I'm A Sucker For Extras - Chapter 43

Chapter 43

“Thank you for saving me.”

However, Brody didn’t hear Aidan’s response properly this time either.

A sudden, stabbing pain in her heart prevented her from doing so.

“Ugh.”

“Brody!”

Aidan shouted as he saw Brody losing her balance and clutching her chest.

“Ugh.”

If before, a hot energy had overwhelmed her like a tidal wave, now it pierced sharply, targeting Brody like a sharp spear.

In an instant, beads of sweat started forming on Brody’s face and neck.

Riding behind them with incredible speed, there was only one person.

The princess, riding a gigantic golden-maned white horse, was chasing them at a frightening speed.

Flames erupted around her as she passed, setting the withered grass of the meadow ablaze.

Kwaah! Hwaaruk!

“Your Highness!”

Jax shouted, whether he had removed the poisonous weeds from his mouth or not, beyond the flames.

These flames were a reaction to the princess’s inability to control her power.

It seemed that even their soldiers wouldn’t be able to get close if she couldn’t control it.

“Protect the princess! Ready your bows!”

Once Jax shouted this, the soldiers started to snap out of their confusion, abandoning their panicked horses and forming ranks.

“Princess, please be careful!”

Whether his voice reached beyond the flames or not was uncertain.

However, the princess had long since lost interest in everything else.

Her relentless golden gaze was solely focused on Brody.

Beyond Aidan’s shoulder, Brody watched as the princess, with fiery red flames behind her and her bright golden hair billowing, approached.

Her intense beauty sent shivers down Brody’s spine.

If there were angels, or rather, if there were messengers in the form of angels, would they look like this?

However, the pain soon consumed her vision.

“Ugh. Huuk, huuk.”

A fierce heat spread from her heart throughout her body, leaving a sharp pain. It felt like sharp needles poking outward from the inside.

Aidan, biting his lips, turned Brody around and held her, pressing his large hand against her back. Then he carefully began to breathe in the cool air.

“Ah!”

The energy from the princess and Aidan collided inside her.

Brody buried her face in his chest in pain, one hand gripping the hem of his robe, the other slipping around his right arm to grab his shoulder.

But her grip on the hem kept slipping. Unconsciously, she was trying not to hurt Aidan.

“Brody, it’s okay; you can squeeze harder. I’m fine; just hold on a little longer.”

“Hmph, blackblack…….”

Eventually, Brody’s grip tightened on whatever was within reach. Crunch. Red marks soon blossomed on the nape of Aidan’s neck and shoulders.

Brody was almost dazed by the two extremes of energy swirling within him.

It was swirling hot and then freezing cold, burning and then freezing again.

It was an indescribable sensation to be burned and frostbitten at the same time.

Bam, it was like being quenched to become solid iron.

But Brody wasn’t made of steel; she was flesh and blood.

She feared that soon she would break down in pain.

Back and forth, the two forces, unequal in momentum and neither easily pushed nor pushed back, grappled inside Brody’s body as a battleground.

“Your Highness, just… Huuk, huuk, please, at once, do it without restraint; don’t control it, just…”

“No, I can’t. You’ll get hurt then.”

“I’m already.. in the middle.. of it.. It feels like.. I might die…”

Aidan let go of the reins, allowing Kaius to run on its own.

Then he wrapped his arms around Brody.

The delicate energies inside her soon began to push fiercely.

“Huh.”

A cold energy surged like a waterfall, filling Brody completely.

Jjeong-. Jjeong-.

Unfamiliar sounds echoed in her ears, making Brody’s mind blurry.

Her fingertips, usually smooth, felt hard, and her lips trembled.

But the pain that had been ransacking her insides was no longer there.

“How dare you!”

The angry voice of the princess reached from a distance.

“Brody, Brody. Are you okay?”

Aidan, with his grip loosened, saw her body slumping and shouted with concern.

Brody, with her eyes coldly gazing upward, managed to give him a strained smile.

“…Yes.”

Right after that answer, Brody closed her eyes.

The ground trembled, and the sound of hooves echoed.

The princess’s white horse caught up with Kaius, who slowed down.

Aidan turned his attention to the flames surrounding them and glared at the princess.

The clash of the two energies started again.

***

The world was either black or white.

At least that’s how it seemed in the world Brody was currently observing.

If it was calm, it was calm; if it was dull, it was dull.

Brody wrinkled her nose at the rumbling sound that disrupted the peace.

“Ugh… it’s heavy.”

It felt like she had been having a long dream plagued by chills.

However, the current situation was warm and cozy.

But there was something too heavy about it.

It felt as if she had turned into a soaked cotton ball, unable to move a muscle.

Struggling to move her fingertips, she decided to attempt something else.

She tried to lift her eyelids.

As if they were glued together, her upper and lower eyelids stubbornly clung to each other, but with great effort, Brody managed to open her eyes.

Upon opening her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

Well, recently, she hadn’t woken up to a familiar ceiling either.

‘Where could this be? ’

‘Why couldn’t she move her body? ’

Brody slowly turned her head.

Luckily, her head turned fine.

“Brody!”

As if on cue, a large man approached, his jet-black hair waving.

He was looking down at her with a scowl that didn’t match his sharp features.

“Your Grace.”

As she tried to open her mouth with great effort, a voice cracked through her parched throat.

