Chapter 276 – 27. Heaven in the Mind (6)
It was cool weather.
The setting sun hung over the ivory-colored window of the bedroom of the duke’s palace. A warm wind gently blew and tickled Arno’s cheek as he slept deeply. The man who fought recklessly in the arena where the whole country focused his attention regained his consciousness and groaned.
“Ugh…”
Her body, which was soaked in sweat and rolling on the dust, looked as clean as if it had been bathed. From small scratches to large wounds, they were covered with bandages soaked in medicinal plant juice. It was a witch’s craft. The duke, who had just come to his senses, did not realize it.
“Kenna? Kenna!”
As if from a nightmare, he jumped up and called the name of the government anxiously. He clutched at his pounding head and throbbing stomach and rolled his eyes in agony. Looking for a scarlet hair that is more elegant than the color of the yellow outside the window.
However, what came into his desperate field of vision was the same lonely room as always.
Feeling his heart pounding, the deeply frustrated man ran his hands over his face. He collapsed as if he was about to burst into tears. Regardless of whether he won or lost the trial, he thought that he had lost the woman he had to protect.
The source of a witch’s power is a pact with her master. Britannia Somerset’s quicksword never raised a sword again, but it took over a huge amount of magical power. Even if I had almost deciphered the tattoos that had bound me for a long time, I still had to overcome the cost of breaking them.
From the moment she wields her sword and uses her energy, Kenna Somerset’s death is inevitable. Because the death penalty contained in the powerful curse melts the target’s internal organs and kills them. It was natural for him to weep as he guessed the fate of the woman he loved.
Fortunately, she was alive.
“Arno?”
The mistress of the brave hero, who was walking unpopularly through the silent hallway, opened the tightly closed door. Looking at the man who was despairing at the loss inside, he continued with a deliberately calm tone. So that he wouldn’t be surprised when he raised his head belatedly.
“Sorry. I have been away for a while due to unavoidable circumstances.”
Her long, loose hair glistened in the eastern sunset, a specialty of the East. It fluttered gradually in the warm breeze, illuminating her face as white as moonlight. Furthermore, his small and light freckles were brought out in a cute way and touched my heartstrings.
His small and meager body, the tattoos that covered his slender arms were scarred as if they had been scraped off with fingernails. Above all, Kenna’s pale complexion, which had a strange charm like Yo-hee, was cut down to look ugly.
“Uh, can you stop looking at me that way right now…”
Standing in front of the man she naturally adored, she felt very ashamed of it and avoided his gaze. The negligee she was wearing for her treatment was loose and sleeveless, and she had her hands behind her back to hide the scars on her arms.
“I thought I would have lost you in the end.”
But to a man soaked in melancholy, all of that was fine. It was like that just looking at the fact that he was always relieved as if he was dizzy with a serious and heavy expression. Arnaud LeBlanc was a man who valued the essence of his woman more than her appearance.
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Don’t do that again without my permission…”
The duke, who was reputed to be so brave, grabbed the witch’s frail hem and begged. Even though I applied enough force to see blood and ooze on the bandage on my palm, I didn’t care about the pain it caused. So I tripped Kenna over her wounded body and hugged her around the waist.
“You’ve caused trouble.”
“Very.”
Arno groaned hard. Still, it seems that there is nothing more comforting than the presence of the government in one’s arms.
“Aren’t you going to ask what happened?”
“You can do that later.”
Feeling the affection of her duke, the witch quietly closed her eyes. As she smelled the herbs wafting from his body, she slowly became sentimental. In the middle of the dusk, we felt each other’s breath in the dark world.
And she was delighted
I was able to realize it even more because they are two people who consider themselves to be sinners. Life was truly valuable and meaningful. They were grateful that they were alive together even now, having missed the goal they wanted to achieve due to their seething ambition.
“I didn’t win. I couldn’t even keep it.”
“It is not so. You protected the most precious self.”
“It was said that we couldn’t use our power, but even if we had, we wouldn’t have been able to guarantee victory.”
