Home/The Ice Age Came? And I Just Got Married?!/ch 66

Chapter 66.

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Jack had been seized by Logan.

Marcus thought that was an apt description. He watched the two men standing at odds in Eve's bedroom.

"Hey, Logan—what are you trying to do?"

Aiden asked. Logan didn't answer—he just stood with his arms crossed.

His gaze remained fixed on Eve, who still hadn't woken up.

Beside him, Jack shifted nervously. He shot Marcus a pleading look, but there was nothing Marcus could do.

The masters of this village were the Cheshwind couple!

Still—weren't you once the kingdom's richest man?

Jack seemed to be saying that with his eyes.

But Marcus just smiled calmly—though his eyes weren't smiling.

"Sir Rayburn needs medical attention too. Let Harper go."

"Why should I?"

"What?"

Aiden frowned in confusion. Logan asked back with a blank expression.

"Why should I?"

He repeated—expressionless.

Logan without Eve didn't seem human. More accurately, he was like a doll stripped of humanity—pure evil.

Aiden looked at him, then at Eve lying beneath the blanket on the bed.

He spoke again.

"I apologize for my subordinate's rudeness. I heard what Sir Rayburn said to Holt about the Duchess."

"Rudeness? What did he say?"

Logan asked back—genuinely unaware.

Aiden realized Nathan hadn't told him anything, and Logan knew nothing about it.

Aiden decided to swallow unnecessary words and get to the point.

"You want me to leave this village as soon as possible. But for that, Sir Rayburn needs to recover quickly."

Aiden bowed his head slightly.

"My goal is to rebuild the kingdom—to restore the people's daily lives. That's my duty as Crown Prince."

"..."

"I heard rumors and coveted your wife's abilities. I thought they could help rebuild the kingdom..."

Aiden's gaze returned to Logan. Logan was looking at him—but not really seeing him. He seemed like a broken man.

Aiden thought Logan wouldn't be of any help—even dangerous.

The same went for Eve. Though the rumor that she could absorb Winterstones and use their power seemed plausible, it didn't seem limitless.

She was lying there, unconscious.

Keeping the Duchess by that man's side is a waste—and dangerous.

Maybe it would be better for everyone if I took her from Logan.

Aiden entertained that thought for a moment, but kept his composure and smiled.

"So help us leave safely—let Sir Rayburn recover, and we'll be gone."

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The moment Julian disappeared, the place changed.

I was walking down a foggy road—unable to see even a step ahead.

This time, it really felt like a dream.

Was what I saw earlier just a dream too?

After walking for a long time, I arrived somewhere.

Beyond a distant afterimage, I saw a familiar face.

Jet-black hair. When he turned his head, I saw crimson eyes—Logan.

?!

As if I had developed x-ray vision, I could see his heart pounding fiercely inside his chest.

The problem was that part of it was stained black.

Not completely consumed—but already more than half.

Logan?

My voice wouldn't come out.

Logan was standing before a massive mana stone.

Its color was chillingly black—or rather, it looked diseased, as if rotting. As if it had devoured all the darkness in the world and rotted away.

The stone was roughly the same size as the "Heart of Frost" I'd seen in my dream of Julian.

Back then, I'd been trapped inside, so I couldn't see its shape clearly—but now it truly looked like a heart.

From the Heart of Frost, hundreds of crystal pillars stretched outward, with blue light flowing through them like veins.

Frost bloomed and faded between the crystals.

It was breathtakingly beautiful—and eerily ominous.

And Logan had his hand on that ominous heart—his palm directly contacting the black heart through the ice encasing it.

Black smoke flowed from the heart into Logan's body.

His already dark heart grew even blacker.

Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

Somewhere, a clock was ticking.

It's time to wake up.

Gasp—!

I suddenly opened my eyes. I recognized the ceiling—it was my bedroom in Eve House.

Turning my head, I saw Logan asleep, leaning against the bed frame.

The moment I saw him, I recalled his regression ability.

The ticking of a clock—a sound that marked time.

It felt like the Heart of Frost was giving me a hint.

What kind of hint?

A hint about his regression ability?

The regression power Logan had used seemed to be a property of the Heart of Frost.

In the novel, it was said Logan used the regression ability himself every time I died.

So why did the Heart of Frost show me this scene?

Was it a warning?

Did the Heart of Frost want to save me—or use me?

If it was a benevolent force, the former—if malevolent, the latter.

And Julian had classified the Heart of Frost as evil.

If the Heart of Frost was the original source of the Winterstones and an ancient mana stone, such magical powers might be possible.

Then—was the voice I'd been hearing all along the Heart of Frost's voice?

The voice that kept telling me to reclaim the Winterstones.

But why?

Why me?

Julian was the one who vanished with the Heart of Frost.

Logan was the one who used its regression property.

So why could only I hear its voice and absorb the Winterstones?

I can't tell if this is a trap or genuine help.

I recalled the unsettling color of that heart again—it certainly didn't seem like it wanted to help me.

What if it was using me to reclaim the Winterstones and destroy the world entirely?

There had been no Winterstones in previous cycles.

"I recalled what you said just before you died in the previous life..."

"The Heart of Frost was about to shatter."

I recalled Logan's words and organized my thoughts.

Q. Why did the Heart of Frost give Logan the power of "regression," even at the cost of its own fragmentation?

Q. What is the Heart of Frost's true purpose?

Q. Where is Julian now?

Q. Did the Heart of Frost cause the ice age?

I really don't know. Did Mother and Father know? Did my brothers know?

Why had everyone in my family cut off contact and vanished—except me?

Still full of confusion, I sat up.

Then I turned toward Logan—and met his eyes.

He was leaning against the bed frame, quietly watching me.

My heart nearly stopped.

"You startled me—what are you doing?"

"...I thought I was dreaming."

"Huh?"

He reached out toward me—his palm touched my cheek.

Why?

As I tilted my head, he leaned down.

A cool scent of soap filled the air.

His face came close—right before my eyes.

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