Sharti quickly left her seat.

Gathering clothes to change into, she went straight into the bathroom.

Click.

“…”

Sharti immediately rubbed her eyes vigorously with her arm.

‘I should wash up and go to sleep quickly.’

She suppressed her desire to soak in warm water again like yesterday.

Consoling her regret, Sharti washed thoroughly, conserving what little water was left.

‘Hmm… I must have overdone it today.’

Her muscles were knotted.

Sharti diligently massaged her legs.

It was her first experience treating so many patients frantically all day like today.

‘But I gathered enough herbs to take tomorrow. It won’t be lacking.’

Sharti relished in her sense of accomplishment, recalling the meat given by the soldiers.

While washing her face, Sharti looked at her reflection in the mirror.

“…”

Long curly wheat-colored hair tangled here and there under the hood. Scarlet eyes that didn’t match her hair color.

Pale skin from being wrapped tightly in robes. A face without any fat.

An appearance too embarrassing to show others.

Sharti stroked her cheek for no reason.

‘It would be nice if I looked a bit stronger, like him.’

She recalled the man with dark features, an outward appearance completely opposite to hers, and a large build.

‘Ah, now it’s Ren.’

She wondered if she had given the name too hastily and carelessly, but in the end, he seemed to like it.

Much more than she had thought.

‘I wonder what his real name is?’

She suddenly became curious about what meaning Ren’s real name might hold, what resonance it might carry.

Whatever the name, it would surely suit him well.

‘Will he tell me his real name when he regains his memories?’

Sharti, continuing her vague curiosity, chided herself.

Isn’t that a selfish thought? Even if Ren told her his real name, she couldn’t tell him hers.

‘Because Sharti is dead.’

More precisely, Sharti Crianet died 5 years ago.

As long as the one who survived by using her as a body double exists somewhere in the world, Sharti would never reveal her real name.

Sharti rubbed her chest area, feeling strangely tight.

‘It’s fine. I’ll live as Sha until I die anyway. It’s my real name now.’

Sharti bravely steeled her resolve.

After vigorously rubbing her damp hair with a towel, she put her hood back on.

“Ah, you’re out.”

As soon as Sharti came out of the bathroom, Ren approached as if he had been waiting.

In his hand was a thick towel dampened with water.

He pointed to the sofa.

“Sit there for a moment.”

“…?”

Thinking he might want to talk, Sharti weakly shook her head.

Her body felt heavy after washing.

‘I just want to lie down in bed quickly.’

She was confident she could fall asleep within 3 seconds of closing her eyes under the blanket.

“It will only take a moment.”

But Ren was adamant.

With him standing firmly in front, there was no choice.

Haaa. Hiding her annoyed expression, Sharti went to sit on the sofa.

‘Let’s endure for a little bit.’

The soft sofa enveloping her body felt nice.

The problem was that she felt like she could fall asleep at any moment.

While Sharti wasn’t noticing, Ren had already knelt on one knee in front of the sofa.

Ren carefully supported the soles of her feet with the towel.

“…!”

Startled, Sharti flailed her legs and immediately swatted his hand away.

As Sharti curled up defensively, Ren obediently lowered his hands.

“I’ve been thinking.”

“…”

“I’m a patient, but my hands and feet are fine. And my recovery is going smoothly.”

He continued speaking to Sharti in a calm voice.

“But because I have no memories, there’s nothing I can do. I don’t even know what I’m allowed to do. So, do I just have to keep waiting at home like this indefinitely?”

Ren’s gaze as he revealed his powerless self was indifferent, yet at the same time yearning for something.

“I may not be able to repay what I’ve received, but I want to help at least to the extent that I’m not a hindrance. I can’t go out with you tomorrow, but I can help prepare for tomorrow.”

“…?”

Wondering what he meant, Sharti blinked slowly.

Pulling up one corner of his mouth, Ren this time supported Sharti’s feet on his knees.

As he slowly wrapped them with the towel, Sharti belatedly stirred to pull her feet away.

