After devouring the snake, Kidon leaned his head against the hard wall and closed his eyes.
At some point, his consciousness drifted away.
Kidon fell into a light sleep and then woke up. Whether it was from resting or not, he felt much lighter and more refreshed.
This was good. In this condition, he could easily face palace knights for the next three days.
Thinking about this, Kidon approached the spring again and moistened his mouth and throat with water.
Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine.
Kidon quickly stood up and looked back. A groan escaped him.
“When the hell…?”
He hadn’t sensed any presence.
He tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword. Kidon glared at Sion.
Sion stood silently, meeting Kidon’s gaze. Then he spoke.
“You kept your promise.”
“What?”
“Laila.”
“……”
“She doesn’t seem to be injured.”
“Ha…”
Kidon twisted his mouth into a smirk and replied.
“Promise? What nonsense are you talking about? I forgot about it the moment you died.”
“Is that so?”
“Laila was my fiancé. She was safe only because of that reason.”
“Well, fine.”
Anyway, it’s true that Laila is unharmed. Sion murmured as he approached Kidon.
Kidon instinctively took a step back and then stopped. Behind him was the spring.
He clenched his teeth so hard it felt like they would break. Sion stood still, allowing Kidon to reach him with his sword.
Veins bulge on Kidon’s hands and arms.
“You lowly slave. The hero, freezing to death.”
“……”
“How did you come back to life?”
“Why? Do you think knowing the method will help you come back to life too?”
“Shut up! Why would I come back to life? I’m not going to die.”
Kidon aimed the tip of his sword at Sion’s heart. Sion didn’t move.
“Just like last time, I’ll stab my sword into your heart.”
“Go ahead.”
“What?”
“Try stabbing me.”
“You crazy bastard. Do you think I wouldn’t stab you just because you told me to?”
Kidon immediately gave strength to his wrists and arms. The tip of the sword pressed against Sion’s chest.
“What…?”
Soon, Kidon’s eyes widened. The sword did not pierce the skin.
In the next moment, Sion closed the distance between them and grabbed Kidon’s neck with one hand.
“Gah!”
“I see you still think of me as a person. If you were a monarch, this country would have perished long ago.”
“Let go…”
Kidon’s face turned bright red. The sword fell to the cave floor.
“Did you see the spring behind you? There’s no moss.”
“Let go, I said…”
Kidon roughly scratched Sion’s arm and punched him. Sion didn’t even pretend to shake.
“If you come back to life, live a good life. Live in atonement.”
Sion extended his empty left hand toward Kidon. A crunching sound echoed from Kidon’s right shoulder.
At the same time, Sion’s right hand pressed down harder on Kidon’s neck.
The focus faded from Kidon’s eyes. Soon, Sion released his grip on Kidon’s neck and shoulder.
Kidon’s body slowly leaned back.
Splash!
Water splashed at Sion’s feet. He watched the sinking body for a moment before turning away.
As he left the cave, one person came to mind.
Soon, he found himself missing that person unbearably.
☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓
Sion returned to the duke’s residence.
Laila thought.
What should I do?
“Miss.”
“Hmm?”
“How long are you going to stay there like that?”
Laila lay on the bed, pulling the blanket up to just below her neck, blinking her eyes.
“Until I get better.”
“For a month?”
“It won’t take that long… They said I’d be better in three weeks.”
“Come out. It’s not night anymore. It’s daytime.”
“No! The doctor said I need to rest. I’m following the doctor’s orders.”
“Don’t lie.”
“What?”
Laila, still lying in bed, opened her eyes with a scowl. Taylor, who had been leaning against the bedroom wall with his arms crossed, shook his head.
“Miss, do you really think I wouldn’t notice? You’re trying to hide the fact from Sion that you got hurt, aren’t you?”
Laila fell silent. Taylor muttered to himself.
“I never thought something serious would happen like this…”
“What serious thing? It’s not serious. It’s just an injury that will heal in three weeks.”
“So you plan to lie in bed for three weeks?”
“Well, not exactly…”
Laila, with only her face sticking out from the blanket, rolled her eyes in contemplation. Taylor pushed himself off the wall and stood up straight.
“If you don’t come out of the bedroom for a few days, Sion will start to think something’s off.”
“…I’ll handle it myself, so please leave. And don’t come back until I call for you! Understand, Sir Taylor?”
“Yes, yes.”
Taylor nodded and turned to leave. Just before opening the door to exit the bedroom, he glanced back at Laila and said,
“I’ll bet my salary for this month that you’ll be found out within three days.”
“Not leaving?”
Laila pulled her right hand out from under the blanket and grabbed her pillow. The door closed with a thud.
“Ha…”
Soon, a sigh escaped from Laila’s lips.
In the quiet bedroom, Laila thought again.
What should I do?
Arrogance breeds carelessness. Carelessness leads to accidents.
Just two days ago, Laila had learned the truth of life in the garden.
Inside the garden stood a large tree. Laila, who called herself an aspiring excellent gardener, was filled with a sense of challenge.
“Today! I will make you be reborn!”
Laila brought a ladder, as she had learned. Then she climbed up and began to prune the tree’s branches, which were much taller than hers.
After cutting off the annoying small branches with garden shears, she wiped her dry forehead with the back of her hand and thought,
“That was easy.”
Just then, as she was about to come down from the ladder, she missed a step.
Tree, the head gardener who had been observing Laila’s pruning, screamed. Meanwhile, Laila, who fell from the ladder, couldn’t make a sound.
She was disoriented, and her left wrist hurt terribly.
A moment later, a maid who had heard Tree’s scream rushed over and picked Laila up. She was quite strong.
Laila was then taken to the clinic within the mansion, where the doctor examined her wrist and diagnosed her with a three-week injury.
Just like that, Laila became an injured person overnight.
What a situation this is.
“I thought I had finally found something I could do…”
While Sion was away from the castle, the butler, Gerick, who was acting in his stead, gave Tree a minor reprimand.
Because Laila was injured while tending to the tree in the garden, Tree, the head gardener, had to take some responsibility for her injury.
Watching Tree, who had his salary cut and was put on probation because of her, Laila instinctively felt it was time to reevaluate their master-disciple relationship.
…It was depressing.
Laila spent time motionless in her bedroom before checking the clock.
It was night. Late night, in fact.
“By now, Sion should be in his bedroom, right?”
Laila got out of bed. Perhaps she had been in one place for too long. She dragged her stiff body out of the bedroom.
Walking down the wide, empty corridor, Laila let out a small sigh of relief.
For a while, Laila decided to live like an owl.
She would sleep during the day and wander around late at night.
There was no other choice. This was the only way to avoid running into Sion in the castle.
Laila didn’t want Sion to know that she was injured.
She didn’t want to worry him… and…
She just didn’t feel like it.
She had already asked others, including Gerick, to keep the fact that she had hurt her wrist a secret from Sion.
Laila walked down the long corridor toward the garden.
For reference, Laila’s bedroom was on the first floor. Sion also used a bedroom on the first floor, but their rooms were quite far apart.
Laila thought to herself.
Did Sion deliberately give me a bedroom on the first floor?
If so, what could be the reason?
Perhaps it was because I stayed in a top-floor bedroom when I was in the marquisate.
Did he want me to distance myself from bad memories?
Was Sion being considerate of me?
Sometimes, Laila attributed various meanings to Sion’s actions.
And as she did so, she inevitably became curious.
What am I to Sion?
