The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 23

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

Episode 23
Part 4. A Hymn to Humanity
After a rather embarrassing affair with Logan.
I headed to the Greenhouse with Logan.
Marcus, Nathan, and Jack were gathered in the Greenhouse. Charlotte was recovering in her room, having sustained injuries.
Now that the situation had settled, we needed to discuss our plans moving forward.
On the table lay a Key that had been retrieved from Charles’s clothing.
‘At last, I’ll finally get to see the Naval Base.’
Once everyone had arrived, Marcus poured tea with his characteristic, elegant grace.
Logan asked me something.
“How’s Charlotte?”
“She’s recovering well, fortunately. She’s asleep now.”
Come to think of it, if Charlotte was in the same class as me, she’d have been in the same class as Logan too.
It turned out that aside from Jack and Nathan, everyone here had been classmates at the Imperial Academy.
“We lost the sled dogs, sir. They bolted the moment we arrived at Rosbrook.”
We spent some time listening to Nathan’s account of how grueling his journey had been from Abriden to here.
Nathan, who had ridden dog sleds only during the northern expeditions before the Cataclysm, had somehow become an expert by now, having traveled exclusively by sled since then.
For a while longer, the conversation drifted through recent happenings.
It was entertaining enough, but eventually we had to address what had transpired during the interim.
“What happened to Charles and his gang?”
A heavy silence fell at my question.
Beyond the raging blizzard, we’d managed to find Logan somehow, but the rest of the people were simply nowhere to be found—we couldn’t rescue them.
That continued to weigh on my mind.
“There was a spot nearby where the ground wasn’t frozen as deeply. We buried them there.”
So that was how it had come to pass. I’d suspected as much, but the news still sank my heart. Seeing my fallen expression, Marcus reached over and patted my shoulder.
“Don’t carry guilt. If this disaster drags on, there will be even worse things ahead—you can’t afford to be consumed by guilt every time and fall behind.”
As he spoke, his own face grew even darker as he continued.
“Of course, I’m hardly the one to say such a thing. I’m bearing far greater guilt myself.”
No one could easily offer Marcus words of comfort.
The fleeting shadow that crossed Marcus’s expression was too deep, and I too found myself at a loss for words, my mouth going silent.
Logan, who had been quietly listening to our exchange, let out a single blunt remark.
“You all overflow with such humanity.”
At Logan’s words, an irritated Marcus fired back.
“You must be happy, having no humanity at all.”
“I do.”
“Hardly.”
“You’re still alive.”
“……Junior, do I really have to live with someone like this?”
Marcus looked at me as if asking for help.
Half in jest, half in earnest. By now I could vaguely infer Logan’s psychology.
Thanks to Logan, the mood shifted. It seemed to be exactly what Logan had intended.
“Would you rather I live instead?”
“I’d choose death first.”
This one was equally extreme. It was almost funny how bluntly he’d say such a thing right to my face, yet Logan merely pretended not to hear and kept his eyes on me.
I decided to steer the conversation in the direction Logan had intended.
“Speaking of which, those people who had been held captive by the Rogue Ship Gang—now that the leadership has vanished all at once, they must finally be free.”
Marcus nodded at my words.
“Among the enslaved there, there’s someone who functions as a leader. I believe that person was originally a lawyer?”
Marcus had mentioned before that there was a trustworthy leader of sorts there whom people believed in and followed.
“Probably. That man will manage things well enough.”
“You seem to know everything, Senior.”
At my comment, Marcus merely shrugged with a smile. He didn’t respond with his usual glib wit. I understood why, so I said nothing more.
It was then that Nathan, who had been gauging the mood, cautiously attempted to shift the subject.
“How have you two been?”
He directed the question toward Logan and me.
“How have we been what?”
As Logan tilted his head in confusion, Nathan hesitated before pressing on.
“You two were the only ones here all this time, weren’t you? Any news about… offspring?”
Nathan didn’t finish his sentence.
Logan, without warning, drove him out of the Greenhouse.
“Your Grace does seem rather bashful.”
Marcus laughed at Jack’s teasing, and I blinked before answering.
“I told you. Our marriage is rather unusual. We haven’t done anything beyond holding hands so far.”
In truth, even the hand-holding and the embrace had been born of necessity.
At that, Jack and Marcus’s startled gazes swung toward Logan, who was just returning after showing Nathan out.
“Is he… unable to function?”
.
.
.
A week had passed since Marcus’s shocking remark. Logan and I had grown distinctly awkward around each other.
