Chapter 102: Chapter 102

“Do you believe in the myth?” Eckart asked after giving her an ambiguous reply.

“Well, this is a secret you shouldn’t tell the cardinal and the priests.”

Marianne looked around as if she was going to tell him a top secret.

“I almost never believed it. I was an unfaithful believer, to say the least.”

There was a faint smile on her face as if she was confessing her sin.

“But I’m going to believe it as much as I feel it’s beneficial for me. ”

She began to condition her faith on the benefits, which he didn’t expect at all.

He turned his eyes away from her with a heavy heart.

In fact, he couldn’t think straight at the moment.

In the meantime, Marianne stared at the quiet darkness outside the window, over the front table.

As was the case with Eckart a little while ago, her white and beautiful face was also overshadowed by the light. Overlaid on top of it was his clear and firm resolution.

He bit his lower lip tightly. He had seen such a face a long time ago in the deepest room of the Lucio Imperial Palace, in his mother’s bedroom and sometimes in his long and terrible nightmares.

At that moment Marianne suddenly said, “So many people were injured and killed because of that bad bastard Ober!”

Having said that, she reached out to the blanket and put her slender fingers on his injured arm. Even on her hands, which stroked his wounds, had scratches that were still red.

Countess Renault, who had been left behind in the capital, was once unconscious after being bitten by a snake, and everyone who was on their way to the temple was injured both large and small. The horseman who drove the emperor’s wagon fell from the steep falls and died.

All these bad things happened in less than ten days. How many lives were silently lost, and how many more new deaths or injuries would be in the future, Marianne would not even dare to estimate. Although she didn’t know exactly who was behind the terrible scheme, she could no longer hold onto the hope that it might have been an accident.

“I won’t forgive the criminal who caused this accident. Never.”

Faced with her decisive and intense anger, Eckart found himself relieved shamefully.

“If I need God’s help, I will borrow it. If I need others’ help, I’ll ask for it. If anything will be useful as a weapon, I will use it all. So, I’ll certainly have that bad brat pay the price for the crime he committed…” Marianne vaguely finished her words.

She recalled the harsh death in her previous life and other terrible things: her crying, holding her father’s coffin on that snowy day, her desperate hanging on to Eckart while losing consciousness in cold and pain, and Hess and Barton’s undeserved congratulatory messages for her.

“I want to live happily this time,” she said.

It was simple, but looked almost impossible for the two to achieve.

Marianne slowly turned her head to look at Eckart. His blue eyes, which were a bit warm because ofthe lamplight, were staring at her like he did when he tested Iric, and like the time he appeared in her dream and scared her.

“Ah, of course it’ll be with Your Majesty. You are not going to dump me after you knock down Ober, are you?”

Eckart frowned at her question.

“Marianne, do you think I consider you a hunting dog?”

“No. Although I’m lacking in many qualities, I think I can be your partner to lean on. Don’t you think so?” She shamelessly shrugged her shoulders.

“Anyways, I want to be a good person to you. A person you can trust, a person whose betrayal you don’t need to worry about.”

Eckart was the very person who advised her not to trust people easily. Marianne understood his habitual distrust in people. She felt her blind trust might be one of the reasons for ruining her previous life.

But one’s nature was supposed to be easily changed.

She intended to use even his distrust as a weapon in the future, but she felt more comfortable when she trusted people. She hoped that Eckart could do so if possible.

“So, I wish you were happy like me.”

Her optimism always stood on his opposite side.

<I wish you were happy like me.>

Her gentle voice scratched his heart deep inside. He felt something like thirst strangling itself on the inside. In the past, he would have laughed off her words like that, but he didn’t ignore anymore. Actually, he wanted to be happy like she said.

“Well, um… I may be too presumptuous…”

Marianne hesitated for a moment.

Could someone’s happiness be forcibly created by others just because he or she wanted it? Perhaps not.

But Marianne wanted him to be happy.

She wanted him to be happy again so he could enjoy overflowing love that would never know betrayal, so he could no longer believe that he was betrayed. She wanted him not to make such a lonely expression at the crossroads of death and life. She hoped that he would not stand it if he was sick, he could laugh if he was happy, and that he would not struggle with all his might not to trust somebody.

“As far as I can, I will do everything I can to make you happy. I promise.”

“…”

Eckart could not reply to her reassurances.

Marianne leaned back on his shoulder. As she didn’t expect his reply, she closed her eyes slowly, looking through the dim window. Suddenly, the several days of arduous journey and ceremonies made her feel tired. The silence between them soaked their ankles like the water of a calm stream.

In the meantime, their heartbeats, which had been pounding offbeat, slowly began to assimilate. The rhythm of heartbeats became one before they knew.

Thump, thump, thump…

Their periodic heartbeats became a very good lullaby. Marianne soon began to fall asleep and breathed out gently. It was a relaxing and comfortable breath that only people who fell asleep could have.

Eckart stared into the glowing glass lamp while she was asleep.

The torch that had never been extinguished since Serafina gave it to Aslan’s first king

was burning red and yellowish. The sacred flames broke the darkness around them. As if it were not content with that, the flames showed the raw feelings that Eckart had desperately hidden until then.

She was a swamp to him.

Led by an undeniable temptation, he stepped one foot into her swamp. A muddy swamp dragged him down little by little. He was being dragged a little further down, deeper into the bottom, down the dark black night so he could hide nothing.

It was quiet everywhere, as if nobody would know if anything happened, or as if one could be forgiven even if he could do any ungodly and irresponsible thing.

He still wrapped her white hand that slightly stuck out of the blanket. He should have woken her up to observe the nightly ceremony, but he did not.

Instead, feeling pain across his back, Eckart kissed her forehead while she was asleep.

His kiss was as sacred it was lustful. It reflected his desire that he never wanted to be caught by her. His lips that pressed hers came off a long time later, with his regrets. Her sleeping face was still calm like a child who knew nothing. Her innocence was fortunate and at the same time unfortunate for him.

He wanted his desire for her to disappear on one hand, but he wanted a deeper desire for her on the other hand.

‘What a cunning desire! How come I ended up being close to her like this? She might aim this knife at my neck eventually. There was supposed to be no harmless affection in this world. How did I end up with a close relationship with her?’

It was still quiet outside. He let out a long sigh with a terrible expression.

He couldn’t be sure of determining who was behind the wagon accident, what to do when he returned to the capital, how to deal with his previous emperors’ secrets and how to prevent future rebellion.

There was only one thing that was certain, and that he was going crazy about this woman.

Early the next morning, the support unit from Milan arrived at the great temple of Roshan.

The emperor’s entourage, which had already prepared for the journey, carried their luggage and carried the wounded in wagons. When the rest of the horses and carts were finally ready to leave, the front courtyard of the temple as well as its front gate were densely packed with them.

“Your Majesty, I wish you a safe journey to Milan.”

Cardinal Helena politely said goodbye.

“If you need help at any time, let us know. Roshan is a sanctuary of God as well as a sanctuary for the king who is an incarnation and agent of our God.”

It was a declaration by the cardinal, but there was a strange twist in her words.