Chapter 2
I Told You Not to Bite Your Lip
The knights who had been waiting for the Duke to return from the forest were speechless.
It was because of the woman who was hanging on Shed Lester's shoulder like a deer carcass after he had gone hunting in response to the sound of a beast.
"Your Grace! Who is that woman...!"
"...A hunting trophy."
"Pardon? A, a person?"
If anyone else had said it, it would have sounded like a joke, but because the speaker was Shed Lester, the knights couldn't take it as a jest.
Whether he knew of the knights' bewilderment or not, Shed Lester placed the woman he had hunted in the forest onto a baggage wagon.
The petite woman in blood-stained clothes was huddled and trembling.
The knights thought as they looked at him.
'He didn't kill his prey.'
It was a relief.
But that didn't mean this situation was fortunate for the woman.
The traces of blood splattered on her clothes were vivid...
"Duke Leicester! D, did you really shoot a person while hunting?"
The knight's eyes widened as he looked at the woman's calf.
The blood that had soaked her clothes must have come from that woman's leg.
The affected area wasn't clearly visible because it was covered in blood, but it was clear that the bleeding was still ongoing.
"Even if it hasn't been long since you returned from the battlefield, this is..."
"Sir Hedrick."
The knight's mouth snapped shut as Shed, who had put the woman down, turned his eyes to look at him.
He didn't know what had happened, but His Grace was displeased.
"Medicine."
Shed ordered briefly.
Then, the knight Hedrick quickly ran to get the medicine.
In the gap while the knight was away, Shed turned his eyes back to Liana.
As he bent down and reached for her injured leg, her small body flinched and retreated.
It was quite amusing. As if she had anywhere to run.
"You'd better stay still."
Shed ruthlessly grabbed her frightened leg.
And, as if not caring about her shame, he tore off the long tights that covered her up to her knees in one go.
"Ugh..."
Her face contorted as the piece of cloth covering the wound was removed.
The marks of a beast's teeth deeply embedded in her calf.
"...Luise."
"Liana."
As he called her name, she corrected him.
"Liana Serpens..."
Clutching the dirty maid's uniform tightly with her small fists, her face was filled with fear.
Stubborn fear was reflected in her green eyes.
"...Fine. It doesn't change anything, whatever your name is."
Shed tore off the hem of his white shirt and twisted the cloth.
As he tightly tied the twisted cloth above her blood-stained knee, Liana retreated as if resisting.
"It's okay..."
Liana shook her head, trying to escape from his hands.
She didn't want to entrust her treatment to him. No, to be exact, she didn't want to get involved with him. Because he was a trace of the past that she had barely shaken off.
She would rather be chased by hunting dogs.
Then, the violet eyes hidden beneath her long eyelashes lifted and turned to her.
Her heart sank just from meeting his gaze.
"...Right. You look fine. If we're lucky, it'll only end with cutting off your leg."
Because of his monotonous voice, Liana couldn't even tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
Shed stood up with an indifferent face and took a water container hanging on the side of the baggage wagon.
And again, he grabbed her ankle with his large hand.
"Hold on."
After a short warning, clean water flowed over the affected area.
Liana curled up, biting her lip tightly at the suffocating pain.
"Ugh...!"
The pain deepened twofold as the water penetrated the wound.
Liana squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed a small groan between her teeth.
The beast's teeth marks, deeply etched on her white calf where the bloodstains had been washed away, were revealed even more clearly.
Should she be thankful that pieces of flesh hadn't been torn off?
It was a large wound that would have made even a trained knight scream in pain, but Liana didn't let out a single loud cry.
Shed stopped pouring water and stared at her again.
Blood was seeping from her lips, which she had bitten to endure the pain.
"...You still have the habit of biting your lip."
Her heart sank at his low voice.
He remembered an old habit that even Liana hadn't been aware of.
"You should fix that habit. Unless you want me to treat your lips every time."
Shed's voice sounded somewhat annoyed at the end.
At that moment, Hedrick, who had been away, brought a box containing first aid supplies.
"I've brought it, Your Grace. The treatment..."
"I'll do it."
Hedrick hesitated for a moment as Shed reached out his hand, but then obediently handed him the first aid kit.
It was a box containing medicine and bandages prepared for a long journey.
Shed dismissed the knight and knelt on one knee.
And he pulled Liana's injured leg and rested it on his knee.
His pants were stained with blood because it hadn't completely stopped bleeding yet.
Shed didn't care and began to apply ointment to the torn flesh.
The moment the fingertips with the ointment touched her leg, Liana's body reflexively trembled greatly.
"Ugh...!"
"I told you not to bite your lip."
He frowned as he saw Liana, who had bitten her lip again out of habit.
Liana didn't want him to catch her unconscious habit.
But she hated making sounds that sounded like she was complaining about the pain in front of him even more.
She tried to endure the pain without biting her lip, but every time his fingertips touched her leg, a groan filled with pain threatened to escape.
