I quietly opened the door, glancing at Idrish. My intention was to leave first. Being in the same room felt suffocating. I worried about spending several days alone with Idrish on the carriage, but that was a concern for later. For now, my priority was to avoid Idrish.

But Idrish couldn’t just let me go.

“Cecilia, where are you going?”
I awkwardly froze. I turned towards him but quickly lowered my eyes. It was too… just his lips were visible.

“I’ve got everything! I’ll leave with a kiss.”

“Where are you going?”

“To the carriage… carriagemaster?”

Idrish’s face twitched.

This guy. I should just laugh instead of holding back.

“I’m going to the carriage!”

I turned and swiftly walked down the corridor. Right now, I wanted to disappear from Idrish’s sight anywhere I could.

“Cecilia.”

Idrish called me from behind.

I can’t hear it. I can’t hear it.

“Right now, the same hand and the same foot are leaving.”

What?

I tilted my head. My right hand and right foot had moved together like a poorly made marionette doll.
No, no, it’s my left hand, right, no, it’s the left foot! The other foot!

In the midst of this, my left foot tripped over my right one. I waved my hands around, but eventually, with a loud crash, I fell forward.

“Ouch, my knee. Is it broken?”

“Yeah, you should be careful.”

Idrish, who had rushed to my side in an instant, slid his hand under my armpit and quickly lifted me up. I felt a sharp pain in my knee.

“I think there’s blood.”

“Where? Let me see.”

Idrish tried to lift my skirt without warning. I pushed his head away in shock.

No matter how far we’ve gone, this is too fast!

Idrish looked embarrassed.

“Then let’s get to the carriage first.”

He said that and swiftly lifted me up.

“Ouch!”
I held onto my skirt tightly to keep it from touching my injured knee and embraced Idrish as we went outside.

“You two seem to be getting along very well from the morning, aren’t you? Please consider my feelings too.”

Idrish completely ignored Terminus’s words and walked past him.

“Oh, it’s not like that. I hurt my leg while coming down.”

I vigorously explained while shaking my legs.

“Yes, yes, I understand. My, I mean, Idrish’s little fairy.”

“I told you it’s not like that!”

But my protest was drowned in the amused laughter of the people around us.

In the end, I was seated in the carriage. Idrish disappeared somewhere and returned with a bunch of medicine.

After he closed the carriage door, there were only the two of us inside.

“Lift your skirt.”
Snap out of it. This is for real treatment. If you take those words as having different intentions, it’s me who will look strange.

I resolved myself and lifted my skirt slightly. My pale calf emerged above the brown shoe. I lifted the skirt a bit more to expose my knee.

As expected, my knee was properly scraped, and blood was flowing down to my calf.

“Rodrio doesn’t fall like this.”

“Don’t compare me to the kid.”

“Yeah. Rodrio might be feeling bad.”

What’s this?

I bit my lip hard. Idrish chuckled lazily and then knelt in front of me.

He wiped the blood away with a damp cloth.

“It hurts.”

“Endure it.”

“Just be gentle.”

“Even if I’m gentle, it won’t hurt any less.”
I didn’t utter a word.

I decided to keep my mouth shut instead.

Idrish looked at me quizzically when I became quiet, then blew on my scraped knee.

Oh, this is dangerous. Risky.

Idrish’s serious gaze, cautious touch, and soft lips. It was very hot and tempting… I naturally recalled that day and shook my head.

Now, what will happen between Idrish and me?

Seeing the Idrish from that night, it’s clear… Idrish must feel the same way as me.

His lips curled up. Just to avoid spilling a silly laugh, I bit down hard on my lower lip.

But why hasn’t there been a word since that day?

Is it because I kept avoiding him?
What if he asks me to be in a relationship? No, knowing Idrish’s personality, he might propose marriage right away. Then Rodrio will become his younger brother? How cute. If things go well, we might even see tiger cubs.

That would be incredible. Hedgehog people and tiger people have very few in their numbers, so we’d have to have lots and lots of children…

I snapped my imagination, which was running wild in that other world, back to reality.

No, I shouldn’t get ahead until Idrish says something.

Of course, even as I repeated that to myself, my heart kept swelling with a dull ache.

“It’s all done.”

Looking down at my knees, I noticed that he had already applied the ointment made from crushed herbs and tightly wrapped the bandage.

“Thank you.”

“Sure. Just be careful not to get hurt again.”
Why? Would it hurt Idrish more if I got hurt? Would his heart shatter?

A moment ago, my resolve had started to waver as daydreams took over, and my heart pounded.

I nodded quickly.

“Yeah, I won’t get hurt!”