WLTIS | CHAPTER 32

Chapter 32

Harvich’s suppressed voice could be heard, but lincia only wished the man would disappear from the bath.

Even if they had once shared bare skin, that existed only in lincia’s memories.

Now Harvich wasn’t even fully dressed.

She felt humiliated.

Her struggling leg brushed against the man’s thigh.

lincia’s movements froze.

When she lifted her head, Harvich’s flushed face came into view.

Seeing him red to the tips of his ears, lincia quietly lowered her gaze.

The bathroom quickly fell into silence.

“…The towel and bathrobe are soaked. I’ll bring new ones.”

lincia couldn’t bring herself to stop the man fleeing the bath.

He returned sooner than expected and placed a fresh towel and bathrobe on the nightstand.

Then he immediately began clearing away the shattered fragments of the perfume bottle on the floor.

“Once you’re done bathing, clap your hands. The floor is dangerous…”

“……”

lincia had no choice but to bow her head.

After she somehow finished bathing, the mood remained somewhat awkward.

Harvich volunteered to dry her hair himself, clumsily but carefully handling it.

Each time he touched her hair, it tickled a little, but shame overwhelmed everything else.

Perhaps she wasn’t the only one feeling embarrassed.

That was…

“All done.”

At Harvich’s voice, lincia’s eyes trembled slightly.

Her gaze touched his face, then, before she knew it, drifted toward his thigh.

Following her eyes, Harvich’s expression stiffened.

“…Now rest. I’ll go change my clothes.”

When she woke up in the morning, lincia thought Harvich wouldn’t be in the room.

After all, he had left saying he would change, and hadn’t returned until she fell back asleep.

But when she sat up, she saw him sitting at the table, papers spread open.

“…?”

She thought she was seeing things half-awake.

“…You?”

When she called softly, Harvich immediately rose from his seat.

He poured water into a glass and handed it to her.

She was well enough now to at least hold the cup.

“…Why?”

Even after drinking the water, her voice was still hoarse and broken.

Instead of his palm, Harvich handed her paper and pen.

It must have been an act of consideration, yet bad memories resurfaced.

She recalled him ordering her to copy down the words of a spy’s letter right in front of him…

“Are you alright?”

lincia wrote on the paper.

Bad memories came up.

Just as she regretted writing it and began crossing it out, Harvich took the paper and pen and extended his hand.

Looking puzzled, lincia hesitated, then wrote on his palm.

Isn’t paper and pen easier?

“I find this more comfortable.”

It made no sense for the man who brought paper and pen to say such a thing, but for lincia, who had lost her voice, writing on his palm was all she could do.

“Didn’t I say I would stay by your side until your maid arrives?”

Harvich’s voice was calm, as if it were nothing.

Did you sleep?

“…I slept a little next to you. Tomorrow there will be the hunting festival’s departure ceremony.”

lincia remembered the first snowfall.

Soon the season of day-snow would begin, the busiest time.

Ah, sorry. I troubled you by falling ill.

“It’s not your fault.

With banquet preparations, work piled up anyway.

I would’ve been busy regardless.”

But wasn’t that banquet because of her?

As a shadow fell over lincia’s face, Harvich hurried to add.

“Still, thanks to the banquet, this day-snow season should be peaceful.

The extra supplies we received are plentiful.

We’re preparing the hunting festival carefully to avoid any injuries.”

lincia felt a bit relieved at that.

Every year, people died at the hunting festival.

If they failed to catch enough animals, some would overextend themselves for fear of starving.

On top of that, the length of the day-snow season varied, and if it dragged on, the imperial carriages couldn’t enter.

If only they could trade by river with other palaces, but the former emperor never allowed it.

I hope no one dies this time.

Harvich looked at lincia’s clear face and smiled faintly.

“We can only hope. Tomorrow is the departure ceremony.”

lincia opened her lips.

Honestly, she didn’t want Harvich to leave.

Selfishly, she wished he would stay by her side longer.

The kindness she felt after so long easily crumbled her reason.

What if, once the cold wind returned, Harvich regained his distance?

What if he pulled away from her again?

Frankly, she felt she couldn’t endure it anymore.

“Do you have something to say to me?”

lincia realized she was holding his hand.

The longing to be compensated for the lonely year she had endured alone kept surfacing.

As she clung to his hand, hesitating, someone knocked on the door.

Please come back safely.

With that sentence, lincia finally let go of his hand.

The door opened, and in came none other than Anna.

The moment Anna saw lincia awake, she rushed to her side.

“You’re alright now, right?

Please don’t fall sick again.”

lincia gently stroked Anna’s back as she sobbed in her arms.

Anna looked up at her pale face, then noticed Harvich in the room and belatedly bowed to him.

lincia had thought Harvich would leave as soon as Anna entered, but he remained in the bedroom.

She was about to ask Anna to call him back when—

“Your Highness, are you going to bathe right away?

I’ll help you.”

Anna rose, ready to prepare the bath, but lincia quickly stopped her.

“Surely you didn’t risk bathing alone…”

Unconsciously, lincia glanced at Harvich.

Anna’s words trailed off.

She saw lincia, face lowered in embarrassment, and Harvich, turning away with a cough.

Anna closed her mouth.

“…I’ll be going now. Please rest.”

Unable to withstand Anna’s gaze, Harvich left the room almost like he was fleeing.

The moment he left, Anna’s eyes shook violently.

“Y-Your Highness. W-What happened between you two?”

Anna’s face was sheer shock.

It was only natural.

No matter how close a married couple, they didn’t share a bathroom.

And besides…

There had even been a small incident.

lincia’s face turned bright red.

Seeing Anna glare as if about to storm after Harvich, lincia grabbed her.

She picked up the paper and pen Harvich had left and quickly wrote.

I said I wanted to bathe, but it was dawn, and I couldn’t wake anyone, so he just helped a little.

He was outside the bathroom the whole time since it’s dangerous for a patient to go in alone.

Even to herself, writing such a long-winded excuse felt silly, but if she didn’t explain properly to Anna, it would cause trouble.

“Shameless! That’s completely shameless…!”

After reading, Anna shouted.