Chapter 6
It was a dress, but it was a relatively simple design suitable for an outdoor event. Thanks to that, there were no complicated strings or corsets on the back, so it was much easier to remove.
Kaisertern didn’t know much about women’s clothing, so he was a little nervous about what might appear once the dress came off. Fortunately, Roabellin was wearing a chemise and a knee-length underskirt beneath the dress.
Kaisertern let out a sigh of relief and wiped his chest.
He set aside the heavy, soaked dress and grabbed Roabellin’s shoulders again. Her skin, pale as paper, was ice-cold.
“Wake up, please…”
To warm her cold body, Kaisertern hugged her tightly.
As his gaze drifted to her back, he noticed something where the straps of her chemise passed—at the place of her right shoulder blade.
A palm-sized mark, something like a drawing and something like writing.
‘Like some noble families do, it must be a family crest branded onto an important descendant.’
Along with the name “Roabellin,” it was another important hint that she was a noble. But now was not the time to worry about such things. He kept talking to her, trying to pull her fading consciousness back.
“Roabellin, open your eyes, okay? Look, I’ve only taken off your outer clothes. You see? Now that you’re out of those cold, wet clothes, you should be less cold than before. We can’t stay like this—let’s go to the bed over there…”
He almost wished she would suddenly snap awake and slap him while shouting, “How dare you touch a lady’s clothes!” But Roabellin only hung limply against him.
However, perhaps because he held her close and shared his warmth, her consciousness slowly returned. She blinked her eyes weakly.
“Are you awake? Can you stand? I’ll help you.”
With Kaisertern’s support, Roabellin barely managed to get to the bed. He laid her down and immediately turned his back.
Clinging to what little awareness she had left, Roabellin crawled into the thin blanket. She judged that undressing any further in front of a man was impossible.
But the blanket without warmth was no different from the cold air outside. Her body began to shiver violently.
Worried about her, Kaisertern turned his eyes just enough to confirm she was under the blanket before approaching.
‘Is her body a little warmer now?’
He placed a hand on her forehead with slight hope—but it was still icy cold. Of course it was. A blanket only preserves existing heat; it does not generate warmth.
Before long, Roabellin’s trembling gradually subsided. She was losing consciousness again, chilled through. Kaisertern’s face grew grave.
‘If this continues, she’ll…! What—what should I do?!’
At a loss, Kaisertern thought for a moment, then took off his own wet outer clothes. Hoping they would dry by morning, he hung both his and her clothes neatly over the chair and table.
He stood before the bed and looked at Roabellin again. Then, with a determined expression, he lifted the blanket slightly and lay down beside her.
He was grateful that, in the darkness, her body in undergarments was barely visible.
“I’m sorry, Roa. I’ll be a little rude.”
Lying side by side on the single bed, their shoulders and arms touching, he could feel her cold body even more clearly.
If he left her like this, her body might become cold forever.
‘She saved my life. I have to save hers too.’
Kaisertern turned toward Roabellin, gently took one shoulder, and carefully pulled her body toward him, holding her in his arms.
“Hey, Roa… Roabellin. I’m not doing anything strange. I’m just trying to warm you.”
“……”
“Roabellin, don’t die. Please… open your eyes.”
Afraid that she might think badly of him, Kaisertern kept whispering explanations to her, even though she was barely conscious.
Born as a prince of a great empire, he had been taught all his life that he was more precious than anyone around him.
He had grown up in a world where those beneath him were expected to sacrifice themselves for his sake.
Yet now, for the first time, he was trying to save another person’s life without caring that his own body was cold.
He told himself it was because she was his lifesaver, but in truth, he was deeply worried about the safety of this girl he had only met today.
‘…What is this feeling?’
It was an emotion he had never felt before. As he wrapped his arms around Roabellin, he regretted that his body was still too small to fully envelop and warm her.
