Sharti, lying in bed, first removed her hood and covered herself with the blanket.

‘Ugh, cold then hot… My body feels heavy.’

Perhaps due to her fluctuating emotions, she felt her fever had risen even more.

She wanted to wear lighter clothes, but had to cover the burn scars.

They were traces from 5 years ago, something she wanted to hide even more than her voice.

Momentarily feeling depressed, Sharti rubbed around her neck.

‘Will it be okay?’

She swallowed words of worry, not knowing who they were for.

Regret, anxiety, fear – she put it all aside for now.

‘Right. I’m leaving in three days anyway.’

It was just one day of speaking and conversing before Ren left.

It might not be a good memory, but the conversation practice could help Ren.

‘It’s hard to believe everything Ren said, but he wasn’t put off after hearing my voice. It’ll be fine.’

Even if she got hurt anew, when Ren left that hurt would be buried under other wounds, leaving no trace.

Sharti, continuing her self-defense, shook her head side to side.

‘Stop thinking about it. My wallet situation is more urgent.’

It wasn’t too late to sniffle pathetically later.

Right now, productive thoughts came first.

Winter preparations and winterizing the log cabin were piling up.

‘…Right, this isn’t the time for distractions. I have a mountain of things to do.’

Before snow fell, she had to diligently gather herbs, fill the nearly empty water tank, create new medicine formulas, and make medicines to sell.

Plus, she had to make clothes for Ren before he left.

‘Ugh, I’m dizzy…’

Sharti finally poked her face out from under the blanket.

Trying to make plans made her head spin.

‘I’ll have to postpone house calls.’

In this condition, even going to Bireta’s house right away was too much.

House calls were a schedule that had to be planned for up to 3 months at most.

Moreover, carrying a lot of luggage was physically demanding.

‘There’s no way my body should be this exhausted, is it because of the soldiers?’

The cold medicine she made was effective.

Households with children would buy Sharti’s cold medicine in bulk, that’s how high the sales were.

So naturally, she should have felt better after waking up from a nap, but she was still breathing hot breaths.

‘Maybe I’m just too stressed.’

It was natural for her body to be exhausted after feeling intense mental pressure from Ren and the soldiers’ presence, and then being threatened by Dodint.

‘It’ll gradually get better. I’ll be able to return to my old life soon.’

The soldiers had left, things with Dodint were resolved, and now Ren was leaving too, so her complicated thoughts would be sorted out.

‘Back to being alone…’

Suddenly muttering to herself, Sharti bit her lip.

Then she rubbed her face with both hands as if washing it.

Because she was sick, her body weakened and her heart weakened too, bringing down her mood.

‘Let’s just sleep.’

Tossing and turning, Sharti put her hood back on.

Trying to force herself to sleep, she even took out sleeping pills from the drawer and swallowed them.

Hugging the blanket tightly, Sharti squeezed her eyes shut.

‘I hope time passes quickly…’

Perhaps because she took cold medicine followed by sleeping pills, Sharti fell asleep quickly.

But having fallen asleep at an odd time, Sharti woke up in the middle of the night.

As soon as she opened her eyes, Sharti touched her forehead to check her temperature.

‘I must have been more shocked than I thought. I still have a slight fever.’

It seemed she was coming down with something big before winter arrived.

Sharti sighed deeply and raised her stiff body.

Having lived such a diligent life, such a long nap was rare for her.

‘I feel a bit dizzy, but I should be fine to wash up.’

Sharti moved to change out of her sweaty, uncomfortable clothes.

Looking at the temporary door haphazardly made with wooden planks, Sharti smiled weakly.

‘He definitely wasn’t a slave.’

She had wondered when she saw the wounds on Ren’s body, but there were no slaves who couldn’t sew or use a hammer.

Stumbling out of the bedroom, Sharti looked around the quiet house.

Ren was nowhere to be seen.

‘Is he sleeping? Well, he must be tired.’

It was late, and Ren had been busy even after she collapsed, so he must have fallen into a deep sleep.

Thinking she should gather energy-boosting herbs for Ren to eat too, Sharti entered the bathroom.

