Chapter 20

“No… except when showing him to Himoph, she’s stayed by his side alone every single day without entrusting him to anyone else… It seemed like she was waiting eagerly for him to wake up.”

Sana puffed out her cheeks and drooped her eyebrows into a frown.

“Isn’t that strange? Do they… know each other?”

Romina looked at Sana, who was only full of concern for Sehera, then spoke with a suspicious voice.

She’d heard that Rabo had carried over that man who apparently came in through a hole in the back wall…

So why, when others offered to nurse him, did she turn them all away and insist on staying by his side herself?

Everyone hadn’t said anything, but they’d all been finding her behavior puzzling.

“If Miss says she knows him… Oh my! Right, Himoph!”

While talking with Romina, Sana remembered the errand she’d completely forgotten.

“Eek! What do I do? Where should I go?”

“Where else? Himoph is on the third floor.”

“Ah, right! Himoph!”

Sana, who’d been spacing out, ran out of the dining room in confusion.

Romina watched her flustered figure until the end, then cleaned up the food Sehera had left behind and went back into the kitchen.

Someone who hadn’t woken for days had finally gotten up, so warm food would be needed. While preparing his, she could prepare something for Miss Sehera to eat too.

Shaking her head, she began preparing vegetables.

* * *

Sehera climbed to the second floor with urgent steps.

The more intensely her pounding heart rang out, the slower her footsteps became.

She had to meet him awake before Himoph arrived. Sana would be moving her busy feet diligently to find him.

She finally moved the hand she’d been holding back and waiting to give strength to, and opened the door. Creak—the brief friction sound of the hinge quickly passed…

Sehera carefully stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

Click—that sound she normally wouldn’t even hear seemed to ring throughout the entire room.

This room had been her parents’ room before.

After returning to this Planer estate, it was a room she’d opened just once at the very beginning and never looked into again. The space she’d practically abandoned, only entrusting Sana with periodic cleaning…she’d opened it for this person.

She could have just given him a corner room on the first floor or one of the rooms on the third floor…

Whether it was because of the heart that had loved him, or whether some habit from when she’d had him as a husband remained, she wasn’t sure, but anyway, she sometimes didn’t like that he was lying in this room.

But…thinking about it again, she felt she would have brought him to this room anyway, so she couldn’t hold any more complaints.

Though she’d come running after hearing he’d woken up, she moved her feet carefully to avoid making noise.

But the large body sprawled on the bed was rising and falling steadily. Drawing closer to look carefully, it seemed he’d fallen back asleep.

“Haah…”

The sigh she’d been holding back, like she’d been holding her breath, leaked out on its own.

Just how… did they end up meeting again like this?

Even after sighing, the stuffiness in her chest that wouldn’t release made Sehera feel suffocated, and she let out another deep sigh.

She’d left him because he so desperately didn’t want to see her, because he was someone who’d abandoned her inside the estate… She couldn’t understand at all what he’d been doing where to end up so battered… why he’d appeared before her in such a state.

Sehera quietly took one more step closer to him. His bangs were damp, like he’d been sweating. As she carefully brushed back that hair, she confirmed that some color had returned to his bloodless face.

Even when in pain, even when the doctor was suturing his gaping wound, he’d acted strong toward her, shouting at her like scolding—what are you, who is so weak, trying to do?

Yet seeing that man now lying in her estate’s bed with a bloodless face, receiving only her nursing—while it was a relief, she felt like she’d gotten some small revenge on him.

Though it… wasn’t particularly joyful.

I can nurse well. I… could have taken good care of the sick Duke too.

She couldn’t forget those times when she’d been cast aside like she was nothing. If she could have endured it, there would have been no reason to return to Planer like this.

Knock knock.

“Miss, it’s Himoph.”

Sehera, who’d been looking at his face, hurriedly turned around, thinking she was being pathetic.

“Come in.”

She answered while thinking Sana had sent Himoph more slowly than expected, then cleared her voice. She absolutely couldn’t show any agitation.

He was just a knight who’d happened to suffer a deep wound and coincidentally entered the Count’s estate, and he had to be someone who would leave this estate as soon as his wound healed.

In fact, the reason she’d stayed by his side without leaving was both to resolve the grudge of not being able to stay by his side at the Croft Ducal Estate, and to explain this scenario she’d conceived to him.

