“Yellian!”
Leonard’s voice, calling out while holding their body, seemed to come from a distant place. Thinking that it must hurt terribly to lose all sense of distance, Yellian narrowed their brows.
“I didn’t mean to do it……. My body just moved on its own…… Ugh……. It hurts…….”
Yellian, making excuses that weren’t really excuses, soon let out a groan filled with pain.
Leonard carefully laid Yellian down. The grass was thick here, so it was bearable to lie on. Well, in truth, the pain near the right chest where the arrow had struck was so intense that Yellian had no capacity to care about anything else.
Leonard gripped his sword firmly and approached the man who had shot the arrow. The man had already switched from arrows to a sword.
Then, the two began to clash swords. The sharp ‘clang’, ‘clang’ of swords colliding rang out clearly.
Even to Yellian, who knew little about sword fighting, Leonard appeared to be an exceptional swordsman. Despite having lost so much blood and being poisoned, he was almost toying with his opponent.
Therefore, Yellian wasn’t worried about Leonard losing, but they were concerned about what would happen if the poison spread throughout his entire body.
“Ugh!”
It wasn’t long before the enemy collapsed to his knees with a thud. Leonard glared at him with eyes burning with rage. For a moment, his pitch-black pupils seemed to turn a dark red, which said it all.
“Hehe……. You can’t kill me, can you? You need to find out who’s behind me. Right?”
As Leonard raised his sword, the man spoke in a mocking tone. Leonard’s sword hesitated for a moment, but then it pierced through the man’s thigh.
“Aaaargh!”
A scream like a dying gasp echoed around. Leonard didn’t stop there and this time slashed the man’s arm. Bright red blood soaked his clothes and streamed down.
“I can find out who’s behind this even without you. But as you said, I’ll let you live. Killing you cleanly wouldn’t satisfy my current mood.”
Leonard spoke in a deeply subdued voice. Sensing either killing intent or madness from Leonard, the man struggled to escape.
The man, clutching his bleeding thigh, struggled to stand, but Leonard wasn’t one to just watch. He lightly cut the man’s uninjured ankle. Of course, though it was called a light cut, the wound was quite deep due to the sharpness of the sword.
“Ah, aaaargh!”
Because of this, the man screamed and collapsed with a thud. He tried to get up again, struggling, but with no strength in his legs, he kept falling over. In the end, he crawled on the ground, shouting in a voice filled with rage.
“What did you do to my leg!”
“I severed the tendon in your ankle. Now you’ll live the rest of your life limping on one leg. Of course, that ‘rest of your life’ won’t be very long.”
It was a curt reply. Leonard glared at the man for a moment before walking over to Yellian.
Meanwhile, Yellian, having watched the entire scene, was once again reminded of the fact that Leonard was indeed a madman. But as Leonard approached, Yellian instinctively shrank back.
“Elton will be back soon with the medics. Hold on just a little longer. Don’t lose consciousness.”
Leonard’s voice was calmer than expected. No, it went beyond calm to the point of being cold.
Well, why would Leonard panic or worry over someone like them? Even as Yellian thought this, a part of their heart felt a tinge of disappointment.
“You avoided vital areas. With proper first aid, you’ll be fine.”
“……Is that all?”
It seemed the reason Leonard remained so calm even after seeing Yellian’s injury was because he knew the arrow had missed any vital spots. Since it wasn’t a life-threatening situation, he could afford to be calm.
Yellian tried to understand Leonard’s feelings in their own way, but the lingering sense of disappointment and hurt was undeniable. Unable to hold back, Yellian finally voiced their sharp emotions.
“Even if it’s not a life-threatening situation, you’re too calm. It makes the person who got shot feel hurt…….”
Yellian grumbled. It seemed they were well enough to complain. Otherwise, how could they say such things so casually after being struck by an arrow? Even as Yellian thought this, they couldn’t help but mock themselves in disbelief.
At that moment, Leonard took Yellian’s hand. The sudden contact was secondary to the shock of how damp and cold Leonard’s hand was, chilling to the touch.
