There wasn’t a hint of falsehood in Ren’s straight and firm gaze.
Sharti bit her lip as her nose tingled once again.
Who wouldn’t be moved by someone saying they would prioritize her over themselves?
‘But…….’
Sharti couldn’t fully rejoice.
That’s how the human heart works.
When he said he’d leave, she felt empty and dreaded being alone again. Yet when the grace period was extended, she was immediately gripped by fear.
‘What if my futile hope turns into greed.’
What if she ended up holding Ren back.
What if she troubled Ren with her unwarranted desires.
She was afraid of becoming such a person.
“I didn’t mean to pressure you, though.”
After Sharti remained silent for a long time, Ren added awkwardly.
Sharti wrinkled her nose, forcing strength into her wavering eyes.
‘It’s not you, but me—I’m afraid I’ll become a burden to you.’
My secrets, my existence, and eventually my feelings.
Sharti calmly steadied her breathing and gradually composed her emotions.
The answer was already decided.
‘It’s better to part ways now with someone who will leave anyway.’
Sharti moved her lips.
But the moment she tensed her throat, Sharti broke into a harsh cough.
“Ke, kehek, keck…!”
A tearing pain suddenly surged through her dry throat from straining it repeatedly.
Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes.
As Sharti continued coughing with her hand over her mouth, Ren hurried to bring her water.
“Drink it slowly.”
He naturally guided Sharti to sit on the sofa.
Sharti, unaware that Ren had casually sat on the floor, carefully sipped the water while trying to control her persistent cough.
She felt better.
‘I’ve strained my unused throat by continuing to use it.’
Since her voice remained terribly unpleasant, she hadn’t noticed the signals her throat was sending.
‘Since Ren doesn’t react to my voice, I unconsciously let words slip out.’
It was problematic when words escaped without passing through her thoughts.
Sharti rubbed her throat.
The pain in her throat was familiar, but these concerns were somewhat unfamiliar.
“Are you alright?”
Only then did Sharti notice that Ren was sitting on the floor. She avoided his gaze and nodded. Silently looking up at her, Ren vaguely guessed her answer.
It wasn’t unexpected. He had prepared for this.
He knew well how much worry and anxiety that small head of hers harbored.
And Ren was accustomed to her rejection. His response was already determined.
“See, your body is rejecting it.”
“…?”
Ren grinned.
This being his last chance, Ren became brazen.
He rose and leaned on the sofa’s armrest.
‘…w-what?’
She found herself trapped between his arms, unable to move.
Sharti pressed her back deep into the sofa and curled up, intimidated by Ren’s imposing behavior.
Meanwhile, with Ren’s chest filling her view, Sharti tightly closed her eyes, not knowing where to look.
Her eyelids fluttered in rhythm with her pounding heartbeat.
“Your body is stopping you from telling lies because you can’t be honest.”
For Sharti, this was outrageous.
Wasn’t Ren the one physically blocking her?
In fact, Ren was the one preventing her from escaping, blocking her like a cage with his large body.
“I received that proposal, and I made the decision to stay. Of course, if Sha drives me away, I have nothing to say, but thinking about it, there’s also a promise you made to me before that proposal.”
Sharti recalled the promise she had made to Ren in the cave.
She remembered the written agreement to take care of him for a while because their interests aligned.
Ren’s point did have merit.
‘But it was only for a while.’
Sharti swallowed the rebuttal that had instantly come to mind.
It sounded like nitpicking no matter how she looked at it. Instead, Sharti opened her mouth while fiddling with her throat where the pain had somewhat subsided.
“Have you found any memories while staying with me? Did any memories come back to you?”
Her voice, muttered just enough not to strain her throat, sounded eerie like a ghost’s.
With her hood on, it even sounded like a voice from the dead.
Of course, Ren was only concerned about her throat, not paying any attention to her voice.
“I’ve been doing too well to recover memories lost from trauma.”
“In other words, as long as you stay here, Ren’s memories might never return.”
“……”
This was something Ren had also considered.
With no sign of his missing memories returning, he too had felt frustration and pessimistic depression.
So initially, Ren had also thought Vireta’s offer was beneficial.
“Do I really need to find my memories?”
“…Ren?”
Ren slowly backed away.
When Sharti briefly raised her eyes, she saw his expressionless face, devoid of any smile.
“What if my subconscious is refusing to recover my memories? Can I even find them?”
“…!”
Sharti looked at him with surprised eyes.
Lost in thought after speaking, Ren tilted his head slightly.
“I heard I was almost dead when found. Why would I have been hiding in a cave in such an injured state?”
