I regained my senses as I felt the warmth on my lips.
Softly nibbling on my lower lip, her nose brushed against mine.
Her breaths, filled with happiness, resonated through .
I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at the affectionate gesture, wrapping my arms around her.
Pulling her closer by the back of her neck, we shared a deeper kiss.
After a while of kissing, I opened my eyes.
Sien was smiling, lying on top of .
“Good morning, Bell,” she whispered.
The mask that had covered my face was already discarded on the ground.
“...I told you we should refrain from kissing for a while.”
“For sothing we should refrain from, you seed to enjoy it too.”
“I enjoy it, which is why we should hold back.”
At my words, Sien relaxed and rested her head on my chest.
As she loosened up, I too eased and lay comfortably on the bed.
I began ntally organizing the tasks I had to tackle today.
Managing the sick starting from today. Preparing for farm work. Hunting down bandits. Processing paperwork...
On top of that, there might be a funeral to arrange soon.
Unintentionally, I let out a sigh.
“......Haa...”
Sien reacted to that sigh.
“...Bell?”
“Speak.”
“...If sothing’s troubling you... you have to talk to , okay?”
“Why all of a sudden?”
She shook her head slightly in response to my question.
“...It’s not all of a sudden.”
“...?”
Could it be that she knows sothing about that even I don’t?
Perhaps, in her eyes, I seed to be struggling.
Of course, there were many concerns, but I had tried not to show it.
Thanks to Sien, I was managing to keep my emotions in check.
Whatever it was, I felt grateful that Sien was worrying about problems that I wasn’t even fully aware of myself, and I hugged her.
“You too, Sien.”
“...”
“...If you have any worries... tell .”
“All I want is for you to be happy.”
“...”
“...You’re my savior and... my everything.”
I held Sien tighter as she said those words.
We savored the warmth for a mont.
****
I was walking around the infirmary with Ner and Lan.
Carefully checking on the patients with my mask still on.
I approached Burns and asked him.
His condition had deteriorated significantly by now.
“...Burns. How are you feeling today?”
“Cough...! Cough...!”
Even his coughs had grown weak.
Watching a comrade, who has fought alongside you in countless battles, struggle on the brink of death due to illness is no easy task, even in the best of tis.
He weakly rolled his eyes toward at my call, looking up at .
“...Cough...! Captain...”
“...”
He gave a faint smile and whispered,
“I never thought... Cough...! I’d die from this... Cough...! I always imagined I’d go with a sword in hand... Cough...”
I frowned at his words and responded,
“Cut that nonsense.”
“...Cough!! Cough!!”
“If you give up now, what do you think will happen? You can get back on your feet, so pull yourself together.”
Ner suddenly grasped the fist I didn’t realize I had clenched.
She acted naturally, just as she used to when she was my wife.
“...Calm down, Berg.”
And with that, she helped regain my composure.
For so reason, she seed much more stable than she had been yesterday.
She then knelt before Burns and took sothing out of her pocket.
An herb appeared in her hand.
“...Burns.”
Burns belatedly recognized her presence when she called out to him.
“...Madam... No, Lady Ner...? Why are you here...?”
“I ca at Berg’s request. You know our family is well-versed in dical knowledge, right? I’ll make sure you get better, so stop having such negative thoughts.”
She handed the herb to Burns.
“Chew on this. It will help ease your cough.”
Burns tried to take the herb, but he was too weak to reach out for it.
Seeing this, Ner placed the herb in his mouth herself.
Even though she must have feared the plague, she acted for the sake of my people.
Burns slowly began to chew the herb that had been placed in his mouth.
He gave a faint smile and responded,
“My throat... feels instantly cool.”
“Feels better, doesn’t it?”
Ner asked Burns with a smile.
Burns nodded.
Then he looked up at and asked,
“Captain... My... my lover...”
Burns’ lover had contracted the plague while caring for him.
Her condition wasn’t as severe as Burns’ yet, but there was no telling when it might suddenly worsen.
I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the truth, as he seed to be losing hope.
“She’s holding up better than you are.”
So I twisted the truth to reassure him.
“She’s not whining like you are.”
Burns chuckled weakly and nodded at that.
“...That’s good to hear.”
We continued to check on the patients and talk with them.
So were mbers of the Red Flas group, while others were unfamiliar faces from various places.
They were all people who had co to Stockpin because they had heard my story.
The burden intensified every ti I realized their lives were in my hands.
It was sothing that Adam Hyung had warned about in the past.
He had said that I might be taking on too much responsibility.
That’s why he had advised to step down from the position of chief of Head Hunter Unit... but ironically, to honor his dying wish, I had beco the lord managing an entire territory.
‘I believe.’
His final words echoed in my mind.
Even now, I still didn’t fully understand what he ant by that.
I just assud it was his way of asking to fulfill his dream, and that’s the path I’ve been following ever since.
After making the rounds in the infirmary, I prepared to head to my office to handle the rest of my duties.
“Berg, make sure you wash up. It’s important, so don’t skip it.”
Ner spoke to as I was about to leave.
I nodded and said to her,
“...You should rest now too.”
