The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 32

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 32
‘I should meet that traitor and recover the Blue Stone.’
Once I’d finished thinking, I turned to the soldiers with a question.
“By the way, do any of you know anything about the Glacial Age Research Institute?”
The soldiers exchanged glances, then nodded slowly.
“We knew the Glacial Age Research Institute existed, but not many know details about it. Only officers and above had clearance to access information regarding the facility.”
Another soldier added to his comrade’s words.
“Though there were plenty of rumors.”
“What sort of rumors?”
“Things like how White Veil is manipulating the weather to create a Second Ice Age in the Empire and effectively control the world. Conspiracy theories, really.”
I’d heard of White Veil before—a shadowy secret organization with no confirmed existence. Some said it was a conspiracy created by forces opposing the royal family.
Because the organization had no tangible form, most people dismissed the very existence of White Veil as a conspiracy meant to undermine the crown.
“I think the conspiracy theories spread even more because no one knows why this research institute was founded or who gave the order to create it.”
“Surely the officers would have known.”
“Perhaps. Captain Russell, who oversaw the institute, might have known something. Though I can’t say if he’s still alive.”
“Then you wouldn’t know anything about Julian Wesley Everhart either?”
“The name—yes, you’re speaking of the research director?”
Suddenly, the soldier’s eyes widened as if something had occurred to him, and he stared at me intently.
“Wait—could you possibly be……?”
“I’m his younger sister. And I’m not a lady anymore—I’m married.”
“My apologies. You’re the Duchess of Chesswind, then.”
The other soldiers hurried to apologize as well.
“Forgive us. Your Grace, the Duchess of Chesswind—wait, you are the Duchess, aren’t you?”
The soldiers leaned out past the iron gate in alarm, peering at the raging flames and the wolves I’d brought down.
“Ah. I happen to be an honors student in Hunting and Gathering.”
I offered a flimsy excuse, glancing toward the shotgun I was holding.
“Surely a duchess ought to be skilled at hunting, wouldn’t you say?”
It was nonsense, but none of them dared argue.
“Anyway, do you know anything about my brother? What he was doing here, where he went?”
“Ah. We heard that the director went missing.”
“We’re deeply sorry to hear it.”
“He was a good man. I never went into the research lab itself, but he’d often come to the dining hall to eat.”
“Though Captain Russell would always stay right beside him and keep anyone from getting close—we barely exchanged greetings.”
That was when it happened.
A man emerged from the darkness.
It was Logan, wearing a different kind of military uniform than the naval officers before me.
“Eve!”
Chirp! Chirp!
Pepi fluttered around me, wings beating frantically. It seemed Pepi had led Logan to my location.
Logan grabbed my shoulders and asked urgently.
“Are you all right? You’re safe, aren’t you? Are you hurt anywhere? Any side effects?”
“No, I’m fine. I’m safe. I was just talking with the soldiers—they were telling me about the Glacial Age Research Institute.”
“What?”
“They all knew about Julian. My brother.”
“Wait. Eve. Who exactly were you talking to just now?”
I gestured deeper into the Quarantine Zone.
“The soldiers who were trapped here……”
“There’s no one else here but you.”
“What?”
Logan pointed into the Quarantine Zone.
“The soldiers are all dead.”
There lay the bodies of men in military uniforms, frozen solid, their eyes still open.
* * *
Marcus glanced at Logan.
Right after Eve vanished, Logan had been calmly tracking her trail using Pepi, the baby chick.
“I was too afraid to speak up.”
Charlotte murmured to Marcus. They’d been wandering through the Underground Facility for three hours now.
Winding through the labyrinthine passages, descending staircase after staircase, with no sense of where the bottom might be, they continued their search.
Finally, Marcus spoke to Logan.
“Logan, going any deeper from here is dangerous. There seemed to be a map back on Basement Level One—let’s head back up and check it again.”
Logan, who had been following the baby bird, stopped short and turned back to Marcus.
“Figure it out yourself.”
He tilted his head in acknowledgment and resumed walking after Pepi.
“Wait, wait!”
Marcus hurried after him and grabbed Logan’s arm.
“Figure it out yourself? What does that even mean? We need to move together.”
“Together?”
Logan calmly withdrew his arm from Marcus’s grip and spoke.
“Why should I?”
“What?”
“I only need Eve.”
Marcus faltered when he saw Logan’s crimson eyes—so remarkably composed and serene, yet carrying an unsettling undertone of madness.
If someone ever asked him what it meant to be quietly, calmly insane, he would want to show them exactly this look in Logan’s gaze.
He couldn’t fathom why this man had become so obsessed with Eve. It made no sense whatsoever.
Was it because of her personality?
No. Recalling Eve’s past—how she would do anything to defeat Logan—personality alone couldn’t explain such devotion. That wasn’t normal.
How could he have fallen for a woman who had been so ruthlessly determined to beat him? Was he a deviant?
Or perhaps he was the type to fall for appearances alone?
That actually made some sense.
Marcus had seen countless women, but never one with a face so breathtakingly beautiful it could stop your heart—not until Eve.
Her silver hair caught the sunlight like ice crystals, shimmering with an ethereal glow. Like the wings of an angel.
Her skin was not merely pale but translucent, and her eyes held the blue of a frozen lake.
Her lashes were long and abundant, and the slight downward tilt of her eyes gave her a perpetually fragile, pitiful air even in repose.
With that slender, delicate frame and shoulders that seemed as though they might shatter under the slightest pressure.
Anyone meeting her for the first time would think her someone in need of protection.
And it wouldn’t take long to realize that was a mistake.
Eve was the first to dash out into the blizzard when others held back.
More than that—she was the one who would give up her own rations when others went hungry, and who would find a way to survive when everyone else had surrendered.
Marcus remembered Eve from the Royal Academy tournament. At Granden Royal Academy, the dormitories were divided into four halls based on location: the Hall of Sages, the Hall of Conquerors, the Hall of Pioneers, and the Hall of Guardians.
Each represented a different student cohort.
As it happened, Logan and Charlotte belonged to the Hall of Conquerors, which suited them perfectly, while Marcus and Eve were assigned to the Hall of Pioneers.
Any team with Logan was guaranteed victory.
That year’s tournament seemed predestined for the Hall of Conquerors to win. But Eve refused to yield.
She competed in every event, nosebleeds streaming down her face.
Determined not to lose to Logan, she drove her Hall of Pioneers teammates so relentlessly that they all marveled at her tenacity.
She entered the Swordsmanship competition despite having never trained, only to be eliminated in the preliminaries. In Rowing, she was disqualified for insufficient experience.
Yet she never gave up. In the Debate tournament, she miraculously bested Logan and secured the Hall of Pioneers’ first victory, lifting everyone’s spirits.
She participated in Marksmanship, Horsemanship, and Fencing as well. Remarkably, in each of those events alone, she proved skilled enough to be a true match for Logan.
He later learned that she’d barely slept, practicing relentlessly because she was desperate to defeat him.
In the end, her nosebleeds and all, she claimed second place. A heartbreakingly narrow margin separated her from Logan’s victory.
‘What’s strange is that she never actually collapsed despite it.’
Those nosebleeds, as frequent as they were, seemed to do her no harm whatsoever.
In Marcus’s memory, Eve had always been the woman who drew her sword against Logan. But at what point had Logan come to love her?

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