However, when Velige blinked his eyes again, the person he saw was someone else.

“Are you awake?”

It was not the woman he saw in his dream but a unfamiliar middle-aged man.

For a moment, Velige’s eyes, as if trying to find the woman, moved busily, but the one he was looking for never appeared.

The middle-aged man, thinking Velige’s gaze was due to uneasiness about the unfamiliar place, spoke.

“This is a safe place, so don’t worry.”

“Where is this…?”

“It’s not far from Shults Street Inn.”

The statement implied it was not far from the inn where the Duke had stayed. The tension in Velige’s shoulders eased a bit at the man’s words.

“I’ll get some bandages. Please have a seat for a moment.”

Raising his round glasses, the man began unfolding a new bandage. The pungent smell of strong antiseptic and the bandages soaked with dried blood on one side indicated he was a doctor.

“For the most part, wounds that could be life-threatening have already healed, but you shouldn’t overexert yourself for a while.”

While closely examining the wound on his shoulder, Velige asked the man.

“Are you a doctor?”

“Yes, you’re very lucky. If it weren’t for ‘that person,’ you could have lost your life.”

“…That person?”

Velige’s eyebrows twitched as he listened silently to the doctor’s words.

“The one who healed you.”

“Healed…?”

In response to the doctor’s words, Velige turned his head to examine his wounds. The enemy’s blade had penetrated quite deep into his shoulder last night. Therefore, he thought the wound would be large, but it was much lighter than expected. To be precise, the originally deep wound seemed to be healing.

As if confirming something, Velige asked the doctor.

“How long was I asleep?”

“You were unconscious for exactly a day.”

“A day…”

And there was only one way for his body to recover to this extent in just one day.

‘Sacred power.’

But sacred power. The person who healed him without ointment in this unfamiliar place, bringing him to safety.

Velige tried to recall his recent memories.

The sudden attack by unknown assailants, his body slashed by their swords, and the giant light that enveloped his body in an instant.

He vividly remembered seeing the light emanating from somewhere just before losing consciousness.

Velige furrowed his brow, attempting to recall the next scene, but it was of no use. After that, there was only pitch darkness.

At the moment when the Duke was desperately trying to remember the forgotten memories, the doctor who had finished treating him stood up.

“Well, I’ll be going now.”

“Wait, who was the ‘person’ you mentioned earlier? Is it a priest?”

“I cannot say.”

However, the doctor firmly responded without a hint of hesitation to Velige’s question.

“Then, was there a woman here? With silver hair…”
Before Velige’s consciousness fully returned, he inquired about the woman he faintly saw. This time, the doctor seemed to be pondering something and fell silent for a moment.

‘What should I do about this?’

In response to the man’s question, the doctor was troubled.

‘Since I can’t casually mention healing this man with the princess’s sacred power as the royal chief physician, it’s different when it comes to questions about the silver-haired woman.’

‘Ever since I came here, the silver-haired woman has been in this room.’

The woman, who seemed quite tired from nursing the man by his side all day, was an unusually beautiful woman.

At first, it seemed like they might be lovers lying together, but for some reason, she didn’t try to reveal herself to the man.

“Please, sir. Pretend I wasn’t here in this place.”

The image of the woman desperately pleading before the man woke up flashed through his mind.

“Silver hair… I’ve never seen it.”

Perhaps fearing that he might be caught lying, the doctor hastened his steps.

“Well, I have an urgent case, so I’ll be going.”

Velige mumbled to himself, looking at the vacant space where the doctor had abruptly left.

“I definitely saw her…”

As if he couldn’t believe the doctor’s words, he muttered. When he first opened his eyes, he had seen the woman by his side.

The warmth of the hand he held hers with was so vivid. Clutching his warm right hand tightly, Velige closed his eyes.

Silver hair, petal-like violet eyes, and the ticklish sound of her gentle breathing in his ears.

‘How could I have forgotten about this?’

All the unfamiliar sensations he felt for the first time, even the air filled with the warmth that touched his skin.

As if everything from that day still made his blood boil.

And, in realizing another fact, he swept his hair with an uninjured hand.

“Above all, that woman…”

On the day they caught the human traffickers, there was a woman who had been captured by them.

“Definitely the same person.”

On a summer day, the woman he spent the night with and the woman he saw in the carriage that day had the same face.

Although the moment they faced each other in the carriage was a very brief instant.

“I can’t forget that face.”