Suddenly, I remembered a joke from my mother that was hard to interpret—whether it was praise for her strong son or for her capable daughter-in-law.

‘Leopold doesn’t even know when he’s hurt. He heals in the blink of an eye. Even with such an amazing healer as his wife, it seems to be of little benefit to him.’

In truth, throughout our marriage, I had never heard of him being sick or injured. It seemed he didn’t even accumulate fatigue from overwork. Thus, it felt even more unbelievable that he would collapse from something so minor.

While I couldn’t shake off my doubts, light began to seep into his leg. At the same time, the moment of his injury replayed in my mind. Leopold didn’t seem to think about avoiding the incoming arrows.

Though he rarely showed his emotions, he must have experienced some instinctive fear. Wasn’t he scared? Was he born with such a nonchalant nature?

My concentration kept faltering with all sorts of thoughts. Since nothing good would come from delaying the treatment, I closed my eyes to focus.

Suddenly, an image of a young boy in neatly pressed navy shorts flashed before me. Then came a terrifying explosion of sound. It was too brutal a noise to be described merely as a “slap” as it echoed from his tender skin.

‘What is this…?’

Startled, I pulled my hand away from his body.

Had I been imagining things because I had used too much magic in such a short time?

Feeling my pulse quicken, I slowly brushed my hand over the wound again.

This time, I saw a different scene.

A boy clutching the hem of his long pants with small hands, and the whoosh of a long wooden switch slicing through the air.

The boy trembled all over, yet he didn’t let out even a small whimper.

Scenes that were the same yet different repeated hundreds of times.

***

It was a night that felt like hell.

I sat on the floor, repeatedly looking up at him lying there and then touching the wound again.

Leopold, who was breathing peacefully in his deep sleep, felt almost unreal.

I wanted to believe that mother would never do such a thing, that this was all wrong. But while you can make the records left on a body invisible, you can’t alter them. Thus, the evidence of abuse I read throughout the night must have been real.

What could he possibly have done wrong to not even be able to cry out in pain, let alone shed tears? No, even if he had done something wrong, such violence should never occur…

The punishment was so harsh that it confused my values. Memories that seemed never-ending eventually had me hugging my knees and silently crying.

I couldn’t even begin to imagine how young Leopold must have felt. All I could do was cry for him.

The thin, raised lines on the back of his strong calves resembled thorny vines. They constantly wounded him and hurt anyone who discovered them.

Why couldn’t the scars, left over time, erase their traces? No matter how much energy I poured into them, the skin remained unchanged, and my tears kept flowing.

I had so many questions. But could I dare to ask them? I was someone who would leave, and for him, it was a very old, hidden past.

I spent the night wiping away tears, helplessly swayed by my confused feelings.

In the meantime, the moon turned into the sun, and the candles melted away. Completely exhausted, I stood up, thinking about washing my face. If he woke up to see my swollen, tear-streaked face, he would surely find it odd.

However, perhaps because the door opened a bit loudly, I heard Leopold’s voice behind me as I turned.

“Hazel, don’t go.”

If I hadn’t glimpsed into his past, I would have refused that request… The pitiful childhood was vividly drawn before my eyes.

In the end, I closed the door again. Thankfully, my long hair covered the side of my face. With my head bowed, I asked in a choked voice, “How are you feeling?”

“Very well. But you… did you cry?”

I heard him sit up in bed. Glancing over, I saw an expression of dismay on his otherwise composed face, his gaze fixed on his own leg.

“…You saw the scars.”

“…I’m sorry. I was just trying to heal the injury; I didn’t mean to…”

“Forget it. It’s all in the past.”

Leopold shook his head firmly, as if there was no need to dwell on it.

I took a slow, deep breath and sat back down on the wooden chair beside the bed. “It seemed too serious to just brush off like that…”

Perhaps because I had seen the child Leopold all night, I asked in a way that felt more like an adult advising him. “Can you… tell me about it?”

His eyes, staring at me, hesitated. “Maybe if I know the parts of you I didn’t before, I could understand you better.”

