Political Marriage With a Friendly Enemy

Chapter 70

***

It was easy to subdue Roman, who was trapped in fear and pain. Kwanach immediately had him slumped to the ground with the pressure of his arms on Roman’s neck. While he was holding Roman down with strength, one of the knights fetched a rope to tie him up.

Kwanach muttered in an angry voice as he held the still-bloodied Roman captive.

“You will not die so easily.”

He was confident that he could make death feel like rest. How could he let Roman die easily when he had made Usphere like that? Kwanach was not so merciful.

Kwanach ran to Usphere in a hurry after the knights dragged Roman away.

The soldiers seemed to have called in a doctor at the guard post in the meantime. The doctor was checking Usphere’s pulse as she lay on a stretcher.

“Is she okay? What’s the status?”

Kwanach asked in a trembling voice, and quickly knelt down beside Usphere. The knights and the doctor were startled and tried to kneel down as well, but Kwanach waved them off. This was not a situation where such courtesy was important.

The doctor, who worked in a remote border area, trembled slightly as he answered.

“I think she simply fainted from lack of energy. Her life is not in danger.”

Relieved, Kwanach stroked Usphere’s forehead. Her skin was cold.

“Are you sure she is safe?”

“Yes, yes. …… If she gets enough rest, she should be fine.”

If she was as badly injured as she was before, Kwanach might have lost his reason.

“Move her inside quickly.”

Kwanach muttered in a muffled tone. The soldiers lifted the stretcher and brought Usphere into the barracks.

Kwanach followed close behind, never taking his eyes off her. Usphere was breathing faintly and very pale.

Her skin, which had never had a scratch on it, was now covered with cuts here and there. The wounds weren’t so deep that they would last long, but still, Kwanach was miserable just from the fact that Usphere was injured.

‘Why don’t you take care of your body?’

His heart throbbed with pain. He felt suffocated in sadness, but he couldn’t even question Usphere. He knew that thanks to Usphere that they caught Roman without any great sacrifice…

The soldiers watched as she dealt with Roman, her back turned to everyone with her small body. Usphere, who controlled a tremendous amount of magic that was said to have disappeared from the human continent, was not human-like. She looked like a mythical being of legend, or a lion that came down under the gods.

She was overwhelmingly strong and kind, striving to protect everyone. Everyone who was watching could feel her true heart.

She was a savior that no one could deny.

Kwanach held Usphere’s hand, which hung down helplessly. It had always been that way. In his previous life and in this life, Usphere had always been his savior.

Although she didn’t seem to know it.

* * *

Vibration enveloped my body faintly. Hot skin squeezing her hand. Those were the first sensations I recognized after my darkened mind woke up vividly.

I fluttered my heavy eyelids. My entire body felt sluggish, but not stiff or tired. Instead, I felt refreshed, as if I had slept well.

“Hmmm……”

I slowly opened my eyes, and a familiar set of eyes and face entered my blurred vision.

“Usphere?”

“Oh……”

It was Kwanach, calling me in a very agitated voice. The rims of his eyes were red. His hands were shaking as he hurriedly covered my cheeks.

“Are you awake? I’ll stop the carriage. I’ll get the doctor right away…..”

I spoke hurriedly to stop Kwanach.

“I’m fine. I’m very well. There’s no need to stop suddenly.”

I had never felt so well and full of energy in my entire life.

“Are we on a carriage?”

I looked around. It was a large carriage that looked the size of a room used by the common people. I had no idea how many horses were dragging it.

The place where I was lying was a fluffy bed. The vibration in the carriage was so weak that if I stayed still, I would not have known I was in a carriage.

Kwanach carefully rubbed my cheeks and chin area with his rugged fingertips and said.

“I was in a hurry to get it. You didn’t wake up. I thought I’d better escort you to the palace as comfortably as possible…”

“Have I been lying down for a long time?”

Kwanach nodded with a darkened face.

“It’s been 5 days….”

“Five days……? What happened to your injuries?”

My head spun as I thought of the blood from Kwanach I had seen before I collapsed.

“It’s nothing. It wasn’t even a deep wound.”

