CH 47

No One is Above Me

“What?”

Kyrie turned around in the position of putting her hand on the doorknob. Nathaniel did not answer. He was looking at her with a far and distant smile in the noon sunshine.

Kyrie instinctively turned the doorknob at that moment.

Kagak. Kkak.

There was a clasp scratching sound, but the door didn’t open.

Was it an illusion? In a moment, even Nathaniel’s shadow seemed to dance with joy.

[You can’t go out.]

Kyrie had hardened. All kinds of thoughts passed through her mind. Afterwards, she smiled as calmly as possible.

“I think…… someone broke the doorknob. Call someone…….”

[It won’t work, but if you want to.]

Nathaniel buried himself deep in the sofa as if he were looking at a child who wanted to become an adult soon. The blatant action made Kyrie bite her lips. Even when she turned the doorknob again, the rattling sound only rang hollow. She looked up, swallowed her emotions, and turned back and asked.

“Did you lock it?”

[A servant did.]

“I’m not in the mood for jokes. Did you order it?”

[Of course.]

“……Nathaniel. It can’t be like this.”

[It can.]

“Nathaniel! Now you’re joking……!”

[Joking?]

Kyrie swallowed her breath when she saw Nathaniel standing near her in a blink of an eye.

[Which part of what I’m saying sounds like a joke?]

Nathaniel looked down at her. It was transparent ice-like snow on the sea. It was clear without impurities, but the depth was unknown.

Kyrie stepped back without realizing it and leaned against the door. She tried not to show her suffocation, but it didn’t work out. In front of Nathaniel, who did not smile, even her breath was noisy.

‘But I have no intention of being swayed.’

Kyrie’s purple eyes became fierce.

“I have a free will for my body. What rights do you have to keep me from getting out of here?”

[Oh. Rights.]

Nathaniel giggled. He slowly raised his hand and wrapped it around Kyrie’s neck. His eyes were cold. His eyes looked as if he were looking at an immature child.

[Rights]

As their skin touched, the cold air permeated through her neck. Kyrie trembled without realizing it, and Nathaniel lowered his head slowly. It wasn’t until he reached close enough to touch her lips that he twisted his head and whispered.

[Kyrie. I don’t ask anyone for permission.]

It was an arrogant and cold voice.

[No one is above me.]

“…….”

[It’s the same for you.]

Their eyes met from the corner. The blue eyes, as cold and heavy as the heart of sapphire, seemed to sink Kyrie into the deep sea right away. Eyes with no emotion, no excitement, no human joy. Fear slowly began to creep into Kyrie’s mind. Whether he liked it, Nathaniel laughed while lowering his black eyelashes like a velvet fan.

[Don’t be mistaken, Kyrie.]

He gently slapped her cheek and took a step back. Pulling his chin, his posture holding the cane with both hands was elegant. He was not a human being, so he wore this noblest human shell and put it under his feet.

[Don’t be mistaken.]

Nathaniel kindly looked down at the hardened Kyrie, who feared about what was to come.

[I don’t think it’s a bad deal. Of course. I can’t keep you in any cage, can I?]

He gestured. The strings hanging from the ceilings everywhere rattled by themselves. Soon, the door opened behind Kyrie’s back that did not open no matter what she did.

“Did you call us, Kyrie Buchanan?”

“…….”

About thirty servants lined up outside the door and bowed at the same time. Kyrie was choked with the greetings from the numerous servants whom she could only see the top of their head.

“They’re…… servants of Count Buchanan.”

[That way, you’ll be less shy. Your father also allowed it.]

When Nathaniel beckoned, the door closed again. He reached out his hand to Kyrie where she was. Kyrie held his hand with a learned movement, and when she tried to pull her hand out, she was already seated on the drawing room sofa.

“My father did that?”

Kyrie asked  with an uneasy face.

[Yes.]

“My father’s off limits to you.”

[Indeed.]

“What did you talk about?”

[I wonder.]

Kyrie managed to press down on her tearful stomach.

“Don’t joke around and tell me.”

