IJSMC 10

Chapter : 10

“I told you I’d take revenge for everything.”

“…….”

“So don’t die pointlessly here.”

Her voice shook, and the hands tending to his wounds trembled as well.

Overwhelmed with anxiety, she kept wiping the wounds without even knowing what she was saying anymore.

No matter how incredible Sirius’s stamina was, if the wounds got infected, it would all be over.

Elena already knew that Sirius had suffered greatly during his childhood in the royal palace and at the Duke of Rode’s estate.

She had read it written that way in the book.

But this wasn’t something that could be summed up with a simple word like “hardship.”

He really survived after all this?

“I just can’t believe it.”

Muttering as if groaning, Elena rummaged through the basket she had brought.

She had brought the medicine properly, but there didn’t seem to be enough gauze.

She hurriedly stood up to go fetch more gauze from her room.

Then a strong grip suddenly seized her wrist from behind, and she collapsed back onto the bed.

“…….”

She was so startled that she couldn’t even scream.

Elena stiffly turned her head to look back.

Vivid violet eyes were wide open, staring straight through her.

Caught in that gaze, her entire body froze.

Sirius’s eyes, now fully conscious, burned sharply.

Like a wounded young beast, he had raised his thorns.

A red warning light flashed in her head. Acting on instinct, Elena tried to force her stiff body to flee.

But she couldn’t take even a single step.

The more she struggled to pull away, the tighter Sirius’s grip around her wrist became.

Flustered, she began blurting out whatever came to mind.

“Uh, um, so this is—”

“This is what.”

His hoarse voice pressed her for an answer.

But there was no way a hastily improvised excuse could come out properly.

Twisting her wrist to make him let go was useless.

In fact, the clumsy attempt only made things worse.

“Ah!”

Unable to withstand the recoil, Elena’s body toppled forward, collapsing onto the boy.

No!

Even in that split second, the thought that she mustn’t touch his wounds crossed her mind, and she barely managed to brace herself beside him to avoid crashing into him.

But it wasn’t exactly fortunate.

They were so close that they could feel each other’s breath against the bridge of their noses.

Elena panted like a deer caught in a trap.

The eyes meeting hers at such close range looked as though they might tear her apart.

Unable to endure his gaze, she unconsciously raised her hand and covered his eyes.

But would that really make Sirius forget her face?

Panicking, Elena grew desperately anxious.

My brain, please—just come up with some excuse!

“So—this is a dream!”

“……What?”

At the absurdly clumsy excuse, the tense atmosphere shattered instantly.

Pfft—Sirius let out a laugh, like air leaking from something deflated.

At the same time, a mist of colorful light wrapped warmly around Elena.

But too flustered to notice any sensation, she was busy clinging to her excuse.

“This is a dream. This is a dream. This must be a dream……”

Even she knew how ridiculous the setup sounded, but she had already committed to it.

Now all she could do was push the story through, teary-eyed.

With her hand still covering his eyes, Elena whispered fervently, as if casting a spell.

It’s a dream you’ll forget by morning. So hurry up and go back to sleep.

At the nonsensical chant, Sirius’s shoulders began to tremble intermittently.

Seeing his lips pressed tightly together, it was obvious he was holding back laughter—but not for long.

As if real magic were taking place, his breathing gradually grew calm, like in a dream.

At the same time, the grip on her wrist loosened.

Thud. When Elena cautiously lifted her hand, Sirius’s arm fell limply onto the bed.

She hadn’t even whispered “this is a dream” that many times, yet Sirius truly drifted off to dreamland.

She murmured in disbelief.

“Do I have some kind of talent for hypnosis?”

Only his steady breathing answered her—and it was answer enough.

She removed the hand that had been covering his eyes.

His eyes were peacefully closed, completely asleep. His relaxed expression looked unfamiliar.

“I’m doomed……”

Unlike him, Elena’s face stiffened.

No matter how much she tried to console herself that he had only woken briefly during treatment, the fact remained: he had clearly seen her face.

“Should I just run away?”

Muttering weakly, Elena got up and looked down at Sirius’s face.

Maybe this was the moment to seriously consider running away.

When he had grabbed her wrist earlier, Sirius had clearly been sharply wary of her.

He had been shown kindness for no apparent reason—so her life should have been forfeit by now.

