The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 70
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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 70
I tapped the baby bird’s head gently. It was exhausted and paid no attention, drowsing away with lazy nods.
As I watched the creature for a while, Logan retrieved a small tin kettle from the cargo sled.
He placed a few chunks of ice he’d broken earlier into the kettle, then pressed fresh snow on top in small handfuls.
“I see—you know not to put snow in first, Logan.”
“Snow first and you just scorch the bottom.”
“Right. Normally you’d put water in first, then the snow, but we don’t have water now, so……”
“If the kettle burns, we’re in trouble. Plus we need to conserve fuel. Isn’t that so, Eve?”
I laughed at Logan’s response. The way we matched up each other’s logic—it was genuinely enjoyable.
Logan dropped herbs into the boiling water.
A subtle fragrance drifted through the cold air.
“If the Ice Age hadn’t come, I’d be at the Cheswind Estate with you right now, wouldn’t I?”
“Yes, you would.”
“We’d have been living an ordinary marriage.”
“……That’s precisely what I regret most.”
I laughed at Logan’s teasing reply.
“Don’t laugh. You forget that we’re husband and wife far too often.”
“What do you mean? I’m always aware of it.”
Logan glanced at me, then seemed to think of something. Quietly, he took my hand.
A moment later, he interlaced our fingers.
Next, he carefully pulled me backward until I fell. Naturally, Logan came to rest above me.
“If you’re always aware of it,”
he said slowly, lowering his head. Soon his voice reached my ear.
“then this should come naturally.”
He pressed his lips softly to my hair. I trembled in surprise, and the next moment he brought his mouth to my cheek.
Without thinking, I tensed my whole body. Warmth bloomed across my cheek with each breath he took.
I pushed up on my toes and squeezed my eyes shut, and then a cool rush swept over me.
He’d pulled his face away.
Already? Just like that?
My eyes flew open in bewilderment, my mouth wordless.
Logan was grinning, his eyes crinkling with amusement as our gazes met.
Whoosh!
Only then did I understand what had happened, and my face flushed crimson.
It seemed Logan had never intended to go further—he simply wanted to see how I’d react.
“You’re awful!”
“Really? But you were hoping for more, Eve.”
“I was not!”
At my outcry, Logan burst into laughter.
Tee-hee, tee-hee.
I pounded his forearm for a while, but eventually grew tired and collapsed onto my back.
Logan handed me the herbal tea he’d brewed. I scowled at him but accepted the cup with proper grace.
“Next time I’ll go further.”
“That’s enough!”
“I want to take it one step at a time. That’s where the true pleasure of taste lies—in savoring it slowly.”
At those words, I found myself anticipating what came next, my heart stirring once again.
Such a hollow woman I am. How easy. How terribly easy to move me!
By this point, I couldn’t tell who was taming whom. Whenever I was with this man, my heart would race several times over the course of a single day.
It wasn’t good for my health.
After that little commotion faded away,
I shared herbal tea with Logan and then dozed off just like Pipi, nodding away in the warmth.
At some point after that, my memory went blank. I was so exhausted that I fell completely asleep.
I regained consciousness roughly three or four hours later.
The moon still hung bright in the night sky.
When I opened my eyes, troubled by some vague sense of discomfort, I saw a smooth nape. Beneath it, clothes concealed what lay below, but it wasn’t difficult to tell that it belonged to Logan.
I was lying entwined with Logan, holding each other close.
The campfire had long since gone out.
I should rekindle it—
We had Redstone to get by on, certainly, but it was always better to have more warmth if we could manage it.
“Shh.”
Just then Logan murmured softly.
Huh?
“You were awake?”
“There’s a bear. It’s far enough away, so don’t be alarmed—just keep your voice down.”
……What?
Fortunately, the bear was very distant and barely visible from where we were.
I held myself still in Logan’s arms, barely breathing.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
I could hear Logan’s heartbeat, steady and measured at regular intervals—nothing like my own, which hammered irregularly against my ribs.
