[IYFILWATIP] Chapter 10

“…My apologies for the late introduction. I am Princess Kirona's exclusive guard. I was away on an expedition for five years and have just returned. You were in the womb when I last saw you, so you may not remember, but this isn't our first meeting." 

"So you're not a guest?" 

"Guest?" 

It was as Yuri had guessed. The man knew Kirona. Yuri asked eagerly, but the man seemed not to understand. He looked puzzledly at Marlon. 

"That is, Jade..." 

Marlon scratched his face with a troubled expression, unable to answer. Just as Yuri was about to explain further, the man seemed to realise something and his handsome face stiffened. 

"Oh, a guest..." 

"..." 

"Princess Yuri, do you know what the main duties of an exclusive guard knight are?" 

"…What is it?" 

"Dealing with flies." Jade chuckled.

Yuri had never heard that a knight's job involved catching bugs, but she just took it as such. In fact, the knights who stuck by Yuri also did trivial tasks—making jam sandwiches, becoming toys—so it seemed plausible. 

The man lifted Yuri up again and began crossing through the ranks. His walk was still natural. But Yuri soon realized that he wasn't just at ease or relaxed. Embedded in the knight's embrace, she heard his heart beating. 

It throbbed like a fish pulled out of water, beating erratically and very fast. 

Yuri whispered into his ear. 

"Are you nervous?" 

"Yes. Would you keep it a secret from others?" 

He responded in a lowered voice. Yuri found it funny and interesting that such a big man could also be nervous and chuckled. 

"Sure! I'll do that, especially for you. So you're nervous because you're a guest. Or not, are you not a guest? Answer me. Are you a guest or not?" 

"…I am also a guest. If that's what guest means." 

"Then you also want to be my father?" 

"Yes. If not, that would be a lie that would anger the gods." 

It was an honest and firm answer. Yuri was intrigued by how he neither embellished his words nor flattered like other guests. He embraced Yuri once more and said, "But there's something else I need to do first." 

"Dealing with flies?" Yuri asked.

"Something more urgent than that." 

He smiled and shook his head. Yuri became slightly offended again. Was there something more important than becoming Yuri's father? She was curious, but the man seemed not ready to explain easily. 

Could she figure something out by the smell? Yuri buried her face in his shoulder again. The man smelled of rainwater and wind as if he had just returned from a long journey. It was the scent of strange places Yuri had never visited. 

At some point, the noisy surroundings quieted down. The man stopped walking. It seemed someone had blocked his path. Yuri raised her head. 

"Jade Eclipse." 

The person who looked exactly like Yuri, whom Yuri had always been anxious to approach, was standing there. Calling the name that seemed to belong to the man. 

Kirona. 

Yuri struggled to get out of his arms, but the more she did, the tighter the man held her. Kirona, switching her gaze between the man and Yuri in his arms, asked again. 

"Why did you only come now?" 

The man did not answer for a long time. 

Yuri thought the man was foolish. He really wasn't asking why he had come now; it was just an expression of resentment. 

All he had to say was sorry; even young Yuri knew that... Yuri was about to give him a hint when he finally spoke. 

"…Because I love you, Princess." 

Kirona, who had appeared nonchalantly after five years and was only speaking nonsense, was puzzled about what expression to give him. Jade Eclipse looked at Kirona with the same eyes, smiling with the same gaze as on the night he disappeared. 

01. The First Fever (1) - Kirona 

"Is anyone there? I'm in so much pain. Bring me some water." 

In the darkness, Kirona screamed. She pulled the bell rope frantically. But no one came to her. Were the servants sound asleep, or had she not awakened from a dream? Her body was burning up. Hallucinations and reality were indistinguishable. 

Kirona groaned as she clutched her chest 

in searing pain. She wanted to scream, but no voice came out. It seemed even her vocal cords had been scorched by the fever. It felt like if she could just scream, this heat would escape her body.