TPOTLPIM Chapter 5

Great! The marriage proposal would come in a month, and after that, she could persuade her father to delay giving his consent.

"Then during that month, we should prepare in advance."

"What kind of preparation?"

"When proposing marriage, we should send gifts together to show sincerity, shouldn't we? We'll need to visit the finest dressmakers and jewelers. Since it should match the young lady's taste, you'll have to come with me to look."

"No! I can't prepare for marriage before even getting my father's permission!"

At her reflexive outcry, Teros's eyes narrowed as he stared at Cecilia. His piercing gaze that seemed to bore right through her was trying to gauge her thoughts, and his eyes were incomprehensibly pitch-black and cold. Cecilia turned her head away, avoiding his gaze, afraid he might see through her intention to delay the marriage.

Eventually, as if he had seen through all her thoughts, Teros spoke decisively.

"Cecilia, the Count's permission isn't important. Since I've made up my mind, the marriage is decided. I'm simply trying not to upset the Count's feelings if possible."

At his ice-cold words, Cecilia fell silent, and only the sound of horses stepping on fallen leaves could be heard in the forest that had settled into silence.

The two of them continued wordlessly along the thin, winding path.

The narrow forest trail suddenly widened at some point, and soon a large lake sparkling under the sunlight came into view.

"Wow."

At the magnificent scenery unfolding before her eyes, Cecilia couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, even forgetting her uncomfortable mood.

The lake's surface appeared in various hues depending on its depth, creating a mysterious atmosphere.

"Seeing your reaction, it seems this lake is to your liking as well."

While Teros was gauging her feelings, he somehow looked more satisfied himself.

He untied the rope of a boat moored at the lakeside, helped Cecilia into the boat, and rowed toward the center of the lake.

The creaking sound of rowing and the splashing sound of the boat cutting through the water filled the forest's tranquility.

From the boat, Cecilia gazed as if entranced at the lake's surface that changed colors moment by moment.

"I've never seen such a beautiful lake."

"Long-time residents of Hasblue call this place 'Lake Daphne.' They say a fairy named 'Daphne' lives in this lake or something. Recently, there have been many people claiming to have spotted the fairy. They say you should come with several people to avoid being enchanted by the fairy."

"Hearing that makes me feel somewhat eerie."

Cecilia, who had been lost in the beautiful scenery, suddenly rubbed her arms at the chilling feeling.

"Do you believe such legends? I've come here alone many times, but I've never seen any fairy, so don't worry. There's also talk that it's a legend made up by the lord who used to rule this place to monopolize the scenic beauty alone."

Cecilia couldn't easily take her eyes off the mysteriously glowing surface of the lake.

She could have looked far into the distance at the forest surrounding the lake or the high sky above, but her attention was entirely focused on the lake's water colors and the deep shadows lurking beneath.

She carefully reached down to splash the water gently.

Just as she was gripping the boat's edge and leaning forward a bit more to try to wet her hand, Teros hurriedly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her upright.

"Didn't I tell you not to worry? Aren't you being too careless? It's dangerous, so don't lean over too much."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself."

"When you become the mistress of Hasblue, this lake will all be yours too. It would be nice to come here together often."

At Teros's attitude of bringing up marriage at every opportunity, Cecilia's shoulders slumped.

She couldn't understand a man who wanted to proceed with marriage regardless of the other person's feelings, and Teros's cold, hard expression and manner of speaking—none of it felt like he loved her. She could only sense a strange obsession with keeping her by his side.

Come to think of it, earlier too he had proposed marriage but hadn't expressed his feelings for her.

'From the outside, Lord Teros doesn't seem to particularly like me either.'

As Cecilia grumbled inwardly, she suddenly remembered what Hadel had said.

["There are various ways to express interest."]

Was possessiveness this man's way of loving? Unconditionally trying to keep any woman who caught his interest by his side.

When her thoughts reached this point, her spine felt chilly despite it being summer.

Then Cecilia saw her own face reflected on the lake's surface.

Her lips were pursed and her eyebrows drooped downward, making her look sulky to anyone who saw her.

As Cecilia gazed quietly at the face reflected in the water, she suddenly tilted her head at an unfamiliar feeling. The facial features she could see were certainly her own, but the atmosphere seemed somehow like a different person.

She leaned toward the lake again to see that image more clearly. Teros's warning to be careful came to mind, but she couldn't suppress her curiosity. A strong temptation lurking beneath the water that couldn't be explained logically was drawing her in. The more she leaned forward, the more her eyes grew dim as if she were enchanted by something.

