The Price of Breaching the Contract - Chapter 17

“Princess, if you catch a cold, it’ll be a disaster.”

Maya fussed around Yulania, wringing her hands. A sharp wind blew, and as she tightened the shawl around her shoulders, Maya’s worry intensified.

In Maya’s eyes, Yulania always seemed ill. Having served her for less than a month, she hadn’t seen her in good health.

“Please, wait inside, okay?”

“I’m fine.”

But Yulania was stubborn.

In truth, she wasn’t naturally weak. She’d had a slight fever now and then, but never a serious illness. Even the motion sickness during this carriage ride was unusual.

Contrary to Maya’s worries, she wasn’t about to collapse.

More than that, Yulania was too restless to stay still.

It was the evening of the third day since Santiago had left. The sun had disappeared beyond the mountains two hours ago.

Yulania, who had been composed until this morning, suddenly felt anxious as the sun began to set.

“Alban, where is the Duke?”

She had asked the servant about his whereabouts for the fifth time. After Maya had come and gone several times, the butler, Alban, had come to her side himself.

“He said he would be back by today, so unless there are unforeseen circumstances, he should be here soon.”

Since Santiago didn’t send messengers for short expeditions, they couldn’t know the exact schedule. But Alban answered with a calm, unconcerned face. He couldn’t even imagine worrying about Santiago.

“Unforeseen circumstances?”

But the moment Yulania asked back with trembling eyes, Alban regretted his words. He knelt on one knee before her, pulled up the corners of his mouth, and tried to reassure her.

“Princess, please don’t worry too much. It’s a short expedition to a nearby place, so it won’t be dangerous, and besides, it’s Duke Makari. He will definitely come back.”

“It’s so dark.”

Despite the butler’s sincere words, she couldn’t calm down. She trembled with anxiety, like a child waiting for her parents.

The moment Alban mentioned “unforeseen circumstances,” Yulania imagined the hideous demons she had seen in books and the knight who had returned covered in blood not long ago.

Santiago, the Devil Slayer, wouldn’t be like that, but didn’t they say something could happen beyond those walls? He was just a man, not immortal.

The servants all tried to soothe her, but once the thought had taken root, it wouldn’t go away.

Just then, the sound of a horse’s snorting came from afar.

Soon, a jet-black man emerged from the darkness. Santiago, with an icy face, looked surprised to see someone waiting for him.

“Yulania? Why are you outside?”

And the moment she heard his questioning voice, Yulania’s legs gave way, and she collapsed. The anxiety that had been gripping her chest shattered in an instant, and her eyes grew hot.

“Sniff! Why are you so late, sob!”

Seeing her burst into tears, Santiago, looking visibly flustered, immediately dismounted and approached her.

“Did something else happen while I was gone?”

He lowered himself to examine her. How long had she been outside? Her face was flushed from the cold, and the tears made it even redder.

But as Yulania saw him more clearly as he came closer, her heart seemed to pound. As he spoke, his warm breath and unique, heavy scent touched a tender part of her heart.

“Sniff, no, I don’t know. I was so worried about what might have happened to you, I’m overwhelmed. I’ve never felt like this before, so I don’t know.”

Clearly, she had been fine. She was just worried, not enough to cry. Suddenly, uncontrollable sadness burst forth like a dam breaking.

Santiago lowered himself to look directly at her and said, “Nothing happened. I’m back.”

“Sob! All day, how much I, sniff, it’s so dark outside.”

Yulania babbled like a child. Santiago, utterly bewildered by her emotional outburst, suddenly remembered the new doctor’s words.

[The suppressed emotions may pour out, making it difficult to control them for a while.]

When he heard those words, he hadn’t understood what they meant, but seeing it now, he felt strange. He thought he had prepared himself, but apparently not.

He had been dissatisfied with her abnormally stoic nature, but he didn’t want to see her like this.

An unbearable displeasure welled up. That emotion was immediately reflected in his expression.

“Was no one stopping the Princess from being out here?”

The servants who were with her lowered their heads at Santiago’s scolding gaze. Then, a slightly softened reprimand fell on Yulania as well.

“Did you forget what I said about staying warm?”

But she was too busy trying to catch her breath, tears streaming down her face like a waterfall. Her small face was a mess of tears and redness.

Santiago touched her cheek with his fingertips and clicked his tongue at the coldness he felt.

He reached out to her, then hesitated, withdrawing his hand at the metallic smell coming from his neck. He was a mess after fighting demons in the harsh mountains for three days.

“Yulania, let’s go inside for now.”

“What about the baby, our baby?”

But she didn’t hear him at all. Suddenly, she placed her hands on her lower abdomen and sobbed. She felt a pain in her belly, which had been numb until now. It felt as if the baby inside was knocking and crying, full of resentment.

Santiago forced himself to keep his expression neutral, tightening his lips, and roughly untied his fur cloak. He threw down the jet-black cloak, soaked with something he couldn’t bring himself to name, and even took off his thick coat.

In an instant, Santiago, in a thin shirt, snatched a blanket from a flustered servant nearby and wrapped it haphazardly around Yulania. Then, he carried the large bundle of blanket that she had become straight into the castle.

Taken aback by the sudden scene, the knights who had returned with him dismounted and began to sort out their luggage.

Yulania didn’t stop crying as Santiago hurried up the stairs.

Finally, after laying her on the bed and removing the blanket, she calmed down a little and began to speak between sobs.

“Did my father really do that?”

From outside to the room, her thoughts had spiraled from Santiago to her father. Since their relationship wasn’t close, Yulania had lived believing that she didn’t have much faith or affection for her father.

Santiago stood still, unable to touch her or leave, and watched her.

“…”

“Our baby, did my father? Sniff?”

Yulania’s hands trembled with betrayal and fear as she thought that her father had been deceiving her and giving her harmful medicine. The emotions that had barely calmed down surged back as she spoke.

She had only followed the King’s orders and lived for him.

She believed that even if she wasn’t his favorite child, she was still useful as a daughter.

If even that wasn’t true, she didn’t know how to feel about her father.

All the emotions she had been suppressing with anxiety became a great fire and exploded all at once. Betrayal towards her father, the devastation of losing her child, and the futility of life were mixed together in a mess, bringing tears to her eyes.

It felt like her entire life was collapsing.

“Yulania.”

Santiago didn’t know how to react, so he just called her name with an uncomfortable expression. He couldn’t easily speak of his suspicions about the King, nor could he deny them.

Eventually, he sat helplessly beside her and quietly stayed by her side.

And so, she fell into a deep sleep in the midst of a whirlwind of emotions she had never experienced before.

When Yulania opened her eyes again, Santiago was not there.

Splat—!

A medium-sized demon, about the same size as Santiago, exploded, covering him in sticky black blood. He had dealt with so many demons that he had lost count.

But it was just a medium-sized one. There was no need to make such a fuss, splattering blood everywhere, when dealing with a medium-sized demon.

Santiago was making unnecessarily rough movements, dirtying himself even more. He was also moving at an unnecessarily fast pace.

It had been like this since he had left Yulania, who had cried herself to sleep, at dawn. He was wielding his sword with a stiff face, pretending to be fine, but he couldn’t hide his raging emotions.

Even Haron, who usually treated him comfortably with his glib personality, couldn’t dare to speak to him. But as Santiago charged forward alone, he had no choice but to overcome his fear.

“Captain! If we go any further, we’ll have to camp out!”

They had gone too deep into the mountains in a short amount of time. He had come out intending to return before nightfall, so they couldn’t spend the night.

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