The cold air of an unlit space flowed through the smoothly opening door. Though her room should have been empty until now, somehow the Duke’s room felt colder.

Finding this strange, she took a lamp in hand and crossed the threshold.

“Constantine?”

Saena went deep into his room and was so startled she almost dropped the lamp she was holding.

Two long legs protruding from the bed. He still wore the boots she had seen earlier, and his upper body likewise remained in the formal uniform from earlier, complete with the cloak.

Going to bed without even changing clothes.

This was unimaginable for someone who was so meticulous they could be mistaken for having mysophobia.

Unless he had fainted.

For a moment, Saena had the ominous thought that he might have passed out from blood loss.

She quickly set down the lamp and checked his breathing. Fortunately, he was breathing, albeit weakly.

“…What in the world.”

But his complexion was like ice. The room was freezing cold too.

The man who fussed over her missing even one meal treated his own body like this.

It made her somewhat angry.

‘What should I do…’

Saena gathered her thoughts for a moment and returned to the Duchess’s room.

She called a maid to bring several hot water bottles and some heated charcoal.

Meanwhile, Saena lit lights around Constantine. As the surroundings brightened, his miserable condition became clearly visible.

Dark under-eyes, pale complexion, salt-crusted lips. His jawline seemed sharper as if he’d lost weight, and his deeply furrowed brow suggested he was uncomfortable even in unconsciousness.

When she lifted the cloak, the bloodstains were worse. The back of his sleeve was so deeply stained with blood it looked like a different colored fabric, and blood had seeped into the bed as well, unable to clot.

How could someone be in this state…

He should have at least treated himself before lying down.

Haah. His complexion as he lay motionless on his side truly looked like that of a dead person.

While retrieving the hot water bottles and charcoal from the Duchess’s room, Saena made additional requests to the maid.

“Could you prepare some warm water in a basin, and plenty of towels?”

“Yes.”

Saena placed the charcoal pieces carried in an iron bucket into the Duke’s room’s fireplace and piled dry firewood on top. Then she fanned it to start the fire.

While a normal noble lady might not know how to do this, she could manage this much from her experience handling all sorts of tasks while living at the Hollander house.

Saena moved all the hot water and simple food items that had been brought to her room to Constantine’s room and grabbed scissors.

Given his size, it seemed impossible to easily remove his clothes, so she decided to cut them off. The cloak at least could be easily removed, so she took that off.

Since he was lying on his side, she cut straight down the middle of his upper garment with scissors. Though he seemed to be a light sleeper, he showed no reaction as if he had fainted.

‘Hm?’

More than that, as she had cut all the way down his back and was trying to remove his upper garment by lifting his arms, she saw something in his embrace.

‘Isn’t that my pillow?’

The pillow she had thought was missing was right here.

He was holding Saena’s pillow tightly, like children do when sleeping with their teddy bears.

‘Why my pillow…’

Saena felt her face growing strangely red.

When had he been so cold, and now he secretly took her pillow to sleep with it like this.

‘Strange man.’

She really couldn’t understand him.

But that wasn’t important right now. He was covered in blood, and she needed to find the source.

Saena carefully began removing his clothes again.

Thud. Beyond the jacket that fell to the floor, there was still an undershirt. She carefully cut through the shirt with scissors again. As she lifted the cut shirt, the dense patterns on his back became visible.

They seemed somehow darker than when she had seen them before.

‘…Is it my imagination?’

Perhaps it looked that way because of the flickering firelight casting shadows on the wall.

Saena carefully removed the shirt from back to front, being careful not to touch him. But unlike the jacket, there was a problem with the shirt below the elbows. It wouldn’t come off easily, seemingly stuck to his skin with congealed blood.

Saena thought for a moment, then wrapped his arm with a towel dampened with warm water.

She also placed the hot water bottles she had brought around various spots on the bed.

After wiping away the dissolved bloodstains, Saena carefully removed the shirt from his arm again. Fortunately, it came off as it separated from his skin.

“…Oh my god.”

But the wound revealed when the clothes came off was devastating. Between his wrist and elbow, where the pattern was, the flesh was ragged as if someone had slashed it with a knife.

And blood was still seeping out. When was he injured, yet still…

Could he have some condition that prevents proper clotting?