“Sha-.”

The low resonance of his voice lingered in Sharti’s ears.

It was a voice that seemed to hold her in place, preventing her from moving.

“I know your legs are uncomfortable.”

For a moment, Sharti took a sharp breath, wondering if he had noticed the burn scars on her legs.

“It must be because the mountain path is rough and the distance to the village is far.”

At Ren’s following words, the tension suddenly left Sharti’s shoulders.

Lowering his gaze, Ren stared intently at the long robe Sharti had come out wearing, without bothering to lift it.

“You said there were many wounded soldiers, so you must have been busy, and you must have been even more hectic using various herbs to treat them, as you did for me.”

“…”

“Moreover, you haven’t properly rested the fatigue accumulated from fleeing with me last night, so it must have gotten worse.”

As it wasn’t a reproachful tone, Sharti just fidgeted with her fingers.

She felt embarrassed as everything he said sounded like he was worried about her.

“If you have to keep going to the village, it’s better to at least relieve the fatigue in your legs.”

He looked up at Sharti.

“If you allow me, I can relieve it. No… I want to relieve it.”

Sharti blinked her eyes.

Then she rolled her eyes.

‘So… um, is he saying he wants to give me a massage now?’

Looking at how he was supporting her feet, it seemed he was planning to knead her legs.

Sharti wore a troubled expression.

Even if wrapped in a towel, contact with someone other than her palms couldn’t be comfortable.

“If you don’t like it, I won’t do it.”

Unlike his plain words, his expression was honest.

His eyes burned with an earnest plea to let him do at least this much.

Seeing Sharti’s hesitant demeanor, Ren calmly lowered his eyelids.

The acting was gradually improving.

“You can try receiving it first, and if you don’t like it, you can kick me away right away.”

Ren offered a compromise point he had thought of in advance.

Only after agreeing to massage just the calves, and only after wrapping them thoroughly with a towel, did she give him permission.

Sharti watched what Ren was doing with eyes still not completely free of wariness.

“I won’t do it hard. But if it hurts, please endure it a little.”

Then he put a broom in her hand.

Understanding that it meant to use the broom to signal if it hurt, Sharti gave a small laugh.

Then she quickly gathered her smile.

‘I don’t know who’s the doctor and who’s the patient.’

What Sharti wanted was just the distance between patient and doctor.

But instead, she, the doctor, was making the patient worry about her.

‘I should have refused.’

But she understood Ren’s thoughts.

In the end, Sharti had no choice but to let him have his way.

After wrapping Sharti’s legs with the towel, Ren started the massage.

When she flinched for a moment, worried that he might see her burn scars, Ren immediately stopped his hands.

“I’ll do it.”

After observing Sharti’s reaction for a moment, Ren massaged even more carefully.

Sharti’s stiff body began to relax little by little, gradually.

‘Hmm…?’

It hurt. But it didn’t hurt.

It was an honest massage that only relieved the muscles without unnecessary force.

Sharti slowly closed and opened her eyes while watching Ren’s face as he focused on the massage.

‘Strange person.’

And unexpectedly a good person.

Bear. Patient. Scary person. Patient. Amnesia. Unknown identity. Strange person.

A faint smile appeared on Sharti’s face as she recalled each word describing Ren.

‘A person… who worried about me…’

Sharti’s eyes slowly closed.

Her consciousness drifted away.

The sound of even breathing could be heard.

Ren, who had been focusing on the massage, raised his head to check on Sharti.

Sharti’s shoulders were rising and falling regularly.

‘Looks like I did it right.’

Ren, who had been nervous about his first massage, relaxed his hands.

He carefully lowered her legs and stood up.

Ren brought a blanket and covered Sharti with it.

He wanted to move her to the bed, but didn’t want to wake her as she was sleeping deeply.

‘I can’t touch her recklessly and make her distance herself again.’

The man tilted his head as he looked at Sharti, who had fallen into a deep sleep, breathing softly.

