Chapter 10
Her intention was simple.
‘He has to at least eat some soup, but no matter how I look at it, he is not in a state where he can sit up on his own.’
Idris wore a completely stunned expression.
Those calm eyes that neither cried at the sight of her nor flipped over in terror felt better and better the more she looked at them.
Because they gave her, at least a little, the illusion that she was truly being accepted as a person.
An unintentionally slightly buoyant voice slipped out.
“Good. Would you be able to remain seated?”
“Ah……. Yes. Thank you……!”
But as soon as he finished speaking, Idris’s upper body buckled sharply and pitched forward.
Startled, Irene swiftly caught him. Wrapping her slender arms firmly around his waist, she lifted him and moved him. She made him sit with his back against the wall, and he was in a far more stable posture.
Still shaken by the sight of him collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut, Irene asked anxiously.
“Mr. Idris, are you all right?”
“……Yes. I am f-fine…….”
Idris’s face burned red. At the unusual color of his complexion, Irene’s worry only grew.
He was a special human she had barely managed to meet. What if he suddenly collapsed like this and died.
“Are you in a lot of pain? You were badly injured to begin with. Did I move you too roughly? Are you really all right?”
“No. Truly. I am truly fine. I am not in pain…… I was simply a little startled. I did not realize my body had so little strength left.”
From his low voice, thick embarrassment and self-reproach clung in heavy layers, but they did not reach Irene, whose head had already become completely filled with worry.
“Are you sure? If you are in great pain, you need to tell me honestly.”
“No. Truly. I am perfectly fine. You do not need to worry.”
Irene narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but soon withdrew her gaze.
‘Well. If it were unbearable, his expression would be a complete mess.’
He did look a little tired, but that was all. It really did seem he had only been startled for a moment.
Irene held out the bowl of soup she had set nearby.
“That is a relief, then. Here, this is soup. I am not sure if it will suit your taste, but please try some.”
“……Thank you. I am causing you so much trouble, Miss Irene.”
“Oh, not at all.”
With an awkward smile, Idris carefully raised his right arm and accepted the bowl.
She could see a slight tremor, but that much seemed fine. At least, to Irene.
Then, suddenly sensing something strange, she tilted her head.
‘Huh, why…….’
Idris merely held the bowl blankly. He neither grasped the spoon nor tried to eat the soup.
An unmistakable look of distress spread across his face. His gaze, which had been resting on his left arm hanging limply at his side, turned toward Irene.
“I am sorry. Because of the condition of my arm…… it seems I will not be able to eat anything. You went to the trouble of preparing it, and I am truly sorry.”
“Oh my. Does your left arm not move at all?”
“That seems to be the case.”
Idris’s answer was endlessly calm. For someone whose entire body was in ruins, it was far too composed a response.
It was Irene who was instead flustered and bustling about. With eyes full of worry, she examined Idris carefully.
“You are right. What should we do? It seems your left arm has not yet recovered.”
Now that she looked properly, Idris’s left arm and hand truly did not move at all. At most, his fingers twitched faintly.
This was serious. He had been unconscious and fasting for two days, so he would need to put something in his mouth and swallow.
While Irene was racking her brains for a solution, Idris was inwardly exclaiming in triumph at the appearance of the perfect justification to avoid this unsettling soup. Struggling to steady his rising excitement and pretending not to be shaken, he opened his mouth.
“Yes. So…….”
“Give it to me.”
Irene swiftly snatched the bowl from his hands. Though she said “give it to me,” it was in truth practically a seizure.
Because it had seemed as though she might smoothly tell him not to eat after all, the slight tension in Idris’s facial muscles began to ease.
“Here. Try it.”
Right up until Irene scooped up the soup herself and suddenly held the spoon out before his eyes.
“…….”
Idris’s eyes wavered without direction. Slowly, he lifted his head and stared blankly into Irene’s eyes as though he could not believe this reality.
……Surely not…… to have it fed to me?
Me?
This?
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