The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 186

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 186

* * *

What?

That was my first thought as I looked up at the gray ceiling where yellow light flickered.

I blinked blankly, then sat up abruptly as if burned. In the middle of the silent room where even the sound of the Northern Continent’s cold wind tapping against the glass window felt quiet, I saw a man sitting like a ghost.

His two eyes, staring directly at me, were filled with anguished melancholy and darkness.

“It’s nine o’clock.”

“…Don’t tell me a whole day has passed?”

Instead of answering, Lu gestured with his chin toward the old grandfather clock on the wall.

The hour hand pointed to 9.

Outside the castle, a snowstorm was still raging, and the sky was dark with night’s curtain. I fumblingly recalled the last scene that remained as a blurry afterimage in my memory.

‘Did I suddenly fall asleep because it was late?’

But doesn’t this seem more like I fainted rather than fell asleep?

Moreover, the time I woke up, which had been just past seven in the evening, suddenly jumped to nine o’clock with a large gap. Of course, it wasn’t entirely strange. It was proof that Dian’s body was recovering quickly and surely.

Suddenly, intuition struck me. The fact that my departure from this body was now just a matter of time.

Lu said nothing.

And I knew we needed to have more conversations about death and Calepa’s heart, but I couldn’t part my lips. Because Lu’s gaze persistently followed every moment I blinked, every moment I inhaled and exhaled.

As if trying to confirm that I was still me.

After a long while, Lu was the first to break the silence.

“Say anything.”

“…”

“Hurry up.”

“…That hair color suits you well too.”

“Hair color?”

“The you I know has a slightly, no, very different hair color from now. It’s a hair color I’ve never seen once in my life, so from birth…”

An obvious sigh was heard.

Lu, who slowly rose like a sleeping beast stretching languidly, approached me. After thoroughly scanning my entire body with ice-pick-cold eyes, he soon closed his eyelids.

With a thud, he collapsed onto my bed and wrapped his arms tightly around me from behind.

“Change the subject a bit. Don’t talk about some damn bastard I don’t know, talk about now.”

Lu’s warm breath settled near my ear and nape. I grumbled quietly while listening to his regular heartbeat felt through my back.

“You’re so selfish that sometimes you’re overwhelming to deal with.”

“So you hate it?”

“…Actually, I do like that about you.”

“What part. Being a complete mess?”

“Yeah, the part where you’re a complete mess.”

“That’s a bit problematic.”

Even as he said that, there was a strange satisfaction conveyed in his tone. Lu, who turned my face toward him, muttered while changing angles this way and that.

“Your face feels like it’s becoming clearer and clearer.”

“Really? How is it changing? I can’t confirm it with my own eyes.”

“You’re probably changing into Ash. It’s roughly a face that suits that name.”

As if lost in deep thought, Lu, who had been staring at my face intently, whispered in a passing tone.

“How about just making this body yours?”

To talk about taking over his body when he’s not ignorant of Dian. When I hardened my expression at his malicious joke, Lu’s eyes drew small arcs.

“Don’t make that face, Ash.”

They were arcs clearly filled with mockery.

“You’d better be careful. If you show such obvious disgust in front of me… I really want to make it happen.”

Lu, who had been silently stroking my chin the entire time after, got up to attend the Round Table Meeting as soon as it became 10 PM.

I expected him to take me along this time too, but contrary to my expectations, he left me in the bedroom and went out alone. And he locked the door too.

“Chirp?”

Looking at me sitting blankly, Ash tilted her small head.

“…It’s okay, Ash. The snowstorm is particularly severe today, so he must be worried. If I go out even briefly and come back, I might get sick.”

For some reason, White didn’t come to see me that day either.

* * *

When I opened my eyes at some point, the world was still dark.

Has it already been dozens of days since I last saw the blue sky with the sun up? Now this darkness just feels familiar.

Like yesterday, at some point while reminiscing about the previous day’s memories that were hazy like fog, Lu’s voice was heard.

“It’s ten o’clock.”

The hour hand pointed to 10. Looking at the hour hand advancing at an absurdly fast pace, I slowly held my forehead.

This time too, I didn’t meet Lu in my dreams.

How many days has it been since we last met?

I simply wanted to ask Lu for help. How could your past overcome death and be reborn as a god, could he really maintain his sanity even after swallowing Calepa’s heart… I had mountains of questions, but Lu’s power maintained its silence.

‘Tomorrow is the last day.’

That’s right, the four days Lu had hinted at were already approaching. On one hand, I couldn’t believe it. Four days pass this quickly?