Sharti shivered at the chilly temperature of the bathroom.

‘This won’t do.’

Her deliberation was brief.

Giving up on the bathroom light, Sharti closed the door and immediately filled the tub with water, then inserted a magic stone.

The knee-high water slowly began to heat up.

As the bathroom temperature rose, Sharti slowly undressed and got into the tub.

‘Ahhh… This feels so good.’

Sharti’s expression instantly relaxed as she took a deep breath in and out.

Soaking in the warm water made her feel refreshed.

As warmth returned to her body that had cooled after being drenched in sweat, her mind also became more alert.

‘I’d better not go to the village until the fever completely subsides.’

It would be a big problem if she passed a cold to the injured soldiers.

Bireta would have informed Patricia.

In fact, the important treatments for the injured soldiers were finished, so having Tein there was reassuring enough.

‘Getting caught by grandmother just as I fell ill. I wonder if this is fortunate in its own way.’

As her tired body melted and tension eased, Sharti chuckled softly.

Just then, she suddenly remembered what she had said to Ren earlier in the day.

[Let’s talk tomorrow. I’m going to bed early today.]

Sharti’s laughter cut off abruptly as she hugged her knees.

She wiggled her toes in the water.

‘…He didn’t think I meant to talk all day tomorrow, did he?’

For Sharti, it naturally meant talking briefly in the morning, no, at lunch, no, in the evening.

Recalling her words, Sharti rested her chin on her knees.

‘Time-wise, that tomorrow will soon be today.’

She wanted to think she wasn’t mentally prepared yet, but that was just an excuse.

She was hesitating on something she had already decided to do because she was nervous.

An unfamiliar trembling from a familiar tension. She couldn’t help but know what it meant.

It was anticipation.

‘Let’s get out and pull myself together.’

In the darkness, Sharti stood up.

As she finished her satisfying bath and fumbled to remove the magic stone from the tub frame,

“−Sha?”

Ren’s voice echoed softly from beyond the bathroom door.

Soon, Ren’s footsteps followed.

It seemed he had seen the open bedroom door and was looking for her.

‘Oh, oh…’

Flustered, Sharti sat back down in the tub and curled up.

Raising only her eyes above the tub’s edge, Sharti stared at the bathroom door.

“Where on earth did you go in that condition…”

A stiff voice sounded through the bathroom door crack.

Watching the bathroom door with anxious eyes, Sharti’s face gradually turned pale.

The doorknob wasn’t locked.

‘Why, why is it, did I forget to lock it?’

She must have been distracted by the fever.

As the footsteps drew closer to the bathroom, Sharti clenched her fist.

She had to knock on the tub frame to make her presence known before Ren opened the bathroom door.

Tap tap! Tap!

“…Sha?”

Fortunately, Ren noticed Sharti’s signal.

As Sharti was about to let out a sigh of relief, his murmur came from right in front of the door.

“Strange. I don’t see any light at all…”

“…!”

Sharti inhaled sharply and clamped her mouth shut.

Since it was the middle of the night and she had only intended to wash up alone, she had skipped the bathroom light and just inserted the magic stone in the tub.

Bathing in a dark bathroom wasn’t great, but it was a choice made to save on magic stone usage.

Sharti hurriedly tapped the tub frame again. Tap tap!

It was a desperate signal saying she was fine, don’t open the door.

“…”

After the signal was conveyed, it was quiet outside the door.

That made Sharti even more anxious.

‘Why, why isn’t he leaving?’

Sharti swallowed hard.

Meanwhile, the water in the tub was gradually cooling.

Deciding it would be better to quickly get dressed, Sharti reached for the clothes she had left near the tub.

She slowly raised her body, glancing at the door.

Just as her fingertips were about to touch the robe,

“Sha… Are you really okay?”

Ren called out to her in an anxious voice.

At his seemingly trembling voice, Sharti stood up completely.

Splash−.

As she got out of the tub, the sound of water made Ren’s retreating footsteps audible.

Sharti roughly dried off with a towel and hurriedly got dressed.

