and whenever he moved little by little, the weird sensation of contacting her naked body quickly ate his patience.

He held out his left hand, which he could move freely. With the left hand, he carefully groped around the back which was covered with dark brown hair. The shirt, which covered his shoulder slightly, slipped over to hers completely. Although he himself couldn’t stand seeing his miserable condition, she was still a single noblewoman. He hoped that she would not feel that she had been defamed by his actions.

“.. Ummm, Your Majesty?”

At that moment, she rubbed her sleepy eyes and raised her head to one side.

“.. Marianne!”

He barely answered. While she almost habitually stroked his back and raised her hands to check for blood, she jumped up with a startled expression.

“Oh my god! I think I fell asleep before I knew. What should I do? I wish you had woken me up earlier. It’s not bleeding, but are you still cold?”

She expressed concern by asking a barrage of questions. She touched his forehead, cheeks, neck, shoulders, and chest with her warm hands one by one. Obviously she wanted to check his body temperature.

Raising his head as high as possible, he groped for something on the ground as if he would be in big trouble if he dropped his eyes.

The moment he grabbed the edge of his shirt on the floor, he found her face close to his eyes suddenly. He held his breath.

“Um..I don’t think I’m cold or hot ..”

“..”

She muttered while touching her forehead against his. His green eyes waved like seawater right before her nose.

He grabbed his shirt more urgently. Without checking for the front or back, he roughly covered his body with that.

“I’m fine, so let me put on the clothes..”

“Ah.”

She belatedly dropped her eyes. Human senses were usually in sync with perception. Only after she realized that she was naked did she tremble with a slight chill. She sat up straight and covered her shoulders with the shirt. Then she reached out to the clothes near her feet. Even without an attendant, she got dressed fairly easily, combed her tangled hair with a handmade rake and then hung the necklace she had released.

“Do you know that? It’s my first time putting on the same clothes that I took off yesterday,” she said with a cheerful and carefree voice.

Of course, he didn’t listen to her. But he was realizing for the first time that he could be annoyed by the noise of others changing clothes.

At that moment, she turned around with dry pants and the shirt she was wearing.

“Can I help you get dressed?”

“Oh, no thanks..” Eckart stopped her quickly.

She pulled away her wrists he was holding, but stopped in the middle.

“No, you shouldn’t do it by yourself. Don’t be stubborn! You brought trouble to yourself because you were stubborn last night too.”

Given her tone and actions, it was like she was reproving an unruly dog. He felt it was the first time he was treated like that in his life, but he had to forget about protesting early on.

Her emerald eyes were trembling. They were the same ones he saw last night, which were overly adorable and honest, mixed with resentment and pleas.

Reflected in her eyes was only one person.

She barely took her eyes off from him; they were fixed like a magnetic pole.

She cautiously buttoned his trousers and put them on his legs. While she was at it, he had to memorize the great law of the Aslan Empire while staring at the wall.

“Well, um..I’m sorry for taking off your clothes rudely.”

She apologized and fastened his buckle. She raised her slender arms and hugged his tight body hard. Although only a day had passed, he was supporting himself quite well when he sat.

“But since you passed out, I couldn’t get your approval in advance. At first, I just held you in my arms and stuck it out, but you didn’t get better. So, I had to take off your clothes to get as close as possible to raise your body temperature quickly..”

“Marianne!” He cut off her words quickly.

Simply listening to her explanation, he felt pretty embarrassed. He revived the feeling of warmth wrapped around his body vividly like magic.

He remembered her moaning exhales and warm arms tightly tangled around his like the roots of a tree.

He felt warm in her soft and warm arms, just like a newborn animal...

“Ummm.. I’m not sure how unscrupulous I look to you, but..”

He began to clarify his position with some self-reflection.

Not caring at all, she was busy raising him. His words were cut off when he felt a sharp pain.

She had him sit against a wall to one side and then began to put the shirt on his right arm.

“You saved my life. You shouldn’t apologize to me, but ask for my gratitude.”

He grabbed her wrist and stopped her. She slightly raised her head. Again, her eyes met his.

“I just did what I had to do.”

“No, you plucked up the courage to save my life. It was reckless. If something had gone wrong, we might have been frozen to death. Don’t do it again.”

“Nope. If the same thing happens again, I will make the same choice.”

She did not avoid his eyes.

She refused the emperor’s order right away, but didn’t it fear at all. There was nothing like political calculation or selfishness in her eyes when she said that.

He was speechless. He always wanted to see her eyes like this, but he was at a loss for words when he was looking straight at her.

“Anyway, your good intention to save the emperor is noble. It duly deserves to be rewarded, so I will definitely repay it when I go back.

“Reward?” she asked with a puzzled look.

She added, “I didn’t do it with that in mind.”

“But the imperial law stipulates that anybody who saves a royal family member should be rewarded.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that..”

She put the shirt on his left arm and adjusted the collar. She agonized over it while fastening the buttons.

“Are the rewards necessarily in the form of jewelry?”

“No. It doesn’t matter if you want an estate, knightship, or a title.”

She tilted her head with a pretty serious expression and shrugged her shoulders as if she had decided on something.

“Then, please grant my wish later.”

“Wish?”

“Yes, wish.”

He narrowed his eyebrows because her wish was not in the category of rewards he was thinking of.

“What kind of wish?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Can you promise me to grant my wish, just once, whatever it is? I will swear I will never pray for anything that can harm you.”

“..”

“Don’t you like it? Then, forget it. I won’t accept any reward other than that. There is nothing I covet among the rewards you mentioned.”

What she said afterward sounded strange to him.

Those around him always asked him for something. Usually they wanted something similar. Something like mighty power, rare riches, his outright favor, rich estates, or special knightship.

And those especially close to him asked for something slightly different, such as his determination to withstand any trials, ruthless revenge, trust, and perfection befitting the owner of the crown made of nine gems.

In the end, what they wanted was the expression of their specific desires.

“.. I promise you. Only once, whatever it is. I will grant your wish on the honor of the Frey family and my name.”

His promise, therefore, was the first type of oath he made before her since he was born. He had never made a pledge without any purpose or process since he reached maturity.