Then she was startled.

The face reflected in the water was no longer her own face. She saw the figure of a strange woman with red hair flowing in the water, facing her from within.

["They say a fairy named 'Daphne' lives in this lake or something. Recently, there have been many people claiming to have spotted the fairy."]

'Daphne?'

She was so shocked that a scream circled in her throat. When she finally managed to let out the blocked sound, Teros, who had been looking elsewhere for a moment, turned his head to look at Cecilia. At the same time, she was pulled down into the lake with a splash by some strong force that whoosh yanked her.

'Someone is definitely dragging me down.'

No matter how hard she flailed her arms and legs, she only sank deeper into the water.

Large and small bubbles from her nose and mouth appeared before her eyes. With icy cold water rushing into her open mouth, her throat felt like it was being torn apart painfully.

When she raised her head, she could see the bottom of the boat she had been riding with Teros through the blue rippling view above.

After the pain, her senses dulled and her eyes kept trying to close. Only a humming sound that didn't seem to be of this world could be heard in her ears.

Feeling the distant, muffled sound from far away, Cecilia closed her heavy, drooping eyelids. Just as her consciousness was about to cut off, she felt someone roughly pulling her up.

She had a brief, distant dream. A pleasant dream where pouring summer sunlight warmed her skin and the scent of grass tickled her nose. A dream where a gentle breeze softly touched her lips and blew warm breath into her.

Cecilia, who was in the middle of this hazy dream, frowned as if disturbed by someone frantically calling her name.

The more she woke from the dream, instead of the warm gentle breeze, a bleak cold and the stabbing pain in her respiratory system awakened her senses.

"Cecilia! Cecilia!"

'Stop calling so loudly...'

With a slap, one of her cheeks stung.

'What, you're hitting me?'

She wanted to get up immediately and argue, but her breath was completely blocked and it was hard even to open her eyes.

Eventually, she felt her tight dress loosening, and Cecilia finally came to her senses, coughing up a handful of water.

She was lying on the boat, and right before her eyes was Teros's face looking down at her with joy.

He was making a strange expression mixed with worry and gladness, surprise and joy. The first time seeing such an expression from him, Cecilia was so flustered that she couldn't say anything and only blinked.

'He can make such expressions too?'

The rigid ice mask she had seen at the engagement ceremony had completely disappeared. It seemed to have shattered and crumbled from the moment she fell into the water. The emotions toward her that he had skillfully hidden behind his cold expressionless face and high-handed manner of speaking were now displayed without filter on Teros's face.

["Lord Teros must already be smitten with the young lady."]

Research Officer Hadel's words were right. The heavy emotions Teros conveyed in an instant brought both guilt and bewilderment to Cecilia simultaneously.

Teros gently stroked the cheek he had just hit to wake her, as if handling fragile craftwork, and asked.

"Are you conscious? Please say something."

Cecilia closed her eyes tightly and turned her head to the side, wanting to turn away from those feelings that were fake due to the love potion.

Water was dripping from Teros's disheveled black hair as he looked down at Cecilia.

A water droplet hanging from the tip of his hair fell onto Cecilia's cheek with a plop, and she lifted her tightly closed eyelids.

"Cecilia, are you alright?"

Goodness! Teros, who had been speaking down to me ever since learning about the love potion, was using honorifics. Does a person change this much just because I fell into water? Dumbfounded, Cecilia tried to collect herself.

She overcame the heavy headache and chills covering her whole body and half-raised herself up.

Her lips, turned pale blue, trembled mercilessly.

"Who are you?"

At her words, Teros's mouth fell open and all the various expressions that had appeared on his face just moments before disappeared. Though the expressions disappeared, she could definitely feel the despair on his face like someone who had fallen into a deep swamp.

"Don't you remember?"

"Since you're suddenly using honorifics with me. I was wondering if you're really the Lord Teros I knew."

Seeing the other party show such a shocked, defenseless expression, Cecilia thought she should stop the joke here and took a step back. What nonsense in a situation like this. It was something that came out naturally while she was half out of her mind.

But Teros paid no attention to her words and pulled her into an embrace. His refreshing forest-like scent wafted over her.

"Ah, I thought you had lost your memory, I thought something had gone wrong!"

The flustered Cecilia tried to push against his firm shoulders, but he didn't budge at all.

"Lord Teros. I'm fine, so please let go of this."

Only then did Teros pull away from her, but he still held her shoulders while carefully examining her face.

