Her soft gray hair felt comfortable under his touch……. The girl gently patted his head.
“…However, maybe you feel more pain than I do. I’m sorry I cried.”
For some reason, the girl misunderstood and thought that her crying was what upset him. But Dedrick did not object to this.
“I'm fine now, Didi,” she said softly.
Deidrick pulled away from her embrace and looked at her.
Her eyes and nose were swollen, and she was still sniffling even though she said she was fine. Gently, he wiped her tear-soaked cheeks. Although the tears did not stop, he tried to console her patiently.
He didn't mind...
On the contrary, I like it very much….
I had difficulty holding a long mirror and positioning it in front of me.
Lately, unexpected visitors have been showing up more frequently, which has made me nervous.
If you put it that way, maybe they'll think Diddy is treating himself in front of the mirror.
I hid the medications under the couch, deciding to take out only what was necessary. Leaving too many bottles on the table may raise suspicions.
I heard the bathroom door open, catching my attention. Daedric came out, freshly washed.
He looked a little better than before, but not by much. In fact, his injuries were more prominent, making my nose sting with tears again.
As I was sniffling, Deidrick approached and wiped my face with a wet towel.
"What do you do?" I asked him.
“I clean your face.”
Well, you'd have guessed it.
However, he seemed satisfied, so I let him continue. The warm, tingly feeling on my face began to ease thanks to the towel.
“Aren't your eyes going to swell tomorrow?” He asked cautiously, then quickly added: “But I think it would look cute, like a little goldfish.”
"I don't bloat. Monsters don't have that problem."
His expression changed slightly in disappointment, but that was not the point.
Suddenly, I remembered something important.
"Oh, right. I'm a monster!"
“…?”
Deedric looked at me with a confused look, confused by my sudden announcement. I didn't bother explaining.
‘I am a hidden monster who tortures humans, after all,’ I thought as I clenched my hands and looked at the stunned Daedric.
I had no idea about letting this go.
I couldn't fight back as hard as he was hurt, but I had to do something to feel better.
'First, let's take care of Didi,' she decided.
She pulled him to the sofa, made him sit, and began examining his face carefully.
“What should you do if you feel pain?” I asked him.
"What?!" to reply.
“Right. This is going to hurt a little.”
She dipped a cotton ball in sanitizer and placed it on his face. He frowned a little in annoyance.
“You can frown if you want,” I told him.
“…”
He simply nodded.
The cuts on his head were the worst, making my tears pool again.
"Just to be sure, let's take you to a doctor after I finish treating you. Head injuries can be serious. You need to be examined properly. Understood?"
"I'm fine. I saw the doctor before I came here. They said there's nothing serious. I'll monitor my condition for another day, and if things get worse, I'll come back."
“Well, that's convenient...”
I focused on applying the ointment to his wounds. Watching me, Deedric whispered apologetically,
“…I didn’t do anything for you. I’m sorry that I always depend on you.”
His sudden apology froze my hands in the air.
I didn't expect him to think this way.
“Didi.”
I slowly reached out and cupped his cheek, looking into his eyes. I spoke clearly, making sure he understood what I was saying.
"Don't say things like that. You already gave me the thing I wanted more than anything."
“I gave you?”
“You saw me.”
He was the only one who really saw me when no one else did. This was more than enough.
“Just don't leave me, I'll be happy,” I told him.
Don't go to the academy.
They will burn me alive.
Hearing my sincere words, he stared into my eyes intently, his blue eyes like a raging ocean.
Finally, he gripped my hand tightly and ran his fingers through mine.
“…I promise not to leave you.”
He brought my hand to his lips, pressing a gentle kiss to my palm. His long eyelashes touched my skin, making a strange and sensitive feeling pass through me.
I felt something strange in my heart, like a tingling sensation.
Maybe it was because my hands felt itchy?
I let him hold my hand for as long as he wanted. When he finally released my hand, smiling gently, I returned to continue treating his wounds.
I sterilized his wounds, applied ointment, and took the time to tape bandages to each wound.
“There's bruises on your neck too,” I muttered, gritting my teeth as I cursed Somerset to myself.