“I was shocked. Enough for my hands and feet to turn cold.”
“…….”
Yellian couldn’t argue further after hearing such unexpected words. They hit straight to the heart. How shocked must he have been for his hands and feet to turn cold? Yellian couldn’t even imagine.
After struggling for a while to gauge Leonard’s feelings, Yellian eventually let go of their worries and gave a faint smile. It was fine not to fully understand his heart. After all, the great Leonard was worrying about them.
“Don’t smile.”
“Why? There’s a saying that you can’t spit on a smiling face.”
“That’s because spitting is a lowly act, and I wouldn’t want to do it. Whether you smile or not doesn’t matter.”
At Leonard’s words, Yellian only smacked their lips in dissatisfaction. They tried to think of a retort, but nothing came to mind. So, Yellian decided to change the subject.
“Leonard, you’re really amazing. I’m dizzy just from losing this much blood, so how can you still wield a sword? Is it because you’re the mad duke…….?”
Yellian, rambling on as thoughts came to mind, belatedly looked at Leonard with startled eyes. They were shocked at having unintentionally mentioned ‘mad duke’.
Their heart dropped in shock, but pretending nothing was wrong, Yellian let out a fake cough.
“Don’t lose consciousness. Hold on to your senses somehow.”
Fortunately or unfortunately, Leonard didn’t ask what ‘mad duke’ meant. Yellian let out a sigh of relief and nodded slightly.
In truth, they felt like they might really lose consciousness, but the ominous feeling that if they passed out now, they might never wake up again made Yellian force their drooping eyes open time and again.
It was at that moment. As the surroundings grew noisy, a familiar voice rang out.
“My lord! Are you alright…….?”
Elton trailed off, sounding flustered. He quickly tried to assess the situation. Two men lay collapsed, bleeding, and Yellian had been struck by an arrow. Leonard was guarding their side. Though he wasn’t sure, it seemed the two fallen men had ambushed them. Elton hurriedly sent the medics to the two and began restraining the collapsed men.
“The arrow is deeply embedded, but thankfully, it missed vital areas.”
The medic’s words sounded distant. Yellian wondered if it was okay to faint now but decided to hold on a little longer. However, Yellian’s resolve quickly crumbled.
“We’re going to remove the arrow.”
“What, aaaargh!”
It would have been better to faint. As the medic pulled out the embedded arrow, the pain was so intense that tears nearly burst forth. Yellian couldn’t help but scream.
Panting and struggling to catch their breath, Yellian barely held onto their fading consciousness when they suddenly realized their hand was still holding Leonard’s. Leonard was gripping Yellian’s hand tightly with strength.
“……Leonard?”
“I’ll stay by your side, so you can rest now. When you wake up, everything will be healed.”
It wasn’t a particularly warm tone, yet to Yellian, his words sounded tearfully kind. Moreover, they felt incredibly reliable.
Yellian nodded a couple of times before closing their eyes. With that, the consciousness they had been forcibly holding onto slipped away, and they were sucked into a world of darkness.
* * *
[Kyuu.]
A sound Yellian had heard somewhere before reached their ears. It wasn’t a human voice. Nor could it be called an animal’s, as the cry was quite unique.
With their eyes closed, Yellian pondered who the owner of this voice might be.
[Kyuuu.]
At the repeated sound, Yellian’s eyes snapped open. They remembered where they had heard this sound before.
Yellian jolted upright but clutched their chest at the pain radiating from the right side.
“Yellian! Are you alright?”
Elton rushed over in a panic. Meanwhile, Yellian looked around.
This was the duke’s estate. Realizing they had woken up in a familiar place brought a sense of calm to their heart. Why Elton was calling them ‘Yellian’ with such respect was a secondary concern.
“I think I just heard the cry of the baby dragon I saw in the cave. It must be a hallucination, right?”
“Ah……. About that…….”
Elton scratched the back of his head with a troubled expression before stepping aside. Behind him, a golden baby dragon with large, shining green eyes was looking at Yellian with a shy expression.
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