Chapter 208 - North Korean rabbit

Side Story Episode 3

Arpad was, for once, genuinely flustered.

It was only natural, given that the woman who had just been hurling every manner of insult at him had suddenly thrown herself upon him with such fervor.

Did she have a habit of her words and actions going in opposite directions?

"...What are you doing?"

To this, Hilia replied with confidence, the corners of her mouth curling up quite effectively.

"If I hang on this tight, I'll be safe even if you let go!"

It seemed she had clung on tightly simply to avoid being thrown to the ground.

For some reason, Arpad found that simple line of thinking a little irritating.

That certainty—whether it was belief or disbelief that he could actually throw her—somehow unsettled him.

With something thorny caught in his throat and on his tongue, his words naturally did not come out kindly.

Had Hilia known this thought, she would have been aghast and rebuked him, saying he had never once spoken kindly in his life.

In any case, Arpad uttered words that would make Hilia recoil.

"Is that so? I thought you were seducing me."

"What?!"

A genuinely shocked voice rose in pitch.

And Hilia realized, a half-beat too late,

that she was clinging to this man with excessive passion.

Come to think of it, this was the first time she had been in such close physical contact with him since being abducted.

Considering she had initiated it, it was the first time ever, including the moment of her abduction.

"Se-seducing...?!"

Startled, Hilia peeled her two arms, which had been tightly wrapped around Arpad's neck, away from him.

A belated anxiety struck her that she might actually end up rolling on the floor.

"...?"

However, even long after she let go, her position remained stable.

Arpad was still holding her gently.

The warmth from their touching skin was distinct, and even the pleasant thrumming of a heartbeat was transmitted.

As if to say, surprisingly, this person too was an ordinary man with red blood flowing through his veins.

Until they reached their destination, the cabin, Hilia stared at Arpad's profile with a dazed expression.

Even in this situation, she ultimately had to admit.

'He really is pointlessly handsome.'

She even forgot, for a moment, what kind of deeds this man had committed, that he only said things that made her so angry she could turn inside out.

Hilia should have fallen into doubt, wondering if she had always been this weak to visual stimuli.

The momentarily awkward atmosphere soon melted away like snow.

The anger and resentment she had never forgotten for a single moment since the abduction, and the inexplicable flutter she felt while in that man's embrace.

All these emotions and sentiments fled far away the moment she saw the cabin with its clean water, food, and comfortable bedding.

Arpad, with an uncharacteristic kindness, gently set Hilia down on the cabin's only bed as if she were a feather.

Hilia stretched out her limbs and fell backward.

"Aaah!"

The moment the softness of the feather-stuffed mattress enveloped her entire body, her resentment toward her abductor and the inexplicable flutter were washed away as if cleansed.

And then came a successive assault on her senses that stole Hilia's spirit.

Arpad held out a wooden cup filled to the brim with clean water.

Without even the leisure to let out a cry of gratitude, Hilia shot up and lunged for the cup.

Only after hastily emptying the cup five times did her senses finally return.

Then, Arpad brought dried bread, cheese, and dried fruit.

Even though her stomach was already full of water, the dry provisions tasted sweet like sugar in her mouth.

"Ugh! It's so, so delicious!"

Arpad handed her a sixth cup of water and said calmly.

"It's exactly the same menu you were cursing earlier. It seems you're the one with a real problem with your sense of taste."

"Do you think I'm acting like this because I don't know it's the same menu?!"

Even as she flared up in anger, Hilia hastily chewed and swallowed the hard bread.

In her rush to eat, she choked.

"Cough, cough!"

She thought he would sneer, but unexpectedly, Arpad said nothing more.

Instead, he handed her a fresh cup of his own water and quietly rubbed her back.

That touch was, truly, incongruously tender.

'What on earth.'

The flustering and shocking events did not end there.

When she emerged after washing her body, grimy and exhausted from wandering all day, with hot water, something entirely unexpected awaited her.

The fact that this small cabin had facilities for bathing with hot water was astonishing enough.

But Arpad's subsequent attitude was even more surprising.

He placed unknown herbs on a thin piece of muslin, soaked it in hot water, sat Hilia on the bed, poured it over her feet, and applied it to the blisters that had formed in various places.

Not only were there blisters that had formed and burst, but her left ankle was also sprained and swollen.

When the warm, herb-scented compress touched her, it literally felt as if her feet were melting.

She nearly melted into a puddle on the spot but managed to pull herself together and speak sharply.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, how do you know how to do such things?"

There were no doctors or apothecaries to treat her, nor attendants to serve her, so Arpad must have done it himself.

"It's because I didn't grow up as delicately as you might think."

"......"

The man kneeling before her was at a different eye level than usual.

He had always been looking down from above, annoyingly and high-handedly, but now, even if just a little, he was looking up from below.

An unfamiliar angle.

Hilia suppressed the unfamiliar feeling that surged up, trying to rise.

'Have you gone mad, Hilia Delphin?'

What has this man done?

This is because she was overly tired and worn out, and her heart had grown weak.

* * *

The next day.

When she opened her eyes around the time the sun was high in the sky, having slept like the dead, she was alone in the cabin.

'What? Where did he go?'

The moment she confirmed Arpad was gone, this thought arose.

'Should I run away?'

She looked at her feet. The swelling had subsided considerably.

She saw the bread, dried fruit, and large water bottle piled on the table.

If she wrapped them in the tablecloth and took them, eating sparingly, she could last a few days, couldn't she?

Soon, Hilia shook her head.

If she got lost and wandered, it would only lead to the same outcome.

Just then.

The door opened, and a large man entered.

Drops of red blood dripped onto the floor.

"Kyaaah!!!"

Hilia screamed in surprise.

Calming her pounding heart and looking closer, she could see that what Arpad was carrying was a deer.

It was the first time she had seen a dead animal, let alone one dripping blood.

Unconsciously, her voice trembled.

"Wh-what is this? Are you trying to threaten me or something?"

Arpad, who had set the deer down on the floor, tilted his head.

"Why would I go to such pointless trouble?"

Arpad chuckled. Truly, this pointlessly handsome man was unbearably annoying when he smiled.

"You didn't run away even when I left the house empty."

"Eek! It's not that I didn't run away! I was just formulating a solid plan, that's all!"

"Do you realize that's completely different from the promise you made yesterday? You said you wouldn't run away."

"Why should I keep a promise I made to my abductor?!"

At that moment, Arpad drew a dagger.

Hilia hunched her shoulders.

"Wh-what is this? Are you threatening to kill me?"

Arpad tilted his head in the opposite direction.

"Why would I?"

The blade pointed at the dead deer's neck.

"I was deeply impressed by what you said yesterday, criticizing me for having no taste and that my treatment of my wife was wrong."

"Not wife, but treatment of a prisoner, you mean."

And Hilia asked, adopting a defiant posture.

"Are you going to threaten me again, saying you'll kill me if I voice any more complaints? That you'll kill me like this deer?"

"Your train of thought is always fascinating."

Arpad plunged the knife into the deer's neck. Thud!

"Eek! It is a threat after all!"

"I'll say it again, it's not such pointless trouble. I merely procured some usable ingredients."

Arpad skillfully butchered the deer, and Hilia covered her eyes and screamed at the noises reaching her ears.

But a few hours later, her eyes widened into saucers at the sight of the venison stew placed on the table.

Hesitating a little, she put a spoonful in her mouth and her eyes grew even wider.

"Delicious?"

Arpad smiled confidently.

Even though that smile was utterly detestable, strangely, it was hard to look away.