Nathaniel touched the smooth surface of his cane with a smile, which, in other words, seemed to be made to smell refreshing forever.

[Kyrie. Humans compromised.]

“Compromise?”

[A tribute to you, a compliment to you, a respect to you, and all of that in exchange for taking you away.  If you also have eyes, you would have just seen that none of the servants made eye contact with you.]

“…….”

[That’s the price of your blood]

After he had finished whispering, he leaned against his cane and stared at Kyrie.

[Disappointed?]

Kyrie bit her lips, then raised her eyes again fiercely.

“Don’t avoid the subject. You say as if they made me this way, but no. You are the one locking me up, aren’t you?”

[It didn’t work either.]

Nathaniel grinned. His smile was so beautiful that one could cry, so Kyrie felt it. He meant it.

“Let me go.”

[I can’t.]

“There’s no reason to do this.”

[It’s too dangerous for you out there.]

“It’s not dangerous! It was Princess Julia’s fault, and it’s not going to happen again……!”

[How can I be sure that it won’t?]

Eyes like a very clear ice lake blinked.

[That’s your arrogance.]

“Nathaniel!”

[I’ve already given you a chance.]

“Nobody can give me a chance!”

[Really?]

He squinted his eyes and smiled. It was close to ridicule.

[I don’t think so.]

Nathaniel reached out. Unlike before, Kyrie did not hold his hands, but only looked at him with confused eyes. Nathaniel whispered once again in a strangely excited voice.

[You don’t think so?]

Kyrie didn’t answer. She bit her lips and turned her head away.

[Kyrie.]

Despite the small call, she saw the door that wouldn’t open in front of her.

[Grab it.]

Nathaniel’s voice became lower. Still, Kyrie still didn’t answer him.

Soon, she heard Nathaniel get up. Soon after, when Nathaniel stood in front of her sitting on the sofa, Kyrie couldn’t help but look up at him. Nathaniel’s smiling face showed no signs of displeasure.

“Let me out.”

Nathaniel reached out. His big cold hand wrapped Kyrie’s cheek but she shook it off, but Nathaniel didn’t even seem to be hurt. The white hand with prominent bones was rather slower and softer, touching Kyrie’s ears and cheeks.

[I can’t.]

“Like yesterday, I can use my body to threaten you.”

[You’d better not think about it. If you don’t want to be tied up.]

“Are you out of your mind? Do you think I’ll be able to stay with you after all that insult?”

While looking at Kyrie, who was angry in a rather high voice, Nathaniel stared at her with a gentle expression. In fact, he seemed rather interested.

[It means to think carefully. There’s no owner who abandons his pet just because his animal bites his hand.]

“I’m not an animal.”

[Of course. You know how to talk.]

“Don’t be sarcastic.”

[It’s the way you like.]

“At least I look properly at the other person.”

[For me, this is ‘proper’.]

He lowered his head slowly and put his forehead together with Kyrie.

[Nathaniel, whom only you didn’t know, feared by humans. All the evil in the world.]

It seemed that a devil was whispering. He was like the sea, so the small emotions of humans quickly diminished.

[How can you be so naive…….]

He giggled. Kyrie looked into his eyes as a small blue universe revolved. The blue eyes in front of her nose seemed to become more ecstatic as Kyrie’s purple eyes were shaken by anxiety.

“This is not right…….”

[I don’t care.]

“I am a human…….”

[Yes, you’re a social animal. Would you like to have a ball every day? If you want, we can play chess for ten days and nights.]

“That means…….”

[I’ll give you the moon that doesn’t tilt forever. In this palace, the flowers will be red for ten days, and you will take everything from your seat.]

Kyrie trembled at Nathaniel’s voice, which came in softly like the sound of the waves of the night sea. The more he spoke, the more she felt keenly that he was not human. Nathaniel bumped the tip of his nose to Kyrie’s and asked her tenderly as never before.

[Are you hurt?]

She was hurt, or she wasn’t hurt. He didn’t know that it didn’t matter.

He was The End,

The Legend,

The King of Winter.

Nothing worked.

Nothing.

***

Fan art: