Sharti’s shoulders twitched nervously.
“What if I’m some dangerous wanted person or a witness involved in something dangerous?”
“…?”
“Then you, who have been treating me until now, would become an accomplice.”
“…!”
Wasn’t this a clear threat?
‘Sha’ repeatedly opened and closed her small mouth at the man’s change in attitude. She was so dumbfounded that she was at a loss for words.
But the man, far from backing down, even crossed his arms.
“Besides, I’ve seen your face. You’re the only face I remember.”
“…!”
Sharti’s face turned pale.
She hurriedly pulled her hood down low and wrapped her robe tightly around her body.
Her lips trembled with fear.
‘If they find out I’m alive, if they know the bloodline of Crianet is still alive… I…!’
Five years ago, the fire should have taken her face rather than her voice.
As Sharti’s trembling grew stronger, the man visibly panicked.
‘…Run, I have to run away.’
Consumed by anxiety, Sharti gasped for breath as she tried to get up.
“No!”
The man quickly uncrossed his arms and urgently bowed his head, almost slamming it to the ground.
Sharti, who was about to flee at any moment, flinched.
“Just now, I misspoke!”
“…!”
“I overstepped my bounds without knowing my place. I, I was wrong.”
It was a quick and clear apology.
In a short time, the man had shown quite a variety of sides.
Thanks to this, Sharti was able to calm her breathing slowly without taking medication.
‘Is he a man whose mindset changes quickly? …Or maybe he’s under a lot of mental pressure and lacks composure.’
The man’s attitude just now had clearly crossed a line, but Sharti thought rationally.
As a doctor, it was right to take the patient’s psychological state into account.
“…But if you hand me over to others, you, who helped me out of goodwill, might suffer because of me.”
This time, his words contained more worry than advice.
Sharti nodded slightly at the man’s serious words.
‘He’s right about that.’
If he was a potential danger, it was better to keep him close.
‘…He probably thought and worried a lot until now to tell me this.’
The man was speaking to Sharti without hesitation. Even when Sharti just nodded without replying, he didn’t point out her attitude.
She could feel how much thought and practice he had put into organizing his words.
‘Can I trust this person?’
There was no way to verify whether he truly had amnesia.
Conversely, there was no way for him to prove that he had amnesia.
‘You can’t ask someone with no memories to prove they have no memories.’
In the end, if he gave her reason to trust, she had no choice but to believe him.
Sharti slowly lowered her feet to the floor beneath the bed.
The man raised his head.
His face showed anxiety and impatience.
“Until I regain my memories. Or at least until I remember my name, even if just my name, I’d like you to keep me with you.”
Sharti let out a deep sigh.
The answer had probably been decided from the moment he asked for help anyway.
‘At least he doesn’t seem like he’ll stab me in the back.’
She decided to take courage in his straightforward apology without any evasion.
Sharti crouched down in front of the man and held out her hand.
“…”
“…Hand?”
With a puzzled look, the man placed his large hand on hers.
“…”
The man, who had been staring intently at the letters tickling his palm, nodded slowly.
Sharti folded her trembling hand a couple of times before writing letters on his palm.
“…”
The man’s eyes widened slightly.
“I will do so.”
The man nodded obediently.
He seemed a bit dazed.
But somehow, his expression as he focused on her palm looked a bit gentle.
“I promise.”
He answered while looking at Sharti, at least for the last words.
Sharti unconsciously relaxed her shoulders.
It was just a promise, not even a verbal contract.
But the way he answered seriously gave Sharti a sense of reassurance.
“…What I said earlier was sincere.”
Sharti looked up as she sensed a hint of laughter in the man’s tone.
Although it would be hard to see clearly because of the hood, somehow she felt that the man was looking into her eyes.
“About letting you tie me up.”
Sharti thought for a moment before answering.
Tying up both arms and legs weighed on her conscience.
‘Maybe just one ankle, but nothing more.’
She needed to find a minimal safety measure, not poison or restraints.
The man swallowed a laugh as he watched Sharti lost in thought.
He thought she would dismiss it as a joke, but Sharti seemed to be seriously considering it. In this short conversation, the man was learning various aspects of Sharti.
‘I heard nobles use magic contracts, but those must be expensive, right?’
Sharti didn’t know what kind of look the man was giving her.
Then their eyes met.
“You’ll bring me clothes before that, right?”
As he smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth, Sharti’s face instantly turned red.
The heat from her face spread up to her head.
There were no clothes for him to wear right now, but there was a long robe.
As soon as she left the cave, she would go home and bring something for him to wear.
Sharti huffed in embarrassment.
As Sharti pressed her index finger firmly to write, the man burst into laughter a bit louder.
“I guess I felt comfortable with you without realizing it.”
