“Oh.. I’ll have to somehow clot and sew the wounds.”

After wandering around the room for a while, muttering to myself impatiently, I managed to find a bottle of high-grade liquor in a cabinet.

‘Should I use this to disinfect the wounds?’

I’ll attempt to do something I once saw in a movie.

‘If that man is lucky, he may be able to avoid sepsis.’

[PR/N: Sepsis?is when your body has an unusually severe response to an infection.]

As Rupert saw me wandering around the room tugging on a few different things, he grew confused.

“What are you doing now?”

“Trying to tend to your wounds.”

“By yourself?”

I had a mind that was very stable and strong-willed in frantic situations, because of which I didn’t pay attention to his condescending words.

“You told me not to call a doctor, so I’ll have to tend to it myself.”

“Absolutely not.”

His words reached one of my ears and left through the other. Rupert continued talking.

“As I said before, don’t be a bother and go back to your room.”

‘He’s annoying even though I’m just trying to help him.’

To his continuous critics, I responded bluntly.

“You’re noisy. I will not leave until I sew your wounds tight like a fine leather bag. So please, just keep your mouth shut, okay?”

“....”

Fortunately, Rupert wasn’t angry and looked at me with a dubious expression.

“Do you mean.. you want me to live?”

That question made me a little awkward. The me you are seeing right now, is the real me straight from the heart.

“Isn’t that obvious? Or are you saying that I should pray for you to die quickly?”

“....”

I wasn’t sure why but Rupert didn’t give me a response.

Satisfied at his now quiet demeanor, I continued to search the room.

It seemed like this wasn’t the first time that Rupert had to endure an injury alone because in the corner of the room, I managed to find a needle along with the thread needed to sew a man’s wound.

I glanced back at him.

“This isn’t the first or second time you’re going through this, right?”

“.. what do you know-”

“Yes, yes, sure. Do you happen to have pain relievers or some hemostatic medicine?”

It would really hurt if I just started to sew the wounds without them.

Maybe he finally gave up on stopping me, so Rupert made an annoyed expression and replied softly.

“The hemostatic medicine is in the last drawer, as for the pain reliever.. just give me a drink.”

“.. are you joking?”

No way, no way, I handed him one of the bottles of liquor.

Even though it was a pretty strong drink, Rupert gulped it down. He meant it?

‘Alcohol is bad for the wound.’

In all honesty, I decide to give up on being picky with the treatment considering the fact that my surroundings in which I was about to tend to wounds in made no sense in itself.

‘If Rupert is found dead tomorrow, will I be framed as the culprit?’

While I was thinking about it, I steadily finished preparing the necessary items. Finally, I tore a little clean part of the bedsheet and gave it to him.

“Bite this.”

When you sew a wound, you may clench your teeth tightly to endure the pain. Because of that, if you make a mistake, you may get hurt.

Rupert put the piece of cloth into his mouth. There was no sign of refusal at all.

Rather, it was me who was tense. I gulped as I got closer to him, and stuck the needle in his wound.

“....”

Rupert flinched a little, but didn’t show any reaction.

‘That’s great tolerance.’

I sewed the wound as carefully as possible.

A moment of silence engulfed the room. Rupert moved while I was focusing on his wounds.

“Oh, it’s not finished yet!”

Rupert spit out the piece of bedsheet without worrying about it.

“The distance is too..”

“Yeah?”

“The distance is too close.”

I was embarrassed to hear those words. Is that important in this situation!?

“Even if you don’t like to get close, you have to bear with it. It’s an emergency right now, right?”

I replied vaguely.

“Well..”

I don’t know what it means. It’s not an emergency? Or you don’t want to be with me even for a minute and a second?

I replied bluntly.

“No matter how much you hate it, please be patient.”

“I have patience.”

Ah. Yes, yes.

I was sarcastic on the inside, and continued to sew Rupert’s wounds.

Rupert, who didn’t flinch anymore, said bluntly.

“You didn’t know how to do this, where did you learn it?”

It is because I used to work as a nurse- but I couldn’t answer that way.