She applied the ointment firmly, then moved to his wrist. As I expected, his right wrist was severely swollen.
“…Is it broken?”
“The doctor said it wasn't.”
“Are you absolutely sure nothing is broken?”
“I'm sure.”
In this case…
I gave him some medicine for the swelling. Fortunately, the labels on the bottles were clear about its effects.
After applying the ointment to his wrist, I carefully wrapped it with a compression bandage. Swallow the medication while I work.
During the procedure, I noticed that his gaze was looking at my horns.
I couldn't ignore it, so I raised my head to meet his eyes.
"What? If you're in pain and need something to hold on to, you can hold on to my horns."
“Not that… they just seemed to shine a little.”
"What? Can my horns do that?"
I reached out to touch them but didn't notice anything different.
They felt a little warm, but that might be because I was concentrating on them.
'Maybe because I cried this much for the first time,' I thought.
Didric hesitated, then asked carefully:
“Can I touch them?”
“Hmm...of course!”
Since they didn't feel dangerous, I bent down a little to make it easier. At the same time, she grabbed him by the leg without warning.
“T-Stop!” stutter.
“This way, I can treat your leg too. Don’t worry.”
I put his leg over my knee, preventing him from covering his embarrassed face.
"Your hand is full of medicine. Don't touch your face. You can hold my horns instead. Are they still shining?"
His hand ran across my horns.
“How are they?” I asked him as I bandaged his swollen ankle. I was so angry at him being swollen like that that I almost let out a torrent of expletives.
“Not really… they're just radiating a little warmth.”
“At least your hands won't be cold in the winter if you hold my horns!”
I moved excitedly, joking about being a personal heater.
“Like a little fireplace over your head,” Diedrick said, laughing.
His laugh was gentle and warm.
But then, he looked at his hand, confused.
“…It seems that the wounds on my hands have healed a little.”
“What? Let me see.”
I had applied the ointment myself, so I could observe. Indeed, the wounds were less noticeable in the area I treated.
“…But this is no healing ointment,” she muttered.
I couldn't find the ointment with the healing stones added earlier.
“Could it be... because of your horns?”
“Are my horns that powerful? Wipe them again.”
He reached out and touched it, but nothing happened this time.
“…It seems it's not because of the centuries.”
“That's strange... Maybe we should look for hidden monsters in the library?”
“About me?”
“Yes, don’t you want to know more about yourself?”
I hesitated a little, then shook my head.
“No, don't.”
"why not?"
"If they find out you're looking for me, Somerset or the Duchess might become suspicious. Let's wait until you're nineteen. We'll look then."
“Why nineteen?”
“Because then it would be safe.”
“Why?”
"Because you'll be an adult! Once you're nineteen, no matter what the Duchess does, you'll be able to handle it."
She applied the ointment carefully, ensuring that every part was covered. “It's done. Rest now.”
“Where are you going?”
“To do something bad.”
At my blunt response, Deidrick's face became blank with understanding, his eyes full of wonder. “Something bad?”
“Yes, bad thing. You focus on doing the good things. I will deal with all the bad things.”
My vague words made him look at me with a look of astonishment, as if asking for an explanation. But I didn't answer. Instead, I patted him on the head to calm him down, then escaped his grasp before he could catch me, and quickly disappeared into the closet to move elsewhere.
When I arrived, Somerset's room was empty—he had not returned yet.
Then I heard a noise outside. I rushed into the hall, and recognized Somerset's voice, which was shouting loudly. "Joanna! Where do you think you're going?!"
“The Duchess has given me permission! Let me go!”
“If you leave now, do you think your family will still be safe?! My mother won’t allow it! And then the Marquis won’t leave you either!”
“These are my affairs, so stop interfering!”
Rushing footsteps echoed as if someone was running away, followed by the sounds of a door slamming shut. Then Somerset's angry voice came roaring back, shouting down the halls again. “Why is she so sensitive just because I hit that bastard?!”
His cries, full of frustration, seemed completely unconscious. I silently followed the source of the voice, and found him at the bottom of the stairs, seething with rage.