Why was this happening?

Luman stared down at Ren in utter shock.

His eyes were squeezed shut. He writhed in agony, trembling violently, yet still bit his lip hard as if refusing to make a single sound...... and on those pale, cracked, torn lips, blood had gathered in a red so vivid it felt ominous.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

As if all the blood that had drained away had returned at once, his heart began to pound beyond his control. Thump, thump. With the blood rushing powerfully through him, his heart spasmed as though it might burst.

Was it a side effect of touching the authority?

The scene from that time flashed through Luman’s mind.

The patterns that had densely filled that vast space, gathering toward a single point. The array that had only one final line left. The moment he had sensed the catastrophe it would bring if completed and had been ready to offer his life.

The moment he had taken out the golden spear and tried to drive it into the point where the pattern was about to be completed—and Ren had shoved him aside and done it in his place.

He had thought nothing would happen. Ren had been fine, and he had said nothing. Even before that, when they had moved through the power of light using the Hero’s authority, Ren had shown no abnormalities. So from then on, too, surely nothing would be wrong...... He had thought that.

Luman realized.

That had only been his wish.

He had only never said it aloud because he wanted Ren to be fine.

He should have known that things he closed his eyes to and pretended not to see would someday take shape before him in one way or another.

Before Ren collapsed.

“Are you going to keep standing there frozen?”

A cold, sharp voice dug into Luman’s ears. It almost sounded like an accusation. His golden eyes shook endlessly, and even those words could not bring him back to himself.

“Luman.”

A strong grip seized Luman’s arm. Peruan was also someone who used a sword. His grip was stronger than an ordinary person’s.

At the touch digging into his forearm as if tearing at him, Luman finally lifted his eyes and stared at Peruan.

The violet eyes were calm.

“We need to move Ren inside.”

Peruan had no leisure to wait until Luman came to his senses. He was working hard to appear calm, but he, too, was extremely anxious.

“Did you know?”

Luman’s damp voice slowly flowed from his mouth.

Peruan glanced at him, then took Ren out of Luman’s arms and held him himself. Luman could not even put strength into his hands and simply had Ren taken from him.

Those jewel-like violet eyes brushed past Luman without emotion, and Peruan turned and ran.

***

“Shh. It will be all right, Ren. I’ll be beside you.”

“.......”

As Peruan ran with Ren in his arms, he did nothing but repeat over and over that it would be all right. He did not ask where or how it hurt. He had already experienced Ren’s seizure once before. Peruan tried to stay calm. If he made a fuss, it would only be noisy in Ren’s ears.

The servants stared at him in shock as he ran in and asked what had happened, but Peruan merely requested a pitcher of warm water and cool water.

Peruan ran to his room and laid Ren down.

“Young Count, a physician......”

Just as a servant opened his mouth to say he would call a physician, urgent knocking sounded and Tom returned. Beside him stood an old man with rolls of fat on him. Peruan’s eyes narrowed, but this was no time to be choosy. Perhaps noticing his gaze, Tom approached and explained that the man was fairly well known within the territory. He added that he had also called Jepeto, so Peruan need not worry.

Peruan briefly explained the symptoms to the physician, stepped aside, and told Tom to bring the formal uniform he had worn while lying in ambush.

Ren could not lie still on the bed. He only crushed his lips between his teeth and twisted his body. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his back was already soaked through. The way he trembled, the way he did not even scream, made it even more painful to watch.

After barely managing to examine Ren, the physician shook his head with a troubled expression. He said Ren was so severely weak that even taking his pulse was difficult, and that he did not know the reason for the seizure. Soon after, someone came running in.

“Young Count, my greetings. Ren is......!”

It was Jepeto.

He ran over in panic and examined Ren. His face darkened gloomily.

For something like this to happen just as he had been making that anxious guess that Ren might have a chronic illness......

Jepeto’s gaze turned to Ren lying on the bed. The sight of him unable to keep his body still, curled up and struggling, looked agonizing. The writhing Ren seemed to be in more pain than when he had been stabbed near the heart. Jepeto’s face went pale with fear and worry.

He hurriedly examined Ren and tried to soothe him, calling his name, but Ren could not understand him. Even taking his pulse gave him no solution. Jepeto could not identify Ren’s illness and was only thrown into confusion.

