---
“What did you say?”
Upon hearing these words, I tore my hand from the Archduke's hand.
Then my eyes widened in dismay.
He sighed helplessly.
“If you divorce me, you will no longer be in danger.”
“Have you already forgotten our contract?
I said we cannot divorce until the Archduke is proven innocent!”
I exploded in anger.
No matter how bad our situation was, rolling around in a narrow hole, covered in dirt, I couldn't tell him now that I couldn't take it and that I had to get out.
“What you have done for me so far is enough for me.”
“….”
His calm words were steady, and his eyes were serious and unwavering.
It was different from the last time he filed for divorce after the trial.
At the time, he seemed like he wanted to quickly terminate our contract and be free.
This time, his face was complicated, as if he was truly worried about my safety.
“If you want, I can give you half of my assets when I get them back.”
“...!”
My thoughts were interrupted for a moment.
He even offered me extra pay even if I left now.
I bit my dry lips.
It was clear that I had to accept this offer immediately, but my lips, tight as if I were crazy, refused to let me speak.
“There is no guarantee that you will not encounter something like this, or worse, in the future.”
“I...”
I opened my mouth slowly, and his gaze fell on me.
I took the hem of the Archduke's shirt with my hand and continued.
“I tend to see things through to the end.”
I answered, watching his reaction intently.
Accepting his offer would have insulted my pride as a responsible lawyer, one who takes full care of any matter my clients entrust to me.
Unless it was a customer not paying, so abandoning the case was outside my vocabulary.
“I have agreed to bear the responsibility of the Archduke.
Resigning over something like this would be a blow to my pride.”
“…Even though you might be in danger?”
He stared at me, as if stunned.
But I finally found a good excuse, no, a reasonable reason to continue his case, and instead, I yelled at him.
"I won't leave it alone.
Look, I survived today!
I didn't even faint like the Archduke."
I shook my arms and legs, trying to convince him I was okay, and beat my chest.
Of course, I managed to suppress a slight sting of pain.
His lips, which had been staring at me blankly, curved upward.
“Looking at the way you swung that rock... you're not easy.”
"See?
You're not being sarcastic, are you?"
“Yes, honestly, where you hit hurts more.”
He laughed lightly.
I laughed too.
Feeling a little dizzy, I looked outside the cave, where the rain was still pouring down.
Suddenly, it was pitch dark.
“I think leaving this place today will be difficult?”
“Walking through mountain paths on a rainy night is like committing suicide.”
I sighed deeply.
Even though it was summer, the temperature dropped dramatically as darkness fell.
As I sat on the cold floor, soaked in the rain, my body began to shiver.
I pulled my robe tightly, clinging to it tightly as if it were a lifeline.
Then a heavy piece of cloth fell on my shoulder.
It was the robe worn by the Grand Duke.
I blinked in surprise, and hastily returned it to him.
“Your Excellency, you're not feeling well...
I-I'm fine.”
“You shouldn't talk like that.”
He scolded me, wrapping the robe around my body and making it tight.
The Archduke, displeased by the sight of my shoulders and wrists, clicked his tongue.
“That's because you're so weak and thin.
Seriously think about the bitterness of the bear I mentioned earlier.”
I nodded instead of answering.
I no longer have the energy to respond.
My joints, which had been throbbing for a moment, now felt as if they were being torn to the bone.
How much time passed in silence?
My body was now completely shaking.
“Haa…”
My breathing slowed and I closed my eyes.
I couldn't sit any longer, so I collapsed on the dirt floor.
“You...”
The Archduke, who had been sitting silently with his back to the wall, leaned forward.
He seemed to sense that something was wrong with me.
“You seem to be shaking a lot.”
“Ah...”
Finally, his hand touched my pale cheek, and I flinched.
His hands felt as hot as a heater, but he seemed surprised by how cold my cheeks were.
“Damn, your body temperature is low.”
He muttered a curse to himself.
A look of pain crossed his face for a moment, then he looked at me with a serious expression.
“What I will do from now on...
I will tell you clearly, there is no other meaning to it at all.”
“….”
My mind was fuzzy, and I felt like I didn't care what he was doing.
I blinked slowly, my eyes half closed.
“I simply use the most basic scientific knowledge and methods, as described in Chapter One, Section One of Introduction to Military Science, to resolve life-or-death emergencies.”
I felt a little disturbed by his constant, incomprehensible ramblings.
Finally, he looked at me with a serious expression.
“So… remember, there is no room for personal feelings.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he grabbed my tightly pulled robe with his hand and pulled it.
I was clinging to the slight warmth that seeped into me from the cloak, and I barely resisted even in my blurred consciousness, trying not to let it take it from me.
“No...”
“If you continue like this, you will lose more body heat.”
My weak resistance was crushed by his brute strength, and he snatched the robe from me effortlessly.
Without realizing it, I shrank and trembled like aspen leaves.
“A-It's cold...”
My eyes filled with tears.
I resented him for snatching the cloak he gave me while I was freezing.
tear-
It was the sound of a thread of cloth tearing.
I blinked, and through my tear-blurred vision, an unfamiliar sight appeared.
Moments ago, a man wearing a jacket and shirt was sitting in front of me...
'Did you take it off?'
In the blink of an eye, the Archduke was half naked, and my eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
What happened next was so shocking that my consciousness, which had been far away, came back to me at the speed of light.
“...!”
The Archduke, lying face down next to me, half-naked, hugged me tightly.
I buried my face into his hard, bare chest, unable to breathe.
“Breathe.
You can't lose your breath if you have hypothermia.”
His soft voice settled on the top of my head.
I stiffened and muttered.
“What… is this…?”
“Because I'm the only one in this cave that's reasonably warm.”
In contrast to my panic, his voice was calm and calm.
He is usually the one who reacts angrily to such communications, whether accidentally or not.
“I simply use the most basic scientific knowledge and methods, as described in Chapter One, Section One of Introduction to Military Science, to resolve life-or-death emergencies.”
Finally, I realized the meaning of his words that I had heard a moment before, in my distorted consciousness.
He thought of a way to bring our bodies together to restore my low temperature.
“Ahh…”
After I understood the situation rationally, I released the breath I had been holding.
His chest, where my nose touched his, trembled for a moment as he exhaled.
When I calmed down, he lifted the jacket he had taken off earlier and covered me with it.
I closed my eyes and felt the warmth flowing in, and I exhaled slowly.
Without me realizing it, the tremors subsided and my body calmed down.
His body was hot, and his arms around me felt warm.
The ground was cold, and he must feel cold too.
I whispered softly to him, who was bearing the cold with his naked body.
“…Aren’t you cold, Your Excellency?”
“Haa.
I’ve fought countless battles with just my uniform, even in the northern regions hit by blizzards.
So, this cold is not much of a problem for me.”
I couldn't help but laugh when he mentioned again his fighting style from his usual repertoire, which he had not forgotten yet.
He mumbled quietly.
“You seem fine enough now that you're smiling.”
“So shall I shut up and sleep?”
“It's dangerous if you fall asleep.
Say something.”
It was embarrassing for him to hug her, wearing nothing, but not seeing his face made her feel even more shameless.
She muttered coldly.
“The last time we lay down together, the Archduke drew a line with his leather belt.”
“…Oh yeah.”
“I assume it's an emergency today, right?”
The Archduke remained silent.
After a long silence, a faint voice finally reached her ears.
“Yes.
It is very dangerous...”
As he spoke, the sound of his heartbeat became faster and faster.
The rhythm, intertwined with the steady sound of falling raindrops, was far away.
With that sound, her consciousness gradually faded away.