cure chapter 8

Wow… how can a man be that beautiful?

The smile was so captivating it blew away all my earlier embarrassment. As I gaped at him, the whimpering baby stared at Enoch in fascination.

“Baa!”

“Oh? He’s not crying anymore.”

Finding the scene remarkable, I pulled my hand away from Enoch’s face. His gray eyes followed my hand with a hint of disappointment. I wiped the tears clinging to the baby’s lashes, and the child, apparently feeling better, giggled at Enoch. This was even more fascinating. I grabbed Enoch’s sleeve and shook it excitedly.

“Your Majesty, the baby is smiling at you! Quick, do a little trick or something.”

“Me?”

Enoch’s brow furrowed in confusion at the sudden request, but then an idea seemed to strike him. He covered his face with both hands.

And then…

“Pee… ka-boo?”

He revealed his face, but with an awkwardness so palpable it was embarrassing to even watch. The sight was so funny that I had to bite my lower lip to keep from laughing, which caused the tips of his handsome ears to flush a fiery red.

“…Don’t laugh.”

“Yes. Ahem. I’m not laughing.”

I barely managed to suppress my laughter and tilted my head, bewildered, at the sight of the baby now beaming and reaching for him.

“Wow. He’s actually laughing at that?”

“What do you mean, that? I was trying my best.”

“Yes, you did a great job. But it’s really strange. How could he laugh at that? Does he just like handsome faces?”

Enoch, who had been sulking at my reaction, flinched at my musing. The crimson that had bloomed on his pale earlobes now trickled down the line of his neck.

“You think I’m handsome?”

“Yes. Objectively speaking.”

A tall, well-proportioned frame with firm muscle. Features so perfectly placed they looked like a masterpiece someone had painstakingly painted. And among them all, those uniquely captivating eyes. Whatever his tastes might be, Enoch was, both objectively and subjectively, a beautiful man from whom it was difficult to look away.

I was only stating what I saw, but the man sitting before me seemed to be turning redder by the second.

“Is that so. Then in your eyes, I also…”

“Abooo!”

“Ah! Little one, you can’t touch him!”

The moment the baby’s tiny hand touched Enoch’s cheek as he was covering his reddened neck, unaccustomed to praise, his large body shot backward as if thrown.

“A-are you alright? It’s just a baby. He doesn’t know any better, so please don’t be too an—.”

Even though he had been begging for my touch, I knew Enoch’s true nature was to despise physical contact. Fearing he might get angry at the child, I started to move away, but stopped short at his unexpected state and rushed toward him instead.

“Your Majesty? What’s wrong?”

His pupils were wide with shock, his hand trembled minutely, and blue veins stood out starkly along his neck. What Enoch was showing wasn’t anger or irritation. It was more like…

Is he… scared?

Yes. The emotion dwelling in his languid gray eyes was something akin to fear.

“Your Majesty?”

Alarmed by his unfocused gaze, I started toward him, but froze at the chill emanating from his body. Worried the cold might harm the baby, I first set the child down on a nearby chair before approaching Enoch again. Glistening ice crystals were forming on his skin.

“What is this… Your Majesty, Enoch! Snap out of it.”

He was clutching his chest as if in pain. I snatched his frost-covered hand, and a wave of cold shot up my arm.

“Ugh, so cold.”

But it was only for a moment. The frost flowers blooming on the back of his veined hand began to melt where our skin met, and a flicker of life returned to Enoch’s eyes. His breathing, however, was still faint.

“Are you alright? Your body… it’s so cold.”

This time, I placed my hand on his pale cheek, where more frost was blooming. A strained voice escaped Enoch’s lips as if he could finally breathe.

“Liana…”

“Are you conscious? Your body temperature suddenly dropped…!”

I was stroking my chest in relief at the sight of him seemingly coming to his senses when, before I could stop him, Enoch pulled on our clasped hands and drew me into his arms.

“A little more… just a little longer…”

Startled by the sudden contact, I raised my hands to push him away, but they froze mid-air when I felt his body trembling.

How can a person be this cold?

His body temperature was as cold as a corpse’s, and he clung to me desperately, as if I were his lifeline. In the end, I lowered my hands and began to pat his broad back. Enoch let out a long, weary sigh.

“Haaah…”

He rested his fine brow against the exposed skin of my neck, as if exhausted, and I could feel the coldness that had radiated from him rapidly disappearing.

How long did we stand there, frozen like that?

Finally, after the last of the frost had vanished from his neck, I gently pushed him away.

“Your Majesty, what is happening right now…?”

“…I told you, did I not? When you touch me, my body grows warm.”