The Only Way to Break the Curse is Through Contact with You - Chapter 70

#70

I heard Adelia’s voice screaming. Jarvis turned his head and looked behind him.

“I thought there was a spirited side to her, but I didn’t expect it to be this intense. Such a ruthless woman, casually destroying handsome faces like that. Honestly, I thought she would go easy on me.”

“If you have the energy to talk nonsense, walk faster.”

That’s when it happened. A sharp voice approached nearby. It was followed by the voices of arrogant men. I tried to escape, clenching my teeth, but it wasn’t easy with my weak body.

“So, you were here.”

The man’s chuckling voice sent shivers down my spine.

“Where do you think you’re running?”

The man playfully held a bow in his hand. His intent was to hunt us. They were all crazy lunatics; they claimed to be Adeleia’s childhood friends.

Adeleia, who arrived late with a frustrated face, shouted in annoyance.

“Instead of keeping them trapped here, with the borders closed, they can’t go out anyway, so just kill them.”

“Is that okay?”

The men’s faces sparkled with interest. They nodded eagerly. It meant for us to run. I knew what kind of amusement they wanted, but I couldn’t resist. I gritted my teeth and gave it my all to run.

Even though I did my best, I couldn’t move quickly, and the men leisurely chased after us from behind. Jarvis removed his arm from my shoulder.

“You go ahead.”

“What?”

“It’s better for at least one person to survive than both of us to die.”

Jarvis had an uncharacteristically resigned expression. He urged me to run quickly, but I couldn’t abandon him like this. He became a mess while trying to protect me, so how could I just leave him?

At that moment, a man who forcefully pushed aside the bushes revealed himself.

“Are you giving up? How boring.”

As if expressing his regret, he pointed an arrow at Jarvis. Without realizing it, I stood in front of him and tightly closed my eyes.

‘So, this is how it ends.’

All the struggles I went through just to stay alive, and now I would die so pointlessly. Suddenly, Diart’s face came to mind. In the face of death, I realized that I truly liked him.

Regret, anger, injustice, and various emotions swirled within me.

If I knew it would end like this, I would have done everything I could. I would have kissed him more instead of holding out for a divorce. Diart is good at kissing. If he says he has no experience, just that much of a kiss would surely be enough to finish things at night. I should have done everything without holding back. Damn it. What was I doing trying to save my body when I’m going to die anyway?

While pondering such regrets, I waited for the pain to come. However, no matter how long I waited, I felt no pain. I couldn’t tell if the fleeting moment people say passes before death is longer than expected or if I was already dead, it look like shit!

That’s when,

“Roeni!”

The voice I had been eagerly waiting for called out to me. Before I could even open my eyes, my waist was pulled, and I was pulled into the embrace of a large pair of arms. By the time I’d grown accustomed to the familiar touch that checked my condition several times, I was finally able to open my eyes. And when I saw Diart’s bloodshot eyes and his collapsed face as he looked at me, the tears I had been holding back burst forth.

I saw that broken look on his face that I had never seen before, and the emotions I felt while he searched for me flooded in. Joy, resentment, longing, gratitude, and relief. A mixture of indescribable feelings surged through me as I held Diart in my arms and cried out loud.

Diart held me tightly as I cried. I don’t know how long I cried. As the tension went away, I lost consciousness.

* * *

If I had been just a little late, I would have truly lost you forever. Just thinking about it made Diart’s fingertips go cold. The image of Roeni standing in front of a drawn bow was a dreadful nightmare that he never wanted to see again.

Diart softly stroked Roeni’s forehead as she slept. Her sunken cheeks and signs of illness all over her face showed just how much suffering she had endured in a few days.

I shouldn’t have given them such graceful deaths. Diart sharpened his sword, recalling the men who fell before it. He should have made them suffer the same way Roeni had.

The culprit, Adelia, was handed over to the Imperial Guards. Diart wanted to deal with her personally, but he couldn’t do it because of the objections of those who came after him. Looking back now, it was better that way. That woman dared to kidnap the Duchess and even tried to kill the Crown Prince. She would surely receive an underground prison sentence. The empire’s underground prison was notorious. She wouldn’t be able to stay sane.

“Why won’t she wake up?”

The attending physician who examined Roeni, who had been asleep for two days, said that fortunately, there were no major injuries. Due to the overlap of minor injuries and malnutrition, along with the sudden release of tension after days of stress, her body was overloaded. Diart held Roeni’s hand. He remembered how comforting it was for her whenever he held her hand when she fainted and lost consciousness. Seeing the smile on her lips, Diart could finally feel relieved.

The days he wandered around looking for her were hellish for him. He rode his horse until his lungs collapsed, fearful that he might lose Roeni if he delayed even for a moment. Those times became an opportunity for him to confirm his feelings for Roeni once again.

I think I’ve put you in my heart more than I thought, Diart confessed to Roeni’s hand.

“It’s Lambert.”

Lambert knocked outside the door. Diart slowly turned his gaze away from Roeni and went outside.

“What’s the matter?”

“I brought the Sau clan member.”

Although he had ordered Lambert to find the Sau clan and bring them, it was irrelevant now. After giving Lambert a short command to handle it, Diart headed back to his room. But his steps stopped abruptly. Now that he thought about it, he had learned about the Sau clan from Roeni. There were several books about them in the study because they were also his ancestors.

Diart remembered the information that the Sau clan was skilled in healing. He turned around.

Diart emotionlessly looked at the Sau clan member, who resembled him so much. It was hard to believe that they had the same bloodline, as the Sau clan was much more slender. The Sau clan member seemed to be trembling in fear of Diart, who was much bigger than an average person.

“I heard that you’re good at healing.”

Diart opened his mouth after a long time. The Sau clan member, who was prepared to respond when asked about gerastone, hesitated and blinked at the unexpected question.

“Is that right?”

“Well, we have been inheriting the healing arts for generations…”

Seeing that the Sau clan member faltered in response to the intense atmosphere, Diart looked at him skeptically and then spoke.

“There’s someone I want you to see.”

“What illness do they have?”

“The doctor said it’s Puythan disease.”

“Oh…”

The Sau clan member sighed. If it was Puythan, it was an incurable disease even they, who prided themselves on their excellent medical skills, couldn’t cure. It was even called a punishment from the gods. But they had a sense of foreboding that speaking straightforwardly would bring about something dreadful.

“May I meet them once?”

As soon as Sau clan member finished speaking, Diart, with a sense of urgency, led him to the bedroom. Roeni was still asleep, just as when he left.

“Is it her?”

Diart nodded his head and made a gesture with his chin. Pressured to examine her, the Sau clan member approached Roeni while trembling. As he touched Roeni’s pulse, he tilted his head in confusion. He tried again, thinking he might have felt it wrong, but it was the same.

“Is it not good.”

Startled by the heavy tone of his voice, the Sau clan member only lowered his head without turning to look at him.

“No, it’s not.”

The Sau clan member examined Roeni, wondering if he had made a mistake. Diart frowned, unlike ordinary doctors, the Sau clan member used his fingers to part her hair and smell it.

“What are you doing?”

In an instant, Diart closed the distance and grabbed the Sau clan member’s wrist. The Sau clan member flinched at his intimidating face and averted his gaze while holding his breath.

“N-no, I mean, it seems like this person doesn’t have Puythan disease.”