Only after finally covering her face with the hood did Sharti leave the bathroom.

“…”

As soon as the door opened, Ren examined Sharti, then the inside of the bathroom, before his tense expression relaxed.

It seemed Dodint’s intrusion had become a trauma not only for Sharti, but for Ren as well.

When Sharti fidgeted with her fingers, Ren’s gaze naturally turned to her palm.

Watching Ren wait for her to write, Sharti took a deep breath.

“You, you didn’t sleep?”

“…”

“I thought Ren was sleeping.”

Ren blankly stared at Sharti, who was speaking with her head bowed, struggling to use her voice.

Then Ren suddenly came to his senses.

“I went outside. I had to clear some weeds and pick up some things.”

As Ren calmly responded, Sharti let out a sigh of relief.

Watching her, Ren inwardly breathed a sigh of relief as well.

If he had answered even a little later, his conversation with Sharti would have ended.

“The wind still seems to be blowing hard, don’t overdo it.”

“…That’s my line. Has your fever gone down? Are you not dizzy?”

“Now you’re saying what I should say. I’m fine, how about you? No itching on your face?”

“I’m fine too.”

Ren listened to Sharti’s voice with a curious feeling.

Perhaps because she was nervous, Sharti’s voice sounded stiffer than before.

As the conversation continued, her shoulders became more rigid, but Sharti clenched her fists tightly and didn’t stop.

Though struggling, she was doing her best to converse with him, however awkwardly.

Taking in that sight, Ren rubbed his solar plexus area again.

“I was worried because the lights were off.”

“When I lived alone, I often bathed without lights.”

As Sharti continued to respond, Ren’s mood improved and he said playfully,

“I see. But why didn’t you speak out loud earlier? I was debating whether to break down the door again.”

“All sounds echo in the bathroom.”

The bathroom was a place where a terrible voice would echo even louder and worse.

Ren closed his mouth with a chagrined expression.

Cursing his own insensitivity, Ren swallowed his words.

Silence lingered between the two as they avoided each other’s gaze.

Just then, Sharti’s damp hair entered Ren’s view as he glanced at her.

“Go inside and dry your hair first.”

Only then did Sharti realize her condition and headed to the bedroom.

Her body, which had been relaxed from the bath, was getting chilly again.

Though the bedroom door was broken and had no lock, Sharti felt at ease removing her hood to dry her hair since Ren had gone to the bathroom.

But even that was abandoned due to the wind coming through the window, and she crawled into the blanket.

‘Ah, cozy.’

Though her damp hair was annoying, just getting under the blanket felt snug.

Her heart, which had been pounding until just moments ago, was now beating calmly.

Sharti bit her lip.

‘We really… had a normal conversation.’

In truth, Sharti had wanted to cover her ears the entire time she was speaking.

No matter how much she strained or relaxed her throat, her terrible voice didn’t change.

But even after hearing that voice, Ren had no reaction.

For him, it really was just a conversation.

‘This should be enough.’

Sharti smiled bitterly.

This much should have been sufficient conversation.

As Sharti was consoling herself that it was an adequate exchange, there was a knock.

“Sha, may I come in?”

Sharti hurriedly put her hood back on.

After Sharti fixed her appearance and lay down properly to wait for him,

“…”

But Ren still wasn’t coming in.

Sharti’s lips parted, about to signal him to enter.

“You can come in.”

“Alright.”

As soon as permission was given, Ren promptly opened the door and entered.

Approaching with a calm expression, Ren was holding a bowl full of small, green fruits about the size of a fingernail.

“I picked these from a nearby tree.”

“…”

“I tried some myself, and saw birds eating them, so they shouldn’t be poisonous.”

Sharti looked up at Ren, who was speaking with certainty, with an ambiguous expression.

‘He picked these?’

Sharti recalled the height of the trees that bore fruit around this time.

It was a height where even hitting it several times with a long pole would only occasionally make one or two fruits fall.

Yet Ren had picked a bowl full of such fruits.

Sharti’s gaze quietly moved to his hands.