Chapter 23
The Girl's Past
"Call a doctor to treat her. Traditional treatment, not Divine Power, might be effective."
Eclaus calmly suggested an alternative.
Shed clenched his fist.
"Carlisle."
"Yes, my lord."
At Shed's somewhat calmer voice, Carlisle bowed and left the room.
Without a lengthy command, Carlisle brought in a doctor.
Doctors, with their limited abilities compared to the miraculous healing of Clerics, mostly treated the lower classes.
Nobles preferred to call a Cleric for treatment when injured, not a doctor.
But now, a doctor was needed instead of a Cleric.
"Y-you summoned me, Duke?"
The doctor bowed, barely managing to breathe in the room filled with a murderous atmosphere.
Shed immediately dismissed the Cleric and had the doctor tend to the wounds.
The Cleric frowned at the large medical bag the doctor had brought. He seemed angry at being pushed aside by barbaric and ignorant treatment methods, but there was nothing he could do.
The doctor tended to the wounds as he had learned and practiced. He didn't know much about Divine Power or Black Magic, but he knew how to disinfect and seal wounds.
Soon, the bleeding stopped completely, and he carefully applied medicine, stitched the wound, and meticulously bandaged Liana's body.
As the doctor wiped the sweat from his forehead and stood up, Shed approached him as if he had been waiting.
Eclaus thought he looked like a puppy waiting for its owner.
Not a cute puppy, of course, but more like a fighting dog.
"The condition?"
"I've done all I can. From now on, we can only observe and provide appropriate treatment in conjunction..."
"I'm asking if she's safe."
"She's only passed the immediate crisis. The wound is large and deep, and there was a lot of bleeding, so we can only leave it to the will of God..."
Shed's face turned cold, as if he wasn't satisfied with the doctor's answer.
Damn Clerics and doctors were all useless.
"Everyone, get out."
Shed roughly swept back his hair.
The doctor and Cleric left as soon as the words were spoken, followed by Carlisle and Eclaus.
As the door closed, Shed slumped into a chair.
He clasped his hands together.
He knew.
That it wasn't them who were incompetent, but himself.
He was taking out his anger on innocent people because he didn't know what to do with the rage rising in his chest.
He had never felt so pathetic and helpless.
Not when surrounded by enemies, not when a trusted subordinate betrayed him and sold information, not even in front of a giant Demon Beast.
He looked at the woman lying on the bed, breathing faintly.
The sight was so similar to an old memory that his head throbbed.
Back when Luise Ideana and he didn't call their relationship an ill-fated one.
Back then, she was often in bed as well.
Having been weak since childhood, she rarely left Ideana.
Even going outside was difficult, so she was educated by a private tutor and couldn't make friends.
When he returned with spoils and game after battles or hunts, Luise Ideana would rush out to see the things brought from outside.
Shed was a slave carrying the spoils and game, and the young lady would approach him with curious eyes.
Then, he would kneel before the little girl and show her the things he had brought.
That's how he became close to Luise Ideana.
A girl who suited the sunlit garden.
White skin, a light body, eyes shining with curiosity, platinum blonde hair swaying in the wind, and a clear smile that made people feel good.
Once, he had thought that Luise Ideana was only noble and flawless.
Until he learned why Luise couldn't even go outside properly.
"Cough, cough!"
"My lady...!"
He saw blood gushing from her mouth.
Blood splattered on the sunlit grass, and her small body collapsed onto the dirt floor.
When her frail body was burning with fever and her stomach was so damaged that she couldn't even swallow saliva properly, the maids would move her with indifferent expressions, as if it were a common occurrence, and sigh as they wiped away the blood.
On nights when her body writhed and convulsed in pain, her cries leaked through the door.
"My lady, are you alright!"
"Shed. Help me..."
When she regained consciousness, she would look for him with a torn, hoarse voice.
On nights when her small body trembled, swallowing the pain, Shed would hug her.
She, who had been suffering as if she would die at any moment, would fight death all night and barely fall asleep as if fainting.
The next day, Luise Ideana would be sitting on the bed as if nothing had happened.
