Arde – present

When Arde and Roan returned to Chizuru’s room, Nadal had already gathered the items he had been instructed to collect and was standing just behind Estabelle.

The normally lively boy now looked completely drained by exhaustion and anxiety. His brown curly hair stuck to his skin, his complexion was pale, and his hands were trembling slightly.

He was too preoccupied with Chizuru and Lukrov to pay attention to anything else, but Nadal was still a child, and it was nighttime.

Arde approached him quietly and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“I’ll help you from here. Nadal, you should go back to your room.”

“But ..”

Nadal looked over Estabelle’s shoulder as she knelt on the floor, staring at the sleeping Chizuru.

Arde gulped as she looked at the same scene.

Estabelle was about to clean Chizuru’s wound with saltwater.?It?was a necessary measure to prevent infection. However, she has seen tough knights undergo similar treatment and writhe around in extreme pain.

The delicate, fragile Chizuru?would?now have to endure such pain.

“Make sure you keep her still. Or should I tie her up?”

Estabelle said this in such a casual tone that Arde couldn’t believe her ears for a moment. Arde, Roan, and Nadal were all nervous, but they couldn’t answer?as?Estabelle’s question was definitely directed at Lukrov.

After all this time, Lukrov would have to choose which way Chizuru would suffer.

The thought of this made Arde unable to remain silent,?and she stepped forward.

“I’ll hold her down. Please let me do this.”

Estabelle?looked up at her skeptically.

The old woman’s gaze alternated between Arde and Lukrov, waiting silently for an answer.

“You won’t make it.”

Lukrov stopped Arde with a muffled voice. “I’ll hold her still. Nadal, you go back to your room. Arde, stand next to the doctor and assist her with the cloth change.”

Arde was about to open her mouth to argue, but suddenly Roan?placed his hand?on her shoulder,?and she turned around to look at him. The red-haired knight kept his lips pursed and shook his head quietly. Then he whispered in a calm voice.

“If I were Lukrov, I’d do it. I can’t let anyone else do it, no, I won’t leave it to someone else.”

Arde stared at Roan for a moment, then slowly realized what he meant and nodded slowly and bitterly.

While Estabelle prepared the saltwater container, Lukrov climbed carefully on top of the bed and held Chizuru’s arms and legs as he covered her.

“Nn..ha..ah!”

A faint sound escaped from Chizuru’s lips.

She opened her eyes slightly,?and her gaze wandered aimlessly for a moment. Then she noticed Lukrov’s presence and fixed her gaze on him.

Chizuru’s lips trembled as she tried to call out Lukrov’s name. Her lips moved,?but no sound came out.

Lukrov smiled sadly and gently pressed his lips against his lover’s cheek, who was in a daze of pain and bleeding.

“Chizuru..”

His voice was hoarse.

“My dreams. My heart. You are the only .. thing I want in my whole life.”

Arde sat down on her knees right next to Estabelle.

She prepared a pile of fresh pieces of cloth beside her, ready to hand them over to Estabelle whenever she requested one.

Nadal retreated to the centre of the room but hesitated to step outside and ended up standing next to Roan, his shoulders trembling.

Lukrov made no further comment.

“I will start now. It’s going to hurt. But hopefully, we can prevent it from getting infected. That way, hopefully, she will survive.”

Surprisingly, there was a hint of kindness in Estabelle’s tone.

Chizuru’s eyes flickered with anxiety. She tried to shake her head slightly as if she was trying to fight back, but she didn’t seem to have enough strength left to do so. Arde felt Lukrov clench his teeth tightly.

“Ah..? Ah!!”

Estabelle continued to clean Chizuru’s shoulder, pushing the wound open and spraying saltwater over it. A pale pinkish liquid?which was a mixture of water and blood flowed down Chizuru’s shoulder, and Arde had to hand fresh cloth to Estabelle repeatedly in a quick motion so that she wiped the liquid off.

A muffled scream escaped Chizuru’s throat.

Chizuru arched her back, desperately trying to withstand the intense pain. She struggled to resist, but with Lukrov holding her down tightly, it was impossible to make a single move.

For what seemed like an eternity, Estabelle continued to thoroughly wash the wound.

Chizuru gradually lost her strength, and apart from the occasional trembling sob, she gradually sank back onto the pillow.

“Okay, the only thing left to do is to use herbs. Hand it over.”

After receiving the jar of herbs, the old doctor’s wrinkled hands steadily applied a layer of herbs to Chizuru’s shoulder with skilled movements. Then, to finish, she wrapped a bandage around it.

When everything was over, Arde was drenched in sweat and?utterly?exhausted.

As she managed to catch her breath and wipe the sweat from her forehead, Lukrov pulled himself away from Chizuru with a slow, lifeless movement as if he was a ghost.

The man who was once known as the “Knight of the blaze” stood up from the bed unsteadily, his face distorted with sorrow at the sight of the numerous blood-stained cloth scattered on the floor.

Arde stiffened on the spot as if time had stopped at that moment.

She has never seen a man look so sad in her life. Tears ran slowly down Lukrov’s cheeks.

Nadal, who?had just been?watching, was?totally?exhausted as well, and even Roan seemed to have lost the energy to interrupt.

Only Estabelle?was?calmly?explaining?the situation while she was rinsing her hands, stained from all the work.

“With this, it won’t get badly infected. But you know..”

However, the old woman’s voice was not a cheerful one?that would announce good news.

“She’s lost a lot of blood. It’s too much blood for one girl to lose. And I’m sure you know .. but she’s going to be suffering from a high fever all night. If she can withstand it, she’ll probably survive.”

Arde could feel Lukrov and Roan clenching their fists tightly.

Although Arde didn’t witness a lot of it, she was sure that Lukrov and Roan, being experienced warriors, had seen plenty of?similar situations.

Even if a person didn’t die immediately after receiving a stab wound, there were plenty of people who lost their lives due to the high fever that followed.

Even?though?they avoided the?worst-case?scenario of an infected wound, the danger was not over yet.

The next few days?were?going to be long and painful.

Arde didn’t know how much hope she could hold on to,?and Lukrov must have felt the same way. His eyes were fixed on Chizuru’s pale face and looked as if he was uttering a desperate prayer.