Chapter 23
"Urgh."
I clutched my left arm, gasping ragged breaths. My head throbbed, my vision spun, sweat poured down like rain. My feverish arm felt ready to burst.
Damn! Of all things, bitten by an Alpha Debbera!
Who could've known the Debbera I'd offered my arm to was an Alpha? A normal Debbera bite would've healed by the time I dragged myself from Luju Village back to the capital, but this one's poison was five times deadlier. The only reason my whole body hadn't gone numb yet was because I was a Sword Master.
The cabin... hurry... I shook my head fiercely, flinging off the snowflakes piling atop it, and gripped a tree for support. The cabin where I researched medicine to cure Aria's illness—it had the ingredients for an antidote. Tucked deep in the mountains where no one ever ventured, and to make matters worse, snow piled up to my ankles, hindering every step.
I dragged my staggering body along, finally reaching the cabin door.
Creeeak—
I shoved open the door with a grating screech. The inside was dark. And then my instincts flared red.
Shing.
Pain had dulled my senses for a moment, but they roared back to life. I drew my sword with my good right hand and aimed it at the intruder's throat.
The intruder's body twitched.
"What the hell are you doing?"
My condition was so bad I wasn't sure I could even fight, but thankfully, I sensed no martial aura from the intruder. I could probably subdue them easily. That's what I thought, pegging them for some gutsy petty thief.
Click.
The cabin light flickered on. That's when, amid the blood-and-iron stench clinging to my body, I caught a faintly familiar vanilla scent.
Soft-looking light brown curls fluttered in the winter breeze leaking through the door crack. Deep ocean-blue eyes widened hugely as they took in my state.
"Didi?"
The thief who'd stolen a peek at my forehead and bolted had walked right back in.
* * *
Drip, drip—
Water droplets echoed softly through the cabin. A long, slender hand tilted the teapot over a cup. I'd figured a young master served all his life couldn't even brew tea, but the red-black brew he poured with practiced ease gleamed prettily.
"Here."
Didi handed me a cup. I reached out with my good right hand, but it trembled slightly, spilling tea onto the blanket. The lingering paralysis made it hard to control my body.
"Oops."
Didi's face hardened as he saw my shaking wrist and reached out. I lightly swatted his hand away.
"Don't touch my body without permission."
He withdrew at my icy response. I forced a cold expression, but the moment our eyes met—those blue eyes—I couldn't hold it.
An intruder, and he's making that hurt face...
I bit my lip and sighed deeply. I'd meant to at least act guarded, but his drooping eyes made it impossible to stay sharp. I leaned against the bedframe, relaxing. My waist-length black curls spilled messily over the wall. I adjusted the bandage on my left arm, straightened my slightly crooked mask, and spoke.
"...Thanks for the treatment. Now tell me why you're here."
Didi, who'd been waiting in the cabin, had frozen solid at the sight of me half-dead. He must've had a mountain of questions, but with the paralysis spreading through me, even holding my sword was a struggle.
"Did you come to kill me?"
"...What?"
"I asked if you came to kill me."
"As if!"
"Then help me out."
I'd pulled two all-nighters, fought off a Debbera swarm, cleared the remaining magic beasts in the forest, then covered a week's horseback distance on foot in just two days. Aside from one quick wash, no rest. Suspicion be damned—I felt like death.
"What do you need? How?"
"On the shelf... ugh... Periwinkle Powder. Mix it 1:5 with water..."
Making the paralysis antidote in this state was tough. Somehow I'd ended up ordering around a noble young master like a servant, but since he seemed willing to help, I decided no guilt.
"A-are you insane! Why are you suddenly taking off your clothes...!"
"You want me to get treated with them on? You stripped too—why complain?"
Leaning against the bed, I roughly yanked off my black dress shirt. Didi yelped in shock, covering his eyes. His ears turned beet red. I, stripped bare, felt nothing.
From our first meeting, I'd forgotten the voice modulator, so he'd already heard my real voice as a woman. For mercenary work, I bound my chest tight to avoid hindrance, so everything was covered anyway.
"Hands off. I'm covered where it counts."
His very-noble-lad reaction made me click my tongue. Glancing down at myself, I grimaced tightly.
"...Though it might be a bit gruesome."
At my out-of-place remark, Didi peeked through his fingers. The moment he saw my bare body, his face went stone-cold.
"What happened to your body?"
"Isn't it weirder if it's pristine?"
I answered indifferently before his trembling pupils. This was a Sword Master's body, honed by a lifetime of swinging steel. Smooth and pretty would've been odd. My lean frame was all muscle, and from the neck down, it looked like a patchwork of scarred meat slabs crudely sewn together.
