I Thought I Didn’t Have Long To Live!

Chapter 26 (Can you help me with the bath?)

Lariette closed her eyes tightly. As she thought of the pain that would come upon her after a while, her whole body hardened like ice.

But even though there was a loud noise and the world shook like an earthquake, no pain was felt.

‘What…? Am I already dead?’

If death were this simple, what I had been afraid of until now would have been foolish. Lariette, who felt puzzled, slowly opened her eyes with frowned brows and looked up.

Then, she met an astonishing sight.

Behind Lariette, who crouched down, Doha was holding her seat.

And a huge sphere-shaped protective barrier surrounded them in a circle. It was a golden barrier that was brighter and more distant than any energy she had ever seen.

Unlike Lariette’s barrier, which was easily broken, Doha’s barrier supported the fragments of the collapsed building without any shaking. As a result, they suffered no injuries other than a few scratches from the fall.

Doha, who stretched out his hand toward the sky and made a barrier, looked down at Lariette with the first expression he had ever seen. He had a ferocious and cold face, unlike usual, with only a gentle smile.

He frowned and opened his mouth in a low voice.

“Rie, are you crazy?”

It sounded like a growling beast. Lariette’s eyes widened at the unusually rough tone of his friendly and savvy tone.

“Why why….”

Hiccup! Surprised by the barrier that came out, Lariette couldn’t help but ask why.

No, what was more important than why he was speaking harshly now was how to clean up the wreckage of the collapsed building above the barrier. It was so big and so many that the whole sky was covered.

Can Doha maintain the barrier until rescued? Lariette thought seriously, holding her breath to stop the hiccups.

But this was a useless worry. Doha, who confirmed Lariette’s gaze, waved his hand once with an expression of disapproval, and the fragments piled up on the barrier flew in the sky like flower seeds blown in the spring breeze.

Chaang-!!

A thick layer of dust obscured the view as the building rubble poured into the surrounding ground. The wind of dust that had penetrated between the barriers made Lariette cough.

“Why? That is the question I have to ask.”

Doha, who had achieved the barrier, muttered in a cold voice. Then he approached Lariette and leaned forward slowly. Soon, the ferocious golden eyes met her gaze.

Illustration 

“Why did you do such a stupid thing?”

“What… Do you mean?”

Lariette asked carefully, as if she did not understand the words. Then his face contorted even more.

“Why, only me, did you cast protection magic, Rie?”

Doha said as if chewing on each letter. He was asking why you gave up your life to save him.

Only then did Lariette understand what he was saying, and muttered blankly, “Ah,” she said. It was clear that it was incomprehensible to him, not knowing that she was going to die.

But instead of thanking her, she didn’t know why he was so angry. To that, Lariette smiled awkwardly and answered as if making an excuse.

“Um, I didn’t know…?”

I didn’t do anything wrong, but it felt strange to say something like a guilty person.

However, Doha’s face became more ferocious, perhaps not the answer he was hoping for. It was just unfair for Lariette who wanted to help him.

“I don’t know-?”

Doha smirked as if he was full of energy. His whole body froze, and his head was hot.

He thought Lariette must have gone crazy. She risked her life to protect him, whom she only met for a few weeks? She can’t do that unless she’s crazy.

Doha was a person who did not believe in the good intentions of people. He hated people who were judged as altruistic.

Doha despised the act of crossing the line recklessly by wrapping it with the words of goodwill and altruism, and most of those who do good deeds did it because they wanted to get something. Examples were the evaluation of a noble person and honor.

To him, Lariette’s actions were completely unacceptable. What the hell are you looking for? There’s no point in making a profit after you die. Complex thoughts ran through his mind.

“Anyway, we both survived! Doha, thank you for saving me!”

Lariette made a bright voice to change the mood. Then she added a playful remark.

“By the way, how talented are you? My friend is going to be a high priest really soon!”

She’s not joking, but this was really pure admiration. The barrier that Doha had unfolded seemed very impressive even to her, who did not know much about divine magic.

Only low priests are in this order, but how strong are high priests and Pope? Once again, I felt respect for the Temple of Alteon. She never thought that it was possible in Dohai.

“… Where you injured.”

