Chapter: 21
Ivnia, who had been left speechless with her mouth agape, finally managed to come to her senses after a moment and asked.
“Ram, can you fly?”
“Huh? What, like a bird? It’s a bit cold for that right now.”
“No, I mean, you’re flying right now.”
Ivnia answered as she hurried towards Ram on small, quick steps.
Naturally, there wasn’t any device supporting his body around him.
Was it because this was such a daily occurrence for him that he didn’t expect her to be this impressed?
Ram, who had been looking slightly dazed, suddenly straightened his lounging body.
Perhaps feeling a sense of duty to preserve a child’s innocent wonder, he quickly mustered some enthusiasm and began to play along with her.
“That’s right, it’s totally amazing, isn’t it? This is your first time seeing a person fly, right?”
“Yes!”
“Do you want to fly too?”
Ivnia nodded without a moment’s hesitation.
She couldn’t shake the feeling that he was treating her like a young child he was humoring, but that wasn’t important right now.
The moment she grabbed his outstretched hand, Ivnia’s feet also began to lift off the ground.
While she looked around, marveling at the unfamiliar sensation of floating, Ivnia soon reached the same height as him.
Filled with excitement, Ivnia tried to share her impressions of her first flight, but the moment she saw his face, she was at a loss for words.
He was looking at her and smiling from much closer than she had expected.
As if he too was thoroughly enjoying this moment.
Because he was so much taller than her, she always had to look way up at him, but now their eyes were level.
Not wanting to ruin this moment, Ivnia stopped moving, maintaining her slightly awkward, half-seated posture.
Whether he knew she had been about to say something, he simply waited for her quietly.
When, after a long moment, Ivnia still hadn’t spoken, he was the one to speak again first, a hint of amusement in his voice.
“Were you that surprised? It’s not that big a deal.”
“…Not a big deal? I’m flying right now.”
“I’ve been wanting to ask you since earlier, isn’t this what flying is really like?”
He asked in a nonchalant tone as he suddenly tugged Ivnia’s hand upward.
Their bodies shot up to the ceiling in an instant, then changed direction and slowly descended.
Perhaps it was because he held her hand the whole time so she wouldn’t be scared. Strangely enough, even the moment of descent felt as blissful as a dream.
More than anything else, Ivnia found herself loving this magic.
Ivnia asked, her face flushed with excitement.
“Can we go outside too?”
“Huh? No, that’s not something people should do. It’s freezing cold and your eyes will hurt. But if you really want to, let’s go out during the day dressed in warm clothes.”
Ram soothed Ivnia in a gentle voice and let go of her hand.
Instinctively, Ivnia found herself curling her fingertips.
Realizing she had reflexively tried to grab hold of him again, Ivnia’s cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Fortunately, Ram seemed to interpret her reaction a little differently.
“Is it scary floating alone? Should I bring you down?”
“No, I was just surprised. By the way, Ram… you were…”
Ivnia quickly rolled her eyes, looking around.
Fortunately, there were plenty of things around them to change the subject with.
“Have you been here reading books the whole time?”
“Yeah, this is my first time getting married with a binding oath, so I have absolutely no idea what kind of problems might arise.”
“Problems?”
“Even if you don’t say anything, the method I was thinking of using is off the table for a while anyway. An acquaintance who helps me avoid crossing the Styx is in hibernation right now.”
What kind of being must that acquaintance be, to hibernate through winter?
It’s still autumn here, so if they’ve already gone into hibernation, maybe they live in an extremely cold land.
While Ivnia’s attention was diverted by this side thought, Ram began to explain the real crisis facing them.
“So, for the time being, we have no choice but to live as husband and wife… but anyway, the essence of marriage is a contract, right? There are conditions that must be fulfilled, like the duty of good faith. I was researching exactly what we need to abide by, from where to where, and at what point and in what way things go wrong if we don’t keep them.”
Saying this, he picked up a book floating nearby and showed it to Ivnia.
