The man asked for Sharti’s name as if he had been waiting for this moment.
Flustered, Sharti moved her lips.
‘I am…’
Ignoring her tingling nose, Sharti smiled.
But as the pain in her chest intensified, her smile became distorted.
<My name is ‘Sha’, Ren.>
Sharti desperately erased the memories from five years ago that flashed in her mind.
Her name was ‘Sha.’ Not Sharti.
“…Sha. I see.”
Upon finally learning Sharti’s name, satisfaction spread across the man’s indifferent face.
Even though they had merely exchanged fake names, he seemed genuinely pleased.
And Sharti, watching him, felt her mood gradually sink into coldness.
‘…My name is Sharti, Ren.’
The name she couldn’t bring herself to say became like a thorn stuck in her throat, pricking her.
To hide her uncomfortable feelings, Sharti pulled her hood down to cover her face completely.
<I’m going to wash up now.>
Sharti quickly left her seat.
After gathering clothes to change into, she went straight to the bathroom.
Click.
“……”
Sharti immediately rubbed her eyes vigorously with her arm.
‘I should wash up and go to sleep quickly.’
She suppressed her desire to soak in warm water again like yesterday.
Comforting her disappointment, Sharti washed thoroughly, conserving what little water remained.
‘Hmm… I definitely overdid it today.’
Her muscles were tense.
Sharti massaged her legs diligently.
It was her first time treating so many patients in one day, working frantically from morning to night.
‘But I gathered enough herbs to take tomorrow. It won’t be insufficient.’
Recalling the meat given to her by the soldiers, Sharti felt a sense of satisfaction.
While washing her face, Sharti looked at her reflection in the mirror.
“…..”
Long, curly wheat-colored hair tangled under her hood. Reddish-orange eyes that didn’t match her hair color.
Pale skin from constantly being wrapped in robes. A face without any fat.
An appearance she was embarrassed to show others.
Sharti absently stroked her cheek.
‘I wish I could look strong like that person.’
She thought of the man with dark features, a large build, and everything opposite to herself.
‘Ah, now it’s Ren.’
She wondered if she had been too hasty or careless in choosing the name, but ultimately, he liked it.
Much more than she had expected.
‘What could his real name be?’
She suddenly became curious about what Ren’s real name might mean, what kind of resonance it might hold.
Whatever his name was, it would surely suit him well.
‘Would he tell me his real name if he recovers his memory?’
Sharti mocked herself for her wandering curiosity.
Wasn’t that a selfish thought? Even if Ren told her his real name, she couldn’t tell him hers.
‘Because Sharti is dead.’
To be precise, Sharti Krianet died five years ago.
As long as the person who survived by using her as a substitute existed somewhere in the world, Sharti would never reveal her real name.
Feeling a tightness in her chest, Sharti rubbed around her heart.
‘It’s fine. I’ll live with the name Sha until I die anyway. It’s my real name now.’
Sharti courageously gathered her resolve.
After vigorously drying her damp hair with a towel, she pulled her hood back over her head.
“Ah, you’re out.”
As soon as Sharti came out of the bathroom, Ren approached as if he had been waiting.
In his hand was a thick towel dampened with water.
He pointed to the sofa.
“Sit there for a moment.”
“…?”
Wondering if he wanted to talk, Sharti weakly shook her head.
After washing up, her body felt heavy.
‘I just want to lie down on the bed.’
She was confident she could fall asleep within three seconds if she could just get under the covers and close her eyes.
“It will only take a moment.”
But Ren was insistent.
With him standing firmly in front of her, she had no choice.
Haaa. Hiding her annoyance, Sharti went to sit on the sofa.
‘Let’s endure it for a bit.’
The soft sofa embracing her body felt good.
The problem was that she felt like she might fall asleep at any moment.
Without Sharti noticing, Ren had already knelt down on one knee in front of the sofa.
Ren carefully supported her foot with the towel.
“…!”
Startled, Sharti flailed her leg and immediately knocked his hand away.
As Sharti curled up defensively, Ren obediently lowered his hand.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“…”
“I’m a patient, but my hands and feet are fine. And my recovery is progressing well.”
He continued speaking to Sharti in a calm voice.
