After the typhoon passed, the temperature difference between day and night increased.

Sharati stretched her stiff body, feeling groggy.

“He still shows no signs of waking up.”

The unidentified man who had taken refuge in her cave was still unconscious, lying on the narrow bed, breathing steadily.

Thanks to Sharati’s round-the-clock care, his life was not in danger.

“Could it be the poison in his wounds?”

She was startled to realize belatedly that the man had been poisoned.

A poison that wasn’t evident externally.

Had she not detected the poison seeped into his wounds, the man would have been walking the path to the afterlife within a day.

“The detoxification went well. Hmm, his wound recovery is also extraordinary, so he must have overcome the crisis.”

The man possessed a remarkable healing ability befitting his large frame.

His recovery, which was slow while poisoned, rapidly progressed once detoxified. Minor wounds were manageable with just ointment.

“The burn scars won’t be too severe.”

He had suffered burns on his back, arms, and shoulders, presumably from an explosion, but Sharati diligently mixed herbs for treatment.

Was she proving how different she was from five years ago when she barely knew any medical knowledge?

Sharati grimly smiled, recalling her own burn scars, and the grimacing faces of others who saw them.

“If only it had been my face.”

Then, perhaps, she wouldn’t have had to hide under this suffocating robe hood.

“No. If my body had been worse off, even living in this mountain would have been difficult.”

She had a damaged throat, a limping leg, and hands that could hardly grip.

However, meeting Vireta, Virena, and Tein, she succeeded in rehabilitation.

Although she had to wrap her body in robes due to the prominent burn scars, she no longer limped and could use her hands.

“……I should be grateful.”

She thought of the old log cabin given to her by the villagers, thanks to her role as a doctor.

In the mountainous area, doctors were a prized profession. In an isolated environment, diseases, and injuries, big and small, were inevitable.

“Surviving is an achievement.”

The incident in the Criannet royal palace five years ago was the greatest misfortune in her life.

Yet, it was the small connections, the fleeting kindnesses, that saved her.

That was her greatest fortune.

“Alive, I’ve experienced despair and accomplishment. Vividly.”

She was grateful for not dying with her negative emotions, for being alive to bloom with her talent.

“Enough of these thoughts.”

The longer she spent caring for the man of similar fate, the more her unnecessary thoughts grew.

Perhaps spending too much time in the damp, dark cave made her gloomy.

“The sunlight’s good for herb gathering.”

Sunny days were ideal for collecting herbs. Sharati checked on the man, still deeply asleep.

She picked up her dirt-stained gloves and a small blade and headed out of the cave.

“…….!”

Inside the cave, filled only with the sound of steady breathing, the man’s muscles twitched slightly. A look of distress crossed his face, and cold sweat began to form on his forehead.

It was a symptom Sharati had not seen during her care.

“……ugh, ugh……”

Muffled groans slipped through his clenched teeth.

The white bandages Sharati had changed several times began to slowly stain red.

Pain seemed to torment the man, his lower jaw and neck veins bulging.

Tap-tap-tap. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Sharati had returned to the cave, having forgotten her basket, and discovered the man’s condition.

“……!”

She hastily threw her gloves and blade far away and rushed to the bedside.

Briefly startled by his contorted facial muscles, Sharati silently approached the man, sitting beside him and touching his forehead.
“He has a slight fever, suddenly?”

Sharati, unfazed, quickly stood up. That’s when it happened.

Thud. The man’s large hand grabbed Sharati’s. Startled, Sharati hastily tried to retreat, but the man frowned and shifted.

“……ha, ah…….”

Still with his eyes tightly shut and turning his head to the side, the man was breathing heavily as if in the grip of a nightmare.

Sharati, clutching her startled heart, hesitantly moved back towards the bed.

“……It seems he’s still unconscious.”

Sharati didn’t drop her guard and gently stroked the back of the man’s hand, which was trembling slightly.

“Is he having a nightmare?”

Given the wounds and scars on his body, it was clear the man had gone through something extraordinary.

Was it a psychological shock resurfacing in his unconscious state?

“…….”

Sharati sat on the bed, feeling a pang of sympathy. She too had suffered terrible nightmares.

She touched her throat, hidden beneath her hood, wanting to speak to the man to calm him but decided against it.

“My voice might worsen his nightmare.”

Sharati only spoke aloud, very rarely, on thunderous nights under her blanket. Otherwise, even she found her own voice horrifying.

A frog’s croak. Or the harsh, hoarse voice of a witch.

That was Sharati’s voice.

“It’s okay.”

Turns Out He’s Been Secretly in Love with Me

One-line summary: He acts like he doesn’t like her but is actually playing hard to get.

Synopsis:

Xu Muzhou like her. He has liked her for a very long time, and through repeated schemes, he finally closed the distance with her.

But this is still far from enough.

He wants to be the one who stands out among her many suitors, to fight for her attention, and to make her take the initiative to pursue him.

_____

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