Tears reflexively came to her eyes after seeing such a terrible wound.

This man might look impressive on the outside, but the more she learned about him, the more it seemed he lived a life worse than even a viscount’s.

In fact, he must have suffered countless such wounds all this time.

Looking carefully, while there were old scars, his skin was clean except for those and the patterns. Given the proportion of his life spent practically on the battlefield, this was probably thanks to that potion.

That blue-green liquid the Duke had given her. Without it…

‘Come to think of it, he could have healed quickly with that.’

Did he collapse and faint without even having time to apply the medicine? If so, was this actually an extremely dangerous situation?

Saena looked down at him seriously for a moment before reaching out. She needlessly checked his breathing under his nose again.

Haah. Somehow a sigh of relief escaped.

‘It’s for treatment…’

Though she knew he didn’t like touching her, there was no choice now. She could only try to minimize direct contact as much as possible.

Saena wiped away the congealed blood on his forearm with a clean towel dampened with hot water.

‘……?’

However, her hand eventually touched the wound where the bloodstains had been wiped away. The wound looked strange.

It gaped, as if someone had deliberately torn it open, and when she thoughtlessly touched it, blood suddenly gushed out.

“……!”

Startled, Saena quickly wrapped it with a towel to absorb the blood.

What should she do?!

It seemed like her touch had worsened the wound. The situation was startling. Her heart turned cold. Was this why he said he shouldn’t touch her?

Saena carefully removed the towel. Unlike before, the wound had closed.

‘…Hasn’t it gotten worse?’

She couldn’t understand what was happening.

Blood still seeped out drop by drop from the closed wound.

Saena brought her tongue to his wound. Without thinking, she licked along his wound.

Then she startled herself.

‘Am I crazy? Why did I do that?’

Though her face felt hot and she quickly pulled away, that didn’t erase what she had done.

She didn’t know why she did it. Perhaps it was because she remembered reflexively putting her finger in her mouth and sucking when she got paper cuts.

“…Oh.”

But fortunately, it seemed to be working. The bleeding was actually stopping.

‘One more time?’

She lightly licked each long cut, and the strangely twisted wounds began to heal nicely. Though the taste of blood was metallic, seeing it improve with her own eyes made it bearable.

After finishing one arm, Saena pushed Constantine onto his back.

After laying him straight, she began removing the clothes on the other side. It was harder to remove than before since the clothes were trapped under his back. She had to use the scissors more times than before.

After cleaning the finally exposed wound with a clean towel, she lightly licked it as before.

“……?”

But suddenly at some point, she felt eyes on her.

He was watching her doing this strange thing with hazy eyes.

“Co-Constantine. Are you awake?”

She was caught right in the middle of something bizarre. Did he wake up because the licking felt strange?

‘I was just going to finish stopping the bleeding and find medicine to apply…’

It was a very awkward situation to explain.

“The wound was severe…”

She wanted to explain that though she knew he disliked her touch, she had to touch him. She was sorry about the licking, but she wasn’t trying to do anything strange…

The clumsy excuses swirling in her head vanished instantly.

“Ah!”

He pulled her into his embrace.

“Constantine?”

“Saya, Saya…”

“The treat-treatment…”

“…Sa…ya.”

“Are you okay? How do you feel? Are you conscious?”

“Saya…?”

For some reason, he kept calling her name instead of answering her questions.

“I’m sorry. I had to touch you to treat you. Where is that potion?”

“…Saya. Saya…”

He pulled her deeper into his embrace. Despite the hot water bottles placed around, a chill pervaded his embrace.

How could a living person be this cold? With body temperature this low, he could die.

Something was strange.

Now that she was in his embrace, his skin…

Yes. She thought it was too cold earlier, but thinking about it now, it was strange.

If he were sick, he should have a fever, not be this cold. Like a corpse…

With her heart feeling like it was dropping, Saena touched Constantine’s forehead. It was just as cold.

Perhaps sensing her touch, his eyelashes fluttered, and she quickly withdrew her hand, but thud—there was strength in the grip that caught her wrist.

“……!”

His trembling blue eyes held many things. They seemed to want to pour something out, while also appearing consumed by desire. They looked stubbornly closed off while also seeming somehow precarious.