Chapter 44
There was no need to look closely or carefully. His entire side, no, nearly half his torso, was bruised black and blue. Her face twisted into a deep frown. She reflexively reached out to him but stopped herself, afraid even to touch it.
Ael saw the stricken look on her face and shook his head as if it were nothing.
“…It’s just a bruise. Nothing serious…”
His voice was so utterly nonchalant that anyone listening might’ve thought it was nothing more than a scratch. But that kind of bluff didn’t work on Kiara, not after she’d already seen the deep bruise staining his skin dark red.
“You let out a scream when I barely touched you, and now you’re trying to tell me it’s just a bruise?!”
Kiara shot back, eyebrows arching sharply. Ael blinked at her, looking genuinely confused.
“I… screamed?”
“You went ‘ugh!’ Ugh! Just like that!”
At his puzzled look, Kiara answered with an irritated burst of words. Ael stared at her, blinking dumbly for a moment, then tilted his head and mumbled:
“…That doesn’t count as a scream, does it…”
“It absolutely does! And it was loud! Don’t try to downplay it!”
Kiara leaned in so close that Ael instinctively tilted backward. He gave a reluctant nod under the intensity of her vivid red eyes, which all but shouted: See? I’m right, aren’t I?
“…If that qualifies as a scream, then… I guess…”
Ael finally muttered his reluctant agreement, and only then did Kiara back off. She glanced around for a moment before crouching beside him and picking up the leather armor that lay at his feet.
“No wonder your movements were all stiff… You were wearing this thing on top of that injury. Of course you looked off.”
As if all that earlier complaining had been a lie, Kiara hoisted the armor and tossed it aside in one go. It hit the ground with a heavy thud, and Ael winced at the sound.
‘Pretty sure it made that same noise when it slammed into me earlier…’
If it really hit that hard, could she still claim she’d just “tapped” him? And insist that his “ugh” counted as a scream?
Honestly, it had felt less like a nudge and more like getting clocked in the ribs. He’d actually seen stars for a second.
While he was lost in that thought, Kiara gently began peeling off his tunic, her voice soft with concern.
“Just hold still for a second. I need to check how bad it is. If it hurts, say something, okay?”
She must’ve thought the crease between his brows was from pain. Well… she wasn’t exactly wrong.
“It does hurt…”
Ael had taken his fair share of beatings since he first stepped onto the battlefield at thirteen, so bruises, big or small, were nothing new. But even for him, this one was impressive.
“I can still…”
Bear it, he was going to say. But the words stalled in his throat. Kiara’s fingers brushed gently over his side. Her hands were a little cooler than his skin, just enough to feel startling against the heat radiating from the bruise, and the soft pressure was oddly soothing.
And then—
“Does it hurt? Oh no… If the bruise looks like this, there’s probably a fever too. What if it’s muscle or bone damage?”
Kiara gently stroked his bruised side, her face drawn in a worried frown. She kept asking if it hurt as her fingers moved across the injury, clearly trying to feel out whether something deeper might be damaged.
Someone fussing over him like this was a strange sensation. People said family or spouses were supposed to do this sort of thing, apparently.
‘Family, huh…’
Ael’s mouth twitched slightly as an all-too-familiar face came to mind. In his case, it was never about family worrying for him. It was always the other way around — he had to worry about them. Especially his brother.
‘Wonder what kind of creative method he’s cooking up to try and kill me this time.’
Ael’s gaze grew distant, thoughts turning sharp. It had already been three days since he arrived in Altnebra. By now, the Crown Prince’s traps should’ve started to spring up here and there. But strangely, everything was still quiet. Too quiet.
He let out a soft, weary grunt, almost like a sigh.
“Ah.”
“Ah! Are you hurt? I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I just pressed a little to check if the bone was cracked. What kind of pain is it? Sharp? Or more like a deep ache?”
“…It’s not a broken rib.”
Kiara looked unconvinced as Ael shook his head, answering with complete confidence — maybe too much of it.
“How can you be sure? What, does it shout on its way out? ‘I’m breaking nowww!’ or something?”
“I’ve broken ribs plenty of times.”
“…Oh.”
Kiara didn’t argue further. Instead, she ducked her head and focused back on the bruise. But the moment her cool fingertips grazed his skin, Ael’s hand shot out and grabbed hers.
“…Damn it.”
“W-What? What is it? Does it hurt? Is it the rib after all—?”
“…No.”
He shook his head quickly, letting go of her hand with a muttered curse under his breath.
Damn it. No armor, no weapons, just bare skin — and worse, he’d practically handed over a vital spot. Had he lost his mind? At this rate, if his brother sent an assassin…
‘Wait.’
What if this witch was the trap?
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.