Startled by her voice, she coughed involuntarily, and Aidan leaned in, wiping her forehead and asking,

“Are you coming to your senses? How’s your body?”

Brody stared at him and tried to move her eyeballs with great effort.

Seeing Aidan meant that she hadn’t been captured by the princess, which was fortunate.

But considering how he asked about her body… The situation didn’t seem good.

Since her body didn’t move according to her will.

‘Is there something wrong? ’

Brody made another attempt to move her heavy body.

Her forehead formed deep vertical wrinkles.

‘But it doesn’t feel like before… It doesn’t feel like being dominated.’

Seeing her trying to move, Aidan slipped his hand under her shoulder.

Then, carefully and cautiously, he pulled her out from under the blanket.

“Haah.”

As her body stood up, she felt a lot better.

Moreover, her arms suddenly started moving.

Her lower body was still heavy as a rock, but…

‘Hmm? What’s this? ’

And the next moment, the mystery of why Brody couldn’t move was solved.

Brody widened her eyes as she saw the thick pile of blankets covering her.

One layer, two layers, three layers, four layers…

No, how many layers were there, exactly?

Moreover, the thickness didn’t seem trivial, so if you added up the layers, it would be at least a foot and a half.

“Why? What’s the problem, Brody? Tell me. What’s wrong?”

“Yes, there was a problem just now.”

“A problem? What kind of problem? Mrs. Murphy!”

When Brody mentioned that there was a problem—or more precisely, ‘had been’ a problem—Aidan went into contemplation and called for Mrs. Murphy.

“Mrs. Murphy?”

Mrs. Murphy, the woman who had been in charge of running the Duke’s barracks during the war,.

Brody looked at Aidan with a puzzled expression.

Before Aidan could respond, Mrs. Murphy opened the door and entered.

“You called, My Lord.”

A woman always wore an expression that seemed gruff and chubby.

Indeed, it was the familiar Mrs. Murphy.

Brody felt a sense of joy and called out to her.

“Ma’am!”

Mrs. Murphy was taken aback when she saw Brody wake up.

Surprise, confusion, and a sense of relief appeared on her usually expressionless face.

“Oh, my lady. You’ve awakened.”

As the two exchanged greetings joyfully, Aidan quickly intervened.

“Brody said there’s a problem. Can you take a look?”

“Where are you feeling uncomfortable, my lady?”

Brody alternately looked at the two, who were staring at her with concerned eyes.

Finally, she spoke up.

“Unfortunately, there was a problem.”

Both of them bent down as if urging her to speak and focused on Brody.

“When I woke up, I realized I couldn’t move my body at all. Oh, well, so far my legs aren’t moving, so I guess that’s still a problem.”

“…….”

Mrs. Murphy’s eyes narrowed as Brody spoke.

At Brodie’s words, Mrs. Murphy slowly raised her hunched upper body to its full height.

She glanced down at him with a stern expression.

“Didn’t I tell you it’s excessive? ”

Aidan was silent, and Mrs. Murphy’s eyes became even narrower.

Reacting to Brody’s words without physically hitting Aidan, Mrs. Murphy seemed to have hit him multiple times with her gaze.

Aidan understood the situation, and with a sheepish expression, he hurriedly left the room, lifting the blankets.

“It was His Grace doing it, My Lady.”

“I, I just… patients are better off being warm.”

As the blankets were lifted, Brody hugged her knees.

Fortunately, her body moved without any problems.

Besides, it was a little stingy, but it was nothing compared to the mosquito bites that had nearly killed her in the South before.

No, of course, it was worse than being bitten by mosquitoes. Anyway.

“Anything else bothering you, then?”

Mrs. Murphy asked.

Brody shook her head with a smile, feeling content.

“No, everything is fine.”

“Then, you should have a meal. I’ll prepare it.”

Saying that, Mrs. Murphy left the room.

Brody couldn’t help but smile at the familiarity of her leaving without saying anything more than a quick check on Brody’s condition.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

But Aidan was serious.

So Brody replied lightly.

“Yeah, I’m surprised, too. I guess I’ve gotten better, or maybe I’m just a little more tolerant after what I’ve been through in the past.”

It was true. Brody was surprised she was still alive, too.

At the moment when the powers of Aidan and the princess were fluctuating inside her, she thought she would truly tread the path of the celestial.

But the next moment, she was fine.

As soon as she recalled the sensation that stirred up her body, the feeling resurrected.

Hmmm. Brody shivered unconsciously, feeling a chill.

Seeing her, Aidan also turned pale.

He came closer to her, embraced her shoulders, and whispered.

“Are you really okay? You still don’t look well.”

“Oh, come on, my body is really fine…”

As she clasped her hands together to keep from trembling, Aidan’s heart sank as if it were made of ice.

There were no physical injuries, but still. As expected. It seemed like the trauma influenced by the elemental abilities was not healed.

In anxiety, without realizing it, he pulled her onto his lap and embraced her tightly, gently stroking her.

After sharing warmth for a while, the trembling gradually subsided. Brody, with slow breaths, exhaled a sigh of relief, and the tension in her neck loosened.

Then, with a thump, her solid support was felt.

‘Ah…’

Only now did Brody realize where she was sitting.

Considering how close they were in the South, it was strange… ‘It’s been a while since they have been this close.’

Her body became conscious again.

The pale face that had been shivering started to blush gradually.