Chapter 06
“Is the food not to your liking?”
After I had been staring at the steak in front of me for quite some time, Blake spoke without even glancing in my direction.
Meanwhile, he was cutting his own steak with flawless posture, not a single movement out of place.
I had only been holding my knife and fork, but then, watching him absentmindedly for a moment, I cautiously asked:
“Why are we suddenly eating together…?”
“As I told you this morning.”
Blake’s voice was cold and dry.
It felt like there was no trace of emotion in it—yet strangely, I thought he sounded irritated.
“Is there any reason why we shouldn’t dine together?”
“Well, it’s just… since it’s something you normally wouldn’t do…?”
He glanced at my bewildered face, then answered my question only with a pretty smile.
His clear blue eyes curved like crescent moons, and his lips—brightly red—curved mischievously upward.
Recalling what I’d read in the novel, I remembered: this was Blake’s habit whenever he was displeased yet didn’t want to say it outright.
“You pretend to be cautious, but you always say what you want anyway…”
The way he looked at me, as if to say ‘What should I do with you?’, made me hurriedly drop my gaze back to my plate.
Had I really upset him just by asking why we were eating together?
I mean, it was possible.
But since when had he cared about what I thought—or worse, been affected by my words at all?
“Don’t you have something to say to me?”
At that, my eyes darted around nervously.
‘You definitely did something wrong to me, didn’t you? Hurry up and confess.’
That was the meaning packed into his words, and hearing it from him was far scarier than hearing it from my parents.
Unfortunately, I had far too many things to feel guilty about when it came to him.
After hemming and hawing for a while, I began cautiously, my voice uncertain.
“What kind of thing… do you mean…?”
“…”
“Do you mean how I learned your true name? Or… why I revived you? Or maybe because I’m a necromancer?”
“Hah…”
Blake’s face twisted slightly.
Ah, crap. Guess it wasn’t any of those?
I felt even smaller, like I’d tattled on myself about all the wrong things.
Then what was it?
What else was I supposed to say?
He let out a small sigh, sounding like his patience was wearing thin, and asked in a voice full of disbelief:
“And if I asked you those things, could you answer?”
“…Well, no.”
I admitted honestly, but his expression didn’t soften in the slightest.
But then—what was I supposed to say?
‘Actually, this world is the setting of a novel I read, and I ended up possessing someone here.
You’re the protagonist of that novel, and I revived you because you’re the only one who can stop the world from ending.
As for the necromancer thing? I knew that because in the novel’s side story, Ariel’s true identity is revealed.’
…Like I could ever say that!
His icy blue eyes—like a frozen abyss—froze my lips shut every time they met mine.
At last, Blake muttered with a resigned expression:
“I won’t ask about any of that. Just stop watching me like I’m about to explode.”
“Yes!”
“You answer quickly enough, don’t you, Master.”
He teased, calling me “Master,” but I didn’t even blink anymore when he did that.
Blake smirked, then slowly pulled out a handkerchief.
He brought it to his lips—and with a small cough, spat something out.
The movement was so natural and composed that I thought he’d spat out a bone, or maybe he didn’t like the food.
That is, until I realized what he spat out was dark red blood.
“W-What? Your Highness, did you just cough up blood?”
I shot to my feet in shock and rushed toward him.
But he seemed more surprised by my reaction—by me rushing over—than by the fact that he was bleeding.
Blake looked at me for a moment before his brows furrowed, as if he finally came back to himself.
“Did you touch the food?”
“Huh? Oh, no, I haven’t…”
“Good. Then don’t eat it, just in case.”
“Forget about me—what about you, Your Highness? Are you alright?!”
Rather than being worried, he looked amused by my fussing, staring at me intently before curling his lips into a sly smile.
“So, I need to cough up blood just to get my Master’s attention?”
His joking tone made my face scrunch up.
This damn husband… doesn’t even know how serious this is…
“I’m not joking around!”
“I’m fine. I don’t feel anything at all.”
“…What?”
His gaze shifted to the steak on his plate, barely touched—only a bite or two taken.
He seemed lost in thought for a moment, then slowly raised his head to look at me.
Tilting his pale face slightly, he murmured:
“My taste buds don’t work. I can’t even tell if there’s poison.”
“…”
“But look at me—I seem perfectly fine, don’t I? So fine, in fact, that maybe I should pretend to be sick.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Don’t you think whoever poisoned me would be suspicious if I act like nothing’s wrong? Should I collapse right now?”
“Your Highness, are you insane?!”
My shocked expression must have amused him, because he turned his head slightly and let out a chuckle disguised as a cough.
The corners of his lips lifted in a faint smile.
On the surface, he looked perfectly normal.
But maybe that was it—on the outside he looked alive, but inside, he was no different from a corpse.
With a serious face, I boldly stepped closer to him.
Then, with just a touch of self-interest, I pinched the back of his hand.
“If I pinch here… does it hurt?”
Since he spat blood yet looked fine, maybe he couldn’t feel pain either…
“I usually don’t feel pain, but—oh. If it’s your touch, I can. Do it again.”
“W-What? Don’t say things like that in that voice, with that face.”
“Why not? Aren’t we running a test here?”
Or was I the one lacking tact here?
Blake laughed quietly, his face playful.
Even though his body was practically a corpse, he didn’t seem to care much at all.
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
This damned, crazy husband—this mad protagonist…
You’re deliberately trying to make me feel guilty, aren’t you?
But then, looking at his smile, something felt off.
I carefully reached my hand toward his lips.
Though his face was pale, his lips were still vividly red, giving no hint that his body was incomplete.
His skin was cold as ever, yet his lips felt warm under my fingertips.
“…So I really was the clueless one?”
“Ah, honestly! I just touched them because your face is pale but your lips are still rosy!”
“Well, that makes sense. After all, you kissed me.”
“…What?”
“You breathed life into me with your lips. So of course that’s the part that looks most alive.”
He remembered that?
The shock on my face seemed amusing to him, because Blake burst out laughing.
That smile—it was the very one I’d seen in an illustration from the novel.
The refreshing, dazzling male lead—proof that he hadn’t lost that brightness completely.
I was left stunned.
I thought I’d never see him smile again—after all, whenever he looked at me, he always wore a scowl.
“Unfortunately, only the parts touched by you can seem like those of a normal person. So… have you reached a conclusion yet?”
“A conclusion?”
“About this ridiculous experiment.”
“…Your body is far too dependent on me, Your Highness.”
Blake’s body responded only to me, the necromancer who had revived him.
Without me by his side—or without contact through me—his body was still nothing more than a dead shell.
‘What on earth am I supposed to do…?’
I was lost in thought when Blake began speaking slowly.
“You know it so well, and yet…”
Suddenly, his expression shifted—gone was the bright, refreshing look from moments ago.
His sharp blue eyes gleamed with a predatory light, and his crooked smirk, along with his tall nose, gave him an entirely different aura.
From a young hero destined to save the world, he now looked every bit the villain resurrected from the dead.
A dark, decadent air seeped from every part of him—too overwhelming for me to face directly.
“Without you, I can’t sleep. I can’t taste, I can’t feel pain, I can’t even sense heat or cold.”
His large, cold hand snatched mine, yanking me closer.
In an instant, I was trapped in his arms.
Losing my balance, I ended up sitting on his thigh.
“…”
His face was so close I instinctively swallowed hard.
His low voice rumbled, like a beast growling in warning.
“And you want to divorce me?”
