David couldn’t speak.

Catherine had asked without much expectation that he would be moved, but surprisingly, his cool expression seemed to crumble slightly. She felt his soft, silent exhale brush against her most delicate skin.

“I believe I told you clearly. If that’s the case, remain silent.”

Catherine whispered firmly while applying pressure to her captured hand.

“I don’t know your reasons, but this ends here.”

However, David wouldn’t release her hand, making it impossible to pull away. Catherine bit her lip momentarily with a face struggling to contain irritation, then gently closed and reopened her eyes. She shook her trapped hand in a pushing motion and spoke once more.

“You should behave like a gentleman.”

At these words, David blinked as though he’d heard something incomprehensible. When Catherine shook her captured hand again, he finally seemed to understand and slightly loosened his grip.

Yet he hesitated and tightened it once more. This time, Catherine could no longer hide her annoyance and nearly glared at him. Only then did David release her hand with a somewhat resigned, reluctant attitude.

“Catherine, I know you won’t believe me. That’s fine.”

David quietly watched as Catherine pulled back her freed hand and gently massaged it, then took a step backward.

“But I will protect you,” he continued.

His tone was somehow resolute. Catherine stopped rubbing her hand and looked up. Once again faced with incomprehensible words, she couldn’t help but ask:

“From what, exactly?”

“From Saul.”

Catherine no longer even wanted to laugh at his answer. The belated thought occurred to her that perhaps there had been some emotional rift between the Cavendish brothers. She pondered for a moment whether Saul had ever mentioned anything about David before drawing his last breath.

But nothing came to mind. As far as Catherine could remember, the only time Saul had spoken about his blood relations was when he heard news of a cousin who had miscarried.

“Do as you please. But you should stop lying.”

When she said this, David appeared completely unable to guess what “lie” Catherine was referring to, making her realize that what he was hiding wasn’t just one or two things.

You said you love me. I know at least that much is a lie. When Catherine added this, David blinked as though finally understanding her words. Then he calmly replied:

“If that makes you uncomfortable, I won’t stop.”

David no longer even attempted to hide that he had spoken falsehoods. At his brazen attitude, Catherine finally let out a sigh.

“You seem more dangerous now.”

“Then you should run away from me.”

Though he seemed to understand her sarcastic remark, David merely nodded lightly as though pleased. Catherine was dumbfounded. After staring at him, she realized further conversation would be pointless and quietly chose to close her mouth.

David observed her silently for a moment, then stepped back slightly. Returning to the polite demeanor he had shown before entering the room, he placed his hand on the doorknob as though to open it for Catherine.

“Catherine, my invitation to leave together was sincere.”

David applied pressure to the doorknob and opened it, then turned again. Remember, I’ll be waiting. He leaned toward Catherine and whispered, then kissed her cheek with the intimacy of close companions.

“One way or another, you’ll soon see that I’m right.”

With his hot, moist breath, the inexplicable assertion clung to her skin before falling away. Instead of answering, Catherine pushed him away.

This time he yielded easily, and Catherine watched him lower his eyes submissively before turning away. The conversation was over.

* * *

After that night’s conversation, David never left Catherine’s side, seemingly intent on keeping his word. Or perhaps he never left Saul’s side. Since Catherine remained constantly by Saul, either interpretation would be correct.

The same was true for Catherine herself. While she had always spent most of her time by Saul’s side, now she consciously made an effort not to leave him. This was because David’s words from that night—suggesting he wished for Saul’s death—continued to trouble her.

However, the very cause that kept both of them in this room still hadn’t awakened.

Three days had already passed since the commotion at the cemetery. Though he should have regained consciousness even briefly by now, he showed no signs of doing so.

Except for the brief time when Catherine had spoken with David that night, someone had constantly been by Saul’s side, so they would have known immediately if he had opened his eyes even for a moment.

Catherine worried that something might again go wrong with Saul, but Samuel, Saul’s personal physician, said he found nothing unusual. In fact, Catherine could see this herself.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but apart from his inability to wake up, Saul’s condition appeared better than before.

Splish. The sound of water dripping reached her ears.

Catherine watched as David wrung out a cloth soaked in warm water into a basin. He spread the wrung cloth, folded it appropriately, and with careful hands began slowly wiping Saul’s neck, face, arms, and legs.

What David was doing now was originally part of Catherine’s early morning routine. Though she enlisted the help of servants once a week, Catherine handled most of Saul’s care herself.

This had become the norm because Saul, just before drawing his last breath, had not allowed anyone except Catherine and a few others to approach him.

David, who had naturally taken over Catherine’s routine saying he had cared for patients while studying theology, was surprisingly attentive in caring for Saul, contrary to Catherine’s concerns. 

Watching him quietly tend to Saul, he truly looked like a caring brother. He didn’t seem like the same person who had spoken as though he might harm Saul.

Nevertheless, Catherine couldn’t entrust him with a blade, so she handled the shaving herself. After David wiped Saul’s body and placed a towel behind him before stepping back, it was Catherine’s turn.

While David momentarily left the bedroom to dispose of the used towel and cooled water, Catherine applied shaving cream to Saul’s face. Then, taking up a razor, she carefully began moving her hand slowly to avoid cutting Saul’s face.

Her skill wasn’t exceptional. Still, since she had done this daily for several weeks from when Saul’s hands began to ache until he drew his last breath, she could manage without causing injuries, though it took some time.

The only issue was that during the time it took Catherine to shave, the warm water would completely cool, so when she worked alone, she had to leave once to get fresh warm water to wipe away the remaining cream.

But with David helping her every morning, she didn’t need to get up, as he assisted her well. By the time the shaving was finished, warm water was always ready. Catherine placed the used razor on the damp towel, covering it, and finished wiping Saul’s face with the warm towel David had moistened and handed to her. David, who had been watching her technique, remarked:

“You have good skill.”

“Do I?”

Having never closely observed others shaving besides Saul, Catherine had no way of knowing whether her skill was good or bad. Nor did she particularly want to know. So she responded lightly, assuming it was merely a polite comment, but David apparently thought her skill was quite good. He spoke again:

“Even professional barbers cause cuts sometimes.”

Look at this. David suddenly thrust his face in front of Catherine.

“Getting cuts like this is common.”

As he spoke, David extended his neck and tilted his head. True to his word, there was a shallow scab under his right jaw that looked relatively fresh. And some untrimmed facial hair too. It had probably been hidden just below his chin.

“It will get infected,” Catherine said, removing David’s hand as he fiddled with the wound. David lowered his hand as Catherine pulled it down, then smiled with a look of sudden inspiration.

He somehow resembled a child about to play a mischievous prank. Seeing his face up close, Catherine immediately frowned with suspicion.

“Would you do it for me too?”

Yes, she had expected him to say something like this. At his smiling question, Catherine silently exhaled. Looking at his broadly smiling face, she had a feeling he would be troublesome if she refused. And he had been helping her well these past few days… After briefly observing David’s smiling face, Catherine nodded without much deliberation.

“All right, sit down.”

Her answer seemed unexpected; David blinked with a somewhat surprised look. Why are you looking at me like that? Perhaps Catherine’s nonchalant attitude confused him, as he asked again in a slightly dumbfounded voice:

“…You’ll really do it?”

“If you don’t want me to, that’s fine too.”

When Catherine answered with a slight tilt of her head, David finally seemed to come to his senses and quickly brought over an empty chair to sit down. His behavior was both absurd and endearing, making Catherine smile. To hide her amused expression, she turned to find a spare razor.