Chapter 2
The most severely injured area was his right leg. There was a wound where a blade had pierced through, so that was treated first and foremost. Fortunately, the other minor cuts were not deep, so his recovery was relatively quick.
“Your bleeding has mostly stopped now, so you just need to make sure the internal wounds don’t get infected,” the physician said. “That should be enough care for now.”
“Can he move around?”
“Walking will still be difficult, but traveling by carriage should be fine.”
It had already been more than five days since we stayed in this village. My father must be worried, waiting at home for news about my mother. Even though he was almost fully recovered, I still couldn’t shake off a strange unease about the man.
I was certain he had been caught in a life-or-death sword fight with someone. However, ever since he woke up, he hadn’t once mentioned who he was looking for or anything about himself. He didn’t speak at all, which made me wonder if he had lost his voice due to psychological shock.
After much thought, I decided it was best to ask for his opinion first and spoke carefully.
“I’ve stayed here longer than intended, so I should be leaving soon. Do you… have anywhere to go?”
“……”
“If it’s difficult to answer, could you nod or shake your head instead?”
He shook his head.
If he had nowhere to go… could it be that he had lost his family like I had? Should I just pay the doctor extra and ask him to let him stay until he recovered? But then again, I couldn’t be sure he would even be properly treated. And I couldn’t just bring a stranger back to my family estate either.
“Then is there anywhere else you could stay…?”
As I was asking that, he suddenly reached out and grabbed the hem of my clothes tightly. His gaze was like that of a lost child asking for help.
I couldn’t bring myself to push that hand away. I had never made impulsive decisions before. But that large hand gripping my clothes with all its strength, as if he were desperate not to lose me, shook my heart deeply.
“…Then do you want to come with me? I can at least take care of you until you recover.”
Just moments ago, I had hesitated, saying I couldn’t bring him along. After all, I couldn’t keep an unknown man by my side.
And yet, rational judgment became impossible. There was a strange will to live in him—someone who had been completely collapsed and lifeless just moments ago—simply from that act of grabbing my collar. I wanted to see him recover safely until the end.
He didn’t seem like a bad person. Once he recovered, he might even be able to work as a servant in my estate. Of course, only if he wanted to.
Fortunately, he nodded slightly, as if accepting my offer. So I carefully moved him into the carriage and brought him to my family estate.
“Young lady! Why are you only arriving now!”
As soon as word of my return reached home, the nanny rushed out in tears, scolding me nonstop.
“We were so worried something might have happened to you that we even sent people to the capital! But we heard you had already headed back home—why did you not send even a single message!”
“There were circumstances. Please lower your voice; there’s a patient in the carriage.”
“A–a patient?”
Startled, the nanny peeked into the carriage and blinked in confusion.
“A man?”
“I couldn’t just pass him by on the way back. I had to treat him, otherwise he would have died.”
“Do you know him?”
“…No.”
Her eyes widened in shock, as if they might pop out. I understood her reaction. Even injured, showing this level of kindness to a stranger was something I had never done before.
“Anyway, he needs continued treatment for a while longer, so please call the physician. Move him to a guest room—carefully. I need to see my father. He’s in his study, right?”
“…Yes, he is. But young lady, I really must speak with you—!”
I ignored the nanny’s gaze, which looked like she had seen the sun rise in the west, and pretended not to hear her. I then hugged tightly the urn and letter containing my mother’s remains and stepped into the estate.
On the second floor, to the left were my room and my sisters’ rooms. The opposite hallway belonged to my parents. I walked down the right corridor and headed to my father’s study, the closest room.
“Father, it’s me. I’m coming in.”
After a light knock, I entered. My father was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, and his face looked gaunt. He had always been a neat man, but now his black hair—so similar to mine—was disheveled, and his stubble was untrimmed. I had never seen him look so worn down.
With the kingdom in chaos due to the plague, and now even my mother gone… how exhausted must he be?
“I’m sorry I’m late. On the way back, I encountered someone at death’s door and had to treat him urgently.”