Even if he had fallen asleep smiling at the end, she couldn’t tell whether he had been mocking her flimsy excuse or simply laughing because it was funny.

She had been too flustered to properly sense anything.

But if I run away, where could I even live in the body of a ten-year-old?

The only reason she had stayed attached to this horrible ducal estate was because at least she had a place to sleep and food to eat.

Elena’s expression quickly turned gloomy.

Yet even so, her hands busily mixed medicinal herbs good for pain with an ointment that helped flesh heal.

Since he had woken briefly, he seemed better than expected, but Sirius’s face was still pale.

She slathered the mixture generously over his wounds and wrapped them neatly with clean bandages.

That way, Sirius would survive and bring ruin to the Rode family.

“Yeah. I’ll run away.”

She couldn’t let herself be ruined too, so that seemed like the only option.

She had even done something unnecessary and caught the attention of a terrifying protagonist—so the sooner, the better.

Before Sirius finished testing her patience and suddenly bit down, she needed to bolt without looking back.

Elena nervously bit her lip.

The problem was how he would “test” her—but fortunately, she had her golden eyes.

If she sensed anything strange, she’d run immediately. That was her resolve.

And starting the very next day, Sirius really did begin acting strange.

Early in the morning, Elena gathered anything that might be worth money from her room, like a squirrel hoarding acorns.

But there was no way anything valuable would be in her room.

The only things she could possibly sell were the various medical tools and medicines she had used whenever she was injured or sick.

The problem was whether anyone would buy medicine from a ten-year-old.

“Sigh.”

Elena let out a deep sigh. Still, there was one reassuring point.

Sirius wouldn’t do anything to her immediately, so she probably still had some time.

As a fellow ten-year-old, she knew well enough—there was no way this body could survive alone outside.

Sirius himself would be in trouble if he were kicked out of this place right away, so he probably couldn’t touch the youngest daughter of the Rode family just yet.

It was a conclusion reached after running her optimism engine at full throttle, but it wasn’t completely unreasonable.

She stopped gathering things and opened the door to go eat breakfast.

And just like always, she ran straight into Sirius in the hallway.

“Did you sleep well?”

But the scene before her felt strangely unreal.

“Like always”?

Elena blinked blankly.

That couldn’t be possible.

Just yesterday, Sirius had been slashed in the side by a sword, bleeding heavily and hovering between life and death.

As if to prove it, drops of blood still stained the corridor floor.

From the stains that hadn’t yet been cleaned, a metallic smell still rose.

Yet unbelievably, Sirius was standing among them, smiling gently.

“I asked if you slept well.”

“……Yes. I hope Your Highness slept well too.”

Barely managing to return the greeting, Elena’s gaze drifted downward.

Sirius wore clean clothes without a single bloodstain, but whenever the fabric fluttered in the breeze, a blood-soaked bandage peeked out.

Beneath it was a wound that should have required at least a week of bed rest.

She had seen it with her own eyes last night.

Yet Sirius sat by the window frame as if nothing had happened, looking perfectly fine.

And that wasn’t the only strange thing.

For someone who had nearly died the night before, Sirius looked exceptionally cheerful.

As proof, a soft, gentle mist drifted cozily around him.

So the warm smile he showed her was genuine.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Elena nodded blankly.

…Was Sirius really human?

His monstrous recovery ability and incomprehensible mental state were beyond understanding.

She had planned to hide if she sensed anything strange, but she had never imagined this kind of strangeness.

At most, she had expected him to glare at her as if he wanted to kill her.

But instead, he was smiling sincerely. This wasn’t testing her—what on earth was it?

Elena stole glances at Sirius’s face.

Her heart grew uneasy, and she desperately wanted to turn back and return to her room.

But even when she deliberately slowed her pace to lag behind, Sirius matched his stride to hers, leaving no chance to escape.

Like a deer with a leash around its neck, Elena trudged along behind him.

Just as they were about to reach the dining room—

“Do you have something you want to say to me?”

The question struck like an ambush.

Her thoughts overloaded, and Elena, momentarily dazed, answered almost with a scream.

“What?”

“I asked if there’s something you want to say to me.”

“Uh, no. Nothing.”

For now, playing dumb was the best strategy.

She moved with more caution than ever, consciously watching her steps.

Her eyes darted too obviously, and before she realized it, her right hand and right foot were moving together—so much so that Sirius had to press down the corners of his mouth to keep from laughing.