“Not at all. Doha? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

It’s okay to say that your face doesn’t look good.

Lariette muttered in her mind. It was because he did not know that his hardened face would ever loosen.

Doha lowered his silver eyelashes and checked her condition. There were scratches on the limbs. It was ridiculous that people were worried about such a topic.

He slowly reached out and grabbed Lariette’s arms and legs. Then, it spewed out divine power and began to heal all wounds.

Her face reddened slightly at the unexpected touch.

“Rie, you almost died, you know?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Everyone dies anyway.”

Lariette answered with a slightly bitter smile and pretended to be a joke. I said this because I knew my body was going to die anyway.

Hearing this, Doha frowned again. Then he continued speaking in a cold voice, as if he had heard a strange sound.

“No, you can’t die. Do you think I’ll leave you like that?”

Thinking of someone else in front of me. Even if I could look after you with great generosity, I couldn’t leave anyone who dared to be in danger.

Lariette cannot die without his permission. The bracelet was given for the same reason.

Doha’s wild beast-like eyes gleamed with  obsession. Unfortunately, Lariette had not yet noticed those eyes.

“Don’t go around hurting yourself, Rie.”

Doha made a friendly voice. Then he carefully raised Lariette and looked over the collapsed building with a cold gaze. No matter how old the buildings were, they could not suddenly collapse at the same time.

‘Indulgence pierces the sky.’

He smiled mischievously and turned his head. Perhaps it was because of his foresight ability, he could already smell blood.

* * *

Doha apologized, saying she had suffered a hard time because she came out with him, and walked Lariette to the mansion.

But I couldn’t even ask, because I didn’t know that Doha’s face would get better after that.

He stuck to a blunt and cold attitude, as if he were an Asrazan. Perhaps because of the wide gap from the usual, it looked colder than Asrazan did.

‘He’s as handsome as his face too. tsk.’

Even though Doha had a beautiful face like a god, she didn’t think it was very human because he didn’t have a single personality.

But it was he who saved my life anyway, so she forgave all the rudeness and decided to thank him.

Lariette patted her shoulder and headed towards the front door of the mansion. Even when she went out, she had never imagined that the end of the day would be so eventful.

Because Doha healed her body with divine power, there were no scars, but her body was heavy because of fatigue. She was almost crushed by the building, so it wasn’t too much of a problem.

“Lariette, are you back?”

As she went up the stairs, Asrazan was waiting for her. When I met him sooner than I thought, the old fatigue seemed to have gone away.

“Asrazan! You came early.”

“Didn’t you tell me to come early?”

“It was just a word… Nice to see you soon. Hehe.”

This is today’s hug! Lariette added a word and hurriedly put her in his big arms. I felt cozy as the tight muscles wrapped around my body.

Asrazan smiled softly and looked down at Lariette’s head. It was very satisfying to see her all in my arms.

But even for a moment, Asrazan’s expression hardened in an instant.

“… Did something happen?”

“Yes?”

“You have had an accident.”

No, how did you know?

Lariette’s face turned blue as if she had seen a ghost. Fortunately, the change in expression was not noticed because she had her face buried in Asrazan’s chest.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“… It smells like fine dust.”

I wonder if I went to the collapse site anyway. Asrazan muttered as if he was overreacting, too.

And Lariette was startled and almost chewed her tongue. I even sprayed perfume on it just in case he found out. 

She pretended to be composure and lied naturally. It was unavoidable. Because the moment you say you almost died, Doha will really die.

“Ah, no. I fell once in the middle, and I think it was because of that.”

“Are you hurt?”

“It was a little scratched, but Doha took care of it. So it’s perfectly fine!”

Despite Lariette’s answer, Asrazan thoroughly examined her body. If he found even a single scratch, he had the momentum to kill Doha.

Fortunately, Lariette’s body was clean with no marks. Asrazan, who had just let go of her, walked into the mansion together and asked in a soft voice.

“… Did you have fun today?”

He pretended not to be, but he seemed very concerned about her going out with Doha. Lariette replied with a smirk as he was cute.

“Yes, it was fun!”

“… Is that so.”

Asrazan’s lips were subtly hardened. Lariette poked his shoulder with her finger and continued talking playfully.

“But being with Asrazan is so much more fun!”