“But without my memories, there’s nothing I can do. I don’t know what I’m allowed to do. So, do I just have to wait at home like this indefinitely?”
Ren’s gaze was indifferent as he exposed his helplessness, yet at the same time, it was longing for something.
“I probably can’t repay what I’ve received, but I want to be helpful at least without getting in the way. I can’t go out with you tomorrow, but I can help prepare for tomorrow.”
“…?”
Wondering what he meant, Sharti blinked slowly.
Pulling up one corner of his mouth, Ren again supported Sharti’s foot on his knee.
As he gently wrapped it with the towel, Sharti belatedly tried to pull her foot away.
“Sha-.”
The low resonance of his voice lingered in Sharti’s ears.
It was a voice that seemed to hold her in place, preventing her from moving.
“I know your legs are bothering you.”
For a moment, Sharti gasped, thinking he might have noticed the burn marks on her legs.
“The mountain path must be rough, and the distance to the village must be far.”
At Ren’s subsequent words, the tension in Sharti’s shoulders suddenly eased.
Looking down, Ren stared intently at the long robe Sharti had put on, without actually lifting it.
“You said there were many injured soldiers, so you must have been busy, and just like you did for me, you must have used various herbs for treatment, making it even more hectic.”
“…”
“Moreover, you didn’t properly rest from the fatigue accumulated from escaping with me last night, so it must have gotten worse.”
Since his voice wasn’t reproachful, Sharti just fidgeted with her fingers.
It was embarrassing because everything he said sounded like he was worried about her.
“If you have to keep going to the village, it’s better to at least relieve the fatigue in your legs.”
He looked up at Sharti.
“If you’ll allow me, I can help relieve it. No…I want to help.”
Sharti blinked.
Then she rolled her eyes.
‘So… um, is he offering to give me a massage or something?’
Judging by how he was supporting her foot, it seemed he was planning to massage her legs.
Sharti wore a troubled expression.
Even with a towel covering her, it wouldn’t be comfortable to have physical contact with another person other than her palm.
“If you don’t like it, I won’t do it.”
Despite his straightforward words, his expression was honest.
His eyes burned with desperation, as if begging her to at least let him do this.
Seeing Sharti’s hesitant demeanor, Ren calmly lowered his eyelids.
The water was starting to boil in the kettle.
“Try it first, and if you don’t like it, feel free to kick me away.”
Ren offered his pre-considered compromise.
They agreed that he would only massage her calves, and only after wrapping them with a towel.
Sharti watched what Ren was doing with a still-vigilant gaze.
“I won’t do it too hard. But if it hurts, please bear with it a little.”
Then he handed her a broom.
Understanding that she should signal with the broom if it hurt, Sharti let out a small laugh.
Then quickly contained her smile.
‘I’m not sure who’s the doctor and who’s the patient here.’
What Sharti had wanted was precisely the distance between patient and doctor.
But instead, she, the doctor, was making the patient worry about her.
‘I should have refused.’
But she understood Ren’s thinking.
In the end, Sharti had no choice but to let him have his way.
After wrapping Sharti’s legs with the towel, Ren began the massage.
When Sharti flinched slightly, worried that he might see the burn marks, Ren immediately stopped.
“I’ll continue.”
After briefly observing Sharti’s reaction, Ren resumed the massage with even more care.
Sharti’s rigid body began to relax, slowly and gradually.
‘Hmm…?’
It hurt. But it didn’t hurt.
It was an honest massage, focused solely on relieving muscle tension without unnecessary force.
Sharti watched Ren’s face as he concentrated on the massage, slowly opening and closing her eyes.
‘Strange person.’
And surprisingly, a good person.
Bear. Patient. Scary person. Patient. Amnesia. Unknown identity. Strange person.
As she recalled the words describing Ren one by one, a soft smile appeared on Sharti’s face.
‘A person…who worried about me…’
Sharti’s eyes slowly closed.
And with that, her consciousness faded away.
****
Even breathing could be heard.
Ren, who had been focusing on the massage, looked up to check on Sharti.
Her shoulders were rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
‘I guess I did a good job.’
Ren, who had been nervous about giving his first massage, relaxed his hands.
He carefully lowered her legs and stood up.
Bringing a blanket, Ren covered Sharti with it.
