To break the awkward atmosphere, Asha approached eagerly, holding a first aid kit in both hands.

Jackal, still only in his underwear, was greatly flustered and blurted out.

“Huh? No. I can treat it myself……”

“Don’t refuse. I want to do it…… Eek!”

Asha stepped on a fallen object and slipped forward, tumbling roughly.

With her eyes tightly closed, Asha felt Jackal’s body supporting her and slowly opened her eyelids.

But she soon stared in wideeyed surprise at him underneath her.

She was now on top of Jackal on the bed…….

Jackal was also very startled, blinking his blue eyes and staring at her from below.

Shepi’s appearance could be seen in him.

But just then.

“Captain, have you treated the wound…….?”

Without knowing anything, the lieutenant burst in, his eyes widening as he stopped at the door.

Jackal and Asha, on the bed, turned their heads simultaneously to look at him.

This time, it was Asha on top of him, wearing only her underwear.

Moreover, the area around the bed was filled with Jackal’s discarded clothes, bandages, documents, and objects scattered as if poured from the desk.

It was a very rough and vigorous scene…….

“I, I’m sorry for interrupting!”

The lieutenant hurriedly closed the door and ran out.

Back on the way he came, with a forlorn face, he muttered, ‘Stupid fool, clueless fool,’ smacking his head with his palm.

After the lieutenant left, only silence lingered in the room.

“…….”

“…….”

Once again faced with this absurd situation, they dully stared at each other’s faces, above and below.

Asha quickly got off him, overwhelmed with embarrassment, and Jackal also clumsily sat up, perching on the bed.

Both sat on the edge of the bed, staring in different directions.

After a long silence, to break the awkward atmosphere, Asha joked first.

“It seems there are only good people in Rikaon. They all worry about your wound like this, Jackal…….”

At her words, Jackal twitched and laughed.

“They don’t knock, and they have no tact.”

Asha felt as if she was stung by his words and hurriedly changed the subject.

“Then, shall we take a look at the wound?”

His continuous awkward words made Jackal want to laugh, but he bit his lower lip, trying not to, finding Asha’s pretense of indifference even cuter with her flushed ears.

“Should I transform into Shepi now, then……?”

Jackal asked slyly, but Asha responded very firmly.

“No. I’ve already seen everything, so why transform? It’s just a waste of energy.”

“…….”
That was a valid point, so Jackal kept his mouth shut.

Asha stealthily glanced at Jackal’s body with a secretly excited expression.

He had been so cute as a Shapeshifter, but now she really felt the fact that he was a rough wild horse.

Asha carefully untied the bandage she had tied around Jackal’s side.

Fortunately, the bleeding had stopped, and he looked much better than before, but the stitch marks on the wound were still awful and hideous to look at.

Was she unwittingly wearing a serious expression? Jackal said calmly.

“It’s a wound of honor.”

As Asha looked up, he was indeed wearing a proud face.

“I’ve been raised as a warrior in my village since I was very young, so I’ve always had scars all over my body. But I’ve never been as proud of an injury as this one.”

Asha was about to argue in astonishment, but then she recalled the image of Shapeshifter running desperately, taking an arrow to save her.

Just thinking about it made her heart sink, and she sat down, tears welling up in her eyes.

But then, Jackal slightly leaned in with a worried face towards her.

And he spoke as he wiped the tear at the corner of Asha’s eye with his thumb.

“It was a joke. Don’t cry.”

At that, Asha smiled with a slight tear in her eye.

Their physical closeness had become natural by now.

Asha spoke with a distant look on her face.

“If you die because of me, Jackal… I’ll return without regret. To the moment I first met you in the snowfield.”

Jackal looked at her intently and asked,

“……What if you fail? What if that ability can only be used once in a lifetime?”

Asha thought hard for a moment.

Perhaps the condition for return was ‘death’, or ‘going to the brink of death’ like her own awakening condition.

In any case, it was likely an ability that could only be activated in an extreme situation where her own death was imminent.

Asha answered with a slightly bitter smile.

“Then I can’t help it. I’m not afraid of death.”

Seeing Asha repeat what she had said when they first met, Jackal was at a loss for words.

But this time, he couldn’t scoff at it as a ‘joke’.

He knew all too well now that it wasn’t something she said lightly, but her sincere resolve, reaffirmed time and time again.

‘You mustn’t die……. If Shapeshifter dies, I will die too.’

The words she spoke in the cave once again painfully echoed in his heart.

For some reason, his heart felt heavy, as if submerged in water, and he could not utter a word.

But then Asha added with a faint smile,

“But if I die and can’t return, and I’m forever parted from you, that would be a little sad…….”

At those words, Jackal’s heart ached as if it had stopped.