Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Theodor, now holding the glass of milk, finally began to eat at a normal pace. Rosalyn beamed as she watched him.
He’s finally eating properly!
Now all that’s left is to gradually adjust his daily habits and help him regain his health. It might take some time, but he will awaken properly.
Theodor would achieve the result he desired, and she too would safely leave this detached palace alive.
“Your Highness, have some tea as well.”
Imagining a hopeful future, Rosalyn handed him a teacup.
***
“We’re going to have a stroll, you say?”
“Yes, Your Highness. Please get changed and meet me in front of the palace entrance!”
Theodor stared at her in disbelief.
After safely finishing breakfast, he had expected a class on awakening, but Rosalyn suggested they take a walk in the garden instead. What could a walk possibly have to do with awakening?
He truly couldn’t understand this bizarre class. But Rosalyn’s expression was full of certainty.
Let’s observe her for now. Theodor decided to go along with her plan. After all, she was the only one he could trust right now.
Rosalyn, dressed in a fur-lined winter robe, waited for him by the palace entrance.
‘Starting with anything too strenuous would be too much, so let’s begin with a gentle walk.’
But there was another reason she had planned this post-meal walk.
She thought of Theodor’s thin, inward-curving legs. They hadn’t always been that way. His condition was caused by a lack of vitamins from living too long in that dark, damp tower.
To replenish vitamins, proper nutrition wasn’t enough, exposure to sunlight was also important.
Fortunately, today was bright and clear. In the northern Siphoc region, where this palace was located, blizzards were common in winter, so sunny days like this were rare.
“It’s still freezing, though.”
The winter air brushing her face was bitterly cold. Every breath she took came out in a puff of white. Soon, Theodor emerged, wearing his winter clothes and walking with a slight hunch.
A black silhouette followed behind him, who is Arch, the brown-haired assassin.
‘Is he joining us for the walk too?’
Rosalyn still feared Arch. She vividly remembered the moment in the East Tower when he had drawn his sword to kill her on Theodor’s command.
Hoping Theodor wouldn’t give such an order ever again, Rosalyn approached him.
“Your Highness, let’s head to the garden.”
They made their way to the detached palace’s snow-covered garden. The shrubs blanketed in white sparkled under the sunlight. Judging by how neatly trimmed the bushes were, it seemed Anton had been maintaining them well enough.
“Isn’t the garden beautiful, Your Highness?”
“How long are we supposed to keep walking like this?”
He asked with a curt voice. The anxious, uneasy look on his face still hadn’t disappeared.
Is he so burdened that he can’t even enjoy a moment of peace?
“You need to walk for at least 30 minutes.”
“For that long?”
“Yes. Otherwise it’s not enough exercise.”
But his face remained tense. After walking a short while, he stopped and asked again,
“How much time is left?”
“Twenty-five minutes.”
Not long after, he asked again.
“How much now?”
“Twenty-three minutes.”
“And now?”
“Your Highness, at least walk while you’re asking.”
“…”
At this rate, he’d waste the entire walk just asking the time! More than his physical condition, it felt like she needed to ease the compulsive anxiety he had around awakening.
Rosalyn paused for a moment before suggesting,
“Your Highness, would you like to build a snowman? Time will pass more quickly.”
When you focus on something else, time moves faster. And building a snowman required a fair bit of movement, so it could count as exercise too.
When she made the suggestion, Theodor gave a reluctant nod. Rosalyn began packing snow and rolling it diligently. The snowball quickly grew in size.
But Theodor didn’t seem to know how to do it properly. His snowball crumbled easily, as if he had never built one before.
Rosalyn rolled up a fresh snowball and handed it to him.
“Here, roll this one, Your Highness.”
As she passed him the snowball, she suddenly noticed something off. Arch, who usually followed right behind Theodor like a shadow, was nowhere to be seen.
‘Is he hiding in the shadows like usual?’
Arch often stood silently in the darkness like in the East Tower or under the shade of trees in the garden. Thinking that, she glanced toward a shaded corner of the garden.
As expected, he was there, standing quietly beneath the large tree like last time. His eyes were closed, and his expression looked oddly serene.
‘What’s he doing?’
Shrugging it off, Rosalyn returned her attention to the snowball and continued rolling it. That’s when she noticed Theodor trembling.
Even in his thick winter clothing, he was shivering like a leaf.
