Lucian carried Natasha in his arms, his steps steady as he walked toward the guest room at the end of the corridor. This posture, this warmth and softness—even with the thick stench of blood and the faintly sour tang of toxins filling his nostrils—he felt utterly content, a smile spreading across his face that he couldn't hide no matter how hard he tried.
Natasha's emotions, on the other hand, were far more complicated. Both in self-perception and in outward conduct, she was undeniably a valiant knight, yet to be carried like this by Lucian filled her with an indescribable sense of weakness and shame. But the one holding her was Lucian—his heartbeat, his scent, his chest, all so achingly familiar, so warm and sweet—and so she felt both joy and mortification in equal measure, struggling to keep both from showing on her face and inviting his teasing.
Caught in this uneasy yet oddly reluctant-to-leave state, Natasha didn't notice the faint, irrepressible smile at the corner of her own lips until Lucian stopped at a guest room door.
"Duke James's guest rooms have divine magic arrays too?" Lucian sounded quite surprised.
Natasha forced her attention away from the princess-carry posture and glanced at the room. "Several guest rooms on this floor are used by Duke James to receive royal family members and other great nobles, so the divine magic array operates independently of the manor's overall defenses, giving guests a private space free from prying eyes."
As she explained, she watched Lucian push open the door with his spiritual power and step inside.
The room was very spacious, featuring a living room, a bedroom, a study, along with a piano, a bar counter, and various other furnishings. As Lucian closed the door and activated the divine magic array, the entire room was suddenly isolated from the rest of the manor—quiet and tranquil, like a private world belonging only to the two of them.
Natasha knew this was Lucian being cautious. He would certainly need to concentrate when guiding her through the use of the "Health Belt," and if some enemy were to attack while he was distracted, that would spell serious trouble.
Suddenly, she felt something soft and comfortable against her back, and only then realized that Lucian had set her down on the bedroom's velvet quilt. He knelt on one knee beside the bed, his dark eyes deep and focused as he gazed at her.
Lucian's voice came out slightly low: "Just now, you..."
Before he could finish, Natasha cut him off with a smile. "There's no need for thanks between us. This is my duty as both a knight and a wife. If our roles were reversed, I'm sure you would have made the same choice. When you plunged your left hand into that neck, you frightened me half to death."
Without shyness, without hesitation, she openly and frankly uttered the word "wife."
As she spoke, she reached out her right hand and clasped Lucian's, their fingers interlacing, palms pressed together. A gentle warmth spread from her touch into Lucian's heart.
No more words were needed, nothing more needed to be done. Lucian gripped Natasha's right hand tightly, savoring the warm, tender atmosphere that had risen between them. Then, gazing into her silver-purple eyes, he slowly leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.
Natasha blinked, then slowly closed her eyes, savoring the kiss—but her right hand never loosened its hold.
Everything was slow and gentle, yet more intoxicating to them both than any passionate embrace.
After a while, their lips parted. Natasha's eyes were briefly dazed before clarity returned. With a smile, she said, "Hurry and help me suppress the 'Kiss of Weakness'..."
"I'll help you suppress the 'Kiss of Weakness'..." Lucian said with a smile at precisely the same moment. They both froze, then looked at each other and laughed, a subtle understanding flowing between their gazes.
"Hurry. If we delay our recovery for the sake of romance and end up killed by follow-up attackers, that would genuinely rank among the ten stupidest deaths in Aline." Natasha was as clearheaded about the situation as ever.
Lucian chuckled. "There shouldn't be any follow-up attackers." Had he not received his teacher Fernando's secret message, he would have wasted no time back in the secret room helping Natasha suppress the poison. But as things stood, an Empress without her strength wasn't exactly someone you could run into every day.
Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Grandmother Heatherly? The Storm Dominator has arrived?"
She believed Lucian must have had precautions in place before daring to attend the private gathering, so the moment she heard his words, her mind instinctively leapt to "reinforcements."
"I'll explain the details later. Let me help you recover first." Lucian nodded. Considering that Duke James would notify the Heart of Time once he finished handling the scene, he couldn't afford to stay long. He cast spells like "Neutralize Poison" to help Natasha suppress the "Kiss of Weakness."
Natasha withdrew her attention inward. Under the temporary suppression of the "Kiss of Weakness," she began gathering her willpower. After several dozen seconds, a sharp, cold gleam surfaced within her silver-purple eyes.
Seeing this, Lucian extended his spiritual power through their still-clasped right hands into Natasha's body, guiding her through the layers of magical barriers within the "Health Belt" to its core—then directly erased his own imprint.
Natasha was slightly surprised, but at this critical moment there was no time for deliberation. She quickly inscribed her own imprint on the central array.
The Health Belt at her waist emitted a soft white light as its passive immunity to toxins below legendary rank took effect, and wisps of dark green gas materialized before gradually dissipating.
After a dozen or so seconds, Natasha suddenly waved her left hand and sighed, "Having no strength is truly miserable."
Then her gaze shifted to Lucian. "Why did you erase your own imprint?"
"I have the Ring of Congers on me, so the Health Belt's effects are quite redundant for me. You, on the other hand, don't have anything nearly as good for resisting toxins, diseases, and negative energy." Lucian smiled as he spoke.
Though the Holm royal family was wealthy and Natasha had a Grand Archanist for an elder, high-grade items—especially those with special functions—were always exceedingly rare. Even Rhein, a vampire prince who had lived for untold millennia, possessed only so many. So while Natasha did have equipment to guard against toxins and similar threats, none of it compared to the Health Belt.
Now that her strength had returned, Natasha was using a divine magic item to clean the blood from her body. She grinned and teased, "What a precious gift indeed. Truly worthy of the title 'Walking Vault' that Mr. Evans has earned."
That was what Gewier had said earlier.