Sharti lowered her head deeply for now.

‘Not the face!’

The distance was too close.

But immediately, a large, hard hand grasped Sharti’s chin hidden under the hood.

Swoosh-. The thick hood was removed by the man’s rough touch.

“……!”

The hair and face that had been tightly concealed were hopelessly exposed.

As Sharti hurriedly turned her head, the man’s pupils widened as they met her crimson eyes.

Taking advantage of the man’s momentary hesitation, Sharti tightly closed her eyes.

‘No!’

Sharti bit her lip hard.

Thud! She raised her knee with all her might.

“……Ugh, urk……!”

The muscles of the man’s upper body writhed and twitched finely.

Because he was in a position of pouncing on her, the attack was effective even in that brief moment.

“What, the, hell……!”

As soon as the man lowered his head, Sharti twisted the end of the staff and firmly pressed it against the man’s shoulder.

“……Ugh!”

With a low groan, the man clutched his shoulder and hesitated for a moment. Sharti hurriedly raised her upper body and covered her head and face with the hood again.

Hearing the sound of her violently beating heart, Sharti exhaled a rough breath.

‘He was surprised to see me just now. He might be someone who knows me.’

In that fleeting moment, seeing the man freeze in shock upon seeing her face, Sharti was certain.

He might be someone related to the Kingdom of Krianet that disappeared 5 years ago.

‘I was stupid!’

Sharti hurriedly fumbled through her pockets.

Whether there was an immunity or not, it was time for a quantity offensive.

“……Ugh, the wound……”

Sharti, who was about to take out the powder pouch, flinched and raised her head.

The man’s face had turned pale blue, and he was holding his abdomen. The man’s trembling groans were ominous.

‘Did I, did I attack his abdomen instead of a vital point?’

If so, the wound that was barely healing might have reopened.

A reflexive sense of guilt arose.

“……It might have… reopened.”

Sharti’s eyes wavered at the man’s words, uttered with a groan.

He abruptly raised his head. As their eyes met, an inexplicable pain brushed past her chest.

As Sharti shrank back, unable to even think of approaching, the man raised both hands.

“I won’t do……”

“……?”

“Anything. Can you just check if the wound has opened?”

Reflexively, Sharti’s gaze turned to his abdomen.

‘I can’t see well.’

Because the inside of the cave wasn’t very bright, she had to get closer.

‘But if I get too close, it’ll be hard to react to a counterattack.’

With the hood on, her field of vision narrowed, making it difficult to prepare for the man’s counterattack.

After making a big decision, Sharti gripped the staff tightly again. She glared at the man with all her might.

‘If you try anything funny, it won’t be the wound that bursts.’

Thinking this was enough of a threat, Sharti crawled on her knees across the bed.

For a moment, the corners of the man’s mouth trembled.

“……Here.”

Fortunately, the man put his hands behind his back on his own, assuming a posture of having his hands tied. Kneeling on the bed, he looked just like someone receiving punishment.

‘I don’t see any blood particularly.’

While still wary of the man, Sharti leaned her upper body forward.

After examining the abdominal wound and moving on to the thigh wound, the distance between her and the man shortened.

Throughout this, the man’s gaze remained fixed on Sharti.

“……”

He wanted to see the face hidden by the hood again.

The image of her face, concealed again in an instant, kept flickering before his eyes.

“-Ugh.”

Suddenly, the man hurriedly leaned his upper body back.

Slap. But Sharti immediately glared at him and slapped his thick arm with her hand.

‘I can’t examine if you move.’

Eventually, the man awkwardly resumed his position.

Every time Sharti’s thin, long fingers pressed around the bandaged abdomen, the man’s body trembled. Each time, Sharti looked up at the man with a frown.

A glimpse of crimson eyes was visible from under the hood.

‘If you move again, I’ll knock you out and look.’

The crimson eyes narrowed in warning, but the man found it ridiculous. It was torturous to have someone shamelessly pressing here and there on the body of a person clearly conscious.

Unable to help it, the man opened his mouth.

“……It didn’t reopen.”

“……?”

Sharti blinked as she raised her gaze at the man’s words.

“If it had reopened, it would have been where you kicked earlier.”

“……!”

Sharti’s face turned bright red as she was about to lower her gaze to where the man had indicated with his eyes.

He had acted again.

As Sharti immediately tried to punish him, the man calmly opened his mouth.

“But the pain is real.”

The man’s gaze seemed a little sorrowful.

“Here.”

The man who moved the arm opposite to the shoulder that couldn’t move due to being hit with the paralyzing poison-coated staff, tapped his own head.

Sharti looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

‘The head wounds have all healed, though?’

There were cuts and bruises from impacts, but they weren’t major injuries.

“That’s not what I meant……”

The man took a deep breath. His chest swelled greatly and then deflated.

His hesitant demeanor somehow didn’t suit him.

“I can’t remember. Anything.”

For a moment, Sharti blinked slowly, not understanding his words.

Tsk. The man who turned his head clicked his tongue quietly.

“My name, my age, my home. I can’t remember any of it. Not even why I’m in this state.”

Sha’s mouth gradually opened.