“Is he… unable to function?”
Logan’s pride had taken such a hit from those words that every time we met, he made a point of emphasizing his virility.
But what good did that do?
I had no way of knowing.
“You have no way of knowing?”
That remark, too, didn’t seem to sit well with him. Suddenly my vision lurched upward—Logan had swept me into his arms.
“Logan?”
Still holding me, he bounded up the stairs and set me on the bed.
He placed his hand on the bed frame and looked down at me.
“Let me show you?”
“Show me… what?”
“That there’s nothing wrong with my function.”
Logan unbuttoned his shirt. With no expression on his face, he looked like a madman.
“Don’t worry. I’ll just demonstrate. As long as there’s no problem, that’s all that matters. And I’ve never had a problem.”
Now he was undoing his belt too.
“You’re insane.”
I finally hurled a pillow at him.
Logan redid his belt with a regretful expression.
I felt regretful too, if I’m being honest. Husband and wife could certainly manage that much—
Had I fallen too?
From now on, I absolutely had to stop provoking that mad fool.
For the next several days, Logan carried me around in his arms.
Not that I minded—with my hands and feet idle, he took care of everything for me, which was convenient—but.
I had to endure the withering glance from Marcus, the disgusted look from Charlotte, and the “I’ve-seen-something-I-shouldn’t-have” expressions from Nathan and Jack.
The convenience was pleasant, but the embarrassment fell squarely on my shoulders.
“Apologize to Logan. Right now.”
I forced Marcus to apologize.
“I’m sorry. Please stop, Your Grace.”
With Marcus’s apology, Logan finally ceased his constant carrying.
It had been a very, very long four days.
.
.
.
In the meantime, Charlotte, now fully recovered from her injuries, had awakened and been assigned a new house.
That left three empty houses.
I had no idea how to fill the remaining three.
Logan spent each day unrolling maps of the Granden Kingdom, pondering where it would be best to settle once we left Acorn Village.
But to my eyes, there seemed to be nowhere in this ruined world that could compare to this miraculous Greenhouse and the village that held it.
Days in Acorn Village were tranquil.
I spent most of my time either in the Greenhouse or knitting on the sofa in the Eve House sitting room.
“When will we search the Naval Base?”
Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the Naval Base search in the peace that had settled over us. Truth be told, I had too.
‘I’m skeptical about it, after all.’
I doubted whether going there would yield any information worth having.
Everyone had said so. That Mother and Father were surely dead. That it was strange my second brother was even still alive given the situation.
A noble couple of high standing, both a professor and researcher at the Academy, had vanished, and five years had passed without a single sighting—could I really expect to find them?
Those five years of waiting for them had also been the time I was losing them.
So now I had grown numb to it. Too numb, if I’m honest.
‘But that doesn’t make it wise to have a key and never open the box.’
My second brother might have been at the Ice Age Research Institute, which was supposedly located inside the Naval Base.
That was when Marcus spoke up.
“Let’s wait a week, then set out. I think we’ll be able to harvest the crops soon.”
Marcus, who had become every inch a farmer, said this, and we all agreed.
There was nothing more important than bringing in the harvest.
* * *
The moment Charlotte recovered, she made her way hesitantly to the Greenhouse and lent a hand with the work.
Logan’s aide Nathan seemed to have established a permanent post for himself there.
He began drawing up farming plans, insisting he would help with the agricultural work in earnest.
Marcus’s aide Jack started converting his assigned house into a medical clinic.
And Marcus, having become the village administrator, threw himself into its operations—drafting regulations, managing affairs with genuine enthusiasm.
Logan took on the primary responsibility of hunting and gathering firewood.
“I’m good at cooking.”
Charlotte volunteered for that work. Everyone found their role and set about their tasks, but I was left with nothing.
What was I good at? Knitting?
I decided to focus on making clothes and winter gear.
And I began to write.
I kept a daily record of our present circumstances, and wrote down what I could remember of , so as not to forget.
The protagonist, Crown Prince Aiden, had also graduated from the Imperial Academy that Logan and I had attended.
If I recall correctly, he was one year below us.
With his long hair and handsome face, he always wore a smile and had an easygoing manner, kind to everyone—there was scarcely a soul who disliked him.
But who could have known what his true heart concealed?

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