Chapter 28

***

It was my limit.

I couldn’t hold on because I didn’t have enough air.

I wonder if I’m going to drown again?

I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live.

I regretted it. If I knew this would happen, I should have learned swimming in advance.

I fell into the water and never learned how to swim in this life.

Silly me.

The moment I gave up everything, something soft overlapped over my lips and air came through my mouth.

I desperately hung on to the air bubbles that prolong my life. I didn’t want to miss it.

“Ha!”

What I felt after the proper air entered my lungs and breathed heavily was the coldness that froze my whole body. My whole body trembled.

I could only wrap my arms around Chester’s neck and rely on him.

His clothes were wet alongside mine, so I didn’t feel warm at all.

“Ha…”

“Yulia, are you cold?”

I don’t want to die, so my arm hugging his neck is more powerful than before.

The water-soaked dress felt heavier. Even though I’m not heavy, how much harder would it be for him to support me with one hand?

I felt sorry. I felt like a bag of luggage.

Slowly, my mind became messed up.

The feeling of wanting to close my eyes and fall asleep gradually became stronger.

“Yulia. Hang in there.”

He took me out of the water first, and we came out of the water, he held my waist tightly with the other hand.

He hugged me very lightly as if I was a feather, even though the dress must have been heavy from water.

With my arms tightly wrapped around his neck, I buried my face on his shoulder.

Chester patted me gently on the back as if trying to reassure me who was trembling.

“Yulia. It’s okay, don’t be afraid.”

I couldn’t hear him properly. In the past, I remembered the feeling of freezing in very cold water after falling from a high place.

It wasn’t that.

In my past life, I died because I couldn’t breathe rather than drowning in cold water.

Then when is it?

I couldn’t remember properly.

My eyes kept closing.

I tried hard to open my eyes, but I closed my eyes without realizing it because of the sleepiness.

Everything becomes dark.

***

I stood on the railing with my feet staggering.

A cold wind penetrated my flesh.

An emotional feeling rose inside of me.

The moment I meet the red eyes that didn’t have any emotion, my eyes get teary and my heart gets hurt.

I felt so sad when I saw that indifferent expression.

He was a person who wouldn’t even blink an eye when I plunged a knife into his body.

“…You will definitely regret it!”

It was a wish, not a curse.

He just stayed still and watched slowly what I was doing.

The fishy smell of blood poked the tip of my nose again.

I hated him. And I was resentful. But I loved him.

Hence, I couldn’t kill him.

If I kill him, there’s no one left for me, so I decided to kill myself.

“Chester.”

Finally, I called him and let go of my body that was standing on the railing dangerously.

Then my body tilted and I saw the beautiful night sky.

My body fell over to the deep lake of the imperial palace, which reflected the moonlight.

The Ice-cold water penetrated the body and did not allow any movement.

The lake in the imperial palace was too deep. My breath was slowly running out, and the sensation of freezing from my fingertips was clearly felt.

“Oh my…!”

My hands reflexively grabbed my chest with my eyes wide open. Perhaps because of the cold or the content of my dream, my body was trembling.

“Yulia?”

The moment I turned my head at the sweet voice calling me, I was surprised.

It overlapped with the face that was looking at me with cold eyes I saw in my dream.

So I instinctively pushed his body away.

When I blinked again and saw Chester, his face was fortunately clean, unlike his bloody face in my dream.

I reached out and touched his clean cheeks.

I was just glad that it was nothing but a dream. However, my dream was so vivid.

Apart from that, the coldness that penetrated the whole body was still there.

It felt strange to dismiss it as a dream.

I felt as if what I have experienced in the past appeared as a dream.

No, it had to be just my feeling.

It would have happened if I hadn’t twisted the original.

It’s going in a different direction than the original, so I can relax.

“Yulia, did you have a nightmare?”

“Chester…”

His eyes when he looked at me were completely different from those I saw in my dream.

Now, he was staring at me with very sweet eyes.

I stretched out my arms again and hugged him tightly.

