The Survival Strategy of the Contract Duchess - Chapter 109

Sasha calmed her slightly anxious heart with a breath. What if he rejects me, what if he doesn’t even try to ask why and just leaves me behind?

She knew Kyler loved her, but it was related to his work, and because she was the demon who inflicted his oldest and deepest wound, she worried that she might have hurt his heart, and so that he might not even see her.

Carefully, she released the arm she was holding and stood directly opposite him.

He sheathed his sword and stood straight, looking at her. His eyes were filled with confusion first and foremost.

Thankfully, there was no resentment towards her. Whether that was just her feeling or her wishful thinking, she wasn’t sure.

“Kyler, are you okay?”

Sasha barely managed to speak. She had so much to explain to him. This wasn’t the time to be upset with each other like this.

But as soon as Sasha asked that, Kyler’s hardened face softened. Instead, his eyes filled with a questioning look.

“I should be the one asking if you’re okay. I should have pushed you away even if you asked me to go to the Uhalin Forest, how did you get here. Besides, I came looking for you in a hurry and you’re with a demon.”

After hearing Midiana’s advice, Kyler immediately rode his horse to the Uhalin Forest without thinking. He had no information about who had coaxed her or how she had come, so he started from the entrance where he had come with her, passed the gazebo, and delved deeper and deeper into the forest.

“I wasn’t at the entrance or the gazebo, I was so worried.”

“Ah.”

When Sasha went out, the demons came down. They would even come down from the mountains, and she realized how he must have felt, coming deep inside to find her when she wasn’t visible on the outside.

“Marquis Ivern told me to deliver a message as if he had something to say to me. Elina was the only one guiding me, so I followed her. I knew I wouldn’t get hurt if I used the demon.”

She thought he would be angry when he heard this explanation, but she told him the truth anyway. He would find out anyway, and that wasn’t the important thing right now.

But she thought he would be furious, whether at her or at the two Ivern women, but again she was wrong. He frowned and fell into deep thought. And after a moment, his eyes blazed blue.

“The Empress must have instigated it.”

There was no reason for Ivern to act on his own, and if they had acted, the Empress couldn’t have known. He hadn’t thought she would use her jealousy like this.

And Sasha also understood what he was saying, closed her eyes tightly, and sighed.

“Don’t worry. The Empress is telling me the way here. You won’t have to go through such ridiculous things again.”

Sasha nodded without hesitation at Kyler’s words. If he assured her, then that was that. He would make it so.

“Oh, and Marquis Ivern is said to be the leader of Geranel, is that true?”

“I don’t know where you heard it, but it’s true.”

He knew too.

She wasn’t particularly upset because she knew why he hadn’t told her. Seeing Kyler’s face looking slightly gloomy and powerless as she nodded, Sasha strode up to him and grabbed his strong arm as if to hug him.

“Let’s go home first. I have so much to tell you.”

Sasha said that, trying to change the atmosphere as she pulled on his arm. She didn’t mean to be cute, but after saying it, it sounded a bit like she did. As she awkwardly tried to turn her head, he strode closer to her, put his arm around her shoulder, and started walking side by side.

His warmth and affection, which blew away all the things she had been worried and concerned about for a moment, made her eyes sting slightly.

She followed the path she had entered with Elina and got out of the forest first. And the two walked slowly along the road back to where his horse was.

Sasha was in a hurry because she had so much to say, but Kyler made sure she didn’t walk too fast.

“I told you I have a lot to tell you.”

When Sasha complained about the speed, Kyler suddenly stopped walking. Ugh, what is it? Does he not like me rushing?

As she tensed up so much that cold sweat broke out and tried to look at him, he suddenly bent down and picked her up.

“Kya! Wh-what are you doing! People are watching!”

Kyler was just looking ahead and walking, but Sasha was busy screaming and struggling, looking around.

“Who would say anything even if they saw us? Wouldn’t they think our relationship looks good?”

Sasha stopped struggling at the words she didn’t expect to hear from him and covered her face. It wasn’t because she was ashamed, but because she felt her face turning red as if it would explode.

