Like Hell

8. Confinement

Kyrie had changed.

[Again?]

Nathaniel, who was coming back from outside and passing by the drawing room, asked MarryAnne. MarryAnne cried,

“Yes, from the morning.....”

Nathaniel opened the door straight after knocking three times. Kyrie stopped as she tried to break the window with a chair. She was dressed in a fancy dress as if she were protesting.

“You’re early.”

[What are you doing?]

“I’m afraid it’s going to break.”

[It’s magic. It won’t break.]

“There’s no tree that doesn’t fall (by hitting) ten times.”

[The window is not a tree, Kyrie Buchanan.]

With Kyrie’s face that seemed to be saying to throw it one last time, Nathaniel chose to split the chair with a sword. Now he didn’t even hesitate to take out the beautiful white sword.

A man with just a short legs of chair, Kyrie looked down in the opposite direction.

“It’s neat.”

She threw it away without regret and sat on the bed and started reading.

Nathaniel checked the bowl on the table and flicked his finger. Immediately MarryAnne’s body was pushed out of the room by an invisible force.

[Kyrie.]

The bookshelf went over without an answer.

[You skipped meals again.]

Kyrie covered her face with a book on purpose.

Nathaniel knew that Kyrie Buchanan was very stubborn, thanks to his experience over the past few months. So he approached Kyrie with a dignified walk, lifted her up and loaded her on his shoulder.

“Kyaa!”

Kyrie shrieked low and struggled with her arms. Nathaniel smiled as he narrowed his brow to the ornaments that hit his face, realizing that Kyrie wasn’t just struggling, but was trying to hang a self-defense joint.

[Buchanan taught you everything.]

“Don’t be rude while I’m reading.”

[You haven’t eaten since yesterday.]

“Since yesterday, I said that I have no appetite.”

Nathaniel sat her down at the table, ignoring Kyrie’s words. As soon as he saw the table with Kyrie, she frowned and turned her head.

“I feel like throwing up. MarryAnne, please put this away.”

[No.]

Nathaniel squinted.

[Eat.]

“I don’t want to.”

[You’d better eat it when I come out like this.]

“Human beings get sick if you force them to eat.”

[Humans die if they don’t eat.]

“Then I’ll die.”

Kyrie answered calmly. It was a word without a single hesitation.

Nathaniel looked down at her, who had lost a noticeable amount of weight in just a week.

[Eat.]

“I don’t want to.”

Kyrie shrugged her shoulders.

“If you don’t like it, kill me. You will kill me and find a new doll.”

Nathaniel smiled. Of course, that alone was threatening enough.

[Well. I think killing someone other than you would be more fun.]

Kyrie replied indifferently.

“Sure, then.”

That was definitely an unexpected answer for Nathaniel.

Kyrie looked elsewhere casually and obliquely. She was no longer bound by the death of others. Nathaniel did what he wanted to do anyway. So it’s better to find a way to voluntarily stop him. That was Kyrie’s new life goal.

Nathaniel easily realized that he would be very bothered by it. He reached out and raised Kyrie’s chin.

[It’s the last order. Eat.]

Kyrie smiled.

“I don’t want to.”

Nathaniel also smiled as if he expected.

[That means you’d like me to feed you.]

“What? Eup!”

Nathaniel’s finger came right into her mouth. It was a close call. In Kyrier’s eyes, Nathaniel was seen lifting a spoon with his other hand. At that moment, she shook him off without knowing where the strength came from.

“I don’t want to!”

Kyrie didn’t stop there. She still picked up a steaming bowl and spilled it on her head.

Nathaniel, who recoiled reflexively, was speechless. In front of him, Kyrie swept her hair in a messy dress.

“Didn’t you feel a little decent?”

There was silence for a moment. Nathaniel’s eyes became thin and fierce at the same time.

[Like hell.]

“Do you feel like throwing it away?”

[No.]

“I’ll try harder. I need to wash up, so come back later.”

Kyrie, who had been struggling with even one rebellion, waved her hand and pointed to the table. Her eyelids were shaking. Soon Nathaniel breathed out a long sigh that felt like an effort to calm down.

