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Chapter 6
“Is the food not to your liking?”
After I spent a long time simply glaring at the steak in front of me, Blake spoke without even looking my way.
Meanwhile, he was cutting his own steak with flawless, impeccable table manners.
Still holding my knife and fork without using them, I stared blankly at him for a moment before cautiously asking,
“Why are we suddenly… eating together?”
“I already told you this morning.”
Blake’s voice was cold and dry.
It sounded completely devoid of emotion, yet somehow I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was irritated.
“Is there some reason we shouldn’t eat together?”
“I mean… I already answered you then. It’s just strange because you’re suddenly doing something you’ve never done before…?”
He looked at my bewildered face for a moment, then simply smiled beautifully instead of answering.
His bright blue eyes curved into crescents, and the corners of his sly red lips lifted ever so slightly.
Thinking back to the descriptions in the novel, I remembered that this was one of Blake’s habits whenever he was annoyed but didn’t want to talk.
“Hmph. You keep watching my mood, yet you still say whatever you want…”
The look in his eyes practically said, What should I do with you?
Startled, I quickly lowered my gaze to my plate as if trying to escape.
Was asking why we were eating together really that offensive?
Well…
Maybe it was.
Still, I couldn’t understand when he’d ever started caring about me enough for my words to bother him.
“Isn’t there something you need to tell me?”
My eyes darted around nervously.
You’ve definitely done something to me. Hurry up and confess.
That was exactly what his words implied.
Somehow, hearing that from him was even more terrifying than hearing it from my parents.
Unfortunately…
I had far too many guilty secrets.
After fumbling over my words for a long while, I cautiously asked in an uncertain voice,
“What… exactly are you referring to…?”
“…”
“How I knew Your Highness’s true name? Or why I resurrected you? Or… the fact that I’m a necromancer?”
“Hah…”
Blake’s face twisted ever so slightly.
Ah, damn.
Apparently none of those were the answer.
Instead, it felt like I’d voluntarily confessed to a bunch of unrelated crimes, making me shrink even further.
Then… what was it?
What else was I supposed to say?
He let out a small sigh, as though a headache were coming on, before asking in disbelief,
“If I asked about those things… would you even answer me?”
“…Um… no.”
I answered honestly, but Blake’s expression showed no sign of softening.
But what was I supposed to say?
Actually, this world is the novel I read, and I’ve transmigrated into it.
And you’re the protagonist of that novel. I resurrected you because the world will end without you.
A necromancer? I learned that from the novel’s side story, where Ariel’s true identity was revealed.
…There was no way I could actually say any of that!
Whenever I met Blake’s icy blue eyes—eyes colder than frozen ice—it felt as though my own mouth froze shut.
Finally, he muttered in a tone of resignation,
“I’m not going to ask about any of that. So stop watching my every reaction.”
“Yes!”
“You answer quickly enough, Master.”
At this point, even if he teased me by calling me “Master,” I didn’t even blink anymore.
Blake smiled crookedly before slowly pulling out a handkerchief.
He raised it to his lips.
Then, along with a quiet cough, it looked like he spat something into it.
His movements were so natural that I assumed he’d either coughed up a bone or spit out food that didn’t suit his taste.
Until I realized what had come out of his mouth was dark red blood.
“W-What…? Your Highness, did you just cough up blood?”
Startled, I shot to my feet and hurried over to him.
Oddly enough, he looked more surprised that I’d rushed over than by the fact that he’d just coughed up blood.
He stared at me for a moment before finally frowning as though coming back to his senses.
“Did you eat any of the food?”
“What? N-No, I haven’t yet…”
“Good. Just in case, don’t eat it.”
“No, forget me—what about you? Are you alright? Please answer me!”
Blake stared at me as though enjoying my panic before curling the corner of his mouth upward.
“So coughing up a little blood is what it takes for Master to pay attention to me.”
The more he smiled, the more deeply I frowned.
This husband of mine…
Doesn’t have the slightest idea what’s going through my mind.
“I’m not joking!”
“For now, I’m fine. I don’t feel anything.”