“…I see. I’ve already heard that the kingdom has been sealed off. You must be exhausted as well—go rest.”
“Are you alright, Father?”
Even though I already knew the answer, I asked out of concern. But he gave no reply, only kept his eyes closed and steadied his breathing.
I quietly approached and placed the urn and letter on his desk.
“This is Mother’s urn, given to me by the head maid of the capital’s count estate. I thought… at least we could send Mother off peacefully.”
Only then did my father slowly open his eyes and look at the urn. Seeing that made it hard for me to keep watching, so I lowered my gaze.
“Should we hold a proper funeral? Given the circumstances, perhaps just the two of us would be best.”
“…I’ll think about it.”
His voice was hoarse and trembling with moisture. He needed time. Without another word, I quietly bowed and left the study.
A few days later, my father agreed to my suggestion. We buried my mother on our private land and held a very small funeral. Watching the urn be lowered into the ground made it painfully real—she was no longer in this world.
“Please rest peacefully there.”
Fortunately—or perhaps not—I had no time to drown in grief. I stayed busy all day. I cared for the injured man, and whenever he seemed to be in pain, I immediately called the physician.
Sometimes, I was even grateful for his presence. If I had been alone, I would have spent the entire day crying over my mother’s absence.
“Miss, why are you showing so much concern for a man you don’t even know?”
Even while managing the estate outside, I would rush back early, worried about him lying in bed. My nanny cautiously asked as I once again went to his room the moment I returned home.
Since I had never been close to people outside of animals, my sudden interest in a person must have seemed strange.
I looked down at his sleeping face and slowly lifted the corners of my mouth.
“I don’t know either. I just… feel concerned. How much must it have hurt him? When I think about how he must have gathered all his strength just to survive and meet me by chance with those terrible injuries… I almost feel proud of him. I’m just grateful he’s alive.”
“You’re talking like a lost pet has come back home.”
“Do I?”
Even though we hadn’t spoken a single word, he somehow felt familiar. I even found myself curious about his voice now.
More than anything, what moved me most was his unwavering gaze fixed only on me. Even in a dazed, drugged state, whenever I entered to check on him, he would stare at me intensely—like a puppy that had lost its owner.
It was pitiful… and strangely endearing.
“Let’s see, how much has he recovered today? I should check his condition.”
The servants assigned to care for him would remain wary, but the moment I appeared, their cold brown eyes would brighten. The difference was so obvious it made me smile.
Since he couldn’t stay lying down all the time, I would help him sit up or adjust his position. His body was so heavy that, compared to me, he was enormous—I always ended up drenched in sweat helping him.
The physician had said the bandages should be changed frequently because of the heat, and his body should be wiped with a wet cloth twice a day to prevent infection. I had been leaving it to the servants, but I couldn’t help feeling uneasy about how roughly they handled him.
That day as well, I watched the servants preparing to wash him while he slept soundly, then stood up.
“I’ll do it. You all can leave.”
“You’ll have a hard time doing it alone, young lady.”
“Don’t worry. I can manage.”
Since childhood, I had been interested in animals and had learned a lot from the stable caretakers. I was confident in diagnosing sick animals and even performing basic treatments myself. This was my first time doing it on a human, but I thought—what difference could there be? My enthusiasm burned brightly.
After the servants left, I put on a white medical apron and sterile gloves. If any germs entered his wound, all the treatment so far would be wasted.
I carefully removed the bandages that were no longer bleeding and wiped his body thoroughly with a wet cloth, avoiding the wounds. Though there was a faint unpleasant odor from not being washed properly for a long time, it wasn’t unbearable. Compared to the air of the capital, filled with black smoke from burning corpses, it wasn’t offensive.
As I gently cleaned his arms and cut away the bandages wrapped around his upper body with scissors, his eyelids suddenly trembled slightly—and his gray eyelashes moved.
“Oh, you’re awake? I was just wiping your body because you seemed to be sweating a lot…”
