He had been holding a conversation in this state. Remarkable, really.

Ella shook her head and let out a long breath.

“All right, let’s keep you alive first.”

She pulled herbs and medicine bottles out of her bag one after another.

***

Five days had already passed without him opening his eyes.

Ella examined Haven’s wounds, which had begun to close, and tilted her head.

“What’s the problem?”

He seemed to have passed the worst of it, but the fever refused to break.

She had prepared for this, devouring books on herbalism and medicine in just a few days, but real practice was a different matter entirely.

“Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any inflammation at the wound site……”

The sutured slash on his side was healing quickly without festering.

Haven’s recovery speed was far beyond that of even priests with holy power. The wounds on his face were already almost entirely gone.

The more she watched, the more remarkable it seemed.

“……Does he have some kind of self-healing ability?”

The fact that he had walked into a place only those with holy power could enter without any apparent difficulty made it not an entirely unreasonable assumption.

“What is he?”

She set the question aside. It wasn’t the important issue right now.

Ella shifted her gaze and reached for the crushed herb she used as an antibiotic, pressing it over the wound before picking up a clean bandage.

After finishing the treatment, she took some of the medicine into her mouth. She parted his lips, pressed hers over them, and inwardly laughed at herself.

‘I don’t even flinch anymore.’

Compared to the fumbling mess she had been the first time she administered the medicine this way a few days ago, her movements were now quite practiced.

Trying to give it to him straight from the bottle had wasted most of it. A spoon had been useless too, and this had been her last resort, but it turned out to be the most effective method.

The bitter medicine she had held in her mouth transferred to Haven.

Only after she heard him swallow did Ella pull her lips away. She licked the bitter residue from her mouth and whispered near his ear.

“Good.”

Her voice was sweet, like praising a beast she was taming.

She stroked his sweat-damp silver hair, and the tension in his face eased.

‘Has a little bit accumulated by now?’

Ella pressed her hand to his warm forehead, then on impulse, focused all her concentration into her fingertips.

A tingling sensation came, and a faint light seemed to gather in a soft circle before vanishing.

Another failure.

‘I really don’t have enough for healing.’

Her holy power was even weaker than that of a low-ranking priest.

It had already been two months since she returned to Marian’s body, but Ella’s holy power remained completely stagnant.

“When is it going to come back!”

A deep crease formed between her brows.

Marian had possessed holy power strong enough that even the high priest had coveted it.

The one small mercy was that after her engagement to the crown prince, some of the duties of the saintess had been lifted.

Since she was currently focused only on her education to become crown princess and on prayer, no one had yet grown suspicious of Ella’s holy power.

But the longer this went on, the more dangerous it became.

“I need to find a way into the palace before the temple notices anything.”

Turning plans over in her mind, Ella began wiping down Haven’s feverish body with a damp cloth.

The darkness outside had begun to retreat. The deep blue of the air told her the early morning prayer at the Grand Temple would be ending soon.

It was time to go.

She pulled on her hooded cape and rose to her feet.

“I probably won’t be able to come until after midnight tonight. So hold on until then.”

The only answer was a hot, shallow breath, but Ella added one more word.

“Try to get that fever down by then.”

If she didn’t hurry back, she might not make it in time for the changing of the guard at the prayer hall building.

Ella quickened her pace.

***

That night, well past midnight.

When she finally slipped past the Grand Temple’s watch and made it back, Ella stopped short.

“Ha, unbelievable.”

Haven’s body had gone cold as ice.

His complexion, already pale against his silver-tinged hair, had gone even whiter. His lips were a deep, dark purple.

Whether it was hypothermia setting in or something else, Haven’s entire body was shaking like a leaf.

The fire she had built beside him and the thick blanket were both doing nothing.

“I said get the fever down, not……”

She hadn’t expected him to take ‘try to get that fever down’ quite so literally…… or quite so thoroughly. As though he had heard every word she said.

“This won’t do.”

Ella began to undress. She stripped Haven of everything he was wearing as well, then wrapped herself around his body.

Soft, yielding skin was pressed mercilessly against hard muscle. The moment that cold, rigid body touched hers, a sound escaped her involuntarily.

“Ugh!”

It was a chill that went straight to the bone.

Biting her lip, Ella pulled him closer. Her pale hands began moving busily across his body.

“Why won’t you warm up.”

She rubbed her palms vigorously over his cold skin, but warmth was slow to return.

The contours of his muscles transferred clearly through her palms, but Ella felt nothing in particular about it.

‘It’s like holding a boulder.’

Yes. That was exactly it.

Like trying to breathe heat into a massive rock.

Ella pressed her body more firmly against Haven’s chest. As urgency crept into her movements, her own breathing grew rougher.

Fine beads of sweat gathered on her smooth forehead.

“God, this is maddening.”

Anyone watching would have flushed at the sight, but there was nothing remotely s*xual in Ella’s touch. She was simply following what the medical texts described, checking and moving accordingly.

Her expression and her eyes stayed exactly the same throughout.

This kind of closeness had never stirred anything in her to begin with.

From the moment she had chosen Haven as her chess piece for this revenge, Ella had known how to tame him.

She had found the answer in Marian’s memories.

‘It was quite intense.’

The desire that had flickered across Haven’s gaze whenever it landed on Marian. It had been raw, unfiltered instinct.

If she used that, she was certain Haven would submit to her without fail.

Unlike her sister Marian, Ella had a sharp, natural talent for reading and manipulating deep, dark emotions. Planning around Haven’s desire was not a difficult task for someone like her.

She had already steeled herself for intimate physical contact as part of the process, so a degree of closeness like this meant nothing to her.

‘Was it only a week?’

The point at which Haven’s gaze toward Marian had begun to change.

The look in Haven’s eyes she had glimpsed through those memories was intense enough to be etched into Ella’s mind. Filled with a heat that hungered for something.

Of course it was natural to feel fondness for the person who saved your life.

But Haven’s fondness had also carried within it a desire of a more physical kind.

This time would be no different.

‘As quickly as possible…… by whatever means necessary.’

She had to make it happen.

There wasn’t much time left before she entered the palace. The urgency pressed down on her.

Before then, Ella had to tame this man as her own. A beast loyal enough to bring forward the news of victory in war at her word. A sword that could cut down anyone without hesitation at a single gesture from her hand.

“Wake up soon, Haven.”

Had he heard her whisper?

Warm breath broke from Haven’s lips where they rested against her slender shoulder.

Ella didn’t notice. Her efforts continued without pause.

***

Haven’s face twisted sharply with intense pain.

“Huh…… ugh.”

Having been unconscious for days, his focus didn’t return immediately.

The first thing his returning vision found was a rough stone wall covered in moss.

“Where is this……”

Right. That cave.

And what was this soft, warm thing wrapped around his body?

His violet eyes swept around the cave and landed on the figure pressed against him.

“……!”

Platinum-blonde hair was scattered across the thick blanket. The warmth of a woman’s body flush against his chest became suddenly, vividly real.

The visual shock hit harder than the pain of his injuries, and Haven’s mind reeled.

“……What is this.”

He pushed himself upright and pulled back.

He was so startled that the searing pain in his side was easy to ignore.

The sudden movement uncovered the woman’s face.

“This woman is……”

Her features were clear between the strands of platinum hair. He recognized her.

The identification token had said Ella, if he remembered right.

‘Isn’t that a bit much to do to the person who’s going to save your life?’

‘I’m still a novice priest in training. I don’t have enough holy power to use my healing ability.’

The moment he saw her red lips, the voice that had come from them came back to him with perfect clarity.