“I just want you to be okay.”
Arno said it was no big deal and patted Kenna on the back. It was a part that showed the age of seniority. Even a strong man who dominated the world needed consolation in case of disappointment.
“I’m saying this out of spite, but don’t lie to me that you don’t like worrying about me.”
“It’s really fine. For some reason, the wife of Baron Ardennes was the teacher who taught me the occult. Plus, thanks to what he said, I’m recovering without any problems. Although, of course, she had to return her borrowed magic power to her.”
Saint-Buch’s Lucille, a fearsome occult teacher even at a young age, did not travel long after hearing the news that her student was in critical condition. However, like a woman who liked to sneak behind the scenes, she appeared controlling a wooden doll hidden somewhere in the duchy.
‘Has it been upbeat, Princess Freckles?’
‘… Lucille.’
‘You have a lot of things you want to ask. Me too, but right now I need to quickly bring the herbs and mana stones I ordered. It’s quite tiring to maintain possession from such a distance.’
There was no sound or rumor. The appearance of her suddenly appearing from the depths of the duke’s palace, where her guard would be stricter than ever, was truly her. Haha, apart from the powerless level, the witch’s teacher was a scary being.
‘I’m surprised. I never thought you would treat me so willingly given your personality.’
‘That’s right, originally, I would have left it as if it were not my part-time job whether I died or not.’
‘Besides, I’m the one who tried to harm the baron. But why?’
‘First of all, it’s a request from my beloved husband. There’s room for consideration, and that alone is enough. And I heard that I didn’t do anything stupid with the things I taught. Well, he must have known that it would be useless.’
The reason why the fussy girl did not kill the exiled Quick Sword and took her as her apprentice is a sense of kinship. Not only did she like her pretty good looks, but also because the wounds of a broken heart hidden deep inside aroused sympathy.
‘Anyway, I was interested. Especially the fact that I’ve come to love enough to lay down my life for someone again.’
‘You’ve changed a lot.’
‘Because you’re not formidable either.’
‘It seems that he sincerely loves Baron Ardennes.’
‘Small talk is over, so hurry up and find something you need for treatment.’
It didn’t take long before the curse was lifted and the half-melted intestines were restored. Admiring her new mentor’s skills, Kenna was able to bring her dying body back to life.
“I see, then there is nothing better.”
“I am no longer a witch. She’s already gone, but even if she gets hold of the artifact, she won’t be able to help achieve her will like she used to. Most of the mystical powers I dealt with were based on magic borrowed from Lucille.”
It would take a lot of years of hard work to get a new magical power that was returned in exchange for life. Although the knowledge of forbidden magic, mysteries, alchemy and witchcraft in general will never disappear. At least both opportunities have passed.
“Kenna, do you know how I felt about this?”
“What is.”
“Losing is surmountable, but loss is not.”
Arno stopped patting Kenna’s back and headed upwards. She continued, carefully brushing her hair, which was disheveled like a sunset, through her ears, one strand at a time. He recited in a voice that transcended the truth that he realized only after he was in a mess.
“It was a life full of sins and limits. But meeting you gave me a glimmer of hope. The celestials had mercy on this body. I hope you put off the hell I deserve and let me taste a happy moment for a while.”
“But in the end we failed.”
“Yes, because Alexandre is not an idiot. They will soon find out about my betrayal and try to purge them.”
“Inevitably, you and I must turn to him. Moreover, in the current situation where the magical power received from Lucille is lost, there is no way to use it even if you somehow get the artifact. The long-awaited dream we so longed for has been stranded.”
Kenna sighed bitterly. What he wanted to achieve after the Dragon of Valor and the Sword of the Millenium usurped the seat of the Millennium Ball was atonement. It was to resurrect people who could no longer meet with the power of the artifact and soothe their sinful hearts.
“Simon, Edgar, and the child who should have died for the sin alone in my womb could no longer be saved.”
“Still, you stayed.”
“… !”