Come to think of it, what did I do last night? After Lu left the bedroom, I tried to spend time with Ash while checking the notes Dian left… strangely, I can’t remember.

‘Why?’

When I raised my head while dry-washing my face due to my frustratingly dim memory, Lu was standing right in front of me, looking at me.

His face was pale. Nevertheless, his eyes were dark underneath as if he hadn’t slept for a very long time. It was a face too discordant with twenty-two-year-old Lu, so the anxiety I had been suppressing writhed beneath my heart.

Steadying my breathing with the feeling of chewing sand, I greeted him with as nonchalant a face as possible.

“What’s wrong, Lu? You look like you’ve seen a living corpse.”

After a brief silence, a hoarse voice leaked from between Lu’s lips.

“You.”

“…”

“I don’t like how you smile and talk as if nothing’s wrong.”

A suddenly extended fingertip touched my cheek. After carefully stroking my face and checking my breathing with cautious touch, he slowly embraced me.

“Do you remember what time you lost consciousness?”

“Lu.”

“Midnight.”

“It’s okay, Lu. It’s natural.”

“Your time is getting shorter, and Dian Sereniye’s time is getting longer. While you’re dying, Dian Sereniye gets healthier day by day. As if feeding off you.”

My heart beats rapidly. This wasn’t the sound of my heartbeat. Lu’s anxiety, the vivid fear he felt, was being transmitted to me.

Was it because this was the first time I’d seen Lu look so confused? I too felt more extreme anxiety than ever. After biting my lips for a while, I gently patted his back that was too broad and young to hold in one embrace.

“No. It’s absolutely not like that, Lu. I’ll swear on my name. Not just my name, I can swear on everything. Even if we part right now, we’ll meet again soon.”

“I’m not interested.”

“More importantly, when did you last sleep? You need to conserve your strength for tomorrow…”

“Fuck, I said I’m not interested!”

With rough profanity, he pulled away and gripped my shoulders as if to shatter them. His shadowed golden eyes swayed in all directions, captivated by reproach.

“Later, what? What about that damn me I don’t know? I don’t care anymore. Now is important to me. Right now, this moment, you sitting in front of me without any regrets is much more important!”

No.

Don’t say that, Lu.

“If you say that… you can’t. Don’t do that.”

“…”

“Even if you don’t know, that’s you. You saved me. You rescued me, so I can face you now. So you mustn’t speak of him like a stranger. To me, you are wholly one.”

“…”

“You’re there and you’re here too.”

“…”

“This moment we’re sharing together also feels to me like some indescribable strange fate…”

Then a bitter laugh burst out.

“Ah, fate. I know that bastard very well too.”

The strength gripping my shoulders gradually loosened.

Lu’s face, which had been roughly distorted, was the same. Unlike just before when he was helplessly swayed by intense emotions, Lu who spoke of fate seemed a bit more peaceful and stable.

“Yes, Ash. I was able to reach this position thanks to that fate. The fate of living as a slave in the underground mines for life and being disposed of from poisoning. The fate of being swept away by the great flood and becoming fertilizer for the earth. The fate of becoming a test subject in demon experiments and turning into a walking corpse. The fate of being captured by those Rogue bastards and becoming a vessel for Calepa… After trampling and crushing them all, I was able to realize. Ah, fate is…”

Lu’s gaze as he looked up at me while kneeling on one knee seemed somehow empty.

“Fate holds true value from the moment it is broken.”

My vision swayed dizzily as golden hair suddenly rose up. Breath so cold it made my teeth ache touched my lips.

Had Lu kissed me?

Before I could find the answer to that question, I felt an intense impact at the back of my neck.

I lost consciousness completely.

* * *

When I opened my eyes again, the world was still dark.

It truly was.

Dark, and dark.

Silent, and silent again.

As if I had fallen alone into hell.

“…Lu?”

My voice scattered into the void. But that was all. The world remained dark and silent, and I felt no other response beyond that.

I belatedly grasped the source of that strange feeling.

I couldn’t see anything before my eyes.

‘Why?’

All my other senses remained intact, but only my vision was indiscernible. The invisible world was darker than night and brighter than day, turning my mind upside down in chaos.

Where am I wandering? What time is it now? Where is this place? What about Dian? What about Ash?

What about Lu?

“Lu?”

Instinctively, I reached out my hand to check the floor I was lying on. It felt hard in an unfamiliar way, though not cold. It definitely wasn’t the bedroom.

Just as my questions were becoming anxiety, and anxiety was growing into fear, a large warmth settled on the back of my hand.

“I’m here.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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