“Oh, it’s my first time, of course! It’s not that different from sewing. Your skin is only a little thicker than the fabric.”

“....”

Rupert seemed to have lost the will to respond to my irresponsible words. He has become incredibly ignorant to the nasty words so I had been throwing far.

I sewed his wound satisfactorily.

I was worried that a blood transfusion might be necessary because he shed a lot of blood, but fortunately, he didn’t need it.

Thanks to that, it wasn’t that difficult to sew.

I cut the thread.

“Now, it’s all over.”

“.. your sewing skills are pretty good.”

Uh, you’re sarcastic when I told you that sewing flesh and fabric are the same, right?

I smiled briefly and replied without losing the opportunity.

“Oh my, it seems like I’ve never heard of a compliment from you before.”

“....”

Rupert, looking at my smile with a strange face for a moment.

‘It was unreasonable to say anything good about me.’

It seems like it was unreasonable to get compliments from Rupert as well.

Still, in order to finish my work, I dragged a chair in the corner of the room and sat down.

“What are you going to do?”

“I have to observe your condition. What if you get a fever? Let me tell you in advance that if the situation gets to that point, I’ll call a doctor right away. Because saving people comes first.”

Rupert glanced at me with an incomprehensible gaze.

“You didn’t ask why I was hurt..”

Well, maybe something happened because of the curse? I was only guessing.

“If I ask, will you answer me?”

“No.”

“....”

Who was this man making fun of?

Rupert smirked as he glanced at my constipated expression.

“I don’t know what the hell you are thinking.”

I want to stop hearing that “I don’t know what you are thinking”. Are you still doubting me?

I replied lightly.

“Do not worry. I don’t have any plans. Anyway, would you like to drink more alcohol if you can’t sleep because you’re not feeling well?”

I said so and handed the bottle, but Rupert declined.

“No need, you look like a human right now.”

“Pardon?”

What does this mean? No way does it mean that I usually looked like trash less than a person!?

No way I could say such a harsh word. Even people who hate each other say that they are polite to each other.

Rupert replied bluntly.

“It means that I don’t want to get into an accident because of my drunkenness.”

It is absurd.

“Do you mean there are more accidents besides being hit by a sword in the back?”

“It’s not an accident that means.. no, you don’t need to know.”

Rupert said that, as if he didn’t want to see me, he leaned back firmly, even though it was unreasonable.

‘The attitude is too much for his lifesaver.’

However, I did not complain in particular.

“All right, then go to sleep quickly.”

Rupert didn’t answer anything.

As I looked at his back, I endured the drowsiness that was being pushed back hard.

* * *

Recently, Rupert was angry.

He couldn’t figure out the exact reason either.

After the quarrel with Noel, she only had her disappointing gaze and a few words lingering.

Parental duty, father, daughter, trust..

‘What could that mean to me?’

Emotion and curses have always been interlinked. The more difficult it was to control his emotions, the more difficult it was to suppress the impulse caused by the curse.

Because of that, he always maintained a cynical attitude.

‘Damn it.’

However, since Noel suddenly changed recently, his daily life has shaken up.

‘Why are you suddenly trying to have a proper family relationship?’

The word family has always weakened Rupert’s sense of reason.

And on days like this, Rupert often did crazy things.

He rode on a horse alone and ran to the forest where monsters existed.

And he killed every monster he saw. This did not help as much as killing people, but it helped control the curse to some extent.

It was reckless enough to be considered suicidal. But it wasn’t that dangerous for Rupert.

It was far better than killing the innocent people around him just because he couldn’t suppress his curse.

He did that this time too. He wanted to completely empty his head but he ended up injured.

Objectively, it was a serious injury that would cost the life of an average person, but, Rupert didn’t care.

He himself did not fall into the category of ‘normal’.

He had a body that gradually became a living weapon right from his birth. It was hard to live, but it was a harder for this body to die.

‘It would be better if I just leave it alone.’

As always.

With that thought, Rupert returned to the mansion and fell on his bed.