It hadn’t been long since she was injured in prison the last time. It was a place that she thought had almost healed. The pain came rushing back from this shock.

She tried to take off her clothes with her left hand, but even that was not easy.

It was not an easy task to take off her clothes alone with one hand, her left hand at that, because of the buttons behind her neck.

As Lina struggled for a while and couldn’t take off her clothes, the Duke, sensing something strange, approached her.

“What’s going on?”

“You? That’s…”

She had no confidence to say that she was injured and couldn’t take off her clothes alone, so she needed help.

“Come to think of it, the clothes are already dry, so there’s no need to take them off.”

Lina answered with a shy smile. However, that excuse did not seem to work on the Duke.

“No way.”

The man who had been watching her shivering came closer.

“That can’t be.”

She instinctively covered her right arm as the Duke came close enough to touch her. But that seemed to annoy him more.

“Is your arm injured?”

“Just my shoulder… but I’m fine.”

The Duke frowned as he watched Lina speak as if it were no big deal. And he spoke as if sighing softly.

“Let me have a look.”

“I’m fine. I’ll see a doctor when we…”

“When do you think we’ll be back? I can do basic first aid, so show me.”

“I’m really fine.”

But when Lina continued to refuse him with her head bowed, Valige muttered in a low voice.

“Lina.”

Eventually, she seemed to give up, her voice trailing off.

“It’s just that… I can’t take off my clothes myself. The buttons on the back…”

Her voice was almost a whisper.

Watching Lina bow her head, hesitating to speak, the Duke looked at the buttons on the back of her neck.

“Is this all you need me to undo?”

Unable to answer out of embarrassment, Lina just nodded her head.

She had always taken his clothes off for him, but she didn’t know why she was so nervous about him helping her take off her clothes today.

Before she knew it, Valige had come close enough to feel his breath, and he brushed Lina’s hair aside. Then he began to carefully unbutton the buttons one by one.

‘Why is it so hot?’

The chill from before was gone, and her body started to heat up.

Lina stiffened, forgetting to breathe. She could feel his hot breath on the flesh exposed beneath her clothes, and where his hand touched, a heat flower bloomed, constantly making her feel hot.

And when her breath seemed to reach its limit, she heard the calm voice of the Duke.

“It’s done.”

When she stayed still, even after he said he had unbuttoned all the buttons, the Duke spoke again.

“To see the wound, it seems like you’ll have to lower your clothes.”

“You? Oh, yes.”

At his voice, Lina came to her senses and lowered her clothes just enough to show the wound.

“Ugh…….”

Due to the friction of the clothes, a dull pain flooded from her arm, and she inadvertently moaned.

Perhaps the wound was deeper than she thought, her right arm was swollen more than she expected.

‘It must have been hidden by the clothes.’
The duke, who was examining her wound, looked stunned and muttered under his breath.

“You endured this wound well, yes.”

If the wound was left untreated, it could lead to an inability to use the arm later. Of course, this would be the case for ordinary people.

“It looks like the bone is injured. It would be best to immobilize it as much as possible.”

“……Yes.”

“Loosen your clothes a little more[dash].”

At his words, Lina gently tugged at her clothes. Her body had heated up so much that it was hard to believe that she had been shivering from the cold just a moment ago.

The duke’s cold touch was felt on her heated body.

‘This is just treatment.’

Her heart was pounding. She was worried that the duke might hear the sound. Unnecessarily tensed, Lina began to think of something else.

‘I fell into the water, and then…….’

Huh?

A fragment of memory that flashed through her mind.

Lina swallowed her dry spit.

‘Wait.’

A hot bead of sweat seemed to trickle down her forehead. She raised her left hand and carefully wiped her lips.

Sigh.

Then she let out a sigh that was almost a groan.

The thing that had opened her airway while she was drowning. That was.

Had Lina’s face turned red, remembering what had happened just before?

‘Why am I thinking about it now!’

As if thinking about the duke’s touch was embarrassing enough, even the fact that their lips had touched. Lina quietly bit her lip.

But the duke, unaware or not of Lina’s feelings, was solely focused on treating her wound.

He fetched a small piece of wood and splinted her arm, wrapping her arm with an old cloth.

He firmly immobilized her arm so that she couldn’t move it and then spoke.

“I’ve done all I can now. So try not to move your arm as much as possible.”

“……Yes. Thank you.”

As soon as he moved away, Lina quickly covered herself with a blanket.

‘I’m going crazy.’

The events in the water earlier continued to resurface more and more vividly. From the feeling on her lips to the breath they had shared.

‘How could I have forgotten that?’

“Don’t stand there, come closer.”

The duke spoke, poking at the fire in the fireplace. Lina hesitated for a moment before slowly taking steps towards the duke’s side.

Tock[dash]. Tock.

With every step she took, water droplets fell from her hair, leaving faint traces on the floor. And in time with the sound, a forgotten question came to mind.

‘Why did the duke and I fall into the water together?’

Her footsteps began to slow.

Although their eyes had met as they fell, there was no situation where he should have fallen. Then, she should have fallen into the water alone, but why.

The moment she was about to take another step towards the duke. She stopped.

‘Could it be.’

At the same time, all her thoughts froze.

‘Did he jump into the water on purpose? To save me……?’