Sharti was momentarily speechless and couldn’t refute him.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, wondering why his correct statements sounded so annoying.
“I’ll wash the dishes.”
As soon as they finished eating, he naturally took the dishes.
But Sharti pushed away his sturdy arm and took back the dishes.
<You stay seated.>
Despite her limp, Sharti wouldn’t share the chores.
The man was also a patient. She had no intention of making a patient do the dishes while she rested.
“……”
The man, pushed aside by Sharti, raised his eyebrows with a face full of unspoken thoughts.
Why was she so stubborn? Were all doctors like this?
After watching Sharti with a displeased expression for a while, the man suddenly felt something was missing and lowered his gaze.
“…Oh.”
Clicking his tongue briefly, the man roughly pushed his bangs back.
He realized he had been without his shirt all this time because he’d been sewing buttons and seams that burst multiple times a day.
He strode back to Sharti’s bedroom, put on his clothes, and returned.
Sharti, having finished washing the dishes, examined him with a serious expression.
‘It seems like his clothes strain every time he puts them on and takes them off… but maybe I’m imagining it?’
The hastily mended front seam looked taut and precarious again.
‘I should have brought him clothes too. I completely forgot with everything else going on.’
Of course, her financial situation wasn’t good either, so at best she could only have gotten fabric.
To do that, she would need to earn money by selling herbs, which meant climbing the mountain diligently.
“What’s wrong with your leg?”
The man blocked Sharti’s path as she was walking, lost in thought.
Sharti tilted her head, ignoring the pain in her right leg.
The man’s expression turned askew.
“Fine. Go rest then.”
<I’ve rested enough.>
It wasn’t a lie since she had sat and rested between meal preparations.
Of course, the man didn’t seem to believe her.
His askew expression made that clear. Rather, from the beginning, the man had expected Sharti wouldn’t be honest about her leg’s condition.
Sharti avoided his gaze and picked up a basket placed in the corner.
“Where are you trying to go now?”
The man immediately snatched the basket.
Momentarily startled by his rude behavior, she paused before exercising patience.
<The soldiers who came looking for me yesterday were injured. Since I’m a doctor, they sought me out. I’ll need to go down to the village for a while, but I’m also running low on medicine for tomorrow.>
“Don’t go.”
The words seemed to have shot out reflexively, as the man smoothed his lips afterward.
Sharti didn’t miss the emotion that quickly rose and disappeared on his face.
“I mean, it’s getting late, the weather is turning chilly, and also…”
“……”
She could see how today’s long day had carved anxiety into him.
Instead of offering cheap comfort or encouragement, Sharti took his hand.
<I won’t be this late tomorrow. And the soldiers won’t come to the house either. So just focus on recovering. Remember what I said earlier? Soon after the soldiers leave, we can go out together.>
“…Right.”
The man’s expression softened as the words written on his palm tickled him.
Sharti looked curiously at the man who was concentrating on their palm conversation.
‘He can understand even when I write at length on his palm.’
When communicating through palm-writing rather than notes, it was usually better to be concise and brief for clarity, but he was able to read all of Sharti’s lengthy messages.
He was focusing on her words, her communication.
This simple fact made Sharti inexplicably happy, and her cheeks warmed slightly.
<I have someone helping me, so I’ll come back as early as possible tomorrow.>
“Ah.”
The man nodded as if understanding.
“Well, he is a bright aspiring doctor.”
“…?”
Sharti tilted her head slightly.
‘Ah, he must have heard Tein’s voice in the cave.’
Just as she was about to let it pass without suspicion, the man added a comment.
“He seemed fearless, unlike most children.”
“……”
Sharti stopped her palm-writing.
The word “seemed” kept echoing in her ears.
‘Tein did climb the mountain, could it be…?’
Her hypothesis, which she had been trying not to connect, gained strength.
Sharti stepped closer to him.
‘Did Tein come here? Did you meet him?’
She had been hoping they wouldn’t meet!
As Sharti raised her head, the man faced the shock in her crimson eyes.
Surprised by her unexpected reaction, the man carefully chose his words.
“He came by during the day. Said he brought cookies.”
He gestured behind Sharti.
In the kitchen, she saw a small bundle she hadn’t noticed before. It was a bundle like the ones Tein often left behind, which she had overlooked thinking it was just another of his usual drops.
‘Surely not, it can’t be…’
Sharti bit her lip firmly.
The man easily read the distrust in Sharti’s concern.
His eyes hardened.
“Are you worried I might have harmed that child?”
His voice came out restrained, as if suppressing anger.
‘Well, that…’
She should have immediately denied it. But the man didn’t miss her momentary hesitation.
His thick eyebrows furrowed mercilessly.
“So you’ve been thinking that since I’ve lost my memory, I might do something terrible to a child? Well, I suppose. Given my record, I deserve to be treated like trash.”
Cold sarcasm mixed with self-deprecation flowed out as contempt.
Even if he had knelt and apologized for his misstatement, the fact remained that initially, he had threatened Sharti by exploiting her weakness.
“I see. I was untrustworthy.”
The man understood.
But though his mind understood, his hurt feelings were unavoidable.
Despite trying to maintain his expression, his disappointment kept clouding his seemingly calm face.
His Adam’s apple bobbed prominently.
“Nothing happened, truly. If you’re worried about the child’s well-being, meet him and check for yourself. You won’t believe anything I say anyway.”
He murmured with a face that showed he was hurting from his own words.
Seeing the man’s subtly trembling eyelashes, Sharti quickly shook her head.
She hastily grabbed his hand, intending to write a detailed explanation on his palm, but stopped.
‘What am I denying? I really did suspect him.’
Sharti had ways to handle him even if he threatened her.