“Is there no method?”

Peruan’s face was composed, and no confusion could be read in his expression. Hearing his voice, Jepeto’s expression went blank with shock. This man already knew!

The violet eyes were only cautious.

When Peruan lifted his eyes from Ren, his cold gaze fixed on Jepeto and the physician who had been called in. It was a gaze that tightly pressed a person in place.

“Can he take medicine?”

“Th-there’s medicine?!”

Jepeto asked in shock. A light flashed in his eyes. Jepeto was quick-witted in matters like this. Peruan closed his mouth. It meant he would not answer.

“He can drink water, but chewing anything will be difficult. His tonsils are swollen, and if something goes wrong, he may suffocate.”

The door opened quietly. Tom assessed the room’s atmosphere and placed the formal uniform he had brought on the chair beside the bed.

“Then prepare something to stabilize and strengthen his body so he can take the medicine. As quickly as possible.”

“Yes, Young Count.” 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The old man who had been called in nodded. Seeing him, Jepeto opened his mouth.

“I’ll stay here......”

“No.”

Peruan cut Jepeto off at once. His cold gaze pressed down on Jepeto arrogantly.

His attitude seemed to ask what Jepeto could possibly do.

“I’ll care for him, so everyone leave. Since there is no method, shouldn’t he at least rest comfortably? Ren would not want to show anyone this side of himself.”

“If you need anything, at any time....... I’ll have the medicine prepared right away.”

Unable to hide his anxiety, Jepeto muttered the words and left in a daze. Tom also led the servants and physician out, and soon only Ren and Peruan remained in the room.

“Ren. Poor you...... Everyone has left. So you may make whatever sounds you need. I’ll stay with you. I’ve already experienced this once with you, so there is no need to be ashamed and no need to hide. Only I will hear your screams. Shh. Once time passes, you’ll be all right like you were then.”

“.......”

“I’ll hold your hand. Ren, my dear, you said it before. That when I held your hand, it felt as though you were getting better, and that you should have ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ said so sooner. Ren, I, Peruan, will always stay beside you and hold your hand.”

In a soft, measured voice, Peruan carefully took Ren’s hand. Ren had been gripping the blanket so hard that the blood had stopped flowing, leaving each joint of his fingers white.

Did Peruan’s words have an effect?

Ren, who had endured the pain without making a single sound, finally opened his mouth.

What sort of sound could this even be called?

A raw sound of pain being spat out, a faint scream mixed with sobbing, and even that was suppressed. It sounded like a young animal suffering.

Every single groan Ren let out seemed to become a blade carving into Peruan’s chest.

Leaving one hand in Ren’s grip, Peruan used the other to stroke his sweat-soaked face. His skin was hot as fire. The burning sensation traveled into Peruan’s hand as if he had been burned. Was Ren’s pain like swallowing fire? He did not dare even guess.

The grip on his hand was crushing, and nails dug into the back of it. Peruan’s hand was already a mess as well. But the pain Peruan felt on the back of his hand could not be even one-hundredth of Ren’s.

“If I said that even in this moment, I find you lovely, and that the way you cling to me has made me fall even harder, would you call me mad? Ren.”

The sight of Ren desperately holding onto his hand and trying not to let go was pitiable, lovely, and heartbreaking. The way he clung to him as if Peruan were the only person in the world brought him satisfaction. Like a meal eaten at the hungriest moment, like lowering himself into hot spring water. He felt an ecstatic, joyous emotion.

“Ren.”

Peruan’s fingers brushed Ren’s lips.

“You’re...... insane......”

“Ren!”

Ren’s eyes slowly opened. Green eyes filled with heat, hot and burning, as if a forest had caught fire.

“You must have opened your eyes because you wanted to see me, Ren. Now, I’ll give you the medicine.”

Peruan straightened from where he had been bent over the bed, then lifted Ren’s body into his arms. Holding Ren, he sat at an angle on the bed and skillfully poured the steeped tea into a cup with one hand.

After putting it to his own lips to check the temperature, Peruan tilted Ren’s head back and let it rest against his shoulder.

“Drink slowly. You need to drink this so you can take the medicine too.”