“Lady Sasha!”

As they returned home, all the servants rushed out of the front door. The young maids’ faces were full of traces of tears, and even Rose and Pavan, who usually did their jobs without wavering, collapsed when they found Sasha.

“Oh, oh! I, I’m back.”

Sasha forgot that she was still in Kyler’s arms and greeted them blankly.

Kyler sensed the atmosphere and put her down, and the young maids rushed towards her.

“Lady Sasha! Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Oh my! Your hands! You have blisters! Does it hurt?”

As the children surrounding her were busy examining her body, Sasha soothed and coaxed them, wearing a dazed expression.

After saying that she was okay about 28 times, they stepped back and she met Rose’s eyes.

“Rose, I’m back. Can you prepare a bath for me?”

“Yes, Lady Sasha.”

It seemed like it wasn’t just her imagination that Rose’s voice sounded a bit hoarse.

Kyler and Sasha were greeted with tearful welcomes and went inside.

First, she soaked her body in the hot bath water that Rose had prepared.

From the first time Elina came, to leaving that house, arriving in the forest, sending her away, meeting the demon, and crossing the mountains, today was a series of tremendous tension all day long.

Each time, she tried to act calm and okay, but when she returned home and saw the people who were worried about her and had been waiting for her, the tension was completely released and her whole body was taken over by fatigue.

Kyler had suggested that they wash together, which made her scream and come in alone, and Sasha lay in the bathtub, looking at the ceiling before lowering her heavy eyelids.

She thought that Kyler, who had seen her send the demon away in the forest, must have felt some resentment towards her.

At the time, his concern for her may have taken precedence, but you never know. After all the worries are sorted out, when we start talking in earnest.

“Sasha.”

“Kya!”

A voice that shouldn’t have echoed in the bathroom echoed. Her drowsy mind was jolted awake by the voice, and she screamed and took her back off the tub.

“Y-you can’t come in!”

“I thought you were taking too long, so I came to check. You can’t fall asleep in the bathtub.”

Why did his words of concern for her in a calm voice feel a bit cute?

Sasha, who was actually half-asleep until just before falling asleep, nodded at his words.

“I’ll get out right away.”

Kyler, who had nodded, left the bathroom, and Sasha quickly got out of the bathtub, wiped her body, and came out.

The two didn’t say anything until dinner, and after the meal, they sat down on his bed.

He chose to sit on the bed as if he didn’t want to let her go.

Sasha rubbed her eyelids, which kept trying to fall asleep, and listened. There was something she had to say before today was over.

Tap tap. But this man started lightly tapping between her shoulder and collarbone. Oh, no! This was definitely a shortcut to dreamland.

“Kyler, just a moment!”

He didn’t stop tapping and just looked down at her. Even his eyes today had a feeling of lightly glaring rather than a dangerous atmosphere.

“I have something to tell you.”

And he didn’t say anything in particular to the words she said. However, what she could feel was that he seemed to be waiting for her words quite a bit.

Kyler, who had been holding her tightly as if he wouldn’t let her go, loosened his arms at her firm words.

Sasha didn’t get off the bed and faced him. He looked so handsome in his thin pajamas, but she shook her head lightly and put strength into her eyes.

“Earlier, when we met again in the Uhalin Forest, I was with a demon.”

Kyler nodded for a moment and frowned as if he knew she would bring up that story.

“Elina was the one who took me to the forest. She confessed everything, saying that her father had ordered her to do it, and even that she had run away in front of the forest. At least I thought Ivern would show up. I was a little scared to go into the forest.”

As she began to tell the story seriously, Kyler was listening intently to her words.

“Marquis Ivern didn’t show up. So, Elina’s claim itself was not confirmed. They were just thinking of sending me to the mountains or leaving me near the mountains to get rid of me.”

Kyler looked straight at her as she began to explain in a calm voice. He also had something he had felt earlier. It was a feeling that it was very different from what I had guessed and thought.

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