[Yeah.... you should wash up.]

“What?”

There was no time to shake it off the hook. Nathaniel immediately lifted Kyrie’s waist.

“Wait, what are you doing!”

Kyrie, who sounded like a lump of luggage tied up, struggled, but he walked out of the bedroom at a brisk pace.

[I told you you needed to wash up.]

“I can handle it!”

[You don’t even know how to eat. I can’t believe you can wash.]

“Nathaniel!”

He threw open the bathroom door without answering anymore. Then he threw the Kyrie he was holding into a wide bathtub.

“Wai....!”

There was a loud bang. Kyrie struggled for a long time with the dress and managed to get to the surface.

“Cough, cough!”

[It’s nice to see you now.]

“Cough, what....! Oh, my God!”

[I’ll wash you.]

Nathaniel stood in front of the bathtub and looked down at the scraps of food on his hands and clothes. He took a long breath once again.

[You can brag about it, Kyrie Buchanan. You’re the first one to make me look like this.]

Nathaniel undressed and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt. Soon after, when the blue light enveloped Nathaniel’s body, there were no more traces of food waste on his body.

Kyrie breathed, clinging to the edge of the bathtub.

“Anyway.... Cough, you’re going to do it by magic.”

[You’re shameless, too.]

“Cough, what....matters.”

Kyrie’s weary body drooped.

“Are you done now? Get out of here..... MarryAnne can keep an eye on me instead of course.”

Since she didn’t eat anything, she was struggling with strength even once. She breathed fast, with her arms hanging out of her bathtub.

Nataniel, who was faithful to human decency, took half a step back. He was going to go out if nothing happened. But Kyrie’s weary murmur came back to haunt Nathaniel.

“It’s so hard to die once.....”

Well, she always provoked him this way.

Nathaniel changed his direction from where he was about to leave, and approached Kyrie. A long finger caught Kyrie by the back of her neck in a flash.

[Is it fun?]

“What...?”

Their eyes met. Blue eyes shone arrogantly in front of Kyrie’s nose. He seemed to be very slightly annoyed.

[If you want to die, you should have died sooner. Now you don’t have the right to choose your death. You still don’t know that? You must have lost your head because of the fever.]

The bathtub overflowed with water and wet Nathaniel’s shoes and pants, but he didn’t care. As Kyrie blinked slowly, she spoke in a prickly voice.

“That’s what you would have done. What a great claim of ownership.”

[You people always blame me.]

“I didn’t do that in the first place. Don’t take it out on me for what Vallabriga Owrenbridge had done.”

Nathaniel was so dumbfounded that he was silent for a moment like a speechless person.

[It’s new and nice to hear it twice. You have courage. You’re not too worried about how I’m going to deal with you, are you?]

“I don’t care. You’ll do whatever you want anyway.”

[I wouldn’t let you off the hook like this if I really did what I wanted.]

“I never asked you to.”

[That’s not up to you.]

“So you can’t decide what I do either.”

She shook her hot face after so long in the bathtub. Nataniel pushed down the urge from his stomach and pulled his hand off.

[I’ll tell you again.]

Instead, he grabbed Kyrie’s hair and began to remove the remaining food scraps.

[Wash up and have a meal. If you call me again for this, I’ll throw you in flour.]

Kyrie sighed blankly with her head. She didn’t know how many times she’d been told to eat since she didn’t say it twice. She was deeply saddened to see the Legendary Lord removing foreign substances from her hair one by one.

“....You can look for somebody else.”

Nathaniel’s hand paused and moved again.

[Somebody else? Interesting. I can’t believe you still have that kind hope.]

“Now you know that the Duke of Buchanan used all the magic of the future to keep you from dying. I mean..”

Kyrie touched the latch to take off the necklace that felt too heavy with trembling fingers. Nathaniel, who saw her, reached out to Kyrier’s neck at a slow speed that could be hit enough if she wanted to.

Feeling a cold touch, Kyrie collected her hair to make it easier for him to take off the latch. For a moment, Nathaniel seemed to pause. But soon he skillfully peels off the latch.

“....I’m not special. Maybe the magic that Duke Buchanan bet on, the magic that will wake you up, has been unleashed in my generation.”

