The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 86

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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 86
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We had finally arrived at Dotori Village.
Charlotte, Nathan, and Jack, who had come out to greet us, were shocked when they saw the refugee procession.
“I only followed the village chief’s decision.”
Marcus raised both hands to show his innocence.
“Village chief? That’s terrible.”
“Then what should we call you—chief?”
“The leader of this village is strictly speaking…….”
“Yeah. Logan, right?”
Marcus finished the sentence as if he already knew my answer.
I shrugged and looked around the village.
If three or four people lived together in one house, we could manage temporarily in eight buildings.
For that reason, it was decided that Logan, Luca, Marcus, and Charlotte would stay with me at Eve House.
Claire and Rion would share a house with Nathan and Jack, and the remaining houses would be divided among the others.
When I stepped into the greenhouse after so long, Dotori came flying.
Chirp!
The cantankerous squirrel came bounding out with a heavy thud—or rather, that’s how it felt; in reality it was just a little hop.
I stood watching as the cantankerous squirrel clung to my leg and gnawed at the hem of my clothes, when Nathan approached and spoke to me.
“Dotori has been searching for you constantly.”
“For me?”
“It seems to sit by the greenhouse entrance every day, waiting for the door to open.”
“A rather remarkable squirrel.”
Just then, Graham appeared suddenly and offered his comment.
Nathan bowed to him.
“It is an honor to make your acquaintance. I am Nathan Holt, aide to the Duke of Chiswind and attendant to the Duke and Duchess.”
“Graham Oswall Everhart. I have heard the story. You have helped Eve greatly. I am very grateful.”
“Not at all. It is I who received help.”
Nathan, looking embarrassed, scratched his cheek, and then gestured toward the table in the greenhouse.
“Please, speak freely. I shall take my leave.”
After Nathan left the greenhouse, an awkward silence fell between Graham and me.
I led my older brother to the greenhouse table and sat down.
“Would you like some tea?”
“Yes.”
I took out a teapot and teacup from the drawer beside the table, then retrieved a warmer and held my finger to a candle flame, and it ignited.
Graham was watching intently, so I deliberately demonstrated it.
“That power of yours…….”
“I don’t know how it happened. It appeared suddenly. Once I absorbed Winterstone into my body, I could use its power.”
I waited for the tea to brew, stealing a glance at Graham’s face.
“You know why that is, don’t you?”
I asked the question in a casual tone, as if it were nothing serious.
Splash.
Once the tea had darkened sufficiently, I poured it and handed it to my older brother.
He did not pick up the teacup.
Beyond his angular glasses, his deep violet eyes simply gazed quietly at the wisps of steam rising from the cup.
His pale ash-gray hair, which fell to his neck, flowed softly with his every movement as he bowed his head.
The cold-weather clothing he had procured somewhere during his time wandering through the Ice Age was frayed in places, yet somehow it did not look shabby at all.
His upright posture and broad shoulders possessed a natural dignity that drew people’s gazes even when he sat in silence.
That was why, in my childhood, I would straighten my back without thinking whenever I stood before him.
He had been proud of me for that.
And yet I had feared him.
‘I still miss it, though.’
I wished I could return to those days.
“Eve, if father and mother ask you to go somewhere with just them, don’t go. Tell them you won’t go without Graham and Julian. Understand?”
Why had he said such a thing?
Though I had come to know that I was adopted, I still cherished those times and longed for them.
So I had to know the reason.
“Is the reason I gained this power related to my being adopted?”
“……Perhaps.”
In the end, I could not hold back and asked him directly.
“I wish you’d tell me everything you know.”
At my words, he drew a dry breath as if he’d been expecting this moment all along, then opened his mouth slowly.
“You were adopted the day Mother had her miscarriage.”
Graham hesitated before beginning his account.
“It was strange. Just days before, I’d heard that Mother wasn’t well. But the moment we arrived at the townhouse in the Capital, I was told you’d been born. Yet even at ten years old, I could see you weren’t a newborn fresh from the womb.”
He shrugged and continued in a quieter voice.
“You looked several months old, at least.”
“Where did Father get me from?”
“White Veil. It looked like he stole you from them.”
“……Stole? That’s a strange way to put it. You make it sound like I was some kind of experiment subject.”
“I don’t know. Father said, ‘I stole a child from them. The child looked like Lulu……’ Turns out Mother’s fetal movements had stopped a week prior, and that’s when Father came across you.”
“Wait, hold on. I’m so confused. So who are my real parents? And who is White Veil?”
“That’s what we need to find out from here on.”
White Veil was an organization with no records to prove its existence, no tangible proof of reality.
And yet for centuries, every conspiracy theory told the same tale.
They said White Veil had existed since before the First Ice Age.
“Don’t trust Father, Eve.”
Graham had said things like that many times before. Finally, I asked him the question I’d always wanted to ask.
“Don’t you love Mother and Father?”
“Eve, the only ones I love are you and Julian.”
“Why? We were a happy family. Mother and Father loved you too……”
“Eve. They never loved us. We only have each other.”
The moment I heard those words, I remembered something Father had said to me.
“Graham is the eldest, so he carries a heavy burden of responsibility. That’s why he’s always suspicious. He doubts and doubts our love, but remember this one thing—your mother and father love our son and daughter more than anyone.”
I don’t know anymore. Now that I’ve heard this, I can’t tell whether Father and Mother were right, or whether Graham was right. I have no idea.
“Is that why you taught me how to hunt and to build poison resistance? Just because you didn’t trust Mother and Father?”
“Yes.”
I’d thought Graham knew something about the Ice Age and taught me for that reason. But that wasn’t it?
He did it simply out of caution toward Father?
A flash of anger struck me, but I forced myself to think clearly.
Whatever the reason, those skills had genuinely helped me survive.
Besides, it was possible Graham had helped me for exactly that reason—to protect me in case Father tried to do something to my food or tea.
‘I have enough to worry about without adding the mystery of my birth to the list.’
My head was beginning to ache.
“Do you know where White Veil’s headquarters is located?”
“I’ve been searching for that information.”
“Then please find it. And get word to me if you learn anything.”
Graham seemed to have assumed I’d follow him despite his words about staying here.
“Why won’t you come with me……?”
“Because I have someone I need to protect now.”
“The Duke of Cheswind?”
“That’s right.”
Graham looked at me with eyes full of complicated emotion.
I understood. He was remembering me from five years ago.
The version of me who’d talked about Logan constantly, boasting about how I’d beat him.
“……Actually, I already suspected you had feelings for the Duke of Cheswind. You didn’t realize your own heart, but it was clear as day to me.”
But Graham’s next words caught me off guard.
“I thought it was just a passing emotion you’d go through once in your youth. How did you end up marrying Logan?”
“You really don’t know anything, do you?”
I let out a hollow laugh at his bewilderment.
‘So he really was locked away.’
His expression was far too honest to be a lie.

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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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