Why was my heart racing like this, as if I were the only one afraid?
I’d only squirmed slightly, dissatisfied with the feeling.
Sigh.
Logan exhaled softly.
“What’s wrong? Has the bear gotten closer?”
Logan furrowed his brow at my whisper and spoke.
“No, that’s not it……I just wish you’d stay still.”
“Oh? Right, sorry.”
It seemed my constant fidgeting was bothering him. Afraid the bear might circle back from where it had vanished into the distance, I pressed myself against his solid frame and held my breath.
Because of the height difference, my lips were buried near his collarbone.
My heart was beating so hard that I exhaled deeply, trying to calm myself—and Logan’s grip on my collar tightened.
“Sorry. Did I make you uncomfortable?”
Logan didn’t answer.
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
“Not all nine times were you killed by other survivors.”
I lifted my head.
“What?”
It contradicted what I thought I knew.
“In the first life, you froze to death.”
“……Well, that’s better.”
Logan looked down at me. His eyes narrowed.
“No. I mean—it’s better than being murdered.”
He made a groaning sound.
“Eve, whether back then or now, you really do speak…….”
“Beautifully?”
“Impossibly.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
……
“Speaking impossibly is rather difficult, actually.”
“All right, let’s say that’s true.”
Logan laughed. Whether we were in Dotori Village or among others, he rarely smiled—but alone with me, he smiled quite often.
“The further back in time I go, the more memories accumulate.”
Then, his expression growing calm, Logan spoke in a quieter voice.
“They pile up like that, building a high wall between me and others. But you—even though you reset each time—we can still talk. It feels like you’re always on the same side of that wall as me.”
It was an enormous compliment. But what if it was only because I had deep knowledge of Ice Age Survival Knowledge? What if it was simply because that knowledge was so useful to him?
I listened quietly to what he was saying before I spoke.
“Being like this with you—it’s still a little strange for me. You’re already on your ninth time, no, your tenth—so it must feel natural to you.”
“……I don’t know about that.”
Logan paused. He seemed to be choosing his words, his lips moving soundlessly. Without meaning to, I found myself staring at his mouth.
“Being with you, Eve—no matter how many times, it always feels like the first.”
I simply listened to what he was saying.
“I thought that once I got used to it, I’d care less. But every time, you feel new to me.”
It was a confession delivered almost matter-of-factly.
“It’s driving me mad.”
I wasn’t fool enough to miss the meaning behind his words.
I swallowed hard as I carefully considered my response.
“I don’t know if I’m capable of receiving something as profound as what you’re offering…….”
For some reason, speaking felt nervous.
“But maybe I’m falling for you too. Annoyingly so.”
So I added something pointless. Logan’s head snapped down to look at me.
“I think…… the first me would have felt the same. And the second me too. All the same.”
I raised my head and looked at him directly.
“You’d have felt the same way. About Logan.”
“Eve, what you’re saying right now…….”
“Is this me being in love with you?”
“No.”
“……What?”
Logan’s denial was so firm that I felt a jolt of confusion. No—confusion didn’t begin to cover it.
“It’s the Suspension Bridge Effect.”
“What? Hey, wait a second.”
Crack—
In that instant, the sound of a branch snapping came from somewhere nearby.
“Shh—”
Logan’s hand shot to my shoulder.
We rose slowly and carefully lifted the edge of the tent.
“They’re not the kind that harm humans.”
In the direction he pointed, a herd of creatures that looked part deer, part horse, was moving through the forest.
Only then did I manage to compose myself enough to speak.
“Reindeer.”
Logan nodded at my words.
“Right.”
Of all the moments for reindeer to show up. It was like the woolly mammoth all over again.
I couldn’t be certain whether those reindeer were a type of Snow Monster or had migrated down from the north, but as Logan said, they weren’t the sort to harm humans.
‘Should we be hunting them……?’
My eyes went wide as I watched them, and then I noticed something odd.
“Logan, there’s a person on that reindeer.”
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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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