Thanks to this, Cecilia had no choice but to face Teros's face up close.

Water droplets were beaded on the tips of his long eyelashes too. The expressions that had disappeared when he was shocked by her prank earlier returned, showing worry and concern.

Due to jumping into the water and coming back out, his entire face was wet, but among all that, the water droplets flowing down his cheeks were particularly noticeable.

'Is he perhaps crying? Because of me?'

No way. That rigid Teros Jeminick wouldn't shed tears over something like this.

Even while thinking it couldn't be, the guilt settling in Cecilia's heart began to grow in size. She also thought she had really done well to refuse Hadel's suggestion to use memory-erasing medicine.

I couldn't do such a terrible thing to a man who would despair this much if I lost my memory.

Since his previously firm expression had crumbled and looked quite pitiful, Cecilia let out a small sigh. Her own situation was miserable, but Teros too must be confused because of emotions created by the love potion.

Without realizing it, she reached out her hand to wipe away what might be tears or water droplets flowing on his face.

At that touch, Teros looked at her with startled eyes, then eventually closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek against her palm.

Like a gesture asking to be caressed more, Cecilia was flustered but didn't immediately remove her hand from his cheek.

Having gone into and come out of the water, his cheek should have been cold, but somehow she felt warmth from it.

Soon after, with a soft sound, she felt a soft, hot sensation on her palm. Only then did Cecilia hurriedly remove her hand from Teros's cheek.

The two people who turned the boat's bow and got off at the lakeside were troubled by their soaking wet clothes.

Though it was midsummer, the dress clinging wetly to her skin did nothing to help Cecilia stop shivering.

"Cecilia, it would be better to take off your dress and let it dry before we go."

At those words, Cecilia gripped her dress hem tightly while her jaw chattered, as if to say no. Even at that reaction, Teros stubbornly pushed through with his intention.

"At least take off your outer garment and there's a blanket I brought, so cover yourself with that. Once it's roughly dry, we'll put it back on and leave immediately. If you ride a horse like this, you'll get a fever."

This was him being patient and calmly persuasive by his standards. Nevertheless, seeing Cecilia shake her head back and forth, he felt frustrated but couldn't get angry at her when she was already frightened.

In the end, he covered her wet dress with a thick blanket and tied the front flaps tightly as if determined not to let even a breath of wind in. Then he helped Cecilia mount his black horse and climbed up behind her himself.

As Cecilia's back touched his chest, they could feel each other's quietly rising and falling breaths. Unexpectedly finding herself so near to him, Cecilia shifted her body in embarrassment.

But Teros didn't spare her embarrassment. Rather, he held the reins while almost embracing her from behind, keeping her in his arms.

The horse carrying both of them slowly began walking toward the mansion.

"Won't Snowie be lonely?"

Cecilia looked back at the white horse tied alone in the forest. Since they couldn't bring both horses, leaving one tied to a tree bothered her heart.

"You've already given it a name. When we arrive at the mansion, I'll immediately send a servant to bring it back."

"Lord Teros. You've been using honorifics continuously since earlier, so you seem like a different person."

Cecilia spoke half out of curiosity and half wanting to tease. It was also awkward that the intimidating man who had mentioned military tribunals was suddenly using honorifics and treating her carefully.

From behind came a hah sound as if he found it absurd.

"Seeing you joke around, you must have some energy."

Teros stubbornly replied with honorifics.

"Aren't you cold, Lord Teros? You fell into the water just like me."

At her question, Teros was silent for a moment.

"Lord Teros?"

"...Are you even worrying about me? Being on battlefields, I've experienced situations far worse than this countless times. I have a tough life force, so save your worry."

After finishing his words, Teros pressed his body closer behind her back. It felt like a gesture to relieve her cold even a little, rather than having any other meaning.

As the horse took steps and her body swayed, a strangely drowsy sleepiness poured over her.

'It's warm.'

His embrace felt behind her back was cozy enough to forget the clammy cold.

Having experienced cold that seemed to consume her whole body when she fell into the water, Cecilia instinctively sought warmth and leaned her body back while fighting off the pouring drowsiness.

"Oh, you might not believe this, but I saw a woman with red hair in the water earlier. Could that woman have been Daphne?"

"That's just a legend."

"Right. It's just a legend... I must have seen something that wasn't there."

Cecilia also thought it didn't make sense and nodded her head drowsily.

"I'll thoroughly investigate the lake."

Even though it might be something that didn't make sense, Teros didn't brush it off but promised with a serious face.