I sighed in relief.

“What happened to Roman then? What about Jaxor? What about Marianne?”

Kwanach’s thick eyebrows furrowed loudly in displeasure.

“You’re talking about that as soon as you wake up? Take care of yourself first. Usphere.”

“Well, I’m not just saying that, my body feels too good to be true.”

I groggily got up in bed. Kwanach was sitting on a long chair next to the bed.

He looked at me with suspicion in his eyes and rubbed my cheek.

“Are you sure? The scars went away quickly…”

The scars from the battle with Roman had already disappeared.

“That’s right. That’s strange. I thought I would be covered in scratches.”

“If you’re sure you’re okay…..”

Kwanach took a short breath, grabbed my wrist unexpectedly and pulled it. My body was helplessly dragged toward him.

Thud. I fell limply into Kwanach’s arms. Quickly, Kwturned my body sideways and raised me up onto his thighs.

“Kwanach ?”

I was now in his arms like a child.

“Wait… stay like this….”

Kwanach hugged me tightly as he choked back a few words.

When Kwanach slightly bent his upper body and wrapped himself around me, I was completely buried in his arms. The arms around me were hard and hot.

My face was resting against his chest, and I could hear his heartbeat beating loudly in my ear. It was so fast and majestic.

It had been a while since I hugged him like this because we were apart when I was dressing up as a man.

As my jittery mind settled down, my fingertips gradually tingled and embarrassment overwhelmed me. It was then that I finally became aware of my appearance.

My hair was long and tangled from lying down for so long, and there might have been a buildup of eye discharge. I knew Kwanach was not the kind of person who cared about such things, but being near him made me conscious.

At that moment, Kwanach placed his chin on the top of my head and gently kissed my hair, then said in a low voice.

“I’ve always wanted to do this. If you’re sick again…I…”

The voice mumbling over my head was soaked with moisture. I leaned deeper into Kwanach.

Kwanach’s chest was like a nest. I felt at ease and secured.

Kwanach continued to speak slowly.

“Everyone is safe. Roman and Jaxor have also been captured and are being transported from behind. The Marquis nearby has provided us with a magic blocking bracelet to put it on Roman. It cut his tongue, so assume he lost his power.”

“His tongue?”

“Yes.”

I was a little surprised.

Roman’s magic had to be cast. When he cast the curse on the river, his lips quivered as he recited the spell. However, it was all blocked up now.

‘But Roman may have hidden power, as I have.’

This was why Kwanach was so meticulous in putting the magic blocking bracelet on Roman. Roman was transported to the Imperial Palace with his power taken away.

We should have done this when Roman was captured at the Imperial Palace, but I fell unconscious and no one knew that Roman was a wizard, so Kwanach had no choice but to do this.

“I interrogated Jaxor occasionally for five days. Roman has a hard time speaking with his tongue cut out. But when he arrives at the Imperial Palace, Roman will be questioned as well. He can answer in writing.”

“Yes…… Has Jaxor confided anything to you?”

“Not yet.”

I also noticed a slight tremor at the end of Kwanach’s voice.

“He seems determined not to open his mouth about why he helped Roman and why he betrayed me. I’ll have to question him more when we get to the Imperial Palace.”

The tone was very clerical.

“We’ve got the two of them, but there’s still a lot to deal with. We’ll also have to find out if there are other parties helping them. From Roman’s appearance, he must be a descendant of the Pernen royal family.”

Kwanach seemed to be deliberately talking only about his work. His longtime best friend had betrayed him, and he couldn’t be in a good mood.

I asked him carefully.

“Are you okay?”

“There’s nothing not to be okay. Roman’s been caught and you’re safe.”

“But ……”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Kwanach kept his emotions hidden and pretended that everything was fine. I felt sorry for Kwanach, who pretended to be perfect.

I raised my hand and gently stroked Kwanach’s side. It was a sign of comfort in my own way, but Kwanach flinched.

“Usphere. If you touch me like that…”

Kwanach said, sighing heavily.

“Just because I told you I will not force you to be intimate  doesn’t mean I don’t want you.”