So far, Sharti was the only one who had shown her face to him.
She had treated and hidden him, and she didn’t want to involve Tein in complicated matters.
‘I’ve been constantly cautious, treating him like he might be dangerous.’
Sharti knew nothing about the man.
Because he was a stranger, she hastily formed a prejudice and was naturally suspicious.
Even if caution was justified, it had hurt him.
Especially to a man who had waited for her return all day, it was unkind behavior.
<I’m sorry.>
His large palm flinched.
<For not trusting you. For hurting your feelings, I’m truly sorry.>
“……”
There was no response.
Sharti glanced furtively at him.
He still looked dejected.
It had indeed hurt him deeply.
‘What should I do?’
Sharti had no idea how to soothe someone’s hurt feelings.
She wasn’t particularly skilled at communicating with others.
“…It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
The man turned his back abruptly and sat down, avoiding Sharti’s gaze.
Though he knew it was childish, he didn’t want to reveal how quickly his mood had improved with just her one apology.
He tried hard to manage his expression, but the more he replayed Sharti’s apology in his mind, the more his composure crumbled.
Rather than being happy about Sharti’s apology, the sudden surge of hurt feelings had melted away like snow upon understanding and comforting his childish indignation.
However, he didn’t want to involve Sharti in his emotional turbulence.
The man took time to calmly control his emotions.
‘He seems…upset?’
But Sharti, unaware of the man’s complex inner feelings, saw his large hunched back as representing his sulky mood.
Imagining his pouting face, Sharti crouched beside him and wrote a note.
<I’m sorry. I’ll get you something you want from the village tomorrow. Besides clothes, do you need anything?>
The man glanced at the note and slightly turned toward Sharti.
“If I need something, will you get it for me?”
It seemed he did have something in mind.
Sharti nodded firmly.
She didn’t show how tight her finances were.
“When I met the child, I felt strange.”
From their now close distance, he turned to look at Sharti.
“The child introduced himself by name.”
“……”
“While I have none, a 7-year-old confidently told me his. Unlike me.”
His clear teal eyes rippled seriously.
“I want one too. My name.”
His eyes sparkled with anticipation.
****
On a moonlit night, Sharti trudged up the mountain alone.
[I’d like you to give me one. My name.]
Of course, a name wasn’t something easily created.
He didn’t seem to expect to have a name immediately, so he didn’t press her.
He just seemed relieved that Sharti hadn’t refused.
‘What name should I give him? A male name at that.’
She wasn’t talented at naming.
Even her current alias was just derived from the first letter of her name.
‘Sigh.’
Sighing deeply, Sharti carefully dug into the ground. Despite her preoccupied mind, her hands were diligently harvesting herbs.
‘If his memories don’t return, he’ll use this name indefinitely.’
Pouting her lips, Sharti thought she had created unnecessary work for herself.
She carefully placed the herb in her basket, its roots perfectly intact.
‘Should I name him after an herb? Since I found him poisoned, maybe something related to detoxification?’
…As if he’d like that.
Sharti laughed bitterly.
‘I want to give him a name he’ll like.’
The man had said he would use whatever name she gave him, without any opinion.
This broad request left Sharti at a loss.
She would have preferred if he had asked for more meat or better clothes.
‘Nothing suitable comes to mind.’
Sharti cleanly admitted that her naming skills were hopeless.
‘Let’s go back.’
After filling her basket heavily, Sharti rose with a stiff body.
She instinctively frowned. Her limp had worsened.
‘There’s not much water left for a bath tonight either.’
Rustle, rustle…
Just then, a strange sound came from behind her.
It was an ambiguous, artificial noise, unlike the sound of trampling grass or swaying trees.
“……”
Sharti took out a pouch of paralyzing powder and gripped it.
‘No crying sounds. It’s not a beast.’
As soon as she showed caution, the noise stopped, making it even more chilling.
At that moment, with a fluttering sound, birds flew up simultaneously from a nearby tree.
‘Was it the birds making that sound?’
Sharti, vigilantly surveying her surroundings with a tense face, slowly backed away.
Her spine tingled from feeling the unpleasant gaze twice.
Hurrying her steps, Sharti only managed to catch her breath when she saw the lights of the log cabin.
As soon as she opened the door, the man appeared and immediately took the basket.
“Do you always spend this long gathering herbs?”
Trying not to show the creepy feeling she had outside, Sharti changed the subject.
“-Words that come to mind? Not many really.”
<It doesn’t have to be clear. Just letters or something.>
Hmm. Noticing Sharti’s naming difficulty, he carefully traced through his memories.
He shrugged lightly.
“Re…g? These are the only letters that repeatedly come to mind, though they feel hazy.”
Sharti stared intently at the letters she had written down.
‘Re, g? Reg? Rek? No, that’s a bit, hmm…’
Sharti tried various letter combinations.
Since the man had features that made Tein mistake him for a bear, she hoped his name would at least be gentle.
<How about ‘Ren’?>
“Ren?”
Hearing the man’s pronunciation, Sharti felt certain.
She felt proud thinking she had given him a fitting name.
“Is naming difficult?”
Meanwhile, the man was looking at Sharti with inexplicable suspicion.
Was he unhappy that the name was just one syllable? Sharti timidly watched his reaction.
<My name is also one syllable. Don’t you like it?>
“I like it.”
A quick change of attitude.
The man immediately murmured the name she had given him.
He seemed focused, as if determined not to forget it.
Suddenly, he cleared his throat.
“My name is Ren.”
The man with a solemn face opened his mouth toward Sharti.
“Now may I ask your name?”
TN:
Korean letter ㄹ functions as both L and R, depending on its position in a word.
Even though his name is Leodelt, I lean towards Ren instead of Len 🙂