“Sin does not go away. I’ve committed a lot of bad karma by cooperating with the wicked millennial. I couldn’t stand it, so I became a piece of trash that harmed myself every night in an ugly secret room. It was so painful that I wanted to get it back somehow.”
All I was looking for was salvation.
“It was a selfish idea. I can finally admit that. That doesn’t make my fault go away. If you truly want to atone for your sins, you must move toward the future, being grateful for what you have been given now, rather than clinging to the past to get rid of it.”
“That is a very difficult road…”
“Perhaps. I will hug you every day and wonder if a guy like me can be this happy. And then maybe you will collapse in a sense of self-defeating self-destruction. But even so, I will accept it.”
The witch in the Duke’s arms gently raised her body. I was thrilled to see my man, who had been stricken with a heavy life and a turbid world, regain his youthful firearms and innocence. He gazed at the eyes that shone more auspiciously than ever before, and was likewise stained with a different color.
“Kenna, with you.”
“Arno…”
The gazes of the two men and women gently crossed. A pair of sinful lovers practiced the most intuitive way to commemorate the present even with their immature bodies.
As someone said, life is not will but desire, longing for the lover in front of you.
“I love you.”
“Of course.”
We shared a really sticky adult kiss. Even then, the two of them, who felt sad because of the unresolved lust, took off the clothes they were wearing in turn. I enjoyed the twilight in the room with the smell of medicinal herbs against the backdrop of the setting sun like my life.
“I love you too.”
“Yes, I know.”
* * *
It was late at night.
Leaving the arena where a lot of things had happened and returning to the spire room where she had been imprisoned earlier, Henrietta LeBlanc glanced at the man escorting me in front of her latched door. Even at the age when she had reached the age of ignorance, she noticed and flushed her cheeks like a girl younger than Myoryeong.
“Do you think so?”
“Huh…”
She was a duchess who used to share a room with her husband, but the bedroom she used to use in the yard couldn’t be comfortable when the couple’s relationship was so broken. That’s why she hesitated as she brought her rom to a spire that was rarely visited.
“I know you must have been quite surprised by what happened today. But as soon as the matter is sorted out, I will respectfully serve you in the manor. Even if it’s uncomfortable, please be patient until then. It won’t take too long.”
Due to the witch’s consideration, the lodgings where the northern knights stayed was designated as the room under the spire where Henrietta stayed. It’s not going to happen, but it was an arrangement that made it easier for her to keep an eye on her so that someone on her side wouldn’t harm her.
“Everyone will welcome you.”
Rarely, it was a pleasure from the point of view of the exhausted Rome. It was because I was in an area where I could feel it if something happened at all. The baron, who was able to rest in peace, said goodbye with a smile, unaware of Henrietta’s burning speed.
“Then I will come back tomorrow morning.”
“Poetry, I hate it!”
Then the Duchess, who had been hesitant all along, boldly shouted,
“Yes?”
“Don’t go…”
It was seemingly fine, but it was a dangerous ROM that would not be strange even if it collapsed immediately. If you ask me if I can indulge myself at night with a body like that, it was honestly negative. His body was at its limit because he dealt with over a hundred talented people, dukes who surpassed them, and even two real strongmen in a row.
“Eat and go…”
“Well, I think you’d better refrain from eating because of your condition.”
“Then go to sleep…”
“The bed will be narrow and uncomfortable.”
The Duchess shook her head, feeling rude to the man who politely declined twice. She braced herself up and said that she shouldn’t have such thoughts about her man who risked her long and arduous journey just to save me.
“Anyway, I’m by your side…”
How can I resist the temptation that is more desirable than ripe wine? Rom let out an involuntary laugh and finally raised both hands. He suppressed the pain in his body that had been urging him to stop doing crazy things and go to rest.
‘Ah, I don’t know.’
In the beautiful spring of the eastern part, how can one maintain reason over the coquetry evoked by such an ecstatic day and night?
“Okay, come here.”
It was force majeure. This was really unavoidable.
“This lovely thing.”
Because it was fate.
