WYDM 18

She’d never once thought being able to ride a horse alone would be this useful…

“Hyah!”

Fortunately, the horse didn’t refuse Sehera, and at her urgent kicks immediately began running with lively sounds.

She hadn’t even had time to grab protective gear.

And the thing she regretted most since returning here—not hiring a doctor.

The doctor she’d frequently seen at the Croft Ducal Estate suddenly came to mind.

But calling that person was too far, and the doctor absolutely couldn’t leave the Croft Ducal Estate to treat that man who could return injured at any time, to any degree.

The horse trampled the moist ground and ran elegantly and swiftly. Startled by the unexpected noise from the Count’s estate, people from surrounding homes opened windows and stuck out their heads.

To reach the doctor in this territory meant going all the way to the village center.

By the time she arrived at the doctor’s house door, it was the hour when people ate early breakfast.

Sehera mercilessly shattered the peaceful atmosphere where nothing seemed likely to happen today with her knocking.

“What! Miss… isn’t it? At this hour…”

She desperately wanted to kidnap the doctor, dawdling as he opened the door, put him on the horse, and ride off.

“A patient! It’s urgent! Hurry!”

Fortunately, Himoph, the village’s only doctor, was fairly young but someone with a strong sense of mission as a physician.

“Yes!”

Hearing her three words, he immediately turned and ran back into the house. Knowing he had a bag he always carried for examinations and treatment, Sehera struggled not to stamp her feet anxiously while staring endlessly at the narrow, dark passage into his house.

“The horse.”

When he came running out with his bag shortly after, Sehera shouted.

“A horse… I don’t have one, Miss.”

“Then get on here!”

At her words pointing to the saddle, he flinched just once but instead of objecting, he climbed right onto the horse.

Rather than floundering here about riding together, she’d left the Count estate’s gate wide open—she’d made her decision.

“To the Count’s estate! There’s a patient in the previous Count couple’s room! Call for Rabo. Hyah!”

“M-Miss!”

Sehera slapped the horse’s rear while shouting to Himoph. He’d assumed Sehera would naturally climb on behind or in front of him, so he turned around in confusion.

But nearly losing his balance and slipping, he steadied himself and looked forward.

It meant there was a patient urgent enough for her to choose to remain alone. Realizing this, Himoph had no choice but to steel his resolve.

“Hyah!”

While Himoph’s shout echoed almost like an echo after steeling his resolve, only Sehera stood there gasping for breath.

She wanted to praise herself for already wearing a robe when going for a walk. After the horse left, she looked around the endlessly quiet village surroundings.

It was about time for people to start poking their heads out. Sehera began walking using the Count estate’s building visible beyond as a landmark. Walking along the trajectory the horse had run would be the shortcut.

Though she’d have nothing to do when she got there, she felt her heart growing increasingly urgent.

* * *

Sehera, who’d expected to walk all the way to the estate, fortunately could return on horseback thanks to Rabo coming to meet her.

And in that time, Himoph had apparently finished treating the collapsed man, as he was laboriously wrapping bandages around the man’s body with his upper body completely stripped.

Rushing into the estate and climbing the stairs, Sehera staggered the moment she entered her parents’ room she rarely set foot in at the sight before her.

She felt relieved enough for her legs to give out. Because there’d be no need to wrap bandages around a dead person.

“M-Miss, here… a chair, no, the sofa…”

Rabo, who’d been following behind, saw her stagger and reached out his hand, then not knowing what to do, ran over, dragged a sofa, and pushed it behind her.

Instead of rashly touching her body, he’d used his advantage of strength.

Fortunately confirming she’d properly settled on the sofa, Rabo looked around and left the room entirely. Thinking he’d gone to do something, Sehera quickly squeezed her eyes shut and tried to shake off the dizziness.

“You’re here, Miss. Rabo really knew how to ride a horse, it seems.”

The one who spoke to her first was Himoph. He was famous for quick hands, but she hadn’t known she’d experience it like this.

That deep-looking wound so quickly…

Suddenly, Sehera felt a pang. Her relief thinking bandages wouldn’t be needed unless he was dead became doubtful again.

However quick his hands, the blade had pierced through the body—treating this so quickly…? Could it be… he couldn’t do anything so he wrapped it to hide the gruesome parts…?

Seeming to catch his breath but seeing Sehera’s face grow even paler than before, Himoph shook his head. Because he somehow felt he knew what she was thinking.

“I properly treated everything. I didn’t do this because he died, Miss.”

And it was an accurate guess, as he could see Sehera’s eyes trembling as she lifted her deathly pale face to look at him.

