The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 48

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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 48
“There’s nothing to hide, so I’ll tell you.”
Claire placed her hands neatly on her lap.
“I am an illegitimate child of Baron Wayne’s house.”
……
“My mother abandoned me, and I grew up in an orphanage run by the Royal Family’s charitable foundation.”
Claire maintained an even tone.
“I first met the Crown Prince when he came for an inspection there.”
Ah. I vaguely remember seeing where the two of them first met in the novel. It was only a brief mention, though.
“As children, we developed feelings for each other, and after secretly meeting, we became lovers.”
She paused, then smiled bitterly.
“But it didn’t last long.”
“The Royal Family opposed it.”
Claire nodded at my words.
“Yes. Particularly Countess Winterdin opposed it most strongly. I heard that a young lady being considered as a Crown Princess candidate at the time was the Countess’s niece.”
I waited quietly for her next words.
“She didn’t lay hands on me directly. Instead, she destroyed the orphanage where I grew up.”
……
“It was blackmail. A warning that this was only the beginning.”
The room fell silent. Everyone waited quietly for Claire’s next words.
“Aiden eventually broke things off with me. He said that if I stayed by his side, I would continue to be hurt.”
Claire soon smiled bitterly.
“He ran away.”
As no one dared to speak, I quietly broke the silence first.
“Lieutenant.”
She lifted her head at my call.
“Do you still resent the Crown Prince?”
“No. What right would someone like me have to resent him?”
Claire answered with a bitter expression.
“Though I cursed him sharply, he had his own reasons. He’s not someone I’m in any position to judge or understand.”
Claire turned her head as if to end her answer there and began organizing her sleeping place again.
Rion kept watching Claire’s mood.
‘I want to bring her to Dotori Village.’
Thinking that, I wrapped a blanket around myself and settled onto the sofa.
“If we can just get through one more night here, we’ll be leaving this place. It would be best if we didn’t cause any major problems.”
Claire was right.
‘I still haven’t decided what to do about the Winterstone, so there’s nothing I can do anyway.’
If I told Logan, he would sweep through the entire shelter and take the Winterstone, but that’s not what I want. I had no intention of forcibly taking something that had an owner.
The villa was fairly spacious, but tonight we decided not to separate into different rooms.
We chose to sleep together in one place as a precaution against unforeseen circumstances, and to take turns keeping watch.
It was far safer than scattering across separate rooms in an unfamiliar shelter.
Fortunately, the sofas were arranged in a long curve around the fireplace, so Claire and I could lie diagonally across one.
Rion laid out a blanket near the fireplace, and Logan took a position where he could keep watch on the door.
With a soldier present, everyone agreed I didn’t need to keep watch, so I found myself unexpectedly sleeping soundly through the night.
Grateful as I was, I felt uneasy in my heart.
Logan had the first watch, and as I kept fidgeting with my legs, he glanced at me briefly.
“Sorry. I’m just a bit uncomfortable.”
When I whispered this to him softly, Logan approached with firm steps, slipped his hands under my armpits, and lifted me effortlessly.
Huh?
Logan was now leaning against the sofa’s armrest, lying at an angle, and I suddenly found myself nestled between his legs, my back against his firm chest.
……?
He pulled me into his arms and lay down as if it were the most natural thing in the world. I thought it was strange, but since Logan seemed unbothered, I found myself tilting my head in confusion.
The position was surprisingly comfortable, but I was now fully awake.
Crackle. Crackle.
I listened to the sound of logs burning as I gazed quietly out the window.
Behind me, I could feel Logan’s chest rising and falling steadily.
A peaceful quiet.
Though our situation was very precarious, held in Logan’s arms like this, I felt safe and warm.
But that lasted only a moment—
A dark shadow suddenly appeared outside the window.
It seemed moonlight had been seeping through before, but now the light had vanished.
What’s this?
Logan was already watching the window, his composure unshaken.
I turned my gaze back outside and in the darkness, two luminous eyes met mine.
“Ah!”
I lurched upright in fright, and the shadow disappeared as moonlight settled once more across the room.
Claire, who had collapsed into sleep moments before, and Rion, snoring on the carpet by the hearth, both jolted awake.
Logan, already dressed and with his Great Sword in hand, turned to me.
“I’ll take a look around. Stay here, and look after Eve for me, Claire.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll go with you.”
Rion hastily pulled on his clothes and grabbed his gun, following Logan out the door.
“What did you see?” Claire asked, still unable to tear my eyes from the window.
I rubbed my arms where goosebumps had risen and answered.
“There was someone at the window. They were looking at us.”
The window was positioned near the ceiling.
The problem was that the first floor of this villa had a remarkably high ceiling—roughly the height of two stories.
“To peer inside from that window, there would have to be a ladder outside, or else the person would need to be over five meters tall. Perhaps it was some kind of wild beast?” Claire’s calm and rational deduction was persuasive.
I was on the verge of reassuring myself that I’d been mistaken.
But then Logan returned from outside with a person firmly in his grip.
It was an old man who looked to be well over seventy.
What? It was a person after all!
The only consolation was that he wasn’t a giant over five meters tall.
Logan dragged the old man by the collar to the center of the living room and forced him to his knees.
Then he drew his Great Sword.
Shing.
As the blade came into view, the old man’s face drained of all color.
Crack.
Logan’s sword point scraped past the old man’s knees and pierced the floor.
Then Logan’s voice came, terrifyingly low.
“Why were you spying?”
“I, I was curious who you were. And I felt… pity for you…….”
The old man bowed his head urgently.
“Speak plainly.”
There was a killing intent woven through Logan’s voice. The old man trembled, unable to withstand the pressure.
“You will all become like me.”
Yet even as he shook with fear, he continued with what he needed to say.
“I believe the leader has instructed that you must not survive this night.”
Silence fell.
The old man smiled bitterly, his wrinkles deepening around his mouth.
“All the new guests met the same fate. I too was a new guest here just a week ago.”
No one could speak.
The old man touched his own face with trembling hands.
“Tell me more. What is their plan?”
At Logan’s question, the old man’s gaze fixed on me.
“……Bait.”
“What?”
“They said they would use bait.”
His eyes remained locked on me. Everyone turned to stare.
And in that moment.
Recover the Winterstone for me.
A voice echoed inside my head.
I had heard this voice before. But what was its origin? Could it truly be the Frost Heart?
‘Wait.’
A sudden thought struck me.
If Countess Winterdin possessed the Violetstone, then she had entered my Range of Influence.
Once a Winterstone entered my Range of Influence, it could be traced.
“Eve?”
“I’ll check what Countess Winterdin is doing.”
I replied to Logan’s call, then focused my mind.
【Old Man, what will you do with the guests?】
The voice came with a shift in the scene. The new location was far removed from the great tree in the center of the Shelter.
It was the same place where I’d sensed another Winterstone earlier.
So it was now clear that Countess Winterdin possessed a Winterstone beyond the Redstone.
【We must follow the rules.】
【But it’s Cheswind, sir. A war hero. And there were two soldiers with him besides.】
【That’s precisely why we should use the woman.】
【Do you mean the Duchess of Cheswind?】
【Yes.】
The conversation ended there.
No. Why me again. This is why I keep getting killed off left and right.
I buried my face in my hands.
Right. I was clearly the weakest-looking one here.
Honestly, even I had to admit I looked pathetic—frail as a leaf caught in a blizzard. Like a sickly goat.
Now I finally understood Logan’s overprotectiveness.

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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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