‘He’s really sensitive to the cold.’
They had come out for a walk to improve his health, thus he couldn’t be allowed to get even sicker. She couldn’t just stand by and watch.
Rosalyn approached him.
“Your Highness, could you take off your gloves for a moment?”
“…?”
Theodor looked at her suspiciously as he removed his gloves. What is she trying to do now?
His hands were red from the cold. Without warning, Rosalyn took his hands in both of hers. Theodor’s eyes widened.
“What are you doing?”
Instead of answering, Rosalyn closed her eyes. He looked down at her hands clasped over his. Her fingers were slender and soft. Then, from her fingertips, a golden glow of mana began to swirl.
Whoooom~
Soon, a warm sensation flowed into his ice-cold hands. That warmth spread gently throughout his entire body. With a grin, Rosalyn asked,
“Feels better, right?”
After giving Anton a mana massage, she had done a few experiments. One of them was learning to raise body temperature using mana.
Theodor gave a slight nod in response. Her hands were not only warm, they were also soft.
It wasn’t just mana but it was the natural texture of her skin.
Thump, thump!
From their joined hands, he could feel her faint pulse. Why does it feel like I’m somehow connected to her every time we touch? That had never happened with anyone else.
Suddenly, a strange sensation swept through him.
Whoosh.
A hot wave surged through his lower abdomen. Nervously, Theodor looked at Rosalyn.
She looked up at him with that dazzling smile again. The same radiant smile bathed in morning sunlight. She looked just like the small, steadfast sunflower he had plucked from the winter garden all those years ago.
Something in his long-frozen chest began to thaw.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded wildly, and an overwhelming, unfamiliar feeling flooded his body. If I keep holding her hand like this, something strange is going to happen.
Panicking, Theodor quickly pulled his hand away.
As soon as he let go, the heat that had built in his core vanished like a lie. But his body was still hot, and a cold sweat ran down his back. His heart wouldn’t stop racing. He felt like he’d come back from the brink of death.
What… was that?
Could that have happened just from holding her hand?
What he knew for certain was when he touched her, something uncontrollable surged within him. Theodor found that sensation deeply unsettling.
He vowed to avoid physical contact with Rosalyn as much as possible from now on.
And yet… Why did her smile keep flashing through his mind?
Unaware of what had just happened, Rosalyn looked at his flushed face and ragged breathing with concern.
‘He really might be sick.’
Just as she reached out to check his forehead, he swatted her hand away.
“I’m fine. Just stop.”
His voice was cold and his expression even colder. Startled, Rosalyn quickly withdrew her hand and turned away. Arch, now with his eyes open, had approached like a ghost and was glaring down at her with a menacing look.
‘I almost died from shock, just when did he get here?’
Better not stir up any drama, let’s just finish the snowman quietly. Rosalyn stayed silent and focused on rolling the snow. Theodor, too, concentrated on rolling his snowball, trying to forget the strange sensation he had just experienced.
But the more he tried to forget, the more vividly he remembered it— and Rosalyn’s smile wouldn’t leave his mind. Before he knew it, his snowball had grown so large it was hard to push. He panted with effort but didn’t stop.
When the snowball reached waist-height, he finally halted and wiped the sweat from his brow.
“Is this good enough?” he asked.
“It’s huge…”
Rosalyn murmured, staring at the massive snowball. Who knew Theodor enjoyed building snowmen this much?
Then he asked her,
“How much time is left?”
“It ended a while ago.”
Has that much time already passed?
Theodor was quietly stunned. He’d been so focused on rolling the snowball that he hadn’t noticed time passing at all.
Rosalyn smiled and said,
“That concludes your morning lesson.”
That’s it? Breakfast and a walk?
He couldn’t begin to guess what she was thinking.
“Shall we head back in, Your Highness?”
As she finished speaking, she smiled at him again. Her smile, always dazzling when directed at him, hadn’t changed. And for some reason, at that moment, Theodor found himself wanting to stay with her and in this garden just a little longer.
As Rosalyn turned toward the palace entrance, he called out to her.
“Wait.”
“Yes?”
She turned back, and he gestured with his eyes toward the snowballs they had been rolling.
“Let’s finish what we started before we go in.”
(TN: Why do I feel this emotion that the male lead is quickly having feelings for her and then some bad things happen? Come now, this bad feeling doesn’t stop… 😬)
