Chapter 18: 18

Chapter 18

By the time Kathleen came to her senses, the avalanche had already ended.

The surroundings were dark and she couldn’t see anything, and although her chest felt heavy, she wasn’t as cold as she thought. She was worried for a moment that her child might have been hurt, but it seemed fine when she saw that her stomach wasn’t hurting.

After she forcibly pushed the heavy thing covering her and got out of the snow, Kathleen was so startled that her heart dropped.

“Duke?”

She could see his black hair buried in the white snow. Only then did she realize that it was Alexis, not the snow or tree stumps, that laid heavily on top of her.

“Duke, are you okay?”

Digging through the snow with her bare hands, she called him, but he didn’t answer. After removing the snow on his face, she slapped him on the cheek and called out, but that didn’t work either.

“What should I do…….”

His body was as cold as ice. She looked around to see if there were other people around, but they seemed to have fallen somewhere else because the ground had collapsed due to the avalanche. There were no people in sight, no herb fields or roads.

First, Kathleen used all her strength to pull Alexis out of the snow. Then she saw that his right shoulder was wet with blood. Besides, his lips were also blue perhaps because he seemed to have been buried in the snow.

‘He got hurt trying to protect me.’

As the landslide hit, he let go of the reins he was holding and she remembered the arms that wrapped around her head. Tears welled up in her eyes.

‘You have to wake up.’

Kathleen laid him down and looked around. Fortunately, she saw a cave.

But there was a problem. She couldn’t take the man two heads taller than her over there. There was no stretcher, and even if there was one, she did not have the strength to lift him by herself.

Kathleen, who was worried about him, stood up at once.

“Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

Her feet dug through the snow as she made her way to the cave.

‘One, two, three…….’

About three thousand steps from where Alexis lay, she arrived at the front of the cave. The inside was empty with no animals, it was quite deep, so the cold wind did not reach inside.

The sun quickly set in the mountains. He had to be moved quickly to keep him warm.

‘It would have been better if the power I had was not the ability to freeze but the ability to melt.’

In the snow-filled mountain, the winter fairy’s abilities were of no help. Kathleen went out of the cave feeling empty and stumbled for a moment.

She stepped on the ice and almost skidded. An idea popped into her mind as she barely stood up.

“Ah!”

It started to snow heavily again. It may be dangerous, but there was no other way. She had to try it first. Kathleen returned to Alexis’ side and took a deep breath.

“Please.”

She had only ever just hidden her powers. This would be the first time she tried to actually use her powers and at something as big as this. But Kathleen was desperate. She moved her eyes from the ground beneath Alexis’ toes, following her footsteps, to the cave entrance.

– Crackle.

The snow-covered ground froze in an instant with a heavy sound. She wondered if the white snow would melt, then it immediately froze and became a transparent and slippery ice sheet.

Kathleen untied her half-torn robe and laid it on the ice, lifting Alexis and laying him on top of it.

“Hang in there.”

She pushed his shoulder as hard as she could. Alexis’ body slid on the ice, headed for the cave.

“Gasp, gasp.”

Kathleen clenched her teeth and ran after him. Although she was agile, she had no talent in following a person who was accelerating and gliding on ice. She only hoped to arrive before he hit a rock or a tree.

Fortunately, Alexis stopped at the edge of the ice sheet that led to the inside of the cave and didn’t hit anything. Kathleen breathed heavily, and for the first time, she thanked herself for her own strength.

She pulled his body off the ice and moved it a little further inside before she flopped to the floor.

“Ah…..”

As soon as she relaxed, her stomach began to ache. She grabbed her stomach and gasped for breath. After a while, the pain was gone.

‘I guess it’s because I lifted something heavy.’

As a priest with healing powers, Joseph had some knowledge in medicine. Some of the things he cautioned her about was not to lift heavy objects during the early days of her pregnancy.

‘But I can’t help it.’

When they return to their lodging, she will be able to ask Joseph for help.

‘Baby. Sorry.’

Saving Alexis was the first thing she had to do. She shook him again, calling his name, but he was still unconscious. His skin was cold and blood was still dripping from his right shoulder.

Kathleen searched the inside of the cave and found dried straw, some twigs and a flint. She thought it was a place she discovered by chance, but it must have been a cave where herbalists and hunters stayed for a while.

‘Thank God. Then someone will come to find us.’

It also meant that it was not too far from town.

Kathleen arranged the twigs and dried straw next to Alexis and skillfully struck the flint at the pile to start a fire. Thanks to her living as a kitchen maid for six years, she could properly deal with flames.

She tore off the hem of her skirt, froze it, and then thawed it in front of the fire. She took off Alexis’ overcoat and with the piece of wet cloth, she wiped his shoulders and then tied it tightly.

She tried to dress him up again, but she had a hard time. He was not wrapped in high-quality bandages, and her craftsmanship was poor, so his bare shoulders were bulging and his sleeves did not fit.

As she continued to try, Kathleen eventually gave up. As she tried to dress her husband who was lying unconscious, she found herself in a hugging position several times, which made her feel strange.

‘What am I thinking in front of a sick person.’

Taking her gaze away from his bare chest by force, Kathleen threw more of the dried straw into the fire and waited for Alexis’ complexion to return to normal.

However, Alexis’ condition did not improve as quickly as she had expected. In her impatience, she put her hands together again and again to make ice, then melted it and poured it into his mouth.

