Sharti finished half the bread in the basket, overeating for the first time in a long while.
Normally, she would have saved it carefully, but she quickly dismissed any regrets.
‘Let’s not be stingy.’
She needed to visit the log cabin first to get the man’s clothes. Since she would have to make the round trip between the house and cave twice, she needed to conserve her energy.
‘That was delicious.’
The satisfaction from the sugar and butter was indeed fulfilling.
As Sharti rose from her seat after finishing her meal, the man also stood up.
“Are you leaving?…Ma’am?”
Sharti rummaged through her bag, then shook her head and pointed to the bed.
The man sat down on the bed as instructed.
‘He probably can’t bandage himself.’
Sharti took out bandages and sat beside him.
<Raise your arms.>
As soon as the man lifted his arms, Sharti began unwrapping the bandages around his abdomen. Fortunately, her knee hadn’t struck his abdomen.
Sharti applied disinfectant to the abdominal wound, which was healing well, then rubbed herbs on it.
“……”
It was the same delicate and meticulous touch the man had received all along.
The only difference was that this time, he could see Sharti treating him with his own eyes.
The man’s gaze lingered on her hood, but Sharti remained focused on the treatment.
<Your recovery is quick, so if you apply medicine properly, there won’t even be a scar.>
“……”
<But while you’re bandaged, you need to be careful when moving. No running or sudden movements. If the wound reopens due to carelessness, I won’t treat it again.>
She absolutely refused to waste herbs.
Before the man could respond, Sharti suddenly spread her arms and pressed against his chest.
“…!”
The man stiffened as Sharti put her arms around him and quickly began wrapping the bandage.
<Relax your abdomen. You shouldn’t tense up like this.>
The sensation on his palm and the breath touching his skin with each wrap of the bandage made the man’s muscles visibly twitch.
Slap. Sharti immediately cautioned him, and the man nodded, gritting his teeth.
<I’ll teach you how to wrap bandages. Try doing it yourself next time.>
“Now she’s telling me to do everything myself.”
“…?”
At Sharti’s questioning look, the man dismissed it as talking to himself.
Sharti considered commenting on the man’s awkward speech pattern but decided against it.
‘Since he has no memory, speaking informally is probably more comfortable.’
Forcing him to change wouldn’t help recover his memories, so she decided to leave it for now.
Sharti made sure to apply medicine to even the smaller wounds.
After being silent for a while, the man opened his mouth as if something had occurred to him.
“By the way, what were you going to say earlier?…Ma’am?”
At Sharti’s confused look, the man gestured toward her stomach.
Embarrassed again by the reminder, Sharti quickly covered her stomach.
<Doctor.>
“Doctor?”
<Call me Doctor.>
“Then what about me?…Ma’am?”
The man asked.
“Give me a title too. …Ma’am. Or…”
<Patient.>
“……”
The man closed his mouth.
Sharti looked at him as if asking what the problem was.
The man avoided her gaze.
‘Does he not like the title? It’s a perfectly fitting title for a patient-doctor relationship.’
Sharti glanced cautiously at the man.
<Or would you prefer I call you ‘you’ instead?>
“Let’s go with patient….Ma’am.”
His sigh sounded like resignation.
‘Come to think of it, he said he couldn’t remember his name.’
But it would be best if he chose his own name.
It seemed contradictory to give him a name when she had no intention of getting comfortable around him.
<I’ll apply medicine to your thigh, but try wrapping the bandage yourself.>
“……”
The man responded with action rather than words.
Sharti was speechless at his terrible technique.
‘Is he wrapping a bandage or tying a rope?’
Even Tein hadn’t been this bad when he first wrapped a bandage.
In the end, Sharti had to wrap the bandage around his thick thigh herself.
<Are you uncomfortable or in pain anywhere?>
“No. …Ma’am.”
The man sniffed at the strong herbal scent coming from his body and nodded.
Having finished what she needed to do, Sharti stood up. The man reflexively followed suit.
<I’ll come back tonight.>
“Can’t I go with you? …Ma’am?”
<There are often villagers climbing the mountain at this time. We might run into them on the way. Also, there are border soldiers in the village, so it’s best to move at night to avoid being noticed.>
“But then you, I mean Doctor, will have to go back and forth twice. …Ma’am.”
<I need to bring your clothes first.>
With his build, he’d be perfect for being mistaken as a game and getting shot with arrows.
The village hunters didn’t climb the mountain at night, and it would be easier to travel the rough mountain path during the day than at night.
The man lowered his gaze.
“…Because you promised.”
The man, who had followed Sharti all the way to the cave entrance, murmured softly.
“That you’d hide me.”
His thick fingers gripped Sharti’s robe sleeve.
“I’ll wait. Here.”
At his serious and desperate look, Sharti turned to face him and looked up.
She removed his hand from her sleeve and offered her pinky finger.
“…?”
He didn’t seem to understand the meaning of the pinky promise.
<Promise.>
Sharti turned away from the man.
Even as she covered the cave entrance, his gaze never left her.
‘I need to bring clothes and clean the house too.’
The old log cabin where she lived alone.
Due to the dangerous mountain terrain, even Vireta’s family had only visited a few times.
Sharti quickened her pace, trying to calm her needlessly excited heart.