‘If I had a bigger body, I could hold her properly and warm her quickly. I wish I could grow right now and be useful to Roabellin…’
Kaisertern was too worried to sleep. Holding her tightly, he rubbed her back and arms, praying that warmth would return to her body.
As he kept moving, the inside of the blanket gradually grew warm from his body heat. Perhaps his desperate feelings reached her—slowly, Roabellin’s condition began to change. He could feel warmth returning to her body little by little.
He was so happy that he felt tears welling up. When he pressed his ear to her face, her breathing was also becoming steady.
When all the tension drained away at once, an overwhelming fatigue washed over Kaisertern. Only after confirming that her condition had stabilized was he finally able to fall asleep, filled with relief.
*
“Miss—!”
At dawn, Kaisertern woke up to the sound of chirping birds and distant shouting.
He opened his eyes and immediately touched Roabellin’s cheek. Thankfully, her body was warm, and her lips had returned to their red color.
After confirming that she was sleeping peacefully, he carefully slipped out of bed and put on the clothes he had taken off the night before. They were still damp and unpleasant, but there was no choice.
He went to the window, opened the shutter, and listened closely. Someone was calling out loudly, as if searching for someone. The voices were closer than before.
Kaisertern hurried to wake Roabellin.
“Roabellin, wake up. People are outside.”
“Mm…”
Roabellin rubbed her eyes sleepily. Kaisertern handed her the cold, damp dress that had been hanging over the chair.
“Here, put this on. I’ll go call them.”
After speaking quickly, he ran out of the hut and brought the people over. They were the maid and servants assigned to Roabellin and Kaisertern.
“My goodness, miss!!!”
They were horrified to see the state of their noble charges. The maids wrapped Roabellin in blankets, and the servants tended to Kaisertern and escorted them away separately.
Roabellin soon developed a fever again and had to be carried back on the back of a strong servant.
Thus, the two of them parted without even being able to say goodbye.
*
Roabellin opened her eyes at the duke’s estate the next day. The sound of someone wringing water from a towel in a basin brought her back to consciousness.
“Oh, you’re awake now?”
The duchess, who had stayed by her side all night, lit up and placed a hand on her daughter’s forehead.
“M-Mother? When did I come home…?”
“You were found in the forest at the hunting grounds yesterday morning. We brought you home right away. We thought you were staying at the palace as planned… We were so shocked when this happened. You suffered a lot, my dear.”
The duchess’s eyes filled with tears as she looked at her sick daughter.
“N-No, Mother. I’m not hurt. I’m really fine…”
Though her whole body burned with lingering fever, Roabellin forced a smile, afraid her mother would burst into tears.
“During the hunting tournament, His Majesty was slightly injured, so everyone was in chaos. And then the rain poured down, so everyone was running around trying to avoid it.”
Roabellin nodded slowly.
“I thought the palace maids would take good care of you. They said you didn’t come, so they assumed you had already gone home. Regardless of palace rules, I should have sent someone just for you… I’m sorry, my dear.”
The cool, gentle hand stroking her cheek felt comforting. Roabellin lay still for a moment, then suddenly remembered that night and asked,
“Ah, right! What about the young lord who was with me that day?”
“I heard that someone was found with you, but I didn’t hear who it was. You were unconscious and carried back, and that young lord was taken away on horseback by servants, so he seems to be safe.”
“Ah… that’s a relief.”
Seeing her relieved expression, the duchess suddenly looked worried.
“Oh, my dear. By any chance… were you with that young lord all night? Do you remember who he was?”
Roabellin shook her head slightly.
“No, I didn’t hear which family he was from. We met while lost in the forest, and then it suddenly rained… so we went into a nearby hut to take shelter.”
“I see. At least you weren’t soaked in the rain all night. But… that young lord didn’t act improperly toward you, did he?”
Roabellin vaguely understood what her mother was worried about.
“No, not at all. I treated his injured ankle, and he…”
Suddenly, an unfamiliar memory crashed into her mind.
The two of them, in nothing but their underclothes, holding each other in bed…!
