Chapter 39
When the mass of light filled the room, Eliza closed her eyes and sang the final note.
Beyond her vanished field of vision, she could feel the light gradually fading. An anxious sense of exhaustion swept through her entire body.
‘Did it work?’
Opening her eyes, Eliza reached out and touched his exposed skin. His body temperature was gradually returning. His breathing had also become steady.
“Thank goodness.”
Eliza let out a sigh of relief and stared intently at his chest. If she could have, she wanted to unwrap the bandages and examine his wounds.
“Phew…….”
However, when a deep breath escaped from him, her body stiffened. Eliza blinked her flustered eyes before immediately turning around, only to stop.
The thought that she wanted to make sure just one more time that he was safe held her back.
“What is it…….”
A languid voice, his eyes slowly lifting to meet hers. A blue shadow suddenly surged toward Eliza.
“Is this a dream?”
Leopold’s body moved according to instinct, leaving his hazy consciousness behind.
As Leopold tried to sit up, the bedding rustled. At the sound, Eliza quickly turned around. Her heart was pounding wildly.
He didn’t notice me. My face is completely covered, and my eyes are hidden behind glasses…….
“You smell good…….”
“Ah-”
The man’s hand roughly pulled the figure in front of him closer. Wrapping his arms around its waist as it was dragged toward him helplessly, he buried his nose in its back.
At the hot presence she felt behind her, Eliza’s mind stopped thinking. She could not even worry about how she should escape.
“Eli.”
Just as the close distance between her and Leopold filled her entire world, Leopold’s body suddenly slipped backward.
As the strength that had grabbed her loosened, Eliza staggered toward the bed as if she were about to fall on her backside. When the rope was pulled in the process, a man immediately burst in from outside.
“What are you doing……!”
Leopold’s subordinate blinked when he saw Leopold’s posture, which had changed from earlier. He had collapsed in a very uncomfortable position.
Eliza hurriedly got to her feet and quickly spoke as if making an excuse.
“He got up for a moment.”
She glanced at Leopold, who was now breathing evenly as though he had fallen asleep. He looked far more alive than the cold figure from earlier, who had looked like a corpse.
Eliza wanted to touch his forehead just once more, but she regained her composure and made a request.
“I have finished treating him, so please assess his condition.”
She kept her voice as low as possible and altered it, worried that her voice might somehow reach his ears even now.
***
‘Of course. There’s no way he’d die.’
Leopold would be fine. Relieved, Eliza quietly stayed by Gesle’s side and helped him with his duties.
She comforted herself by thinking that the call that still made her heart race was merely something he had muttered deliriously because he was in pain.
However, before long, she heard news that was both welcome and unwelcome.
The recovered Leopold was looking for the priest who had healed him.
“Sir Gesle, please.”
“No, Sister…… Even so, I am a man, and I cannot bring myself to casually speak a lie.”
“Sigh…… I suppose you’re right.”
“I’m afraid so.”
At first, Eliza considered sending Gesle in her place, but after showing part of her face to the soldiers while entering his tent, he would never be able to fool them.
Gesle patted her troubled shoulder and said,
“I do not know what your circumstances are, but reality is sometimes more optimistic than our worries.”
“I wish that were true, but I cannot easily believe in optimism. If he discovers what I look like, I will truly be in trouble.”
“Hmm, I have not asked until now. Do you perhaps know that person personally?”
“……Yes. I, well, did something wrong to him.”
Gesle stroked his beard and groaned. He had guessed from her troubled appearance that there must be some story behind it, but apparently, that story was rather complicated.
“I may be able to buy you some time. As it happens, they say we are going to preach in a nearby village tomorrow. How about coming with me?”
“Ah, I will. That is somewhat of a relief.”
Eliza thought that starting tomorrow, she should stay away from this place as much as possible and keep herself busy going from place to place.
She hoped that she would not have to encounter Leopold until the group from Ruvake left.
However, in the military, a commander was sometimes an absolute authority, and unfortunately, even the passage of time had done nothing to diminish Leopold’s temperament.
“……it would be difficult. Please come back again the following day-”
“It should be everyone’s break time. If you have nothing to do, can’t you spare me some time?”
“That is what I mean. It is the middle of the night. We need to rest as well…….”
“Do you think there is a separate night and day on a battlefield?”