Sharti instinctively held her breath.
She recalled how he had pointed his sword at her with fierce eyes when they first met.
Ren’s condition had been so severe—skin torn, stabbed and cut all over—that it had led to all sorts of speculation about his identity.
“So I wonder. Did I lose my memories, or did I erase them?”
Ren looked at his palm.
His large hands, covered in calluses, were rough and filled with traces of small scars.
His entire body was like that.
“So I thought. Perhaps I traded my memories for my life.”
In other words, his subconscious, facing imminent death, had erased his memories to survive.
It was nonsensical.
When Ren was found, he had suffered a head injury from physical impact and was poisoned.
The cause of his amnesia should be approached medically.
“Since I nearly died, I think not recalling my memories so far might be a form of self-defense. My subconscious might not want to disturb this peace.”
It was an emotional inference.
Yet Sharti, as a doctor, couldn’t deny Ren’s far-fetched imagination.
Rather, it sounded plausible, which was troubling.
‘No. I need to focus.’
Sharti, momentarily swayed by Ren’s words, clenched her fist.
Despite his memory loss, Ren’s rhetoric had become increasingly subtle and skillful.
“So you’re saying you won’t try to recover your memories?”
“I just felt like you were trying to send me away using my memories as an excuse.”
“It’s a fake name, a fake environment, a fake daily life. You should find what’s real.”
Ren’s eyebrow twitched.
His face showed hurt feelings.
“Are you saying that I, who lost my memories, am fake?”
Realizing her mistake, Sharti quickly shook her head.
As she rose and tried to open her mouth to correct herself, he stepped forward.
Sharti awkwardly sat back down on the sofa due to the closer proximity.
“You speak as if ‘Ren’ would disappear once I find my memories.”
Hit right on target by Ren’s sarcasm, Sharti couldn’t say anything.
It felt like a stone had settled in her chest, making her feel uncomfortable.
“The me who finds my memories might not be ‘Ren.’ But that doesn’t mean the current me will disappear. At least, I won’t disappear from in front of Sha without a word.”
His previously monotone voice was now filled with strength.
“I promise you. In the name you gave me, Sha, I promise.”
“……”
“…Do I have to kneel for something like this?”
Sharti’s face relaxed at Ren’s serious mumbling.
Despite her attempts to steel herself and send him away, she couldn’t help but smile.
Sharti took a deep breath and exhaled.
Strangely, her heart felt lighter.
“But Ren doesn’t keep promises well. You keep speaking informally. And you even lie.”
“That’s……”
Sharti crossed her arms.
“You speak informally in front of the general store uncle. Call Vireta grandmother ‘old woman.’ You never intended to practice from the start, did you?”
“……”
As the previously smooth atmosphere turned awkward, Ren desperately racked his brain.
Sharti laughed softly and uncrossed her arms.
“But please keep the promise you just made.”
“……”
“Since it’s a promise made in the name I gave you.”
“That means……”
Sharti frowned.
Since Ren had seen through the anxiety she had been hiding and made a declaration, Sharti no longer had any excuses.
So perhaps she could trust Ren a little.
Perhaps she could use him as an excuse to be honest.
“Tomorrow, after meeting Grandmother Vireta, let’s go outside together. We’re out of water, so we need to fetch some. And I’ll teach you how to identify medicinal herbs. If we go back and forth a few times, you’ll quickly memorize the way home.”
“……”
“It’s best not to apply poisonous herbs on your face, so let’s find another method starting tomorrow. After that, I’ll show you paths where people rarely go. So you can go out for fresh air whenever you feel stuffy.”
Throughout Sharti’s shy muttering, Ren stood with a dumbfounded expression.
Yet he engraved every word of Sharti’s into his mind without missing a single one.
“Ren?”
Staring at the swaying hood following Sharti’s gaze, Ren swallowed dryly.
The dull pain in his chest suddenly spread throughout his body.
Relief? Or joy? With an indescribable tingling sensation, Ren let out a small exclamation.
“I told you, Sha.”
Ren chuckled.
It was a comfortable, genuinely hearty laugh.
“I will serve you with my body without any deficiency, master.”
****
Three days had ended.
Ren opened his mouth with an impassive face.
“I will continue to stay here.”
“……”
Without elaborating on any reasons, Ren briefly announced his decision.
“Thank you for the offer.”
Ren bowed deeply at the waist.
Vireta glanced at Ren with a sour expression.
It was clearly a displeased look, but Vireta didn’t comment on Ren’s decision.
“……”
However, Vireta’s gaze was too intense to just ignore.
