With his heart pounding as if about to burst, his mind in complete disarray from tension and excitement, and experiencing sensations he had never felt before in his life, Chamuka, while feeling Leticia in his arms…
Slowly, thud.
…fainted.
“Hic, huh…?”
Leticia, unable to bear the sudden weight pressing heavily on her, stumbled backward.
Only after her head hit the ground did she look up at Chamuka above her with puzzled eyes.
“…?”
Chamuka’s eyes were closed, his body limp and powerless.
Leticia stopped crying in surprise.
She roughly wiped away her tears with her hands and examined the unconscious Chamuka’s face, turning it from side to side.
“Chamuka? Chamuka?”
When he didn’t open his eyes despite her calls, Leticia became frightened.
She hurriedly hoisted Chamuka onto her back.
Naturally, she couldn’t handle this bear-like weight alone, but wasn’t this what magic was for?
Leticia bravely shook off her tears and ran to Colin’s house carrying the bear-like man on her back.
Although Leticia’s family from 10 years ago had abandoned her (?), she had another family she needed to take care of.
There might not have been tender comfort, but the fact that he had come all the way to the capital for her was already touching enough…
“…Wait. How did he even get here?”
Leticia, after pushing aside the pale-faced Colin and laying Chamuka on the bed, was suddenly struck by a logical question.
She counted the days since their meeting at Rocky Mountain on her fingers and became increasingly puzzled.
“Did he fly here from Rocky Mountain…?”
It was an impossible speed unless he had literally flown like an arrow.
While she was lost in questions, having already forgotten her sadness, the physician Colin had hurriedly brought examined Leticia.
“No, not me, this person.”
The physician in light blue pajamas, looking as if he had been kidnapped from his sleep, poked various parts of Chamuka’s body.
Leticia asked cautiously.
“Um, is there something wrong with his body?”
The physician narrowed his eyes. The gentle-voiced person before him appeared blurry.
Lamenting his situation of being dragged here without even his glasses, he gave his diagnosis.
“Malnutrition.”
“…Pardon?”
“He appears to have starved for about two weeks. Feed him well and let him rest.”
Leticia nodded blankly as the physician added that sleep deprivation was also at a serious level.
Behind her, Colin, who had quickly assessed the situation, moved one step further away with a terrified expression.
The physician left after extorting about three times the usual fee for the house call from Colin.
“Where are you going?”
Leticia asked, seeing Colin taking out a suitcase.
“I’m going to the branch office.”
“Suddenly, at this hour?”
“Because Lord Chamuka is here.”
Even though Chamuka was occupying one bed, there were still many rooms in this house.
Leticia tilted her head in confusion and pointed to the room next to Chamuka’s.
“Sleep there tonight. Why do you need to leave? If it’s not clean enough, we can share the guest room I’ve been using. There are two beds there.”
Are you trying to get me killed?
Colin shuddered at her naive malice.
He absolutely did not want to experience the tragedy that would unfold if Chamuka woke up and found him sleeping in the same room as Leticia.
Neither Chamuka, who had driven his huge, sturdy body to the point of malnutrition to get here, nor Leticia, who would stick close to nurse him back to health.
He wanted nothing to do with either of them.
Packing his large bag neatly for what appeared to be a long journey, Colin solemnly declared.
“Don’t look for me.”
“This is your house. What are you talking about?”
“Anyway, don’t look for me. Until Lord Chamuka leaves, this house is yours.”
“What…?”
Before leaving, Colin, with his last shred of conscience, pressed a vial into Leticia’s hand.
“It’s a sedative strong enough to knock down an elephant. If Lord Chamuka tries to do anything strange, use this to subdue him without injury.”
“Huh?”
“Well then, take care…”
Like a trainer escaping from a beast’s cage after leaving food, Colin quickly fled the house.
Left behind with a bewildered face, Leticia alternated between staring blankly at the vial in her hand and the closed door before chuckling at Colin’s unnecessary worry.
Strange things? As if Chamuka would ever do such things.
“He’s someone who prefers holding hands to kissing.”
Somehow, last night’s sorrow felt distant due to the commotion caused by Chamuka’s sudden collapse.
Leticia casually threw the vial Colin had given her into a drawer and turned away.
One thing was now certain.
The old family members who had loved her were all dead, and those who survived were no longer her family.
Leticia’s home wasn’t the burned-down Borba Troupe, but the mansion far away in Basilinte, and her parents weren’t Sir Borba but her Master.
“I just want to go back quickly…”
She missed the garden covered with flowers and grass that she had grown on the parched land.
She missed Tan running on all fours there, Kalia toddling about, Master and His Grace always fighting, and Chamuka too, hmm…
“Hmm…”
Come to think of it, she had never particularly thought about missing Chamuka.
You need to be apart for a while to miss someone.
Leticia thought of Chamuka, who was always present somewhere in front of her, beside her, behind her, and shook her head.
Even now, dropped alone in the middle of the imperial capital, Chamuka was still by her side.

***

Chamuka opened his eyes.
And as soon as he did, his gaze met Leticia’s.
“Are you awake?”
Leticia, who had been sitting at the bedside, smiled.
While Chamuka was still dazed and disoriented, she drew the curtains and spoke softly.
“It’s still morning. Eat something and then rest more.”
The morning sunlight poured brightly into the room.
Chamuka saw a halo shining behind Leticia as she stood amidst the streaming sunlight.
He thought he could hear beautiful bell sounds from somewhere, too.
If a physician had heard this, he would have diagnosed severe delusions, but unfortunately, there were only Chamuka and Leticia here.
“The lady downstairs is a good cook. I’ll bring you something right away, so just lie down.”
Leticia’s hand touched Chamuka’s shoulder as he tried to get up.
Chamuka collapsed back onto the bed weakly from that insignificant contact.
Though her hand had only touched him through his clothes, that area felt burning hot, similar to a fresh scald.
“…? Are you uncomfortable somewhere? The physician said there was nothing wrong except malnutrition and sleep deprivation.”
Leticia’s hand covered his forehead.
As if checking for fever, she placed her hand on her own forehead as well and frowned slightly.
“You seem to have a bit of a fever. Your face is also a bit red.”
His hands trembled at the close face and the touch on his forehead.
He didn’t know why they were trembling. His body just felt a bit hot, his breathing a bit constricted, and his mind somewhat blank.
“How many days did you starve yourself to get here?”
Her reproachful voice reached his ears, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying.
Instead, he noticed the wrinkles that formed at the corners of her eyes when she frowned slightly, or the glimpse of her reddish tongue when her lips parted—
“Just rest for now. I’ll bring you some food.”
Leticia’s hand covered his eyes briefly before pulling away.
Chamuka felt as if his entire body had become a heart. He could feel the throbbing pulse even in his fingertips.
Thump, thump, the sound of Leticia walking away. Click, the sound of the door opening.
As if entranced, Chamuka got up from the bed and silently followed Leticia outside.
Her instruction to rest had long since evaporated from his mind.
He called out to her as she stood in front of the dining table.
“Leti.”
“I told you to rest… Oh.”
Leticia’s gaze suddenly dropped to below his waist and froze unnaturally.