The tent where many people were sleeping together grew noisy. There was a brief murmur before lanterns began to light one after another.
Eliza raised her sleepy eyes and looked toward the commotion, only to be horrified.
Leopold, who had come in person, was looking around, his piercing blue eyes flashing.
‘That crazy bastard, why is he here at this hour?’
She frowned deeply, thinking of him as she used to.
For a moment, that was all it took before she hurriedly picked up the robe she had taken off nearby and put it on, carefully covering her face. Then she crouched as deeply into the darkness as possible.
Leopold easily shoved aside the priests who tried to stop him and entered deeper into the tent, looking around here and there.
“Where is the priest who helped me?”
“Brother! No matter how high your position may be, how can you behave so rudely!”
“Oh, unfortunately, I have now become an orphan with no family left. I cannot be your brother, Brother Priest.”
Leopold ignored the words of the priests blocking his way, focusing solely on his objective.
Even though he was dressed in nothing more than a light shirt, his body, built with unmistakably solid muscles, gave off an intimidating presence whenever he moved.
“I think he was about this tall. Is it you?”
Leopold leaned his face toward a short priest and scrutinized him carefully. The horrified priest stumbled backward in surprise.
“What is this-!”
“I don’t like the sound of your voice. Then it’s not this one.”
Even as the priests raged at his blatant rudeness as he moved about, Leopold paid them no heed.
As he gradually drew closer, Eliza clenched her fists tightly. She could not leave, since running away would only make her look more suspicious. What finally made her decide was Leopold’s next words.
“Ah, right. I think he smelled good.”
Eliza squeezed her eyes shut. At this rate, Leopold would end up burying his nose in the priests and even smelling them. The man she knew was more than capable of doing exactly that.
“Please stop.”
In the end, she stepped forward. Since she was the one who had healed him, the situation she was in now was her own doing.
“I am the priest who treated the commander.”
No, to begin with, she was in no position to be so defiant toward him.
Even as Eliza reminded herself of her circumstances, she did not forget to keep her voice low so that her identity would not be discovered.
“Oh, it’s you? It’s quite difficult to even get a look at your face.”
Leopold immediately approached her and inhaled deeply. Then he narrowed his eyes as though uncertain.
“Yeah. I think this feels familiar.”
Leopold looked down at the small priest whose face could not be seen, searching through his memories of when he had awakened.
In the meantime, Eliza caught the strong smell of alcohol coming from him.
It could have simply been for disinfecting his wounds, but as the image of him from the past, when he had lived with strong liquor in hand, briefly flashed through her mind, Eliza became certain that he had been drinking.
How was he managing a patient? That foolish thought came to her first.
“……Alcohol is not good for a patient.”
The words slipped out before she could stop herself, and Eliza immediately realized her mistake. However, Leopold paid little attention and simply said what was on his mind.
“Was your voice always like this?”
“……I will come to see you myself tomorrow. So please withdraw for tonight.”
“I came because you did not come even when I called for you. How can I believe that you will come tomorrow?”
“I swear it on my mother’s name. So please be considerate of our night and maintain your dignity, Commander.”
Her heart had initially been pounding, but as they continued talking, it gradually returned to its normal rhythm.
And when she realized that they were facing each other so ordinarily, as though they had not reached the point of no return, a sudden sadness washed over her.
“You have quite an insolent way of speaking, Priest.”
“If that is how it sounded, I apologize.”
Her manner of speaking remained respectful, but her choice of words was not deferential, causing a peculiar glint to appear in Leopold’s eyes.
“Oh, right. I just had a good idea.”
“……What might that be?”
“I’ll appoint you as my direct priest. So you cannot be transferred elsewhere. Aren’t you grateful?”
Eliza barely managed to suppress a gasp.
She had avoided going to him in any way she could so that he would not discover her identity, and now it seemed she would be stuck right by his side.
With the troubled Eliza standing before him, Leopold looked the priest, who had completely covered her entire body, up and down.
“And, Priest…….”
Leopold, who had maintained an indifferent expression the entire time, raised one corner of his mouth before casually placing his palm on her head.
Eliza’s heart lurched, thinking for a moment that her hat would be pulled off, but his hand merely patted her head a few times before pulling away.
“I suppose you don’t know that the more tightly you wrap yourself up, the more I want to uncover you.”