‘So…… he doesn’t remember anything at all?’

Sometimes among the books Tein read, there were books explaining a disease called amnesia.

But ‘Sha’, who had no academy diploma or any qualifications, couldn’t possibly properly understand symptoms that occur in a complex area like the brain.

As Sharti cast a suspicious look at the man with a record, he responded as if reading her mind.

“……It’s true.”

He put on an expression of feigned innocence.

“That’s why I couldn’t open my mouth for a while even after regaining consciousness.”

“……”

“Every time I opened my eyes, you were always ready to put me back to sleep or attack, so I was scared.”

The man shrugged his one good shoulder.

Sha’s expression became sheepish at his point.

“I’m not blaming you.”

The man glanced at Sharti’s expression and settled into a comfortable position. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, the man lowered his gaze with a pitiful expression.

‘The atmosphere does seem different.’

The man who had pointed a sword and exuded a bloodthirsty aura at their first meeting was quite different in expression and atmosphere from the man before her now.

‘At first, he really seemed like a huge beast.’

Now he looked languid, like a large herbivore.

Of course, the man was currently doing his best to act in a way that would put Sharti at ease.

It was clumsy acting, but Sharti’s wariness had diminished somewhat.

‘No. He could be lying about losing his memory.’

Although she felt sympathy for the man, her distrust towards people didn’t easily fade.

Sharti raised her eyes as much as possible towards the man. Sensing Sharti’s defensive attitude from beyond the hood, the man calmly steadied his breath.

Indeed, she was not to be taken lightly.

“You’re the only one I can communicate with, me who has no memories.”

The man who confessed honestly raised his gaze. The man was neither trying to act friendly by closing the distance, nor behaving as if he had no intention to attack.

Calm teal eyes captured Sharti.

“So, I’d like to have a conversation. Peacefully this time.”

“……”

A pitiful and unfortunate patient who had injured his head.

The man knew well which image to show between dangerousness and pitifulness.

“You probably don’t like my attitude.”

The man muttered to himself and suddenly stood up.

Sharti’s body trembled.

‘What is he doing?’

Was he trying to fight after securing an advantageous position?

Contrary to Sharti’s expectations, the man who stepped down from the bed moved two steps away. Then he prostrated himself on the cold cave floor in front of the bed.

“……!”

His well-defined back muscles entered her view.

Sharti blinked in surprise.

The man spoke with his forehead pressed to the cold ground.

“Help me.”

His small, low voice resonated through the cave, traveling along the ground.

Sharti stared at the man’s head prostrated at her feet.

“I don’t want to be alone here. Not remembering anything is frustrating, scary, and lonely.”

“……”

“I’ve been going outside the cave for a few days. But leaving, I couldn’t do it. I wanted to meet someone who knows me, but I gave up when I saw my state. I can’t even distinguish between hostility and goodwill right now. Only this cave. It’s the only place where I can keep myself safe.”

The man’s earnest and sincere plea shook Sharti’s heart.

The anxiety and fear he must be feeling were terrors that Sharti had experienced herself.

‘But I had Grandma Bireta, Birena, and Tein with me.’

Five years ago, she had closed her eyes expecting to die in the fire. And when she lifted her heavy eyelids, Sharti was in a thick blanket instead of hot flames.

At first, she thought everything that happened in the Krianet palace was a dream.

Until she discovered the indelible marks and disabilities etched on her body, as if telling her not to forget that day.

Far from feeling relief at being alive, the thought that someone might come to take her away again tormented Sharti every single day without fail.

She was broken then.

‘I lost my voice, and he lost his memories, so we can’t really compare.’

Sympathy mixed with a sense of kinship.

That’s why Sharti couldn’t help but waver.

“Right now, you’re the only person I can ask for help.”

The man spoke with his head still pressed to the ground.

“Please help me a little more. Please.”

The man had found Sharti’s weak point and was exploiting it in the most effective way.

Sharti was weakest to the words ‘please help’.

Slowly, the man raised his head to gauge Sharti’s reaction.

“We don’t know when beasts might come here, and the temperature drops at night. Moreover, if there’s a big storm, it might collapse.”

Every word made sense.

The man didn’t give time for the wavering heart to settle.

“If I seem threatening, you can tie my arms or legs. You can even blindfold me.”

The man who met Sharti’s gaze smiled pitifully.

“Take me with you. Please.”

“……”

Sharti admitted.

‘I want to help this person.’

However, she couldn’t readily extend a hand to the man.

‘Is it even possible in my situation?’

She too was in a position of hiding in the mountains.

In a situation where she could barely take care of herself, who could hide and help whom?

Perhaps it would be better to go down to the village and ask for help for him.

‘Wouldn’t it be best for both of us if I request Grandma Bireta to protect the man’s identity?’

The man’s expression became slightly distorted as he watched Sharti’s conflict intensify. Even with him pleading from beneath her feet, Sharti was hesitating.

Then he had to change his approach.

The man erased the pitiful act he had been putting on.

“It would be better to hide me, or at least keep me with you until I regain my memories, wouldn’t it? For both our safety.”

The man’s low and cool voice, instilling a sense of crisis, resonated businesslike.