Sharti quickly checked the man’s wounds when his condition suddenly changed.
She felt his wrist and placed her hand on his forehead.
‘…No fever.’
It was quite different from when he seemed to be having nightmares before.
The man was frowning as if in great pain. However, there were no open wounds or infections.
As he tossed and turned with groans, Sharti examined various parts of his body to identify the cause.
“…”
Sharti proceeded to massage the man’s legs and gently touch his body, avoiding the wounded areas.
Gradually, the man became quiet again.
‘What was that?’
Sharti and Tein looked at each other with puzzled faces.
“Ah!”
Tein let out a short exclamation as if he had realized something.
“This is the mother’s healing touch!”
“…?”
Tein seriously murmured while guiding Sharti’s hand to the man’s wound area.
“It’s a treatment my grandmother often uses on me! She said it’s a profound and difficult healing method that can’t be found in any book!”
“…”
Hmm.
‘Did his eyebrow just twitch?’
Sharti narrowed her eyes.
Meanwhile, Tein’s eyes sparkled as he looked up at Sharti.
“Grandmother said there’s nothing better than a mother’s healing touch for stomach aches. I see you’ve learned it too, doctor!”
The child’s bright eyes were filled with admiration for his mentor.
The ‘mother’s healing touch’ was supposedly perfected over many years.
Tein was experiencing in Sharti the same mastery he had seen in his grandmother Vireta.
“…”
Could the mother’s healing touch really be effective?
‘That can’t be.’
Sharti looked at the man with a skeptical expression.
But seeing Tein’s passionate gaze, she reconsidered.
‘Maybe he’s emotionally distressed even in his unconscious state. He does seem to have nightmares occasionally.’
Recalling the previous incident, Sharti nodded. She had heard about the calming effect of human warmth on the unconscious.
‘But his abdomen seems strangely tense.’
Sharti slightly removed her hand from the man’s body.
“…ugh.”
A short groan escaped the man’s lips.
Tein’s eyes sparkled.
“Doctor! You must never take your hand away. I’m too young to use the mother’s healing touch.”
The patient’s small reaction after lying motionless for so long seemed dramatic to Tein.
Inevitably, Sharti became responsible for changing the man’s bandages and applying medicine.
The kind-hearted Tein was satisfied just assisting from the side.
“By the way, Doctor. Shouldn’t we look for the patient’s family?”
<Family?>
“Yes. When I return home late, my sister Virena worries terribly. This patient hasn’t been able to go home. His family must be extremely worried.”
<You’re right.>
However, she couldn’t recklessly search for the man’s identity.
There were too many complications in asking the villagers to help.
‘I don’t really have close relationships with anyone except Tein’s family. And we might get involved in troublesome matters.’
So Sharti, who already lived hiding many things, had to hide this unidentified man as well.
<Let’s wait until this patient wakes up? He might not want others to know he’s injured.>
“Why wouldn’t he want others to know he’s injured? His family will worry.”
Faced with this innocent and pure question, Sharti nodded.
‘…That’s true. They would worry.’
Sharti looked at the man on the bed.
As Tein said, the man’s family might be wondering about his fate and waiting for him even now.
<Well. He might not want them to know because they would worry too much.>
Not understanding, Tein tilted his head.
<Don’t you have secrets you keep from your grandmother or sister because you don’t want them to worry? It might be for the same reason.>
Tein’s small mouth closed tight.
Sharti was the only person with whom Tein, who deeply cared for his family and had a good heart, shared his only secret.
“I understand now!”
Tein nodded.
<Let’s ask the patient when he wakes up.>
“Yes!”
A doctor shouldn’t make judgments about a patient’s personal affairs.
A doctor’s domain is treating patients, not managing the emotions and situations of their guardians.
‘In any case, since I saved his life, they can’t blame me for not sending word.’
If questioned later, she could explain it was an effort to reduce any risk to the patient’s safety.
Later, after teaching Tein about herbs in the cave, the day had already advanced considerably.
Sharti looked fondly at Tein as he mumbled to himself, memorizing what he had learned that day.
‘The sun will set soon.’
Yellow sunset light was seeping into the cave.
Sharti quickly finished tidying up the cave interior.
<Tein. Today you need to return home before sunset. There are soldiers in the village.>
“Then I’ll just have dinner with you before I go today!”
Though it was a bit early, Tein took out two rice balls from the bag he was carrying.
“We’re using many herbs thanks to the patient. I always get 100 points! Thank you. So I brought food for the patient again today.”
Tein gave half of his rice balls as the man’s dinner portion.
Sharti chuckled at the admirable gesture of wanting to share the remaining half with his teacher.