The sound of his heart in my ears and his body temperature felt by my skin made me regain stability.

But what is this unknown ominous feeling?

Dreams are just dreams and are out of the original story, so I don’t have to be anxious.

Why am I so nervous?

Chester patted me on the back as if to calm me down.

“Was it scary?”

“Chester…You don’t hide anything from me, do you?”

I was nervous.

I wondered if the dream was telling me about my future.

“You don’t look good, Yulia.”

“Answer me.”

“……I’m not hiding anything.”

“Really?”

“Yes. There’s nothing to hide, so you don’t have to be anxious.”

I dug deeper into his arms.

“I had a nightmare.”

“Was it very scary?”

“I know it was a dream, but it was vivid as if it were real.”

It was scary. I’m afraid that dream will come true. And I’m afraid that what I’ve seen so far is false.

No, actually, it felt like someone was warning me.

Warning to stay away from Chester.

If I’m with him, I’m sure the bad ending will be waiting for me.

“Yulia.”

“What?”

“If you put restrictions on me now so that I can’t do more than a kiss, I’m in a lot of trouble.”

“Ah…”

I wasn’t aware of the tendency until a second ago, but the moment I heard him, my face heated up.

I was wearing Chester’s shirt, and he was not wearing a top.

After looking around, I saw that my clothes near the bonfire are not dry yet.

The water was dripping.

And this place looked like a cave.

Wait, I checked again, and I was wearing only a shirt.

That means…

“Um, did Chester take off my clothes?”

Did you take them off and change them into other clothes?

Sensing the danger, my body slipped out of his arms to move away from him.

I looked up at his face with shaky eyes.

I was creeping away, but his hand grabbed my waist.

“Yulia. Are you going out?”

“Um… no.”

“Don’t worry. It’s not like I’ve seen it once or twice.”

Chester’s mouth was clearly smiling, but it looked like a beast’s eyes that wanted to eat me up right away.

I had the illusion that his arm, which was around my back, seemed to be more powerful than before.

And if it’s not an illusion, his face is a little closer than before.

My heart pounded and beat fast. I instinctively sensed danger.

“Uh…Chester?”

“Can I do it?”

“What? What…?”

His arm that wraps tightly around my waist.

He had drowsy eyes, slightly raised corners of his mouth.

My heart fluttered and went wild because I understood what he wanted.

His other hand, which didn’t hold my back, gently stroked my cheek and stroked my lower lip with his thumb.

“Kiss.”

My face must be red. I was worried.

“Can I do it?”

His red eyes contained a deep desire.

He wants to swallow me right away, but he perseveres until he gets permission.

He acted like a tamed beast.

This was a word that could define him now.

“If I say no, you won’t do it?”

“Yes. Because I can still stand it.”

“You can kiss me.”

As soon as he got permission, his lips overlapped with mine.

As his tongue urged me to open my lips, I closed my lips.

He could easily open my closed lips and push his tongue into my mouth, but he didn’t do it.

He’s so cute, so I opened my lips.

His tongue came through the gap and at the same time, my breath was taken away.

The hot heat from our contact makes the surrounding temperature even hotter.

I wanted more of Chester.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and made my body closer to him.

His hand came right into my shirt.

When his cold hands touched my bare body,  I was surprised and said,

“Hmm, wait…!”

Without any time to stop, he has overlapped his lips on mine again.

His tongue came again inside my mouth.

He had a strong possessive desire not to miss a single moment.

My eyelashes trembled at his kiss that made me confused.

My body was softened by the gentleness I felt alongside his possessive desire.

At some point, he wanted more.

His hand, which entered my shirt, caressed my waist.

And little by little, I could feel his hand going up.

It didn’t take long for me to be sure.

His hand, which was stroking near my waist, was now clearly under my chest and kept going up.

This was dangerous, so I hurriedly grabbed his hand and stopped him from coming up further.

I managed to stop our kiss and speak out as I fixed my messed up breath.

“Haa, Chester…We were only supposed to kiss each other.”