“I... I’ll just check on the patients a little longer.”
“...”
At her words, I t Ner’s gaze for a long ti.
I already understood that she was doing this for my sake.
As our eyes locked for what felt like an eternity, Ner’s expression grew increasingly serious.
She glanced down at my mask, swallowing nervously.
Cautiously, she took a step closer to and asked,
“...Could you... just hold ... just once?”
“...”
Seeing my expression, she quickly took a step back.
“...S-sorry.”
I averted my eyes from her.
Naturally, I did not embrace her.
At the sa ti, I couldn’t find another way to express the gratitude I felt.
I started to walk away.
Despite that, Ner smiled and waved at as I departed.
.
.
.
I visited Adam Hyung’s grave to take a brief rest.
I brushed off the dust that had settled on his gravestone overnight.
Then, I poured so alcohol over his grave.
Resisting the urge to drink it myself, I offered it to him instead.
With a long sigh, I whispered to him,
“...Why does it feel so pitiful?”
I shared my thoughts about soone with Hyung, sothing I couldn’t even talk to Sien about.
I wondered what Adam Hyung would say in response to this.
After all, it was Hyung who had brought Ner and together.
-Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!
As if on cue, Lua approached during my rest.
I smiled at the sound of her chirping and looked up.
“...Lua. You’re here.”
Lua circled around a few tis before landing on my shoulder.
I reached out to stroke her as I always did, finding her adorable as ever.
-Peck!
“Ouch.”
But at that mont, Lua began pecking at my hand.
-Peck! Peck! Peck!
“...What’s wrong?”
It was the first ti she had acted this way.
Lua kept pecking at my hand, and when I pulled it away, she poked at my shoulder.
-Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!
I couldn’t fully understand, but it seed like she was extrely upset.
I gently tried to calm Lua, who continued to cause a commotion.
Even then, she kept trying to peck at my hand, appearing highly agitated.
“...What’s the matter with you?”
I asked the creature, knowing I wouldn’t get an answer.
-Tick!
Blood began to trickle from the shallow cut where she had pecked my finger.
It didn’t hurt much.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Lua continued to thrash around for a while, so I gently let her go.
She chirped loudly as she flew off into the distance.
I couldn’t help but wonder why she even ca if she was just going to throw a tantrum and leave.
Pondering Lua’s behavior, I finished my rest by pouring another drink over Hyung’s grave.
“I’ll be off, Hyung.”
If Adam Hyung had seen what just happened, he probably would’ve laughed for quite a while.
The thought made smile as I started to walk away.
****
“Why... why...”
Arwin was paralyzed by the pain she felt in her chest.
She couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed.
It had been a year and a half since she began watching Berg from a close distance.
A year and a half spent performing rituals of sacrifice, yearning for him every single day.
A year and a half of drinking while looking at Berg every night.
During that ti, there had been countless monts that made her stomach turn.
The love shared between Berg and Sien was probably the biggest of them all.
Two beings from the sa races, both with short lifespans, who loved only each other.
They kissed like it was a daily greeting, and every night they shared passionate monts together.
Arwin had to watch Berg with Sien with her eyes countless tis.
It wasn’t just physical intimacy that made Arwin envious.
What she envied most were the monts when they would lock eyes for a long ti, exchanging emotions without a single touch.
She longed for the sense of security, happiness, and love that Sien must have felt.
Arwin’s envy grew even stronger because she had once had the chance to be in Sien’s place.
But now, Arwin had nothing.
There was nothing she wouldn’t do if it ant she could have Berg’s love.
She was even willing to give up the life she once held so dear if it ant she could be with him.
But Arwin had no power to interfere with Berg’s love, and so she could only wait.
She had to endure, hoping that Sien’s life would eventually co to an end.
However, out of nowhere, Ner Blackwood suddenly appeared yesterday.
She returned to living in Berg’s house and continued to stay by his side.
The reality of it all was driving Arwin to the brink of madness.
She knew why Blackwood was there... but that didn’t an she could accept it.
“Why only Ner...”
Arwin whispered through uneven breaths.
“...Why only Ner...”
Ner’s reappearance was the final straw that broke Arwin’s last thread of patience.
Especially when she saw Ner secretly steal a kiss from Berg last night, it drove her insane.
She had tried to wait patiently, but it seed she could no longer do so.
Perhaps Berg didn’t understand who he had made fall in love with him.
This might finally be her chance to let him know.
The obsession that had been piling up deep within her began to overflow.
Arwin dipped the quill into the inkwell and prepared to write a letter.
She quickly ca up with a reason to approach him.
If Ner could do it, then with a slight twist, she could too.
It was ti to use the information she had gathered while watching over Berg.
But then, Arwin shuddered as she recalled Ner’s actions once more.
“...Have you lost your mind...?”
She whispered a scornful remark that Ner wouldn’t hear.
But Arwin knew.
She knew that it wasn’t just Ner who had lost her mind.
Deep down, she had been asking herself the sa question all along.
‘...Why... only you...?’
Arwin shook off her tangled thoughts, gritted her teeth, and continued writing the letter.
– – – The End of The Chapter – – –
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