I’m in the Arms of the Cursed Grand Duke - Chapter 86

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 86

‘Oh, that startled me.’

Clemente looked up at Zephyrus while lightly covering one ear that his voice had reached.

His silver eyes were looking somewhat darkly at their clasped hands.

“Why? Is it hot?”

“No…”

Zephyrus’s long, straight, snow-white fingers twitched before firmly grasping Clemente’s hand.

“I’m coming to my senses.”

“It seems like it.”

Clemente looked around.

The ground that had revealed itself when the snow melted was frozen solid, but now it had returned.

Small pebbles rolled around with every step they took.

“Want to rest a bit more?”

“No. We should go. Don’t we have a long way to travel.”

Zephyrus, who had returned to his firm and indifferent gaze, began walking.

Clemente, naturally following him since their hands were clasped, tilted her head.

“Do you know which direction to go?”

“Yes. Those branches over there are pointing east. We need to go south, so this direction is correct.”

After yesterday’s brief mountain trek. After spending all day searching through the Duke’s study, they had discovered one clue.

It was a man’s memoir, probably a woodcutter. It was a very worn and tattered book, but there was no problem reading the contents.

The book contained this passage:

[The highest mountain in the Northern Region.

Moving south from its center, there is a place where heaven’s tears briefly stay before seeping in.

This was a phrase passed down through generations. It was the dream location that my late grandfather had pursued his entire life.

I searched for it while cutting wood, but I too could never find it in my lifetime.

Dreams are just dreams. However-]

In the end, he couldn’t find it, but there was more self-praise about how his skills improved while chasing the dream.

However, Clemente and Zephyrus already knew that fairies had existed.

They felt an intuition that the phrase wasn’t just fantasy.

“You’re following what Gwen taught you well.”

“It’s not difficult work.”

Zephyrus walked while putting strength into his trembling legs.

How long had they walked?

Clemente suddenly asked.

“Are we going to keep holding hands?”

“…Do you dislike it?”

Zephyrus didn’t want to let go of the warmth he could feel between each finger.

Clemente had also said she felt cool when touching him, so he hoped she felt the same way.

But no immediate answer came.

An expression of thinking about how to respond.

“…I see.”

His voice dropped even lower. Clemente’s eyes wavered slightly.

‘What is this? What kind of expression is this?’

His face seemed angry, yet somehow she felt sorry for him. She felt like she should apologize.

‘Ah! Is he hurt?’

Clemente guessed as much and asked.

“Master, are you sulking?”

“Ha, there’s no reason to sulk. Even if you dislike it, I won’t let go of this hand.”

Zephyrus tightened his grip on their clasped hands while looking at Clemente with trembling eyes.

“I am your master, after all.”

So I’ll do as I want.

Zephyrus’s cold voice declared as such.

Clemente shook her head.

Zephyrus’s lips trembled. He pressed his mouth shut tightly, afraid of being caught.

“It’s not just Master who wants it. I like holding hands too.”

“I don’t want lies.”

“It’s true. Um. Is it because my answer was late?”

Clemente chuckled softly.

“I wasn’t thinking about whether I disliked it or liked it. In the first place, Master is the only one I can hold hands with for this long, so what would there be to dislike.”

She was a fireplace.

In the cold Northern Region, it was warm and nice to be close to, but you couldn’t hold onto it for long.

If you grabbed and hugged a fireplace for too long, you’d get burned.

So when it came to whether this kind of physical contact was good or bad, it was on the good side. Especially since it felt cooler when they touched.

What she had been contemplating was a different point.

‘Should I carry him or not.’

That’s what she had been pondering.

She could see all too clearly that Zephyrus’s legs were shaking.

They were walking slowly to match his pace, but at this speed, when would they ever finish searching the entire mountain.

Holding hands wasn’t the problem.

When she explained this, Zephyrus turned bright red. Not just his face, but his neck, ears, everything. He looked like he had been cooked through.

“Ah! Master, isn’t it because you’ve been holding my hand too long and gotten hot?”