“Is that so.”

Asrazan’s face brightened noticeably. It wasn’t noticeable, but the slightly raised corners of his lips revealed his satisfaction.

The change was so cute that Lariette couldn’t stand it anymore and burst into laughter.

* * *

Finally, the day Lariette has been waiting for has arrived. It was the day to purify the curse of Asrazan.

She has recently made up her mind to cleanse his curse as quickly as possible. There were two reasons for this.

The first was because Asrazan felt how much trauma he had in his body. I wanted to get rid of that trauma quickly, and I wanted to feel free to touch him. I wanted to fully enjoy the three months I was with him.

The second was due to an incident that happened yesterday. The moment he almost hit the building, Lariette thought of Asrazan.

If I die without purifying, what will he do? Just thinking about it was terrifying.

Lariette believed that she would die in three months, of course, as long as she had a time limit. It had been forgotten that danger existed anytime and anywhere.

The fact that she might die sooner than three months in a sudden accident made her impatient.

“Asrazan, can we do it now?”

Asrazan’s drawing room. Lariette, who sat on the sofa, reached out toward Asrazan’s strong body under the hem of his open shirt.

But just before her fingers touched the thick pectoral muscles, Asrazan flinched and pulled himself back.

“Lariette, are you really okay? You don’t look well….”

“It’s okay! Stop nagging.”

I wasn’t okay. Yesterday, when I thought I was going to die, I squeezed out a lot of mana and applied protective magic to Doha, so I ran out of mana.

However, it was impossible to delay purification. So Lariette pretended to be fine and reached out to him again.

Asrazan, who was always alert to Lariette’s condition, looked at her with questionable eyes, but immediately gave up.

Soon, her hand touched his chest, and a warm energy spread. With him, the scars on his chest gradually faded. It was much lighter than the first one.

“Hah… Haah…”

“Lariette, are you okay? now stop…”

“Hold on, there you go.”

Lariette breathed out a hot breath. I ran out of mana, but when I tried to squeeze it forcibly, my head felt dizzy and a cold sweat flowed down like rain.

Seeing her like that, Asrazan tried to remove her hand, but Lariette resolutely stopped it. To cleanse as quickly as possible, I had to pour as much as I could at a time.

Asrazan looked at her with worried eyes. He soon felt the hands on his chest become as cold as ice. Her slender arms were trembling.

“Lariette!”

He thought she couldn’t see her any longer, and in rare cases he made a loud noise and forcibly removed her hand. Then Lariette’s body fell to him as if waiting.

“Lariette, are you okay? Lariette!”

“It’s cold, it’s cold….”

Suddenly, my whole body became cold. There have been times when I used too much mana and passed out, but it was the first time my body was so cold.

Surprised, Asrazan hurriedly looked for something to warm her up.

“We need to cover…!”

“No, I don’t. After sweating….”

However, Lariette was drenched in sweat. I didn’t want to wear anything else. It was embarrassing too.

She let out a rough breath and looked up at Asrazan with sad eyes. It was the eyes that came out when there was something she wanted.

“I want to take a bath in warm water….”

“I’ll have a maid prepare you to take a bath.”

Asrazan immediately got up after answering. He was planning to tell the maid to prepare bath water quickly.

But a tiny feather-like movement halted his action. Lariette had grabbed the hem of his shirt.

“Why?”

“I have never been bathed by someone unless I complete them.”

This was no lie. In the Duke of Blanche, only Anne attended her bath. After coming to Kandel’s mansion, she had bathed herself.

“But… You wouldn’t have the energy to do it alone.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

I have no strength in my body. Lariette added in a pitiful voice.

Asrazan only rolled his eyes around in a situation where he couldn’t do this or that.

Seeing that, Lariette burst into laughter in the midst of it. If she left him alone, he would attack the Duke of Blanche and take my maid out.

How come he can’t think of any other options? Lariette thought that the person she had been in a relationship with was very innocent, and she pulled the collar toward her.

“So that’s it.”

Asrazan approached Lariette, he intuited that those words were a bad omen. It was an intuition that he learned after being embarrassed several times by Lariette words.

But the words that followed this time were the most embarrassing among them.

“Can you help me with the bath?”