“…”
“Should I promise not to speak informally if it bothers you?”
Unlike his appearance, he was shameless and smooth-talking.
For some reason, that image stuck in Sharti’s mind, and she turned her head away sharply.
Sharti drew a clear line.
It was a natural reaction for her.
‘A relationship where I just provide a hiding place until his body and mind fully recover. I don’t want to form any relationship beyond that.’
She wasn’t sure if the man would maintain the same attitude after regaining his memories. She feared a situation where the distance would narrow and his presence would become more prominent in her domain.
“…”
The man intently etched the message firmly pressed onto his palm into his eyes.
A woman hiding her body and heart with a thick robe.
Not wanting to make Sharti’s defensive wall even more solid, the man shrugged his shoulders slightly.
“Alright. …sir.”
The man didn’t stubbornly insist. He didn’t rashly cross the line she had drawn.
His instinct was telling him.
If he showed one more flaw, he would no longer be able to rely on her goodwill.
Just as Sharti, her expression hardened again, was about to write letters on the man’s palm.
Growl.
“…”
“…”
Grooowwwwlll.
“…”
The man’s gaze moved very slowly downward. And stopped around Sharti’s stomach area, covered by the robe.
The white face inside the hood turned bright red.
“…Um…”
The man was also flustered. Even if he wanted to pretend not to notice, her stomach clock kept ringing.
Sharti, her face as red as a radish, squeezed her eyes shut.
“…Hey−.”
As the man tried to speak, hiding his awkwardness, Sharti stood up abruptly. Taking big strides, Sharti brought a basket.
She put the basket down in front of the man and quickly showed him the bread and jam inside.
“…So that was the smell lingering in the cave.”
The man thankfully changed the subject.
“Did you bring this? …sir? With a smell like this, no wonder I reacted. …sir.”
“…”
For him, his words of comfort were tactless.
‘I would have appreciated it if he had just quietly pretended not to notice.’
It seems he lost his tact along with his memories. Sharti grumbled inwardly for no reason.
As Sharti’s mood didn’t improve, the man rubbed the back of his neck, trying to read the atmosphere.
“Ah. My stomach just made a sound too…”
“…”
“No, …sir.”
The man belatedly shut his mouth.
Sharti ignored him and focused on the fruit jam lid.
‘Hmm… ugh!’
No matter how much strength she applied, the lid wouldn’t budge.
“Let me try. …sir.”
Watching her tap the lid with her fist, the man took the jar with one hand.
Pop. With a crisp sound, the lid opened instantly.
“Here. …sir.”
The man held out the jar and lid to her.
Sharti stared blankly at the man’s large hand.
‘Men’s hands really are strong.’
Various uses for those large hands flashed through Sharti’s mind.
‘He was tall too, wasn’t he?’
The pile of herbs stored at home and the list of household chores she couldn’t solve alone came to mind.
‘He’s a patient, but as long as he doesn’t move too much, it should be fine, right?’
Hadn’t she already decided to live together?
Thinking positively, it was like gaining a valuable worker.
Sharti took out a piece of bread from the basket and offered it to the man first.
“You’re not going to feed me anymore? …sir?”
As Sharti unhesitatingly tried to take the bread back, the man hurriedly accepted it.
“Ah, no. I’ll eat well, …sir.”
After giving the man a brief look of warning, Sharti used a fork from the basket to spread jam on the bread.
‘Looks like apple jam.’
The sweetness seeping into the savory bread looked appetizing.
Sharti immediately took a big bite of the bread.
She had to quiet her stomach clock that was about to ring again.
“…”
The man ate his bread while secretly watching Sharti chew continuously with her small mouth. He also spread jam on his bread following Sharti’s lead.
The man seemed to try to eat at her pace as much as possible, but it disappeared in an instant.
‘…Food is going to be the biggest problem.’
The man’s build took on a slightly different meaning.
One piece of bread that Sharti would eat in several bites was just one mouthful for the man.
How much would his meal portions be to maintain those large, solid muscles?
‘We might be able to manage somehow with vegetables from the garden for now, but… What about winter?’
Needless to say, food prices double in winter. Especially in mountain villages, quantity was more of an issue than price.
‘There’s a lot to think about.’
It was overwhelming to face the problems that came with taking in one person. Sharti swallowed a sigh along with the bread.
Watching the changes in her expression, the man pushed the basket towards her.
“…I’m full.”
When Sharti offered him another piece of bread in surprise, he waved his hand.
The man, who had eaten just one piece of bread, turned his gaze away from the basket completely.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve been lying down so much, but my stomach fills up quickly. …sir.”
It was a plausible reason.
Sharti, her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, nodded.
__________
The Merman is a Love-Obsessed Brain (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
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