When Clemente tried to pull her hand away, Zephyrus applied pressure. When Clemente hesitated at that weak force, Zephyrus let out a small sigh and spoke in a cool voice.

“Carrying me… is not allowed. Instead, I’ll try to increase the pace.”

“That’s too bad. I wanted to try carrying Master once too.”

“I’ll pass for life.”

Clemente burst out laughing.

“Ah, right. Master, I’m going to change one thing.”

“Mm?”

When Zephyrus looked at her with puzzled eyes, Clemente waved her index finger and said.

“My master is me. Master means you’re the master of the Northern Region.”

“…”

Zephyrus’s body, which seemed to be cooling down, began heating up again.

“I’ll keep that in mind. And.”

In this situation, the word ‘correction’ would be more fitting.

Clemente’s high and bright laughter echoed through the gloomy forest.

After that amusing conversation ended.

Zephyrus began walking again. He said he’d increase the pace, so he wanted to walk faster than now.

But his legs wouldn’t move as he thought.

‘No. Move. This is the path you chose, Zephyrus Pruina.’

He gritted his teeth and moved.

It was very difficult. So idle thoughts began creeping up.

Probably because he wanted to end this pain, he was looking for justification.

They were moving to find land imbued with fairy power, but doubts arose about whether they could really find it in time.

This wasn’t something that would take just a day or two. South of the highest mountain as reference. It was easy to say, but anyone who had seen a map of the Northern Region would know how vast the mountains in that south were.

Even if they stepped on that land, there might be conditions for entering.

It seemed much more productive to handle other matters during this time – a rationalization disguised as efficiency.

These thoughts would come when he wanted to give up.

If it had been before meeting Clemente, he would have imagined all sorts of worst-case scenarios along with this and fallen into self-loathing.

But since then, he had become able to stop at an appropriate point.

In the end, he had been able to come out this far. It was all thanks to not giving up.

‘He probably felt the same way when searching for Icetas.’

Though it was much more concrete than the vague passages in the woodcutter’s memoirs and he had confidence it existed, it must have felt overwhelming. After searching all day long, he might have wanted to give up, thinking he’d done enough.

I naturally found myself reflecting on how I’d looked at a difficult task too lightly when giving instructions.

“It suddenly reminds me of when we were searching for Icetas.”

Zephyrus’s shoulders suddenly trembled with a start.

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Huh? Oh, you were thinking about Icetas too, Master? We’re in sync?”

Clemente giggled and shook their joined hands.

“When we arrived at Icetas, fog appeared right away. Gwen must have reported everything.”

“That’s just a report. How did you feel?”

“How I felt?”

Gwen’s reports don’t include emotions. There’s only a listing of facts and events.

“Yes. Like whether the mountain trek was difficult.”

Clemente immediately shook her head.

“No. It was fun. We found it in the end.”

Saying she even got something good out of it, Clemente took out one of the stones leading to Icetas from her bag.

At that moment.

Rumble

The ground they were standing on began to undulate like waves.

“Clemente!”

The waves of dirt and gravel tried to swallow up Clemente who was holding the stone.

Zephyrus leaped with all his might.

He embraced Clemente and they were buried together under the pile of earth.

Crash, rumble!

The sound of earth moving and colliding pierced their ears like thunder.

There was no time to think about what was happening or why this was occurring.

Clemente, fully tense, patted the back of Zephyrus who was holding her tight like a lifeline.

“Master, are you okay?”

“What?”

Zephyrus looked at Clemente. In her eyes as she looked at him with a clear face from within his arms, there wasn’t even a fingernail’s worth of anxiety.

“Look. Some unknown force brought us here,”

Without a single injury, very carefully at that.

“I see.”

Zephyrus brushed off his wrinkled clothes and put his gloves back on. His tense eyes looked around the surroundings.

Snow, snow, snow. Everything was pure white snow.

Strange snow that wouldn’t melt from Clemente’s heat.

Then a woman popped out from a flower made of snow.

“Hmph, you look just like drowned mice with those frightened expressions.”

Zephyrus’s cold voice seemed to gather all the chill in the world, as if it could freeze even souls, making it seem like nothing at all.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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