"I'm... sorry about yesterday."
She smiled weakly with a pale face.
As if being sick was her fault, she would be withered like a wilted flower after being sick.
Luise feared that her pain would become a burden to others.
She also said she was sorry to her father, who had suffered because of her illness since she was a child.
Perhaps that's why she gradually endured the pain more often.
Even when she vomited blood, she would familiarly find a basin, spit out the blood, and wipe it away with a trembling hand.
When suffering from a high fever, she would bury her trembling body under the blanket and bite her lip without making a sound.
Occasionally, when she couldn't breathe properly, she would send everyone away, sit down holding her chest, and endure until she was soaked in cold sweat.
Pain was her daily life, so she calmly endured her given share.
"It's amazing that I'm still alive despite all this, isn't it?"
Her words, muttered casually, pierced his heart like thorns.
It was as if she meant that she was frustrated that she couldn't die quickly.
She thought death was faster than curing her incurable disease.
But.
"But you've been living well until now, Luise."
At the edge of her precarious life, hadn't she been enduring well until now?
Shed's jaw clenched.
Liana's slender hand, resting on the blanket, was as white as plaster, devoid of blood.
"So you have to endure this time too."
As always, you have to live, no matter how painful it is.
Because I will curse all night to make you do so.
Because I will pray to the devil for you.
***
Thwack!
Eclaus frowned at the ear-piercing impact.
'Is he crazy?'
He looked at the man swinging his sword in the distance and thought irritably.
Thwack, thwack! Crack! Crash!
He couldn't sleep at all because of the loud noises all night. And the sound showed no sign of stopping even now that the sun had risen.
Eclaus endured the curse that was rising to the tip of his throat and watched Shed.
The crazy warrior had been like that since yesterday.
He had been like that since before dinner, and he was breaking everything he could break or cut, soaked in sweat and even throwing off his top.
'How much has he broken?'
He wiped his tired face as he looked at the piles of wood and stone fragments stacked high on one side of the mansion. The debris broken in a single day had created a hill that could easily be climbed.
Everything that had been broken over the years was completely destroyed by his hands yesterday. Among them was a huge rock that seemed impossible to break with a sword.
'Crazy Duke bastard.'
Eclaus muttered inwardly as he watched the scene.
He was sensitive because he hadn't slept properly due to the noise all night, and no one would hear the curses he was spitting out anyway.
'Why is he doing that all night?'
Eclaus sighed deeply.
Didn't he know why? It must be because of that woman.
That pretty woman who resembled Luise Ideana.
That woman hadn't woken up for three days.
"Damn it..."
Shed, who had been swinging his sword with all his might, dropped it in front of the shattered pieces.
No matter how much he swung his sword and destroyed everything in sight, nothing was resolved.
The complicated emotions and thoughts that filled his head wouldn't disappear.
If only he had been faster. If only he had judged more accurately. If only he hadn't been careless for a moment. If only he had watched and protected Liana more carefully...
Even though he knew how pathetic and meaningless such assumptions were, endless 'what ifs' tormented him.
No matter how many times he swung his sword, the futile thoughts wouldn't break like a chain made of red-hot iron.
If she didn't wake up like this, the next thing he would want to destroy would be himself.
The veins in his hand holding the sword bulged.
"Duke Lester."
Then, taking advantage of the timing when he briefly stopped his sword, Eclaus intervened.
Shed raised his head at that.
Eclaus flinched as he saw his bloodshot eyes.
'He looks terrible.'
Well, Shed Lester was also human.
It would be strange if he was fine after swinging his sword like that all night.
His hands, which were thickly calloused from swinging the sword all night, had long been bleeding, as if they couldn't bear it.
Blood droplets fell sparsely from his scraped and torn hands.
Shed's body was soaked in sweat.
His torso, with his shirt thrown off, glistened with sweat. The muscle masses covered in scars were intimidating.
His hair, disheveled with sweat, lacked the neatness he usually showed.
Certainly, the sight was wild and overwhelming.
But somehow, he looked the weakest and most precarious of all the Shed Lesters he had seen.