Every time she suppressed a groan, her trembling lips involuntarily curled inward.
Then, long fingers gently rubbed her red, blood-filled lips.
Unlike his blunt and cold tone, his careful touch brushed over her sensitive skin.
"Hiss."
Hot breath burst out from between her parted lips.
Surprised by the sound she had made herself, Liana hurriedly turned her head and avoided his touch on her lips.
Then, the hand that had been hovering in the air dropped down.
As if nothing had happened.
Liana covered her lips, where his hand had touched, with the back of her hand and pressed down hard.
In the meantime, Shed finished the treatment and skillfully applied the bandage.
Liana was confused by his touch.
Her heart ached at the gentle touch even as she chewed on hatred.
"Stop..."
Liana uttered in a trembling voice. Then, Shed's hand, which had been tying the bandage, stopped.
Taking advantage of the gap, Liana raised her body, which had been sitting on the baggage wagon.
"Then, I'll be going now."
As she turned around to run away, a cool voice caught her.
"You have to pay the price for being saved."
Her limping steps stopped as if caught on a hook.
He had saved her from being chased by hunting dogs and even treated her.
Of course, it was polite to express her gratitude.
"...Thank you very much."
She desperately found the bills in her pocket and handed them to Shed.
It was because she wanted to sever her ties with him even if she had to pay the price.
Shed scoffed at the crumpled bills she handed him.
"Only 3 Della?"
Shed stood up and looked down at her.
His height was so tall, much taller than she remembered, that he felt oppressive just by himself.
"What do you think you can solve with money like this?"
Shed sneered at her for offering him money that wasn't even worth one meal for him.
He was a great aristocrat of the empire, with a vast territory.
Liana's face was flushed with shame.
3 Della was all the money she had right now.
Helplessly, she had no ability to repay Shed Lester's debt.
"But..."
"Of course, it's not that I won't accept payment."
He cut off Liana's words as she tried to add an excuse, and tossed the remaining bandage into the medicine box.
"I'm going to get it properly."
He wasn't the kind of person who would treat someone without a plan.
***
Shed took out a locket pendant from inside his jacket.
Click, when he opened the pendant, an old piece of paper folded inside was visible.
It was a newspaper article from several years ago, with the ink sparsely falling off.
The letters had become blurry, but he could read the title of the article that he had seen so many times that it was worn out.
— Extinction of the Ideana County: Meeting Their End Through Heretical Judgment!
Below the bold headline was a portrait of the Ideana family, printed in engraving.
In the center of the portrait, a girl with a youthful face was staring straight ahead expressionlessly.
Below the girl, her name was written in very small letters.
— Luise Ideana
'As expected... you don't resemble her at all.'
He had thought it was a crude and clumsy engraving ever since the newspaper article came out years ago.
The dry corners of his lips faintly lifted.
Click, the locket pendant closed at his fingertips.
Among the things known as truth, there is sometimes a mixture of lies.
Shed had believed that lie for a long time.
***
Luise Ideana, or rather Liana, was loaded onto the baggage wagon like luggage.
Because the wagon's awning was completely covered, she couldn't see outside.
All she could know was the vibration of the wheels rumbling incessantly.
Liana trembled and huddled up, clutching her collar with trembling hands.
'...Why did he have to be in that place?'
She had always been concerned about being close to the Duchy of Lester.
So, she was planning to leave quickly as soon as she found what she wanted.
But fate, as if mocking her efforts, dragged her to him and offered her as a sacrifice.
Liana wrapped her arms around herself and huddled up.
At that moment, the wagon stopped.
"Come out."
When the awning at the entrance was lifted, a large shadow with its back to the light was visible.
Within it, shining purple eyes were watching her as if monitoring her.
Behind him, a familiar mansion was visible.
Barony of Godwin.
It was the main residence of the Baron, who had served as the director of the Dinames Library behind the largest Temple in the world, and the reality she had been chased into.
'I've come to the Barony...?'
A strange sense of relief and a bizarre suspicion, an unknown anxiety, assailed her when Liana's body floated into the air.
Because of that, even the old shoe she was wearing on only one foot came off and fell to the ground.
"P, please put me down...!"
Liana was dangling on Shed's shoulder.
"You can't walk in with that leg, can you?"
"I can walk...!"
But Shed ignored her resistance and moved his feet.
He headed to the main gate of the Barony of Godwin with Liana slung over one shoulder like a bag of luggage.
Then, the guard of the Barony blocked him.
"Who are you?"
The guard with a clumsy expression asked Shed with tension. It was because the pressure felt from the unfamiliar visitor was extraordinary. At a glance, he was not a criminal.
However, the color of his eyes...
"I have something to tell Baron Godwin."
"To the master?"
"Tell him that Duke Shed Lester has come to visit."
Then, the eyes of the guard who heard the name widened as if swelling.