Though he wanted to move her to the bed, he didn’t want to wake her from her deep sleep.
‘I can’t risk distancing her again by touching her without permission.’
Looking at Sharti, who had fallen into a deep sleep, the man tilted his head.
“…..”
Her wheat-colored hair peeked out from beneath her disheveled hood buried in the sofa.
He waited a bit longer, hoping perhaps, but Sharti’s hood didn’t come off.
“She sleeps so peacefully.”
His voice revealed disappointment from futile expectations.
He suppressed his curiosity.
‘Will there be another day when I can see her?’
He wanted to see Sharti’s face again.
When their eyes met on the bed in the cave with her hood removed, his mind had gone blank, so he couldn’t remember.
Beyond chance, beyond haziness, beyond a fleeting moment, beyond vagueness, he wanted to see her properly.
Ren crouched down in front of the sofa again.
“If I keep getting permission like this, will she eventually allow me to talk to her face-to-face?”
It was a hopeless wish. But strangely, he didn’t feel rushed.
Just like the faith he had held all day while waiting for Sharti. The indefinite faith that she would return, that she wouldn’t abandon him.
Ren frowned and mocked himself.
“What a foolish thought.”
Even thinking rationally, finding his memories would be more efficient and faster than getting Sharti’s permission.
Roughly scratching his head, Ren’s eyes grew cold.
‘Will my memories return? And if the memories that return aren’t hopeful, what then?’
He needed to have patience.
But being alone in an empty house, endless worst-case scenarios unfolded—the possibility of being a real criminal, an escaped slave, a fugitive on the run.
Without medical knowledge, he needed to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
“But no matter how I think about it, it’s strange.”
He had a concept of time, could read letters, knew the word “criminal,” and knew that escaping as a slave was a major crime, but only important information was missing.
Just like he remembered the name of the Neweiton Empire but not the detailed information.
‘It’s unnatural.’
For an aftereffect of an accident, there were too many questionable aspects.
However, Ren stopped thinking.
The more he tried to dig into his memories, the more his mind felt overloaded, preventing him from digging any deeper.
“Haa…”
Ren tilted his head back and stared at the empty space.
‘But I can’t keep living like this forever.’
He was increasingly disliking the idea of becoming dependent on this small, innocent doctor.
Of course, at first, he had aimed for treatment and protection, including food and shelter.
So he had been acting pitiful and miserable, trying to evoke sympathy and break down Sharti’s defenses.
But while he hoped Sharti wouldn’t abandon him, he never intended to helplessly rely on her for everything.
‘Calling it frustrating? You must have it too easy.’
Hearing Sharti’s faint breathing, Ren immediately stopped his complicated thoughts.
Though he should go to his room and leave her sleeping, he couldn’t tear himself away.
Instead, he sat against the wall, keeping a distance from Sharti.
“Sha, do you know what it means to give someone a name?”
I know.
Ren smiled as he whispered softly.
By giving him a name, Sharti had acknowledged a person called ‘Ren.’
Sharti probably didn’t know what it meant to give a name to someone who had been floundering since opening his eyes.
Leaning his back against the wall, Ren quietly closed his eyes.
****
Early in the morning, Sharti, who had finished preparing to go out like a stealthy cat, quietly left the house.
Constantly glancing back, Sharti hurriedly descended the mountain path.
Only after descending a considerable distance did Sharti’s pace slow down.
‘Haaa…’
Exhaling deeply in relief, Sharti closed her eyes tightly.
‘When on earth did I fall asleep!’
How surprised she was when she opened her eyes as the dawn sky brightened and saw Ren’s figure.
She didn’t even have time to rub her tired eyelids.
She had to hurriedly hide in the bedroom with her hand over her mouth, escaping from the sofa.
‘No matter how tired I was, how could I! How could I fall asleep like that?’
Sharti scolded herself for falling asleep defenseless in front of Ren.
Moreover, she remembered falling asleep while receiving his massage, but she couldn’t understand why Ren was crouching on the living room floor, sleeping.
‘And without even covering himself with a blanket.’
Unlike her, who had been warmly wrapped in a blanket, Ren was asleep leaning against the wall with nothing covering him.
Receiving such one-sided consideration made her feel uneasy.