“…”

Her wheat-colored hair showed from under the disheveled hood buried in the sofa.

He waited a little longer just in case, but Sharti’s hood didn’t come off.

“She sleeps so quietly.”

His disappointment betrayed the vain expectation he had harbored.

He suppressed his curiosity.

‘I wonder if there will be another day to see her.’

He wanted to see Sharti’s face once more.

When their eyes met on the bed in the cave with her hood off, his mind had gone blank, so he couldn’t remember.

He wanted to see her properly, not by chance, not vaguely, not for a moment, not dimly.

Ren crouched down in front of the sofa again.

“If I get permission like this one by one, will she someday allow me to talk to her face to face?”

It was a hope without guarantee. But strangely, he didn’t feel rushed.

It was like the faith he had held all day today while waiting for Sharti. The baseless faith that she would surely return, that she wouldn’t abandon him.

Ren frowned and chided himself.

“What a stupid thought.”

Even thinking rationally, it would be more efficient and faster for him to regain his memories than to get permission from Sharti.

Ren’s eyes turned cold as he roughly scratched his head.

‘Will the memories even return? If the returned memories are not hopeful, what will I do then?’

He needed to have patience.

But being left alone in an empty house, endless worst-case scenarios unfolded, like the possibility of being a real criminal, or an escaped slave, or a fugitive on the run.

Without medical knowledge, he needed to prepare for the worst situation.

“But no matter how I think about it, it’s strange.”

He had a sense of time, could read letters, and knew words like ‘criminal’ and that it was a great crime for slaves to escape, but only important information was missing.

Like remembering the name of the Newton Empire but not knowing detailed information.

‘It’s unnatural.’

There were many aspects that didn’t seem right for after-effects of an accident.

However, Ren stopped thinking.

The more he delved into his memories, the more his mind felt overloaded, unable to dig any deeper.

“Huu…”

Ren tilted his head back and stared into space.

‘But I can’t keep living like this forever.’

He was increasingly disliking the idea of leeching off this small, innocent doctor.

Of course, at first he aimed for treatment and protection including food and shelter.

So he was acting pitiful, miserable, trying to break down Sharti’s walls by drawing out her sympathy.

But while he hoped Sharti wouldn’t abandon him, he didn’t intend to helplessly depend on her for everything.

‘How frustrating, I must be full.’

As soon as he heard Sharti’s faint breathing, Ren immediately stopped his complicated thoughts.

He should go to his room, leaving her asleep, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave.

Instead, he sat leaning against the wall, keeping his distance from Sharti.

“Sha, do you know what it means to give someone a name?”

I know.

Ren smiled as he whispered softly.

By giving him a name, Sharti had acknowledged ‘Ren’ as a person.

Sharti probably didn’t know what it meant to give a name to him, who had been lost and wandering since he opened his eyes.

Leaning against the wall, Ren quietly closed his eyes.

Early in the morning, Sharti, who had finished preparing to go out like a stray cat, quietly left the house.

Constantly glancing behind her, Sharti hurriedly descended the mountain path.

Only after going down some distance did Sharti’s steps slow.

‘Haah…’

Sharti closed her eyes tightly as she exhaled a deep sigh of relief.

‘Just when did I fall asleep!’

How surprised she had been when she opened her eyes as the dim dawn sky was brightening to see Ren’s figure.

There was no time to rub her tired eyelids.

She had to hurriedly escape the sofa and hide in the bedroom, covering her mouth.

‘No matter how tired I was, how could I! How could I fall asleep like that?’

Sharti scolded herself for falling asleep defenseless in front of Ren.

Moreover, she remembered falling asleep while receiving the massage he was giving, but she couldn’t understand why Ren was sleeping crouched on the living room floor.

‘And without even a blanket.’

Unlike her, who was wrapped in the warm comfort of a blanket, Ren was asleep leaning against the wall without anything covering him.

Receiving such one-sided consideration, she couldn’t help but feel burdened.