On the cover, in large letters, it read:
[Marriage, Absolutely Do Not Do It – How Do Vows of Eternal Love Meet Their End?]
Even without considering their own situation, the title alone was enough to grab one’s attention.
Ram shrugged and introduced the contents.
“It’s a collection of case studies showing what kind of endings couples who married under an oath met.”
“Didn’t you say divorce isn’t allowed? Besides living happily ever after, what other endings are there?”
“I’ve read about half of it now, and so far, they’ve all died.”
Ram split the book roughly in half with his hand, estimating how much he had read.
Although half the pages were left unchecked, for some reason, it didn’t feel very hopeful. Probably because the title itself foreshadows ruin.
Ivnia narrowed her brow and carefully examined the illustration on the page he had opened.
A man and a woman sitting across from each other at a dining table were glaring fiercely at one another, holding their knives and forks in the opposite hands.
Ivnia asked in a dubious voice.
“If you break the oath, do both die?”
“No, the one who breaks it dies.”
“What if both are at fault?”
“Then both die.”
Ivnia’s expression darkened.
As if to comfort her, Ram hastily shared some positive news.
“But the hopeful thing is that the scope of a normal married life is wider than I thought. I was worried that maintaining the marital relationship might include sexual activity, but thankfully, it doesn’t.”
Sexual activity.
Flustered by the unexpected topic, Ivnia bowed her head deeply.
Waiting for the heat to subside from her face, she silently mulled over his explanation several times.
After repeating the word ‘thankfully’ in her mind about ten times, for some reason, the word didn’t feel fortunate to her at all.
“Actually, it would be pretty tacky if they killed you for not doingĀ that.”
“Tacky…”
As Ivnia quietly repeated his muttering, he got a look on his face like he’d slipped up.
Thinking he had brought up an inappropriate topic in front of a child, he quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, look here, the case I was just reading is quite interesting. It says a couple lived for 10 years without even a hug, let alone a good morning kiss, and survived without any problems. They literally only shared a bed.”
“What happened after 10 years?”
At Ivnia’s sharp question, Ram silently flipped through the pages.
It seemed he hadn’t been able to read the ending because of the sudden arrival of a guest.
After checking the last paragraph, Ram was silent for a moment before speaking.
“…They died. The wife died from poison she put in the soup.”
“Oh dear… You can rest assured, Ram, I won’t do that.”
“Yeah, but I’m immortal so I wouldn’t die from poison anyway, just so you know.”
Ram quickly emphasized the fact that poison wouldn’t work on him.
It was a little funny that he was worrying about something that would never happen, so Ivnia raised her hand to cover her mouth, which kept threatening to curve into a smile.
She was trying to hide the fact that she had laughed, but it seemed impossible to escape his eyes, and a suspicious gaze followed shortly after.
Ivnia cleared her throat with a cough and naturally moved the back of her hand away from her lips.
“Anyway, in this case, they didn’t die because of the oath, right.”
“Right, the standards are looser than I thought.”
“But weren’t these people living a pretty married life compared to us? We don’t even share a bed.”
“…Isn’t that not a particularly important issue?”
As Ram suddenly began to evade reality, Ivnia stepped in to give an objective assessment of the situation.
“Doesn’t it say what happened to couples who slept in separate rooms?”
“So far, only cases of separation have appeared.”
“What happened in those cases?”
“They didn’t get in trouble right after moving out, but there was an excuse about a change in work location. The husband tripped and died on his way to work, and according to witness statements, he was staring very ardently at a passing woman. This one seems a bit debatable, though…”
Ram trailed off, rubbing his chin.
Ivnia realized that now was the moment for her to step forward.
Because a certain issue stood before them, one that could become extremely shameless or infinitely sound depending on who brought it up.
After briefly alternating her gaze between the dark window outside and the thick book, Ivnia suddenly spoke.
“Just in case, shall we try it?”
“Try… what?”
“Sharing a bed.”