She’d been sticking close to prevent him from suddenly calling her “wife” as soon as he woke up, or from treating her like his wife or acting familiar in front of others.

The door opened and Himoph walked in. It would have been nice if he’d come this early when he woke up.

“Ah, Himoph. What to do? Sana saw this man had woken and came running in a hurry, but it seems he fell back asleep in the meantime.”

“Ah, I see.”

Sehera sent an awkward smile toward Himoph entering inside. To that, Himoph showed no particular reaction and continued walking in, then began checking his pulse by pressing his wrist as usual.

“As expected. It’s beating steadily. The fact that he briefly woke up means he didn’t lose consciousness but is sleeping now, so you don’t need to worry too much, Miss.”

Confirming that her face was stiffly hardened with tension, Himoph smiled to ease her tension, mixing in a slight joke.

“Ah… Right. The important thing is that he woke up once. So, does his body seem somewhat alright?”

She’d brought up another topic to change the subject, but it ended up sounding like concern directed at him again. Sehera quietly pressed her lips together and watched Himoph examining various parts of his body.

“The fever that had been circulating his body has dropped considerably, and his blood is circulating well. He seems to have fallen into a comfortable sleep. When he wakes up soon, he’ll feel pain from the wound, so I’ll prepare to give him painkillers right away.”

He looked truly impressive, accomplishing what needed to be done without hesitation. Right, this is how one should be able to act calmly. Sehera nodded without Himoph noticing and looked at him.

“Don’t stay tense, unable to do what you need to do or eat. Above all, make sure to eat well. Our Romina will prepare things well.”

Sehera added that because she knew he’d been tense for days as a doctor. She meant it as telling him to take care of himself so he could care for the patient well since he needed to be alert…

But hearing Sehera’s words, Himoph laughed heartily.

“Who are you worrying about right now, Miss Sehera? I know very well that you’re not eating properly. The one nursing can’t collapse first.”

Romina had kept saying such things and urging meals on her too…

Come to think of it, earlier she’d been receiving a meal Romina prepared at the table for the first time in a while, but she’d rushed over too quickly—she only now remembered.

“Oh my? Didn’t they say he woke up?”

Just then, through the door Himoph had opened, Romina’s clear voice and the smell of warm, savory flavor penetrated into the room first.

Romina was walking in through the doorway holding a tray.

“Ah, Romina.”

She seemed to have wanted to slip smoothly through the doorway, but being well-built and because of the tray she was holding, she came inside making another creak from the door.

Himoph, who’d been sniffing the smell, grinned and greeted Romina.

“His consciousness seems to have returned, but he appears to have fallen back asleep. Too bad. Looks like you showed off your skills.”

Himoph realized she’d made soup for the patient. And Romina, learning her effort had been wasted, shrugged her shoulders.

“This is why I have trouble losing weight, Miss. Oh, this is your portion… Will you eat here?”

Since it had become a situation where no one knew when he’d wake again, Romina expected she’d want to stay in this room. And that expectation wasn’t wrong.

“…Yeah, okay. Put it on that table and go. Thanks. For being considerate.”

“Not at all. I just did my job. Ah, Himoph, since you’re down here, eat before going back up.”

“Yeah yeah, sure. Since it’s bothersome to go up then come back down again, shall I go? Going up and down stairs is really tiring.”

Chuckling, Himoph left the room without bothering to tell her to rest or anything. He knew that even if he said it, she ultimately wouldn’t.

He felt that worried feelings would just burden her, so he chose to just quietly leave the room. Romina also set down the warm bread and soup she’d brought for Sehera on the table, then quietly withdrew.

Now that consciousness had returned, she could breathe easier. She’d been anxious day by day, wondering if he couldn’t regain consciousness because of the deep wound.

Whether he as a knight could wield a sword again or not was the next problem. Whether it was okay for him to leave the knight order wasn’t her concern.

In Sehera’s mind was simply him waking up properly and his body healing correctly.

Not being able to nurse by his side every time this person was hurt had been truly difficult, but she thought it must have been hard to spend each day looking at all the wounds up close and knowing the entire progress.

Sehera quietly moved from his side and approached the table wafting food smells.

There wasn’t much time left until she’d face him, having waited anxiously yet seemingly not waited. That’s why it was time for her to pull herself together and replenish her strength too.