[I guess so.]

A jeweled necklace fell to the bathroom floor with a crackling sound.

“Then what’s the reason for you to keep me?”

Kyrie asked. Nathaniel answered in a heartless manner, peeling off Kyrie’s gloves.

[There isn’t.]

“Then replace me, someone will like it.”

Nathaniel stammered in the bathtub.

[I can’t.]

He grabbed Kyrie’s legs and pulled off her shoes and stockings before lifting himself up.

[Take off your clothes.]

“.....”

Kyrie looked up at the Legend in front of her without saying a word. His sleeves, knees, shoes and pants were damp because of the improper care work. He would never do this to other people.

She knew it too. Whether it was possessive or not, Nathaniel was treating her specially.

But she didn’t want something like that.

Kyrie looked up at Nathaniel blankly and said as if she were throwing it.

“Let me die.”

Nathaniel, who was organizing the sleeves of his shirt, slowly turned his head. He was silent for a long time.

When she first met him in Kyrie’s mind, the image of Nathaniel standing by the window passed by. And at the same time, he was looking at the snowy winter forest with a cane.

[You die too early.]

It wasn’t long before Nathaniel smiled bitterly.

[Just give up.]

***

MarryAnne, who was squatting outside the bathroom with a towel, looked up at the crowd. Nathaniel was walking out with his whole body soaked.

“What about Miss?”

[She’s gonna wash up.]

(T/N: that’s why I hate r15 novels)

He swept up his bangs with a thoughtful face. Then he arranged his rolled-up sleeves, stopped suddenly and looked down at his hand.

[What’s the proper weight for a human being?]

(PR note: oofff maybe he already saw her body)

“Considering her height of 3.6 cubic centimeters, it’s about 110 pounds.”

MarryAnne answered immediately. Nathaniel’s brows have narrowed slightly.

[Call me if she skip meals again,]

“She is going to skip it again.”

This time again, MarryAnne answered right away. Nathaniel looked around MarryAnne. Holding her bath brush tightly, the depressed-eyed woman mumbled low.

“She’s one who does what she says she’s going to do.”

[It’s your job to calm her down.]

“Sir Nathaniel promised MarryAnne that he wouldn’t kill her. If she kept starving, he would break his promise.”

Humanity disappeared from Nathaniel’s face in an instant.

[So should I calm you too?]

Anne Marie belatedly realized that she had crossed the line.

“T, that’s not it..”

[You’re crossing the line.]

Nathaniel slowly approached her. Everywhere he touched, a round nut began to form. He reached out slowly from a high point toward MarryAnne, who was stiff. Five black sickle-like hands were on the verge of digging into MarryAnne’s eyeballs.

“MarryAnne.. are you there?”

Kyrie’s powerless voice rang out. At the same time, Nathaniel’s hand stopped in place.

Holding the bath brush like a lifeline, MarryAnne’s eyes rolled again toward the bathroom. Nathaniel’s face was obscured by black hair.

Kyrie’s voice came back from afar.

“I’m so weak that I can’t take off my dress.. Can you help me, MarryAnne?”

Nathaniel didn’t look around the bathroom, but he didn’t reach out anymore.

After a not too long silence, Nathaniel slowly retracted his hand.

[You should go.]

After he said that, he called out the cane and knocked on the floor twice. Then, in an instant, he was in the formal attire of his own, and he passed by Anne and left the room.

***

TN/rant: Why is Nathaniel so Obsessed/attached to Kyrie? Why is he so adamant to make Kyrie hate him? Why does he think by making a person hate him he thinks they will be forever bound to him?

The answer is simple, it’s his?way of loving Kyrie. Humans?love their loved ones by taking care of them, pampering them, etc. Devils love pure souls by torturing them(I read this in a k-novel where a saint was sacrificed to the devil in order to get black magic and save the empire so the Saint said in her monologue, the devils used to love her by torturing her soul for 600 years and that was their way of love)

Why does he?love?Kyrie so much?

It’s because, Kyrie wasn’t jealous/greedy for his power nor was she foolish by becoming a marionette in the hands of the royal family and kill him