“There were marks where the blade pierced front and back, so I finished suturing both sides. I couldn’t do anything about the muscles inside. Still, it’s somewhat fortunate that he injured near his left shoulder when his frequently used arm is the right.”

It was a fortunate point he’d forced himself to find. For a knight who must fight, suffering a piercing wound meant taking critical damage to muscle function.

Even if he mainly used a sword with his right hand, it might become useless if his left hand couldn’t support it.

“Ha… Either way, he kept his life, right?”

“…Yes.”

Himoph, who’d almost thought she meant a knight’s career didn’t matter to her as long as he stayed alive, held his breath, swallowed once, answered only “yes,” and closed his mouth.

He felt dizzy at nearly making a mistake.

Though he didn’t know Sehera Planer deeply, she wasn’t that kind of person.

She didn’t want to witness death in any form. Her parents and Paul, the advisor who’d been like their right hand, dying all at once in an accident must have been a shock to her.

Death might still be something she hadn’t overcome.

Bringing up a knight’s career in that context would be absurd.

“Ha, haa, Miss…”

“Miss! Are you alright?”

While Himoph exhaled in relief, two voices entered the room again.

Rabo, who’d disappeared after seating Sehera on the sofa, came in holding water cups in both hands and held them out before her, while at the room’s entrance stood Sana in sleepwear with completely disheveled hair, having just woken up, calling out to her.

“Quiet.”

Himoph said that from inside. That voice, which didn’t seem to shout loudly, fortunately rode the moment’s silence and reached Sana accurately.

“Thank you, Rabo.”

Sehera took the cup he offered and slowly passed water beyond her lips. Unable to make the swallowing motion itself, she tilted her head back to slowly, slowly let the water she’d briefly held in her mouth flow down.

Meanwhile, Sana, who’d closed her mouth, approached Sehera’s side. She first examined Sehera’s deathly pale face, then held her cold hands and gently massaged them.

“But… who is that man? Is there nothing to identify him?”

After slowly drinking two sips of water, Sehera asked Himoph. Of course he’d been busy treating him, but Himoph had looked at that man longest here.

She hadn’t had time to see his face. When first discovered, he’d been lying prone, and instead of examining him, she’d chosen to quickly have Rabo lift and carry him.

Then Sehera had gone to fetch Himoph so couldn’t see his face, and when entering the room she’d staggered at a distance where the face wasn’t visible, only now able to examine around his chin closely.

“He’s from the Imperial Knight Order. His rank seems rather high… Instead of armor for usual fighting, his clothes are very light. It’s not attire for going into battle… Perhaps he was ambushed?”

Himoph explained using his common sense as much as possible. Sehera listened to Himoph’s story while blankly looking at that man, then heard another thud—the sound of her heart dropping.

She slowly stood while keeping her gaze fixed on the man’s chin. Then the jawline she’d been looking up at gradually descended and the man’s complete face entered her view.

“Good heavens…”

This… this really makes no sense.

This couldn’t happen in the world. No, it shouldn’t happen.

Seeing that knight’s bloodless corpse-like face, Sehera couldn’t stop her jaw from trembling.

Facing something utterly impossible before her eyes, she couldn’t say anything or react in any way.

“Miss? What’s wrong?”

“D-do you… know him?”

Noticing her unusual reaction, Sana and Rabo each spoke to her. They couldn’t easily guess what emotion she felt as she breathed roughly and focused intensely.

Instead of them, Himoph—who though young for a doctor prided himself on quick hands and mind—finished his speculation.

“Good heavens…”

And he ended up reacting exactly like her.

Without answering anyone, Sehera tried to move her slowly rising legs. Though she seemed to sway and creak slightly, her gaze never left the man.

Taking labored steps approaching him, the path felt long. Finally reaching the bedside and looking down completely at his face, Sehera’s expression had vanished.

“Himoph.”

Suddenly she spoke. Though she’d been trembling all over until just now, she called him quietly.

“You’ll need to take charge of this person’s treatment for the time being, so can you stay at the estate?”

Though she gave off a completely different atmosphere, Himoph answered quietly while holding his breath.

“Of course, Miss.”

“Sana, guide Himoph to a suitable room.”

“Huh? Ah… Yes, Miss.”

“Rabo, you worked hard too. Go rest.”

She tried to send everyone out of the room. Both people who still hadn’t caught on and the one person who’d gained certainty all left the room following her words.

The moment she heard the door close behind her, tears welled up in Sehera’s eyes.

Unable to wait for them to fill, they immediately fell.

“Ethan…”

And only then could Sehera sorrowfully speak the name of the person she once loved.