****
Just as the sunset was about to fade, soldiers from the border were preparing to climb the mountain in the village.
“Squad Leader. Preparations are complete. We should head up before it gets darker.”
The squad leader, who had been yawning lazily, waved off his subordinate’s words.
“Make sure to bring your swords. They say beasts frequently appear on this mountain.”
Though the beasts would just be animals.
The snickering soldiers soon began their search.
The northwestern border mountains of the Great Empire of Neweiton were all known for their treacherous terrain. From cattle thieves to royal families of fallen nations, they provided perfect hiding places for various criminals.
That’s why, as numerous wars began, the Emperor of Neweiton ordered the border security to be strengthened.
This was the reason border soldiers regularly visited mountain villages.
However, the purpose of this visit was purely for personal gain.
“But why are we searching at night this time? It’s so dark, how can we see anything?”
“Doesn’t a night search seem more impressive?”
The soldiers chuckled at the unexpected night search, showing no sense of urgency.
‘Fools.’
Only Dodindtman, the leader of the 8th squad at the front, snickered inwardly.
‘They don’t even ask why we’re climbing this high mountain with just one torch as soon as it gets dark.’
It was convenient to have such simple-minded and foolish subordinates who were born and raised at the border.
Hiding his sinister smile, Dodindtman recalled the secret letter that had been secretly delivered only to him last week.
[Find a corpse that fell from a cliff and bring back its head.]
Dodindtman, who thought he was destined to toil at the border until death, read and reread the letter.
[Presumed to have suffered fatal injuries. If still breathing, kill immediately and take only the head.]
The opportunity had arrived.
Dodindtman smiled with a distorted face full of delight.
[Reward: Title of Count & Four years’ income from the Singd Merchant Guild.]
Count. A tantalizing bait that would allow him, a commoner, to become an imperial count.
After investigating the Singd Merchant Guild mentioned in the letter, Dodindtman immediately tucked the letter safely away.
‘I hear the Singd Merchant Guild has recently been dealing with the imperial family? This means the person who sent me the letter is no ordinary schemer.’
To complete the mission more perfectly, Dodindtman spent all his assets to replace all the weapons for this search party with new ones. He also bribed his superior to obtain additional support troops from other squads.
‘They’re scared of the talk about a deserter and are passing the responsibility to me.’
Thankfully, rumors of a deserter with an ominous crime had been circulating recently, providing a sufficient excuse.
Everything was falling into place.
Dodindtman kept smirking at the sweetness of wealth and power that would unfold in the future.
“Squad Leader. The path gets narrower from here.”
“If we go further up, we should reach the valley stream that flows through this mountain.”
If someone had fallen and was still alive with fatal injuries, where would they hide? Wouldn’t they be searching for water?
Dodindtman began moving toward the valley stream, drawing on his experience searching for criminals. As it got darker, Dodindtman licked his lips in anxiety and anticipation.
****
Just as the soldiers began climbing the mountain, Sharti hurriedly returned to the cave.
“I’ve been waiti–…What’s wrong?”
The relief that flashed across the man’s face as he paced around waiting for Sharti lasted only a moment.
Ignoring the man, Sharti began stuffing items from the cave into her bag without explanation.
The man stepped closer at her unusual behavior.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“……”
Breathing heavily and scanning the area around the cave, Sharti looked up at the man. She bit her lip firmly.
<Soldiers are climbing the mountain.>
“…Soldiers?”
The man’s brow furrowed at the unsettling sensation.
Sharti became even more anxious at his reaction and repeatedly clenched and unclenched her hands.
<They occasionally do mountain searches for show, but… the fact that they’re searching at night concerns me.>
Sharti gripped her hood tightly and avoided the man’s gaze.
The man understood her implication.
“…I suppose the person the soldiers are looking for has been accused of a serious crime.”
It sounded somewhat sarcastic.
But the contempt was directed at himself, not Sharti.
<I’m not certain.>
“…I see.”
The man answered in a slightly lower voice, staring at just the tips of Sharti’s fingers.
His mind was turbulent to the point of discomfort.
“So what’s your plan?”
At least her attempt to avoid certainty was calming him.
That was his only comfort.
<I’m going to collapse this cave.>
“…What?”
The man questioned her extreme response.
Sharti immediately demonstrated through action. She grabbed a shovel from inside the cave and climbed onto the bed.
“What are you doing…!”
The man rushed forward in alarm as Sharti began striking the cave ceiling with the shovel.
But Sharti pushed him away.
‘Go out first.’
Sharti pointed toward the cave entrance.
“What…?”
Instead of writing an explanation on his palm, Sharti continued jabbing the ceiling with the shovel as if digging soil.
She felt increasingly urgent.
‘Time is running short.’
Unable to gauge the soldiers’ speed, she couldn’t afford any more delay.
Clang.
“…!”
Amid the soil falling from the ceiling, there was a subtle metallic sound, not the sound of hitting a rock.
Sharti was about to swing the shovel again toward the source of the metallic sound without hesitation.
“…!”
A strong force gripped her waist, and her view suddenly changed.
The man had effortlessly lifted Sharti onto his shoulder with one arm. Not stopping there, he also took the shovel from her hand.