“…What?”
His gaze shifted to the steak on his own plate, barely touched after only a bite or two.
After silently thinking for quite a while, he slowly looked back at me.
Tilting his pale face slightly, he spoke quietly.
“I can’t taste anything, so I suppose I wouldn’t even know if it was poisoned.”
“…”
“But look. I’m perfectly fine. In fact, I’m so perfectly fine that maybe I should pretend to be sick.”
“…What?”
“Wouldn’t the person who poisoned me find it suspicious otherwise? Should I collapse now?”
“Your Highness… have you seriously lost your mind?”
Apparently my dumbfounded expression amused him.
He turned his head slightly and let out what sounded like a cough but was actually a quiet laugh.
The slight curve of his lips betrayed him.
He looked perfectly healthy on the outside…
Maybe it was because, although he appeared alive, the inside of his body was no different from a zombie’s.
Wearing a serious expression, I walked straight over to Blake.
With just a tiny bit of selfish motivation, I pinched the back of his hand and asked,
“If I pinch you here… does it hurt?”
Seeing how he’d coughed up blood yet acted completely fine, it seemed like he couldn’t even feel pain.
“It normally doesn’t… Oh. When Master’s hand touches me, I can feel it. Try it one more time.”
“What? D-Don’t say things like that with that voice and that face.”
“Why? Weren’t we conducting an experiment?”
Or was I simply being too oblivious?
Blake laughed softly, clearly teasing me.
Even though his body was practically a corpse, he didn’t seem bothered by it at all.
You infuriating husband.
You crazy protagonist…
You’re doing this on purpose to make me feel guilty, aren’t you?
But as I stared at his smiling face, something suddenly felt strange.
Carefully, I reached toward his lips.
Blake’s face was deathly pale, yet his lips remained vividly red, making it impossible to believe anything was wrong with his body.
And although the rest of him was still cold…
The lips beneath my fingertips were warm.
“…Was I really the oblivious one?”
“Seriously! Your complexion is pale, but your lips still have color, so I wanted to check!”
“Well, naturally. Master kissed me.”
“…What?”
“You kissed me to breathe life back into me. Isn’t it only natural that the place you touched would have the most life in it?”
H-He remembered that?
Perhaps my horrified expression amused him, because Blake burst into laughter.
That smile…
It was exactly the face I’d once seen in one of the novel’s illustrations.
The bright, refreshing male protagonist.
It seemed he hadn’t completely lost the man he used to be.
The sight left me strangely dazed.
Since every time he saw me he usually wore nothing but a gloomy expression, I’d thought I’d never once get to see my husband smile.
“Unfortunately, only the places Master touches can appear like those of a normal person. So… have you reached a conclusion?”
“What conclusion?”
“The conclusion to this ridiculous little experiment.”
“…Your resurrected body is far too dependent on me.”
Blake’s body faithfully responded only to me—the necromancer who had brought him back to life.
If I wasn’t beside him, or if the sensation didn’t come through me, then his body remained no different from a dead one.
What am I supposed to do…?
While I was worrying over it, Blake slowly began speaking.
“So you understand all that perfectly well…”
In that instant, the bright, refreshing impression he’d worn moments ago disappeared completely.
A sharp blue light gleamed dangerously in his eyes.
The crooked smile and the sharp bridge of his nose now gave him the exact opposite impression.
He transformed from the young hero destined to save the world…
Into a villain who had died and returned from the grave.
A darkness far too deep and decadent for me to comprehend seeped from every part of him.
“Without you, Master, I can’t even sleep anymore. I can’t taste anything, can’t feel pain… I can’t even tell whether I’m hot or cold.”
Blake’s large, icy hand suddenly seized mine and pulled.
Before I could react, I was drawn straight into his embrace.
Losing my balance, my legs gave way, and in an instant I found myself sitting on his thigh.
“…”
His face was so close that I instinctively swallowed hard.
His low voice, vibrating from his moving throat, sounded like the warning growl of a predator.
“And yet…”
“You’re saying you want a divorce?”
