The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 52
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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 52
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Claire and Leon herded the innocent shelter residents safely into the Common Hall.
The people gathered there in confusion, waiting for Winterdin, the countess, to appear.
Meanwhile, Logan made his way directly to Winterdin’s quarters.
To find Eve.
The front door was locked tight.
He twisted the handle roughly, but it wouldn’t budge. The cold had frozen the door solid in its frame.
Logan stared at it for a moment. There was no time to find another way in.
His patience had worn to its breaking point.
Crash!
The frozen door tore clean away from its frame with a tremendous bang and flew inward.
Splinters of wood and shards of ice scattered in all directions.
Logan burst through after them.
“Eve!”
He ran down the corridor, grabbing at every door handle in sight.
If one wouldn’t give, he kicked it open.
Bang!
Crack!
The door tore free of its hinges entirely.
Finding no sign of Eve in the room, he moved swiftly to the next.
The interior was quiet.
More precisely, there were no voices—only the faint whisper of fabric brushing against something.
Logan rushed toward the sound.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out in the distance.
It came from the direction of the Common Hall. But Logan didn’t spare it a thought. Claire and Leon would handle it.
Beyond the short corridor lay the Reception Room. Its door stood half open.
Creak—
As he pushed it open, the scene inside became clear at a glance.
Winterdin, the countess, her hands stuck to the table and thrashing helplessly; and three young men and women on the floor, their feet frozen in place.
They made no sound because their mouths were covered with ice.
And there, sitting at the table in elegant repose, was a woman sipping tea.
It was Eve.
She glanced up at Logan, smiled softly, and greeted him.
“You’re right on time. I was waiting for you.”
“What’s happened here?”
“Would you like a cup of tea?”
She held up the cup she’d been drinking from, offering it to him as if the question were the most natural thing in the world.
Then, catching herself, she shook her head with a wry expression.
“Oh. This one tastes terrible. Must be the poison in it. I’ll bring you something else.”
“…What? Eve, did you just say poison?”
Logan froze where he stood, staring at the tea on the table.
Eve set down the cup and shrugged.
“Don’t worry. I have Poison Resistance.”
Logan couldn’t immediately grasp what she’d said. Eve had Poison Resistance?
He’d never known this about her because she’d never had cause to drink poison before. She’d lost her life to countless other methods long before poison would have mattered.
But however it stood, having resistance to poison was certainly a blessing.
Yet why?
Why would a woman raised so delicately possess such a thing as Poison Resistance?
The Everhart Countess House was, after all, a noble family of considerable standing.
“Drink. I was thinking about what to do with the Winterstone while I had my tea.”
Eve prepared a fresh cup for him, then pointed to a large Violet Stone resting on the table.
The Winterstone, glowing with a soft purple light, was quite large—nearly the size of a child’s head.
“I found it in the Basement. They were hiding something this obvious in such a predictable place.”
Eve spoke with calm composure, then gestured toward Winterdin and her attendants.
“Their skin will start to necrotize soon. Do you think you could knock them unconscious for me?”
Eve pointed to the people thrashing about as she spoke.
Their skin had taken on a ghastly blue-gray pallor. They looked as though frostbite had already set in.
Logan nodded, and Eve immediately released the ice.
“Hhhhh…….”
“Nnngh!”
“Ack.”
The people all collapsed onto the floor, their lips numb and trembling, unable to speak.
Winterdin was no exception.
The moment the ice melted, Logan had struck the base of their skulls, knocking them unconscious.
Leaving the unconscious bodies where they lay, the two of them shared a fresh pot of poison-free tea.
“So. What’s the plan?”
At Logan’s question, Eve pointed to the Violet Stone resting on the table.
“I’m going to absorb it first.”
She went on to explain that she would then return to Dotori Village, extract the absorbed power, and store it back in its original mineral form.
The Violet Stone possessed the property of accelerating crop growth.
The crops were already growing quickly thanks to the greenhouse, but with the Violet Stone, they could cultivate crops outside it as well.
Next, Eve gestured toward the unconscious figures on the floor.
“Then I need to recover the Winterstone absorbed into their bodies. Once I do, those who had their youth stolen will regain it, and these people will return to their original ages.”
Neither Logan nor Eve felt pity for them.
A brief silence fell.
Eve took a sip of the freshly brewed tea and opened her mouth again, her voice somewhat subdued.
“The more Winterstone I absorb, the greater the sense of responsibility becomes.”
“……What responsibility?”
“I feel the weight of needing to help find a way to end the Ice Age.”
At Eve’s final words, tension tightened in Logan’s jaw.
Then he spoke with an almost stubborn certainty.
“You have no such obligation.”
“……The problem is, the more power I gain, the more I find myself wanting to search for my family—those who vanished, whose fate I don’t even know—rather than end the Ice Age.”
She exhaled softly.
“That’s terribly selfish, isn’t it?”
Logan gazed at her without speaking.
“No one thinks searching for your family is selfish.”
Eve fell silent for a moment, as though sifting through memories of the past, before she spoke again after a long pause.
“My eldest brother gave me Poison Resistance from childhood.”
Hearing this, Logan’s brow furrowed.
He’d given her Poison Resistance—to this fragile body that looked as though it would shatter if gripped too firmly?
“At the time, I thought he was simply overprotective, or perhaps he actually hated me.”
Eve herself seemed unable to fathom her eldest brother, Graham, as she reflected on the past.
“Could it be that he somehow knew this would happen to me and prepared me in advance?”
Hearing this, Logan’s mind turned to many thoughts. Eve’s missing brothers—he had never met them even in his past life.
He felt no curiosity about whatever circumstances surrounded them.
They bore the name of Eve’s brothers yet had abandoned her to disappear helplessly, offering her no protection whatsoever.
He could not acknowledge such irresponsible men as her brothers.
“If I ever meet your brothers, I’m quite certain I won’t be able to let them live.”
At Logan’s words, Eve burst into laughter. He looked at her with a troubled expression before finally speaking.
“Still. Your brothers don’t sit well with me, but……prioritizing what you must protect over saving the world is only natural. So don’t blame yourself.”
At Logan’s words, Eve felt reassured. These words had come from Logan, who would choose saving one person over saving the world.
The moment he watched her troubled face ease, Logan’s own stern expression softened accordingly.
Eve placed her hand directly over the Violet Stone. Winterstones came in different varieties—each with its own hue, properties, and shape.
Within the deep violet crystal, light pulsed with rhythm, as though from a living heart.
Thump.
Thump.
Watching it, one could almost believe it truly lived and breathed.
And the moment her fingertips touched the stone’s surface,
Hummmmm—
the Violet Stone vibrated with a low hum.
Simultaneously, violet light bloomed up from within the stone.
Crack—
A fissure ran across the Violet Stone’s surface. The crack spread swiftly in all directions.
As though it had waited long for this moment. As though it had found its new master.
The light engulfed Eve like a tremendous wave.
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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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