Ren reluctantly opened his mouth.
“Do you have something to say?”
“Forget it.”
Clicking her tongue, Vireta turned her head away sharply.
Ren’s decision wasn’t unexpected.
But that didn’t make her comfortable leaving this dark beast by Sharti’s side.
Suppressing her complicated feelings, Vireta beckoned to Tein in the living room.
“Go outside and play with my grandson for a while.”
Without waiting for Ren’s response, Vireta went out to the balcony.
She then headed toward Sharti, who was waiting for her with an anxious expression.
“Sha, let’s talk for a moment.”
Vireta called Sharti in a deliberately gentle tone.
With a grave expression, as if she had been expecting this, Sharti followed her.
“Sha.”
Meanwhile, Ren called her as if he would follow along.
Before Vireta’s anger could pour out, Sharti waved him off.
“The doctor is busy. The not-busy patient mister needs to play with me.”
“…Understood.”
After glancing at Vireta, Ren went outside with Tein.
Aigoo. Vireta shook her head with a sour expression.
Leaving the quiet living room behind, Vireta and Sharti headed to the bedroom.
“So, you decided to take in that mutt as a slave?”
Sharti smiled awkwardly.
Ren had his reasons for calling Vireta an old woman.
<Ren is not a slave, Grandmother.>
After reading the note, Vireta snorted.
“You even gave him a name.”
<Don’t you like Ren?>
Sharti asked cautiously.
Sharti wanted Vireta to view Ren favorably.
As Sharti, caught in the middle, became conscious of the atmosphere, Vireta softened her expression.
“I see that mutt didn’t blackmail you with your secret to stay.”
“……”
“You opened your heart to him, didn’t you?”
Vireta’s wrinkled hand covered Sharti’s.
She had already suspected that Ren knew Sharti’s secret.
And Vireta’s offer to Ren was actually leaving the choice to Sharti.
“Then what’s there not to like?”
If Ren had said he wouldn’t stay by Sharti’s side, that he would leave, Vireta would have cut him down without hesitation.
Sharti’s secret must not leak outside this old log cabin.
It was her role as a guardian that she had taken on from the moment she saved the dying girl from the fire pit five years ago.
“That ill-mannered mutt is even showing manners, afraid he might be driven away by you.”
Sharti chuckled.
It was the power of a promise forged from an experience of nearly being driven away once.
<Grandmother, I still don’t really understand.>
Sharti carefully revealed part of her innermost thoughts only to Vireta.
<Why Ren wants to keep my secret. Why he worries about my anxiety. Why he won’t leave me. I don’t understand.>
“Yet you still took him in.”
Vireta laughed softly and removed Sharti’s hood.
Her pure white face with clear scarlet eyes was revealed.
Though grown in body, in Vireta’s eyes, she was still a young girl.
A girl living with fear tends to grow slowly.
“If you don’t understand, keep doubting, keep wondering, keep trying to find out. That’s how everyone lives. And someday you’ll realize.”
Vireta secretly swallowed a bitter smile away from Sharti’s view.
Five years ago, Sharti, rescued by Vireta and cared for by Virena and Tein, had the same concerns then as she did now.
“That you’ve trusted him for a long time already.”
Why doubt someone you don’t trust? Just ignore them.
It is because you want to trust that you doubt.
And because you don’t want to admit that fact, you stubbornly deny your feelings and wander like this.
“Sha, my child. Focus on something else instead.”
“…?”
“You now have someone with whom you don’t need to write notes or wear a hood.”
Meanwhile, outside, Ren was belatedly introducing himself to Tein.
“My name is Ren. Your teacher gave it to me.”
“What a cool name!”
When Tein even clapped his hands, Ren nodded with satisfaction.
“So is the patient mister staying here?”
“You’ll be seeing me often, so call me Ren.”
“Understood!”
Tein eagerly nodded his small head up and down.
Ren patted the small head, which was just the right size to grasp.
After checking Ren’s condition, which he hadn’t verified until now, Tein looked surprised.
“You’re almost completely healed. Doctor’s medicine is the best, but Ren’s body is also the best.”
The corners of Ren’s mouth flickered at the praise.
Shortly after, Tein blinked his bright eyes and asked an innocent question.
“But Ren is completely healed, so do you keep guarding the house?”
“What?”
“People need to work. Doctor works hard to earn money. Don’t you help?”
Then, remembering how Ren had mistaken weeds for medicinal herbs, Tein gave him a sympathetic look.
His small palm patted Ren’s forearm.
“Ren needs to try hard. Otherwise, you’ll be driven out.”