"...If you're not treating me, give it here. I'll do it."
Under his rigid gaze, I covered my scarred body with the shirt and reached for the medicine.
No regrets about a life of wounds, but compared to his flawless skin, I felt oddly ashamed.
"...Sorry."
"...Pardon?"
Didi gently caught my outstretched wrist, stopping me, his voice trembling. Confused, I tilted my head, and his face twisted like he might cry.
"I'm sorry... for making you live like this."
I stared into those rippling blue eyes, brimming with guilt and responsibility. Why did these kids carry such grown-up burdens? My tension melted away; I blinked slowly and, wordlessly, patted his head.
Noble offense be damned—I wasn't thinking about it anymore.
"This isn't your fault."
It was my chosen path. I met those earnest blue eyes squarely and answered.
"Not gonna answer?"
But help was help, intrusion was intrusion. I swung my neatly bandaged left arm, inwardly impressed. Didi had wrapped it. Didn't expect much from a young master, but his hands were deft.
I turned to him. Didi sat leisurely in the chair by the bed, sipping tea. He looked like an elegant portrait. Our eyes met, and he smiled softly.
...Roles reversed.
Not long ago, I'd been in that chair treating Didi; now I was the wounded one on the bed. He'd asked why I was here before; now I was asking him.
...Sleepy.
I rolled up the loose shirt sleeve, slowly massaging my thickly bandaged left arm. Thanks to Didi, the treatment had stopped the paralysis. But the antidote used a herb that acted as painkiller yet caused strong mental haze as a side effect—my mind was foggy.
"Who knows. Does it need a reason?"
His answer mirrored mine from before. Was he teasing? I narrowed my eyes, and he pouted dramatically.
"I deeply apologize for barging in. I knocked forever with no answer, so I pulled the door without thinking—and it opened. By the time I panicked, you arrived."
"Well... I didn't lock it, so no retort there. Then why come at all?"
"No special reason. My feet just led me here."
"What, am I birdseed and this mill?"
I scoffed mockingly; Didi stifled a laugh with a sharp inhale. He met my eyes and smiled gently.
"You said it recently: no reason needed to save someone."
"...I did."
I blinked dumbly, and Didi slowly reached for my head. He eyed me for permission. Wary of mischief, I hesitated—then remembered I could snap his wrist if he tried—and nodded slowly.
Didi smiled sweetly. His slender fingers tidied my tangled mess of hair. Tucking a side strand behind my ear, his fingertips brushed slowly past. His eyes curved.
"Just like that, no special reason needed for one person to draw another, right, Shushu?"
It was a captivating smile, laced with clear seduction.
"People are... enough."
He wielded his face too well. My weakening resolve soured my expression as I sighed heavily. Reasons be damned—I was too exhausted.
Whatever. Let it be.
"Staying the night? Bed's yours?"
My whole body ached, head pounding. Even suspicion tired me. At my overly hospitable question, Didi looked amused.
"Really... I noticed before, but you have zero sense of danger. Not even asking who I am?"
"Would a lion fear an ant barging into its den? Even if I asked, you wouldn't tell."
Subduing a civilian took no effort. My sharp analogy didn't bother him; Didi chuckled softly. His curving lips wafted a sweet scent that could numb the senses.
"True enough. But I might answer if you asked."
He propped his elbow on his knee, chin in hand, leaning closer. Crawling into the lion's den on his own, yet lounging like he owned the place. I stared, dumbfounded.
Not cocky... sharp instincts.
His eyes held conviction: no danger here. Laughable, but spot-on. I didn't harm innocents.
"Whatever."
I shook my head with a sigh-like smile. At my ready dismissal, Didi tilted his head slowly.
"...Not curious?"
"I am."
"Then why?"
He seemed a bit anxious—maybe wanting me to care. I gazed steadily, then smiled faintly.
"You're obviously a noble."
No way he wasn't. Didi didn't deny it, just furrowed his brow slightly.
"As you see, I'm a commoner. A commoner like me can't know a noble like you and act this way. How could I lounge on a bed so casually before a noble lord? I'd have to mind manners and boundaries."
Drawing a sword on a noble as a commoner? Life sentence, no complaints. He sipped his tea leisurely. This ease existed only because we ignored each other's secrets.
"...Ah."
I flicked his forehead like an old friend. He blinked blankly; I grinned widely. The haze made me looser than usual.
"So let's pretend I don't know you, Noble Didi Whoever. We know nothing about each other."