<Thank you, Tein. But I prepared dinner at home before coming out today. So you should eat this yourself.>
Seven years old was the peak growing age. She couldn’t take food from a child.
“Ah! I understand!”
Tein nodded vigorously and took a big bite of his rice ball.
Sharti broke off small pieces of the rice ball to make it easier for the man to eat. She also gave him small sips of water to help him swallow.
Tein, watching this intently while holding his rice ball with both hands, spoke.
“The patient is like a baby.”
Pfft. Sharti reflexively turned her head.
Since she was putting small pieces into the man’s mouth to help him chew more comfortably, Tein’s comparison wasn’t strange.
‘Even so. A baby, really.’
Sharti barely managed to hold back her laughter.
Seeing Sharti laugh, Tein also giggled.
“…”
In the cheerful atmosphere, neither of them noticed the thick vein that appeared and disappeared on the man’s forehead.
<Shall we go now, Tein? I’ll walk down with you.>
She would only go as far as the village entrance since they might encounter soldiers.
“Yes, Doctor!”
After Tein gave a small bow to the man, he took Sharti’s hand. After leaving the cave with Tein, Sharti blocked the entrance with a screen made of shrubs and branches.
As the two moved farther from the cave and their footsteps faded, a dark figure stirred in the darkness of the cave.
“…..”
The dark figure slowly rose from the bed and turned his head from side to side, stretching his neck muscles.
Sea-green eyes surveyed the dim cave.
“…Ha.”
The man sighed while pressing his temple.
“…A baby, really.”
The man put his feet on the floor beneath the bed with an incredulous expression.
Clear eyes and natural movements. He looked nothing like the patient who had been sleeping like the dead in front of Sharti.
Of course.
“To think I’ve been pretending to sleep for days and being treated like a baby.”
The man, whose consciousness had vaguely returned two days ago, had been deceiving Sharti’s eyes until now.
“Well, I don’t know who I am either, so I should be grateful in that sense.”
His injuries were not limited to his body.
When the man opened his eyes, his mind was already empty.
****
A confused mind.
A body heavy as a water-soaked cloth.
Dim vision.
A thirsty throat.
These were the sensations he felt as he regained consciousness throughout his nightmares.
-‘…What is this?’
That was his first thought upon barely opening his eyes. It was also the curiosity he had felt while slowly opening and closing his eyes in the darkness.
He was alone in a place filled with darkness.
-‘…What in the…’
The man swallowed hard at the tingling pain in his abdomen as soon as he tried to rise. Then he smelled a strong herbal scent.
The man calmed himself by inhaling the various herbal scents permeating the darkness.
His mind, however, remained confused.
-‘Who… am I?’
First, the man tried to recall his name.
Next was his identity, then his situation, and finally his location.
-…My head just hurts.
He gained nothing.
Instead, his head throbbed, and the man lay back down.
-‘Something’s wrong with my head.’
Unable to remember anything, not even his name, the man silently accepted his amnesia.
Instead, he tried to assess his current situation.
-‘Someone is treating me. Do they know who I am?’
Even without his memories, he sensed that his condition was abnormal.
The bandages wrapped around his body and the herbs applied to his wounds. He could deduce that someone was treating him while he was unconscious.
But that was all.
-…I should be careful for now.
The man decided to wait for the right moment.
The next day, the man woke up hearing footsteps entering the cave.
He pretended to be asleep with his eyes closed.
-‘Say something.’
Progress, situation, about him, anything would do.
The man was desperate.
Then something touched his lips.
-…!
The man’s lips trembled slightly as he reflexively tried to open his eyes. But before that, his mouth parted slightly from the thirst mixed with impatience.
Cool water flowed in.
-……
It was just plain water. The man quickly relaxed his body, feeling his desperate thirst slightly relieved.
Afterward, a bitter scent lingered on his nose.
-‘What are they doing?’
His arms and legs were lifted by a gentle force.
Shortly after, he felt something slippery touching various parts of his body.
-‘…Medicine?’
The man paid close attention to every movement of whoever was beside him.
The warmth touching his skin was pleasant.
And small.
-‘A woman?’
Strangely, the man had the talent to determine gender and age just from a few brushes of the hand. He could even gauge their physical differences from his own.
Hearing a voice would make it more certain, but unfortunately, no voice came.
-‘The silence is nice.’
Throughout the treatment, the only sounds were their breathing and water droplets falling inside the cave.
It felt both unfamiliar and comfortable.
Shortly after changing his bandages, the woman’s presence moved away.
The man quietly opened his eyelids.
-…..
Unlike when he was alone, a faint light now softly illuminated the cave.
Thanks to this, the man slightly turned his head to see the retreating figure.
-‘…What is that?’
He saw a being completely wrapped in a long robe from head to toe.
