The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 67

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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 67
His red eyes scrutinized mine from mere inches away.
The suddenness of it stole my breath. His warm exhale brushed against my skin.
Just as my heart threatened to burst from my chest, Logan settled back into his chair.
“Not a dream, then.”
Logan’s composure was unshaken. He’d only just woken, his expression drowsy as he gazed down at me with quiet stillness.
I stared at him, unable to close my mouth. In the time I’d been unconscious, he’d transformed into someone else entirely.
Unfamiliar expression, unfamiliar eyes. He looked like a different person altogether. Was he wearing the face of his previous life, as he’d said?
“…What happened?”
“You were unconscious for two days.”
At Logan’s words, my expression grew grave. The side effects of the Winterstone were worse than I’d anticipated.
While I was still struggling for words, Logan spoke in an even tone.
“I thought you wouldn’t wake up, Eve.”
His face showed no sign of great turmoil.
But I mustn’t forget: in the tenth iteration, if I die, Logan plans the annihilation of humanity.
I met his gaze.
“So. Were you going to regress again?”
“No.”
He paused for a moment, then smiled crookedly.
“I’ve lost all faith in humanity.”
Logan answered exactly as I’d expected.
“I’d decided it would be better to erase every human living on this land.”
His toneless voice was as casual as if he were suggesting a walk through the neighborhood.
I recalled what I’d seen in the dream.
Logan’s heart was definitely darkening, turning black like the Frost Heart itself.
“Your ability to reverse time—is it something you got from the Frost Heart?”
“I’m not sure. In my first life, I watched you die right before my eyes. Then I died too. There was no reason to live.”
What? I was startled, but I didn’t let it show. I had a question that needed answering.
“But when you reversed time, there were side effects, weren’t there?”
“…How did you know?”
“I saw it in the dream. Your heart turning black.”
Logan let out a bitter laugh and dragged his hand across his face.
“Every time I reverse time, my emotions fade. My hatred for humanity only grows stronger.”
Logan spoke flatly.
“Now I can feel it. That stain will eventually consume me entirely. Eve, I can’t reverse time anymore.”
Only then did I understand: Logan was becoming something that transcended human bounds.
Something that had completely lost its humanity.
“Do you have any theory about how you gained that power? Did you perhaps come into contact with the Frost Heart…?”
Logan shook his head.
“I’ve never even seen the Frost Heart. In my first life, you died and then… hmm.”
A silence fell between us.
Logan trailed off for some reason. There was something more.
“You had a fragment of Black Mana Stone. After you died, I touched it.”
A fragment of Black Mana Stone? The Frost Heart?
“I haven’t been able to find it since the first life. I could never figure out what it actually was….”
Logan drew a Red Stone from inside his shirt and showed it to me.
“When I saw the Winterstone appear this time around, I understood. That fragment was a piece of the Frost Heart.”
“Why did you say you didn’t know before?”
“Because I really didn’t.”
That made sense, I suppose.
Even if I recognized that the Black Mana Stone was the Frost Heart, I might not understand what it truly meant.
‘I need to find Julian.’
Then Logan brushed back the hair that had fallen across his forehead and looked at me quietly.
“Eve.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t die.”
“I… I don’t want to either.”
The request was so direct that I stumbled over my words, sounding almost foolish.
“You really don’t understand anything. How cruel this world has been to you.”
Logan sighed and began unbuttoning his shirt, rolling up his sleeves to reveal his firm forearms.
Soon he wrung out the damp cloth resting on the bedside table and wiped the cold sweat gathering on my forehead, continuing as he did.
“And the fact that only I understand that—you still don’t know that either.”
He gripped the cloth tightly as he spoke, anger evident in the gesture.
Water dripped onto my face as a result, but Logan’s expression looked so grave that I couldn’t bring myself to complain.
* * *
“The villagers here seem far too at ease, relying on that strength. Looking at how they assembled the village membership in the first place, they’re nothing but a rabble militia…….”
“A war hero who ought to be defending the empire puts aside patriotism to tend a broken-down village like this—it’s laughable. When disaster strikes, the Crown Prince should be the first you seek out to rejoin the ranks, and yet…….”
Vincent would come to regret those words deeply.
First, the residents of Dotori Village were no rabble militia. Their preparations for the blizzard had unfolded with striking order and remarkable efficiency.
Moreover, they were all remarkably sharp.
When Eve presented a scientific argument, they would grow serious and add their own thoughts one by one.
Perhaps Vincent had envied that sight. It was something you couldn’t see in Norton.
Norton’s advisors were aged, corrupt, and aristocratic in the worst sense.
They were too busy bending the young Crown Prince to their will and forcing through their opinions—nothing like the cooperation he saw here in Dotori Village.
Aiden and Vincent’s original purpose had been to ascertain Eve’s power, which they’d heard rumors of.
And if it proved true, their aim extended to recruiting her to their side.
They needed that strength.
That she could wield the Winterstone’s power as if it were her own had been vaguely confirmed, but they still didn’t know the extent of her ability.
Yet Aiden seemed not to care about that anymore.
He wanted Eve to join them as a member of their survival base.
Making Eve his target was quite rational. If he secured her, Logan would naturally follow.
Not only that—the villagers would come along as well.
Marcus Rutland, the village administrator with brilliant negotiation and information-gathering skills.
Nathan Holt, who appeared to handle agricultural planning and village maintenance.
Jack Harper, the village’s medical technician.
Charlotte Murray, a swordswoman handling cooking, military support, and command operations.
Brian Connor, skilled in fishing, food procurement, and external reconnaissance.
In fact, of the seven—including Logan and Eve—five were graduates from the Royal Academy’s top-ranked class.
Even Jack and Nathan had graduated from specialized academies rather than the Royal Academy.
Aiden had every reason to covet the village itself.
“I understand the desire to twist my words. But I say this out of pity for you, who would accept as mistress a woman hoping for miracles on nothing but a handful of Winterstone pieces in such wretched circumstances.”
Vincent regretted those words deeply as well.
Sometimes like a friend, sometimes like a leader, sometimes like a noblewoman—Eve shifted her role flawlessly to match each situation.
She was clever. She was far from being “a woman hoping for miracles on nothing but a handful of Winterstone pieces in wretched circumstances.”
Of course, “wretched circumstances” was itself something of a misnomer. Dotori Village was a peculiar place worthy of its grim reputation as the Demon’s Land.
Outside temperatures fluctuated between minus thirty and sixty degrees, yet this village alone maintained roughly ten degrees below zero, as if shielded by a barrier.
And then there was the greenhouse inhabited by the mysterious squirrels.
He’d seen with his own eyes that food cultivation was possible there.
Sigh—
Vincent exhaled heavily and buried his face in his hands. That’s when it happened.
Click.
Aiden entered the room.
He came in holding a teacup with steam rising warmly from it, only to notice Vincent’s gaunt face.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m well. I seem to have recovered almost entirely. I’ve brought shame upon Your Highness.”
“Good—you should be ashamed. I hear you provoked the Duke’s aide and then slipped and fell on your own.”
Before Aiden could finish, Vincent climbed out of bed, dropped to his knees, and bowed his head.
“Punish me, Your Highness. Your Highness’s sword has dared to tarnish Your Highness’s honor.”
The expression on Aiden’s face as he regarded Vincent was complex and inscrutable.

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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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