<18>
“What are you, really?”
“…What do you mean?”
“What the hell did you do to me—ugh.”
“I’m trying to heal you. Look at your wound. And let go of my hand.”
She ignored his incomprehensible words and tried to twist her wrist free.
However, he didn’t seem inclined to release her, holding her hand even tighter.
“Hey! Let go of my hand…!”
“Hold it.”
“Excuse me?”
“Hold it, and I’ll get treated, so.”
At his absurd words, Celonia was about to tell him not to talk nonsense and shake off his hand.
She certainly intended to, but she couldn’t.
Because of the subtle tremor she felt from his hand holding hers.
She slowly lowered her gaze, focusing on his hand gripping hers.
“…”
His hand, strained as if he would never let go, had blue veins standing out on the back.
For some reason, his grip on her felt desperate, even fervent.
Like someone clinging to a tree root that had broken through a rock to avoid falling off a cliff.
“Haa… Alright, just hold it gently.”
With a short sigh, Celonia opened the first-aid kit with one hand.
Treatment was the priority.
She couldn’t afford to argue about letting go of hands with someone who was bleeding profusely.
She immediately took out a container labeled ‘Cattail Pollen’ from the box. [Cattail pollen is known for its antiseptic and styptic (blood-stopping) properties.]
As she twisted her fingers to open the lid with one hand, she felt the blood flowing back into the hand he was holding. He seemed to have loosened his grip at her words to hold it gently.
She was inwardly dumbfounded at how well he listened, struggling to open the lid.
It was harder than she thought, considering how tightly it was closed.
“…Tsk.”
He clicked his tongue and snatched the container.
Then, he effortlessly opened the lid with one hand.
No, ‘smashed’ would be a more accurate description.
He tore off the lid, which was supposed to be opened by twisting, as if he were pulling out a radish.
The torn lid was crumpled like a piece of paper and thrown to the floor.
“Huh…”
Celonia gasped at his superhuman strength, receiving the container he offered.
She turned her head to check the wound immediately, and only then did the reality of the situation truly hit her.
How closely his bare body was pressed against hers.
She thought there was quite a distance, but when she faced him, his wound was right in front of her nose.
It was even a position that could easily lead to misunderstandings if someone saw them. She was sitting on top of him, who was sitting on the bathroom floor.
She could feel his firm thigh against her butt.
‘Even so, this is a bit…’
She only needed to treat him, so there was no need to maintain such a strange position.
Celonia slowly moved her waist back to distance herself from him.
“Just do it.”
But her attempt was thwarted when the quick-witted man pulled the hand he was holding.
“…”
Celonia once again pulled her face away from his bare chest.
Many words surged up, but she suppressed them and focused on the wound.
It seemed better to just finish quickly and leave than to waste energy arguing and struggling to get away.
Upon closer inspection, the wound was more serious than she had thought.
Inside the wound, which was as thick as a finger, muscle tissue was visible, with blood gushing out between them.
Celonia quickly sprinkled the powder on his wound.
Through six months of adventure, she had learned that cattail pollen was particularly effective in disinfecting and stopping bleeding.
She never thought she would use that knowledge on him.
‘This wound, isn’t it that wound?’
The large wound on his chest that she had glimpsed when she first saw him at the café.
Was it not a new one, but an infected one? The location of the wound was the same.
“It’s going to sting quite a bit.”
She said, watching the powder pile up on the wound on his well-defined muscles.
Cattail pollen was guaranteed to be effective, but the downside was that it stung the wound a lot.
But he didn’t flinch or even let out a small groan.
“You. You said you don’t know me.”
He opened his lips, staring intently at her as she focused on the treatment.
The pain had subsided by now.
The pain was hardly felt, as if dawn had come.
That wasn’t because of the medicine, but because of her hand holding his.
From before she applied the medicine, the moment he held her hand, the pain had quickly disappeared.
“Yes. I don’t know you.”
“Then why are you helping me?”
“Then should I just leave you?”
It was a completely incomprehensible question.
If there was a person in pain in front of her and she could help, wasn’t it natural to help?
Of course, he was an exception, but this was her house.
If this man was going to die, it had to be somewhere else. She couldn’t clean up a corpse in her house.
“…”
He silently watched Celonia applying herbs to his wound.
Beneath her lightly furrowed brow, her blue eyes were quite serious. Her tightly closed lips also seemed quite stubborn.
Quite different from the way she had been constantly talking back and showing her dislike.
“You.”
At his call, Celonia’s gaze turned upward.
He, who had been acting like he was about to die just a few minutes ago, was now staring intently at her, as if he was feeling better.
“You asked if I was attacked. No, it’s a wound I’ve always had.”
“Did it get infected? Why is there blood from a wound you’ve always had?”
“I don’t know.”
A weak laugh escaped his lips. Because he was the one who wanted to know the truth more than anyone else.
‘A wound he’s always had?’
Celonia tilted her head at the strangely familiar location of the wound.
Come to think of it, this wound was in the same location where she stabbed him with a dagger when his shell disappeared and his true form was revealed.
Could it be?
“…Why did this happen?”
“I don’t know. It’s been there since I lost my memory and opened my eyes.”
“When was that?”
“Three months ago.”
The defeat of the Demon King was also roughly three months ago. The timing was the same.
But she quickly shook her head in denial.
“Then, now that it’s come to this, let me ask you something. Do you really not remember anything? Even who you are?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Is that even a question to ask now?”
Celonia closed her mouth at his scolding tone, as if he was dumbfounded.
That’s right. It was funny to ask someone with amnesia why they lost their memory.
“Then this time, let me ask. What did you do to me?”
“Why do you keep saying I did something to you since earlier?”
She asked back, not avoiding his gaze.
She couldn’t understand why he was acting like this since earlier to the person who was treating his wound.
“Really don’t know?”
“I’m asking because I don’t know. What is it? What did I do?”
“…”
He was silently looking into her unwavering blue eyes.
“Young lady! I’ve brought the doctor!”
It was then.
The maid, whom she had asked earlier, came in with the doctor.
“Gasp…!”
The maid covered her mouth in surprise at the scene she saw as soon as she entered.
She couldn’t help but be surprised to see the young lady riding on top of a naked man.
Celonia recoiled in horror, pulling out the hand he was holding and quickly getting up from her seat.
Seeing the maid’s pupils shaking incessantly, it was clear that she was misunderstanding.
“It’s a misunderstanding. James, please take a look at Iza quickly.”
James, the chief physician of the Besian Duchy, who had been clearing his throat and unable to find a place to look, approached in an instant after seeing the blood pooling on the floor.
Celonia, who had stepped back, left the bathroom with a small regret. She had helped too much by accident.
Even to someone she shouldn’t have helped.
“…”
He stared intently until her figure disappeared, then looked at his empty hand.
Even after her hand left, the pain did not return. The bleeding had also stopped long ago.
As if she had absorbed all of his pain.
From the moment he lost all his memories and opened his eyes here until now, the night had been hell for him.
But to feel such comfort in the middle of the night when dawn hadn’t even broken yet. It was a first.
He clenched his fist, recalling the warmth of her that had not yet disappeared from his hand.
“She doesn’t know, does she.”
That she is saving me.