Towards the Winter Cabin of Serenity and Madness, Cinderella Runs - Chapter 14
“It, it’s okay. I can just sleep with a blanket.”
The man’s brow furrowed. He was not so inconsiderate as to leave a small, frail woman with just a blanket.
Without further listening to Roel, he lifted her up. Despite having fed her a good amount of meat, she still felt lighter than a sack of meat.
He tossed the confused and flustered woman onto the bed and settled himself on the carpet with a blanket and a pillow. The chill crept up, but it wasn’t too cold near the fireplace.
“….Thank you,” came a tiny voice from the bed. Wondering if she needed to be told to sleep as well, he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
As the night deepened and the fire from the carefully conserved logs began to wane, the man sighed deeply and opened his eyes.
“Huuu. Huh.”
The sound of shivering and whimpering from the cold was too distracting for sleep. It sounded almost like a ghost wailing.
The cabin grew considerably colder as the flames died down. While it wasn’t unbearable for him, Roel seemed to be shaking violently and even her teeth clattering.
Worried he might have to clean a corpse in the morning, he found the situation irritating.
Eventually, he got up and saw Roel who was curled up like a caterpillar under the blanket, shivering uncontrollably. It seemed she couldn’t even warm the inside of the blanket with her own body heat. The man knew how to stay warm in the cold winter.
“Ah!”
Roel, who was struggling to sleep because of the cold, was startled as the blanket was suddenly pulled away. The dim light from the flickering fireplace revealed the man standing without his shirt.
“Why, why are you doing this?”
Roel stammered, her body tensing up in shock.
“Take it off.”
“Excuse me?”
“Take it off.”
He gestured towards her with a nod of his head. Roel gasped for air, wide-eyed and frozen in place like a deer caught by a hunter. As she remained stiff, the man, in apparent frustration, flipped up the hem of her dress.
“Ah!”
As her dress flipped over, obscuring her view, he shook the trapped clothing, leaving her in her thin undergarments. Suddenly exposed, Roel couldn’t even scream, instead wrapping her arms around herself.
She felt suffocated, the indifferent gaze of the large man overwhelming her. It brought back nightmares and fear from her past.
When Howson tried to undress her, it felt as if bugs were crawling all over her skin, utterly disgusting and terrifying. But now, facing the man, she felt as if she was frozen to her very fingertips, as if facing a murderer intent on her life.
She couldn’t even think of running away, fearing that she might end up dead by the man’s hand, which was as large as a pot lid. An immense pressure suppressed her to the point of swallowing any form of resistance.
Please, spare me. Her throat was so tight she couldn’t even express her desperate plea, only a stifled sob managed to escape faintly.
The man looked down at Roel, who was about to cry. She seemed terrified but couldn’t say a word, just trembling uncontrollably. It was quite… He abruptly brushed off the intrusive thoughts that were creeping up.
After undressing her, she appeared even more fragile. It was no wonder she couldn’t bear the cold, with hardly any flesh on her bones. Her waist was so slender, her neck seemed like it could snap at any moment, her thighs were thinner than his forearms, and her calves were not even worth mentioning.
He climbed onto the bed, pulling her close with one arm and covering both of them with a blanket and a quilt. After ensuring she was warmly covered, he lay down beside her, pressing her head against his chest.
“Let’s just sleep quietly, I’m tired.”
He almost considered whether he should pat her like a child. He then chuckled to himself.
Lying still in his embrace, Roel blinked in confusion but gradually began to calm down.
The weight of the blanket and quilt, the firm pressure of his arm and hand, his lukewarm body heat, the crackling of the firewood, the sound of the blizzard hitting the cabin, and if she listened closely, the sound of his heartbeat and breathing.
It was odd to feel safe and comfortable despite being naked and held by a stranger. Her toes tingle. The space under the covers, which had refused to warm up, quickly became cozy.
‘Was this to share body heat? I was startled when he undressed me without a word.’
After calming her confusion, Roel sighed softly. The cold had subsided, but her body still trembled from the shock.
Just as she started to feel secure, his large hand gently gripped Roel’s shoulder.
