Before Olivia could finish her thought, Cryer spat out as if he had read her thought.

“I tried to kill you.”

It was an entirely, entirely unexpected answer.

“Huh?”

Without realizing it, Olivia raised her head, uttering a stupefied sound.

Cryer, who brushed her messy hair back behind her ear from evading a sudden attack, let out a faint sigh.

“Because I can’t take my eyes off you for a moment.”

The rough touch brushing the down on her cheek, the subtle warmth, even the flickering bloodred pupils.

Olivia, looking at him, fluttered her eyelashes as rapidly as a butterfly’s wings shaking in a storm.

She felt nauseous.

No, she felt ticklish.

Her chest felt ticklish, as if she had swallowed a bunch of feathers.

Unable to stand it, Olivia slapped away Cryer’s hand twirling the end of her hair.

Slap!

Surprised by the sound that was louder than she expected, Olivia widened her rabbitlike eyes, but Cryer simply tilted his head without blinking an eye.

At his reaction, Olivia shouted louder to cover up her thudding heartbeat.

“I’m not, not a child left on the water’s edge… Uh, ugh, ugh!”

“What are you trying to achieve by shouting like that.”

Cryer shook his head as he covered half her face, no, her mouth with one hand.

“The fact that you came out dressed like this means you didn’t want to bother bringing out a bunch of servants.”

Of course, he was right.

But whether he was right or not, the warmth he could feel all over her face, the cold wind rushing to her nose… the smell.

Olivia was so flushed up to her ears that it felt like her heart would jump out of her mouth any second.

What is this! What is this!

“Uh, ugh, ugh!”

Whether he knew of her intent to swat away his hand again as she had done before, Cryer pulled Olivia towards him with the arm that was not covering her mouth.

“Just quiet down a bit. Thanks to the Princess screaming at the top of her lungs, people are gathering from all around. It seems like it’s going to be a hassle.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than he picked her up in his arms.

“We’re going.”

Leaving behind a short warning or notification, Cryer put strength into his legs.

Crack.

The stone floor, which should never have split from just being stepped on by a person, cracked, and Cryer’s figure disappeared from that spot.

With a wind that sounded like it was about to tear her ears apart, Olivia began to feel dizzy.

This was not the first time she had moved in this way, being held by him.

Yet, his suffocating scent made her vision start to fade.

Flutter.

Having reached Olivia’s office in the blink of an eye, Cryer entered without hesitation after opening the door.

As he carefully put her down and made a chin gesture towards the window, he spoke.

“It’s probably best to take care of work tomorrow. You may be… accustomed, but anyway, you’ve survived a brush with death.”

Cryer, who was discussing death, paused for a moment.

Of course, according to Olivia, the person who had killed her no less than four times was none other than himself.

“Anyway, you should rest for today…… Princess?”

Looking down at the unusually quiet Olivia, Cryer tilted his head.

Just before arriving here, didn’t the princess strangely struggle to get away from me?

Reaching out to her, Cryer hesitated.

Seeing blood in front of Olivia was not a first, but could she be scared of him again because of it?

That’s not it. She’s not shivering or sweating cold sweat. Then perhaps……

Is she injured?

No, there’s no way she could be injured. He had swung his sword so that even a cut grass could not hurt her.

But why is she like this?

“Princess?”

As Cryer bent down towards Olivia to check her face, Olivia, covering her eyes with one hand, pushed his chest away with barely a voice.

“Step back a bit.”

Cryer’s eyes widened for a moment, but then his eyebrows furrowed quickly.

“Are you scared?”

“What?”

“I’m still scared……”

Before Cryer could finish speaking, Olivia, who had been pushing him away, abruptly grabbed his chest.

“Scared of what! It’s not that, it’s just too close!”

Olivia, who had practically grabbed the collar of his shirt, soon let her shoulders slump.

“It’s okay. It’s nothing.”

In the brief time she had been outside and returned to the office, Olivia had climbed out of a pit of confusion and chaos.

Yes. It will be nothing.

With him in front of her, the way her heart pounded wildly must have been a natural phenomenon.

People’s hearts tend to race big and fast when they’re in dangerous situations, as if they’re in love.

She had almost died, so it wasn’t just an ordinary dangerous situation.

It wouldn’t be strange if her heart pounded so much that it would burst out of her throat…

But that’s not it.

Olivia is not an innocent child who lacks tact.

She knew very well that the pounding of her heart at that time wasn’t because of that.

But she didn’t want to admit it.

So? So what’s next?

The man who killed me four times.

Could anything follow the fact that she felt a flutter in her heart for such a man?

Olivia tightly closed her eyes and opened them.

Whether she felt a flutter or her heart pounded, or whether she fell from above to below.

Surviving is the first priority.

Love and all that stuff, first you have to keep breathing, right?

She didn’t even know how many more opportunities she would have to return…

Maybe this time might be the last.

So, prioritize survival.

The forced emotions thumped in her chest and her heart stung, but it was bearable.

Olivia, who had deeply inhaled, let out a deep sigh and slumped onto the sofa.

“Haa, they say every day is a market day, I almost died from a wrong walk.”

Cryer, who had been gazing blankly at Olivia as usual, reached out his hand.