Would understanding lead to less resentment? Would it lighten the weight of the pain a bit? If neither, would it just add his pain to mine?

Either way, I couldn’t pretend not to know what I had already seen.

Eventually, he seemed to make up his mind, exhaling briefly before explaining in a flat tone. “Actually, when I was young, I had magical powers. Unlike yours, mine could harm others. I couldn’t control my power and ended up hurting my mother. As you know, in the end, my mother lost her legs and always resented me. Naturally, I would have felt the same. It’s nothing special, right?”

His voice was overly dry, reminding me of my past self. Just like Leopold now, I had also treated serious matters lightly. It wasn’t until I was near death that I realized that was how mental illness began. I wondered where he was on that path.

“You talk about it like it’s someone else’s problem.”

“It’s an old story, that’s why. You have no reason to cry over it. Don’t cry because of me. Don’t hurt either. It’s not worth it at all.”

His final words sounded strangely like a plea.

How would I have reacted if I had heard them in a previous life? Would I have found the strength to stay by his side, thinking of the young him?

Such pointless assumptions only brought regret. Even though I didn’t dream of such things now…

Returning to the main point, I spoke bitterly. “That’s why you couldn’t defy your mother until now. …She was too harsh.”

“She had her reasons.”

His indifferent response hurt me. It was clear Leopold didn’t realize what was wrong.

“Saying there were reasons doesn’t justify punishment.”

“If you’re that worried about me, stay by my side all day. I’m a patient, after all.”

The image of young Leopold, who couldn’t even cry, overlapped with his shameless face. I resented my foolishness for wanting to absolve him, but it was hard to ignore his childish sulking.

“…Just for today.”

When I nodded in surrender, a childlike smile appeared on his smooth face.

***

It was an utterly ordinary day.

We ate quietly and sipped tea. Occasionally, we received reports about the situation in Fojetta and shared our opinions.

We laughed softly at jokes from someone in the knight squad and thanked the villagers who came running with food, attributing the credit to each other. We spent time together at a comfortable distance, like good colleagues.

Leopold was appropriately kind, and I didn’t cling to him.

Why was something so simple never done properly, not even once? Did my past self expect too much from him?

There had been a time when I cried openly. It was a day much like any other, but the dam of pent-up resentment finally burst.

We barely exchanged greetings, and most questions were answered with single words. Despite being married, we had become so distant that the word “update” could apply to our lives.

‘Even if it’s just an act, can’t we live like an ordinary couple?’

I sobbed in front of the servants, having thrown away my dignity, but he… looked bored. He observed me with empty eyes until my crying subsided.

It was far more brutal than his usual cold demeanor.

The words he threw at me once I finally stopped crying were harsh, casting me aside roughly.

‘Are you crying because you want my attention? I don’t understand. What’s the point of crying? Don’t you get it yet?’

Listening to his languid voice, I thought that even a passerby wouldn’t be treated this way, and it made my heart ache.

Perhaps due to these sudden memories, the sympathy that had sprouted overnight withered quickly.

The Leopold of my past life had kept my wavering, weakening heart firmly anchored, building a wall against the current him.

‘You and I are complete strangers. Just as my life is mine, your life is solely yours. We shouldn’t be concerned or feel responsible for each other.’

That’s right.

His past was solely his past. It wasn’t something I should worry about or be responsible for.

***

When Leopold experienced a sudden drop in stamina and even fainted, he realized the severity of the situation. He needed more time, but collapsing from just a graze of an arrow was concerning.

He understood that with his current heart condition, he couldn’t hold out for long. It was only thanks to the medicine from Isabel and his secret management of magic that he hadn’t aroused Hazel’s suspicion sooner.

Ironically, the scars on his legs, which he had never wanted to reveal, were what drew his wife’s attention and ultimately helped him.

Anyway, she couldn’t read the whole story just from the scars, and seeing only the moments of punishment wasn’t so bad. Hazel felt a bit sorry for him.

The only problem was that those feelings wouldn’t last long. He was sure of it from experience.