Chapter 40
“Look!”
I grabbed Kyle by the hair and tried to force him to lift his head.
“Let go!”
“No! You need to see how bad it is!”
When I held his head tightly in my arms, he soon gave up resisting and raised his face.
His skin was red and swollen, covered in hives. It was a typical allergic reaction.
Thankfully, it didn’t seem serious—his throat wasn’t closing up, and he didn’t have a fever.
“It’ll calm down after a while….”
Kyle rubbed his neck and hands where the hives had spread and pushed me away with a sulky face.
So that’s why he was hiding here?
To make sure no one saw him until the allergy went down?
I was relieved it wasn’t something terrible like a suicide attempt, but I was still shocked.
“You idiot! If you have an allergy, you should say so! Then the Duchess would have understood why you refused the peaches!”
I hit my chest in frustration, and Kyle lowered his head again.
“…Keep this a secret. I’m keeping your secret too.”
“Why? Why hide something like that? Anyone can have allergies.”
It must have been hard to say it in front of the Duchess, but still!
I let out a deep sigh and sat down beside him.
A rock on the outside blocked the wind, and the cliff above acted like a roof, so the rain barely reached us. The rain had become lighter too.
As my tension disappeared, all my strength left my body.
“…How did you know I was here?”
Kyle muttered in a very small voice.
“At first, I followed something like footprints. Then I just had a feeling you’d be hiding near this cliff. You like digging into places like a hamster.”
“…”
I took off my wet cloak, wrung out the water, and set it beside me.
As it dried, it stole my body heat. I began to shiver.
“Ha. Do you know how hard it was to get here? I got completely soaked.”
I suffered so much—I should at least be allowed to complain a little.
“…If you had left me alone, I would’ve gone back on my own.”
How annoying.
“Sure, of course you would. Everyone is worried sick looking for you right now. Darius oppa especially looked pale.”
Kyle let out a bitter laugh. He didn’t seem to believe me.
“The rain is lighter now. Let’s rest a little and then go back.”
“…”
Kyle didn’t move for a long time. When he finally raised his head, he noticed my hands.
“What happened to you?”
At his sharp tone, I showed him my palms.
They were red and scraped from the rocky ground.
Without the cloak, my torn skirt and scraped knees were also visible.
Now that I noticed them, they suddenly stung.
“I hurt my hands and knees when I fell. And I tore my skirt and tied pieces to tree branches so I wouldn’t get lost on the way back.”
“…”
Kyle’s mouth fell open.
“I told you, it was hard to get here!”
“Why would you go that far…?”
He looked at me with wide eyes, as if he truly didn’t understand.
“In this storm, what kind of person wouldn’t worry if a kid ran away?!”
But seeing him now, maybe I overreacted.
I always complain that Father and oppa overprotect me. But I also overreacted about Kyle running away.
Kyle rubbed his face with both hands and sighed deeply before standing up.
“…Let’s go.”
“Already? Are you sure? You said you wanted to go back after it got better.”
“It’s been almost two hours since I ate it. It’ll probably calm down on the way.”
Looking at his face, the redness and swelling had indeed gone down.
I stood up to follow him, and a sharp pain shot through my right ankle.
‘Ah. When did I sprain this…?’
I didn’t show it. Going back quickly was more important.
I already complained enough about being hurt.
I put my cloak back on and hurried after Kyle.
“Do you know the way back?”
“Unlike someone, I’m not bad with directions.”
The sky was still gray, but the rain was now just a light drizzle.
Walking a few steps behind him, the pain in my ankle became worse. Cold sweat ran down my back.
‘Should I stay here and ask Kyle to bring someone?’
While I was thinking, Kyle looked back at me.
“You. Your leg hurts, right?”
“…No?”
I denied it automatically.
“That’s an obvious lie. You scolded me for hiding that I was hurt.”
Kyle walked straight toward me with a serious face.
This situation is different.
But I couldn’t walk anymore. I opened my mouth to ask him to call someone—
Suddenly, Kyle turned around, knelt on one knee in front of me, and said:
“Get on.”
“What?”
“Get on my back.”
I stared at his small shoulders and back in shock.
“What are you saying? How can you carry me?!”
Kyle glanced back, looking offended.
“I can.”
“You’re smaller than me— I mean, I’m heavier than you.”
I quickly changed my words before he exploded.
“There should be knights or my oppas searching nearby—”
“Stop talking and get on!”
Pressured by his shout, I placed my hands on his shoulders.
“You told me to. If you hurt your back, that’s not my fault.”
“Just lift your legs.”
With no choice, I climbed onto his back.
I thought he might fall forward because of my weight.
But surprisingly, he stood up steadily. He didn’t shake or tremble.
If he struggled, I planned to get down right away. But he walked silently, without even breathing heavily.
‘All that daily training really worked… And his body temperature is really high. He’s warm.’
After getting soaked in the rain earlier, I had been freezing. I might have even been close to hypothermia.
I moved my hands from his shoulders and wrapped them around his neck.
Kyle flinched in surprise.
He stopped for a moment, then started walking again at the same pace.
When I remembered how I had thought he might disappear forever, something hot rose in my throat.
“Kyle, don’t ever eat peaches again.”
“…”
“Let’s just tell them about your allergy. It’s dangerous to keep hiding it and eating them.”
I could feel his throat move under my hands.
His lips trembled before a quiet voice came out.
“…Everyone in my family likes peaches. I’m the only one like this. That’s strange. And Mother will be disappointed.”
His voice shook at the end. It hurt to hear.
“Kyle, say it properly. Aren’t you the one who’s disappointed?”
“…”
“You’re the one who’s disappointed and hurt and struggling!”
“…”
“I’m so mad! Why do they treat you like that?!”
Suddenly, I burst into tears. Why did it hurt so much?
Kyle turned his head awkwardly, his face full of confusion.
“Why are you crying?”
“I don’t know! I’m angry and frustrated, so I’m crying!”
I wiped my eyes roughly.
Kyle glanced behind us and cleared his throat.
“It’s nothing serious.”
He adjusted his hold on me and continued walking.
Through the original novel The Golden Oath, I already knew that Kyle had been treated unfairly by the Duke and Duchess.
But seeing it in real life, right beside me, made my anger unbearable.
As I sniffled and tried to calm down, the rain finally stopped.
The thin drops were blocked by the thick pine branches above us.
While walking through the grass, Kyle noticed the pieces of my skirt tied to tree trunks and let out a small laugh.
Then he spoke calmly.
“Before, when we played hide-and-seek in the glass greenhouse, that was almost my first time going inside.”
“…Really?”
I suspected it back then, but I didn’t know it was true.
“When I was little, I sneaked in once and Mother caught me. After she scolded me, I never went near it again.”
The Duchess sometimes used the greenhouse for guests or tea parties.
When Kyle saw me going in and out of that place so freely, how did he feel?
While I struggled to find comforting words, Kyle quietly continued with something even more heartbreaking.
