Chapter 871

Yuder suddenly felt a pang of guilt for all the trouble Inon had gone through.

"......Inon. I’m sor—"

"If you're gonna say you're sorry, shut your mouth. Got it?"

But before he could even apologize, the glare that flew at him made Yuder clamp his mouth shut.

"I didn’t do this crap just to hear some apology. If you’re really sorry, then eat properly, stop showing up here all banged up, and maybe think about bowing down and thanking your heaven-sent big brother for once."

And if you can, show that gratitude a little more clearly! —though Inon did say that, it was obvious he wasn’t talking about money. Even in his past life, Inon had received more payment in the form of a lemon and a word of thanks than actual coins from those who came for medicine.

He had always been that kind of person—someone who would treat a clearly suspicious stranger like Yudrain without expecting anything in return.

‘And even back then, he wanted to be treated like an older brother more than he wanted money.’

Suddenly, Kishiar’s words echoed in his mind—those words about not apologizing for something you believe was right. The feeling was different, but the way neither of them seemed to want an apology from him... it was strangely similar.

Yuder looked at Inon's pouting face for a moment, then lowered his eyes and let out a soft laugh. Inon’s eyes went wide like he’d just witnessed something shocking.

"...Wait. Did you just... laugh?"

"Once I’m better, I’ll properly bow and thank you for your kindness, like you said. If that’s really enough for you."

"......"

"And... thank you for saving me. I mean it."

Well, not like he hadn’t meant it before, but saying it out loud made him feel a little itchy and awkward. It definitely wasn’t the kind of thing you could say twice in the same state of mind.

"...You’re seriously... such a goddamn pain."

Inon, who had stayed silent for a while, finally muttered that, then walked over and roughly tousled Yuder’s hair before wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

"You have no idea how many people were waiting for you to wake up."

"......"

"Anyway, you're awake now. That’s what matters. Everything else can wait. For now, just focus on recovering. Got it?"

Yuder slowly nodded.

In Inon’s arms, he could smell a sharp blend of herbs and the fresh scent of lemon. As he breathed it in, his body and eyelids both started to feel heavier.

"...I’m suddenly really sleepy. My body feels heavy."

"Of course you’re sleepy and heavy. You were unconscious for two weeks and just woke up."

"......I have to go see the Commander."

"There you go again with that Commander crap... haah."

Inon gave Yuder’s head a slightly painful pat, then sighed and pushed his shoulders down to make him lie back.

"Unless it’s something urgent where one of you’s gonna die if you don’t talk now, just sleep. I’ll make sure you can see him when you wake up."

"But..."

"But what."

"I just woke up from a brief blackout and two weeks had passed... if I fall asleep again and another few days go by... what if the information... my thoughts... what if they fade..."

Even with his fuzzy brain, Yuder tried to mumble out his concern, and Inon frowned hard.

"Hey. The world’s not gonna end just ‘cause you sleep a little more."

"......"

"If it’s something you’d forget just from sleeping, then it wasn’t that important to begin with. And if you still don’t wake up after a day, I’ll wake you myself. Okay? So just sleep already!"

"......How?"

He only asked because he was curious if Inon actually had a way to forcibly wake him up, but Inon blew up.

"Huh? Are you doubting me right now? I’ve been staying up for days watching over you and now you don’t trust your big brother?"

"No... I trust you. I do."

Saying that out loud—saying he trusted someone—felt truly strange. Especially because it was Inon.

While Yuder hesitated after saying it, Inon pressed a hand over his eyes as he lay on the pillow.

"Good. Now close your eyes!"

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Yuder reflexively closed his eyes. The moment everything went dark, his body suddenly felt like water-soaked cotton, sinking fast.

Beyond the blurring edges of consciousness, he could faintly feel Inon muttering and softly patting him. There was no real need to go that far when he was just going to fall asleep anyway... but maybe Inon was doing it to remind Yuder that he was still there.

‘Still, he didn’t have to treat me like a kid...’

Before the thought could finish, Yuder drifted off again.

When he woke up—without even dreaming once—it was night.

It was quiet. Inon wasn’t there.

More importantly, this wasn’t the medical room from earlier.

‘This place...’

It was the bedroom connected to the temporary Commander’s office. The moment he realized that, a voice came from «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» nearby.

"...Did you sleep well?"

Still half-lost in the pull of sleep, Yuder’s mind stirred at the sound. He turned his head and saw a man sitting beside the bed.

Kishiar, with a white bandage over one eye, was in loose indoor clothes, calmly looking down at Yuder. The bandage instantly reminded Yuder that all the battles he had gone through had been real. He couldn’t look away from it.

"......"

"The pharmacist said to give you water as soon as you opened your eyes. Do you think you can drink?"

Kishiar lifted a pitcher from the table as he asked. When Yuder nodded, he heard the sound of water being poured. He tried to sit up to drink, but his bandaged arms and splinted torso wouldn’t cooperate. He failed.

"Ha..."

"It’s fine. Don’t force it. Take it slow... there."

A firm hand supported Yuder’s back, helping him sit up. Through the thin layer of his clothes, Kishiar’s scent—cool and familiar—touched his skin.

That familiar scent instantly brought back the sickening metallic stench that had clung to the white glove in his dream. A reek completely unlike Kishiar’s usual scent. It was impossible to believe they belonged to the same person... but it had, undeniably, been Kishiar la Orr’s hand.

"Here."

Kishiar held the cup to his lips. Yuder worried for a second that it might be one of Inon’s nasty herbal brews, but luckily, it was just plain water. The clean water hit his throat and suddenly, he realized how thirsty he’d been.

When his drinking got too hurried, Kishiar gently patted his back.

"There’s more, so don’t rush."

After two and a half cups, his body finally felt like it had enough. As soon as Yuder slightly turned his head, Kishiar picked up on it and set the cup down without a word.

"......How long... was I out this time?"

"Half a day."

Kishiar answered clearly and briefly.

"You came to for a bit earlier today. After you fell asleep again, the pharmacist suggested we move you here. Said it’d be better. He also said you kept whining about needing to see me right away."

"......"

"He also added that you threw a fit about not sleeping because you were afraid you’d be out for more than a day. That true?"

It was true, but the way it was phrased... something about the word choice felt weird. The frustration in Inon’s words was practically palpable. Yuder stayed silent for a moment.

‘Inon...’

With a soft sigh, Yuder opened his mouth.

"While I was unconscious, I had a strange dream. I was looking for you to tell you about it."

"Hmm... Let me guess. Did that ‘white glove’ show up again?"

His heart seemed to skip a beat.

"......How did you know? Did you—?"

"I didn’t share the dream."

Kishiar calmly cut him off and answered.

"But it wasn’t hard to guess. A dream so intense it made you desperate to see me... and what we experienced before that. Out of everything, the three spatial rifts that appeared over the temple stood out the most."

He gave a strange little smile as he listed them off.

"Last time, you had the dream after those rifts appeared. So I figured it could happen again. And just like before, I wasn’t able to share your dream—that much was the same."

"......"

"So, what was it this time? What made you rush to find me?"

"Well... more than that..."

"......Hmm?"

At first, Yuder had planned to talk about the dream right away. But now that Kishiar was the one asking, Yuder found himself more focused on the bandage still covering one of his eyes.

One red eye instead of a pair. Just looking at it felt like something was scraping a sharp edge across his heart. He couldn’t bear it.

In the end, Yuder reached out and touched near Kishiar’s eye. Moving was difficult with the splints, but he managed to brush the rough bandage with his fingers. The sensation made him clench his jaw.

"Why are you... still covering your eye like that?"