At first, it just spilled around his mouth, but after a while he could finally ingest the water. She was relieved

Kathleen now began to rub his limbs. She continued for a while, and little by little, his complexion returned.

“Alexis?”

His eyelids twitched as she called his name, but he still didn’t open his eyes. Nevertheless, Kathleen gained hope.

‘He’ll wake up when his body temperature rises a little.’

She touched his lips with trembling fingers as they began to regain color. They were warm. There was no reason for her to hesitate any longer.

Kathleen held him as she spread her warmth to his bare chest. The floor was hard, but it wasn’t as cold as she thought because they were next to the fire.

His body temperature was warmer than expected.

Kathleen’s eyelids began to blink slowly as she received warmth from her husband while trying to share her warmth. Fatigue flooded her in an instant.

‘Should stay awake…….’

Not knowing when the fire would go out and needing to observe Alexis’ condition as well, she tried to overcome it. Eventually, Kathleen’s eyes closed.

***

– Alexis?

Her voice, as if echoing from the depths of the sea, began to grow louder.

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‘Who is it?’

No one could call him by his first name now.

Especially among living people.

Thinking that far, Alexis thought that he might have died. It wasn’t an exaggeration. No one could survive an avalanche like that.

His death was earlier than he had planned but it was still a relief, it wasn’t the worst anyway so it was time to accept it.

‘What about Kathleen?’

He remembered the last sight he had seen before his eyes closed, and he suddenly wondered.

What happened to his wife, who he holds captive through their contract?

‘Did she die?’

She was a woman who had the power to take away the warmth of living things.

She was the daughter of the Margrave.

The Empress’ spy.

Kathleen Walten.

No, Kathleen Winston.

The thought of her being dead made Alexis confused. and-

His eyes opened.

His blurry vision took time to focus. After a while, he noticed that someone was in his arms.

“…This.”

What.

He was speechless at the sight in front of him.

Kathleen, whom he had thought was dead, was sleeping, holding him in her arms. Her skirt was torn indiscriminately, her hair was disheveled, and her face had soot and was a mess.

The sound of her breathing was stable and she appeared to be asleep. As he pulled away from her arms, Alexis felt a stabbing pain in his shoulder.

He looked down at his right arm and saw that it was tied with a cloth. It must have come from the hem of her skirt.

‘You tried to treat it yourself.’

Next to her was a burning fire. There was also a pile of straw and flint around it.

Alexis ignited another fire. He looked around and saw the entrance to the cave. The sun had already set.

– The Ice Flower Colony is over there.

Considering the location of the herb gardens and the hiding places in the Carmine Mountains recorded on the map, it seemed that this was roughly the direction Viscount Rylent was pointing at.

If the snow piled up due to an avalanche, the road might have been blocked, or it could have been the wrong direction.

The sun had to rise to confirm it, but Alexis couldn’t wait. He only had one chance to come to the Carmine Mountains without being questioned. Besides, an unexpected accident happened, so someone will come soon.

Alexis looked down at Kathleen, who was asleep without knowing.

She shouldn’t know.

Alexis got up quietly, silenced his footsteps, and went outside.

***

“Ummm.”

Kathleen, who had fallen asleep, opened her eyes to an empty feeling. It was difficult to hold him with only one arm, so she cuddled her husband, who was lying on his back using both of her arms. The awkwardness was brief, and she remembered feeling his warmth.

By the way……..

“Alexis?”

Not seeing him, she frantically got up.

“Ah.”

She found him sitting over by the blazing fire. He leaned against the stone wall and looked up at her with an unfamiliar expression.

“Are you okay? When did you wake up?”

Kathleen hurried to his side and examined his wounds. Fortunately, nothing happened.

“I was worried because you didn’t wake up for a long time. You were buried in the snow and your body temperature dropped by a lot. I lost the herbs, so I wrapped you up in a hurry, but does it not hurt?”

“Kathleen.”

Alexis cut off her words while she rambled on.

“What did you just call me?”

“Huh?”

Kathleen was taken aback by his unexpected remark.

“Did I call the Duke differently?”

“……No.”

He said no more. Kathleen reached out and pressed her hand to his forehead. It was hot. Perhaps it was because she had not healed his wounds properly.

“You have a fever.”

Alexis removed her hand.

“It’s only natural because I got hurt.”

The way he acted as if nothing happened was upsetting. As he was about to get up, Kathleen pressed down on his shoulder and pushed him back down.

“The Duke may be used to this, but I’m not.”

The Alexis Walten she knew had always been a strong man. But because of her, he was hurt and in pain. Her heart ached and she couldn’t stand it.

Kathleen formed an ice crystal in one of her hands, and she stopped right away. The cave was filled with heat from the fire so her hands immediately got wet.

Kathleen knelt down and pressed her hand on Alexis’ forehead. The boiling forehead gradually began to cool. Kathleen repeated the action when her cold hands became lukewarm.

Her arms were numb, but she had no intention of quitting.

“How long do you plan on doing this?”

Alexis asked.

“Until your fever subsides.”

Kathleen answered.

He said nothing. He just watched as she insisted on cooling down his forehead while massaging his numb shoulder with her other hand.

Then Alexis wrapped his uninjured arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Kathleen’s body trembled.

“Ah.”

In an instant, Kathleen was sitting on his thighs. Surprised by their reversed eye levels, his face got too close for a moment, making it difficult for her to breathe.

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