Chapter 74: Chapter 74

“… Was it torn a lot?” he asked with a tired voice.

She started to cry right away at that.

“Was it torn a lot? How can you sound so carefree? You should thank yourself for not having eyes on the back of your head. If you look at it directly, it will hurt a hundred times more than now…”

She spoke her mind in a fit of anger, but she came to her senses belatedly and shut up. It was not right to make the patient feel excessive fear.

“No, no, I was just kidding. I can treat this much. You’ll be better soon.”

Eckart grinned at her suddenly. When was the last time he heard someone’s obvious but not that ugly lie?lying Of course, he knew she was not kidding.

“You are not good at lying”

“Ober thinks a little differently. But I’m not good at lying only in front of you.”

“… in front of me?”

“Yes, in front of you.”

She casually replied while examining his wounds.

He knew she answered to save her face. Thinking like that, he reflected on her words. She said she was not good at lying in front of him only.

He felt sympathetic to her. She couldn’t hide her affection for him in her eyes, and she was genuinely worried about his safety, expressing her sadness casually without knowing how violently his candidness was shaking him now.

“I’m afraid that the wound is so deep that you will have scars there. What should I do…”

Just as expected, she pulled the gravel piled up with the pounded herbs toward her and murmured with an upset expression.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m not actually going to walk around with my bare back. Who would care about the wounds on my back?” he said casually.

She thought he said so in order to relieve her anxiety. But she was surprised when he mentioned nobody would care about the wounds on his back.

She grabbed a bunch of herbs on the gravel, pouting her mouth like a child who got unfairly scolded. Soon she put her hand on the wound unexpectedly.

“I do care, I do.”

“Wait a moment, Marianne. Ugh..”

He groaned while breathing in quickly. The muscles of his tense back trembled like nervous fiber.

“Is it none of your business that I do care about you? How can you say that about your wounds so carelessly? This is very precious evidence that you did stupid things to save a hostage like me.”

Even though her tone was blunt, she carefully spread herbs on the wounds. She made frowned like a man touching a creepy toad against his will.

At the same time, Eckart narrowed his brows. Although he felt increasing pain, it was not the main reason why.

“Marianne!”

“Why are you calling me?”

When she responded coldly as if she was upset, he again grabbed something on the floor.

He felt a sharp pain on the back and inside his mouth.

“… I wasn’t trying to save you because you were a hostage.”

“Well, let me give you the benefit of the doubt. I heard your excuses that you kept the promise for me on the honor of the Frey family.”

“It’s not that…”

She took her hands off his back covered with fresh medicinal herbs. Then she grabbed a piece of blood-drenched dressing, which she had released from his body. Red water drops dipped to the floor like water stirred with a pen with red ink.

“… I didn’t want you to be hurt.”

Unfolding and patting the cloth, she stopped for a moment. She looked at him with green eyes furtively. But as soon as he tilted his head to the side slightly, she dropped her eyes again.

“… I don’t want you to be hurt, either.”

She hid her trembling fingertips under the fabric. And then she began to wrap the wounds again with her hands delicately.

As if he felt a terrible pain, he grabbed his empty fists.

She stretched her arms one more time and tied the wounds with the fabric once more.

“Because only you can save me.”

With their eyes looking away, their gentle voices echoed through the silent cave wall.

He frowned hard behind her back. She bit her lips over his shoulder and smiled awkwardly as her eyes met his.

“Did you think I alone was a good card for you? No. You are my most important card, just like the king of chess, the ace of poker.”

It was formally correct. Only formally. There was a reason why she thought the world of him. But he could not point that out. He didn’t ask if it was for only one political reason that he received undeserved trust and kindness from her up until now. For he had fear.

It was exactly the same kind of fear he felt when she begged him not to reply after asking him why he was so kind to her.

“Do not worry. You don’t have to comfort me against your will. I’m stronger than you think, and I forget about difficult things easily. I also decided to discard my desires…”

While babbling, she fumbled her words. She stared at the knotted lapel and soon pulled away her reddish fingers that touched his hard body slightly.

“… Marianne!” he called her with a low voice.

But she hurriedly picked up her clothes around and stood up.

“Let me hang these clothes to dry in the sun. Please go rest.”

* * *

Tak!

Cordelli roughly lowered the oil lamp on the table by the door. A yellowish halo shuffled in the dark room. A shadow approached the empty bed with exhausted steps.

The broad bed was used by Marianne last night. There were pillows and blankets neatly spread on the bed as if the maids arranged them together after the group left the official residence. There was not a single hair on the floor as if they cleaned it up very well.

She got up again and went to the dressing table. In the mirror, there was only her dressed in a dishevelled outfit and there were a few simple objects on the dressing table. There was no fruit dish prepared for Marianne who overslept, her favorite perfume, or her favorite cosmetics and jewelry box she habitually used at the Lennox Mansion.

It was just like a dream as if what happened yesterday morning was only a fleeting dream.

“Lady…”

Cordelli quietly called Marianne.

If Marianne heard her voice, might she open the door quietly and appear or might she wake up with sleepy eyes in the blanket or play the baby, hanging on her, complaining about her very tough schedule?

Might she reappear, calling her name with a friendly voice like this?

“Lady?”

Even though there was a mirror in front of her, Cordelli looked back in astonishment as if she was running to someone calling her name right now.

“Oh, you must be Ms. Cordelli. Why are you up already? I told you to lie down and rest for a while…”

But the owner of the voice was not Marianne.

“… Lady Beatrice.”

“You can call me Biche.”

“Yes, Lady Biche…”

She answered feebly, trying to stand up, but staggered. Beatrice quickly helped her sit in bed. As she was also injured, she found it difficult to walk right away, but she did not care at all.

“See! You have to rest more. You still have a fever.”

Beatrice comforted Cordelli and looked around. She noticed bags piled up like blocks on the other side of the bed. As nobody claimed them, they were piled up there unpacked.

Despite her limited mobility, she still walked directly to the spot where the bags were piled up. When she opened the bag at the top, there were several clothes. She noticed a cape that looked a little warm.

Beatrice, limping again, quietly put the cape over Cordelli’s shoulders. She patted her on the shoulder kindly.

Cordelli dropped her head, clutching the cape’s edge. Usually she would have inquired after Beatrice safety first as she was injured, but she almost lost her mind.

“Lady Marianne must be ten times or even 100 times as cold as me…”

“Ms. Cordelli…”

“I just wish I had shared the same wagon with her. I lost consciousness, so I didn’t know something terrible happened to her. She proudly boasted she would stand by the emperor and protect him by all means. What should I do…”

In the end, Cordelli buried her face in both hands and wept.

To her, Marianne was like a sister. She grew up with Marianne, sharing the same milk, and she was always with her when she was sad or happy. They ate and slept together. They laughed and cried together. It was natural that she regarded her as more precious than her life. Her identity as the closest attendant was Cordelli’s pride. Although she did tough chores usually done by maids, she never complained about it. Sometimes she was the target of others’ slander that she was coveting wealth or looking for a good bridegroom by using Marianne’s favor as an excuse. But she didn’t care at all.