Sharti woke up to the sound of morning birds.

Slowly blinking her eyes, Sharti gradually raised her upper body. As her hood fell off, her wavy wheat-colored hair flowed down.

‘When did I fall asleep?’

Sharti rubbed her eyes as she tried to recall her last memory.

She remembered lying down on the bedding while waiting for Ren, thinking their conversation might drag on.

‘And then I started thinking about various things and my eyes grew heavy.’

It seems she had fallen asleep just after closing her eyes for a moment.

As her physical and mental fatigue had increased, her consciousness faded as soon as she relaxed.

Sharti stretched and let out a long yawn.

‘Ren?’

Looking around the room, Ren was nowhere to be seen.

Sharti continued to loosen up her muscles lightly.

‘I wonder if the conversation ended well.’

Since a mage sensitive to mana had confirmed it, Ren’s constitution that was impervious to magic must be certain.

However, for Sharti who had met and treated the dying Ren in the cave, there remained an unresolved question.

At that time, Ren had suffered severe burns from a magical explosion. Though it may not have been a direct attack, it was highly likely that the explosion had targeted Ren.

‘If he has a constitution impervious to magic, how could magic inflict such a serious injury?’

She couldn’t tell if Ren had an ambiguous constitution, or if the mage who attacked him was extraordinary.

Sharti had made various conjectures throughout the night, but ultimately failed to form any conclusive hypothesis.

‘Isn’t Ren curious?’

After all, it was a constitution that even Ren himself didn’t know about. Moreover, he possessed a special constitution different from others. Just seeing how Shukadi’s eyes sparkled was enough to tell.

Ren’s rare constitution was a special ability.

Naturally, wouldn’t Ren be curious about his life before losing his memories?

‘Ah, knowing Ren, he might say he’s not curious.’

Sharti burst into laughter as she imagined Ren’s indifferent face.

But her laughter gradually faded, leaving only a bitter smile.

‘Am I the only one still clinging to Ren’s missing memories now?’

Meddling in someone else’s memories might seem petty and foolish.

Sharti tilted her head back.

She stared blankly at the ceiling before closing her eyes.

Ren’s question from last night was a sufficient answer for Sharti.

However, Sharti hadn’t given Ren a sufficient answer.

She couldn’t quite remember what her feelings were at that moment. But there were words lingering in her mouth.

What if I can?

Sharti buried her face in her hands.

A deep sigh flowed from the depths of her chest.

‘I’m glad I didn’t say anything then.’

Couldn’t they just pass by like this, as if nothing had happened?

Wasn’t pure goodwill, human affection, and interpersonal courtesy enough?

Sharti wanted to maintain a normal relationship with Ren, not becoming awkward, just as they had been until now.

Doctor and patient. Or master and assistant. She wanted a ordinary relationship, nothing more, nothing less.

‘…Even if it’s cowardly, I can’t help it.’

She knew that pretending not to know while knowing, dismissing what she had found out first as if it never happened, was beyond cowardice and selfish behavior.

But was there any other choice?

‘I don’t have confidence in Ren.’

More precisely, Ren’s unknown past and the present he had lost were the factors causing anxiety.

Sharti bit her lip.

‘What if he’s a married man?’

Objectively, Ren was handsome.

It wasn’t a typically attractive appearance. His thick eyebrows, strong jawline, and sharply defined nose bridge formed a perfect harmony.

His physique was beyond words. Tein had described him as a bear, but his broad shoulders and statue-like muscular body were firm and sensual.

His tanned skin and dark brown hair accentuated Ren’s intimidating aura, but the teal eyes that sparkled whenever he smiled were captivating.

‘There’s no way such a man wasn’t desired by those around him.’

Sharti wasn’t strong enough to open her heart with uncertain confidence.

Though not widely known, Sharti was, after all, an illegitimate child of the Crianet royal family.

Having spent her childhood not in the palace but wandering the alleys, she vaguely guessed the circumstances surrounding her birth.

She was either the daughter of a woman the King of Crianet had taken for amusement, or the daughter of a commoner the king had met while hiding his identity and then abandoned.

‘Either way, I wasn’t the first.’

There wasn’t much age difference between her and Princess Arisbyan.

In other words, Sharti was born from the king’s extramarital affair.

‘I don’t want to be the other woman who drives a nail into someone else’s heart, on top of being an illegitimate child.’

Her self-deprecating attitude and timid behavior stemmed from a defensive personality.

Originally, Sharti was strong. She had become tough by building walls to avoid getting hurt and to hide her wounds. And within those walls, Sharti cherished herself.

She couldn’t make a choice with ambiguous confidence that might shatter the heart she had protected so carefully, potentially leaving her alone in the log cabin someday.

‘It’s natural to be shaken because Ren is a good person. It’s okay.’

She had already tried to compose herself, keep her distance, and deny her feelings dozens, hundreds of times, but to no avail.

Even the gods cannot control human emotions. It wasn’t something that could be achieved through effort.

How could one stop their eyes from wandering, their heart from going, and their smile from forming? Perhaps it was a feeling that couldn’t be stopped from the beginning.

‘If I can’t handle it, let’s just let these feelings flow as they are.’

Until they finally overflow and nothing remains in the end.

As her thoughts settled, her emotions and heart became simpler. With a lighter mood, Sharti got up and dusted herself off.

She braided her wavy wheat-colored hair into three strands and finally pulled her hood down low.

‘I should go to the patients.’

Sharti opened the door and left the lodging.

Ren was still nowhere to be seen. His absence felt somehow unfamiliar, as he had always been by her side.

‘But the village atmosphere seems quite unsettled?’

Sharti, who had been looking around the lodging area for Ren, surveyed the village.

‘Ah! Grandmother!’

Belatedly recalling the news that the mercenary group had fought outside the village all night, Sharti suddenly turned around, accidentally bumping her head into someone’s face behind her.

Swallowing the dull pain, Sharti stepped back.

“Te-Teacher, are you alright?”

Sharti looked up at Ashu’s surprised voice.

“I’m sorry! I was just trying to greet you, Teacher…”

“…!”

Sharti hurriedly reached out her hand.

At the same time, blood trickled from Ashu’s bright red nose.

‘No-nosebleed!’

Sharti moved a little closer and covered Ashu’s nose with her sleeve.

Ashu froze, not even blinking, as the scent of herbs emanating from Sharti’s body wafted right in front of his nose.

‘Oh no. We must have collided pretty hard. The blood keeps flowing.’

Sharti carefully examined Ashu’s nose with a serious expression.

Meanwhile, Ashu’s face began to turn completely red. The distance was so close, and as Sharti lifted her head, her face, which had been hidden by the hood, became visible.

As he discovered her white face, jaw, lips, cheeks, nose bridge, and finally… her dark pink eyes, Ashu gulped.

“You’re ve-very beauti… Ugh!”

As Ashu was speaking in a trembling voice, he suddenly felt the pain of something being stuffed into his nostrils and tightly closed his eyes.

Sharti, who had been rummaging through her bag with one hand and inserting a hemostatic herb into Ashu’s nostril, was startled and withdrew her hand.

Ashu finally came to his senses as he received the note Sharti had written with an apologetic look.

Fumbling to check his own nose, Ashu covered his face with his hands.

“Th-thank you.”

Ashu turned around abruptly. Then he covered his face with both hands.

It was utterly embarrassing to end up with herbs stuffed in his nostrils despite having dressed up carefully to come here. Ashu let out a small groan at the thought of how foolish he must have looked, not even realizing he had a nosebleed.

As Ashu staggered from embarrassment and shame, Sharti’s expression grew serious as well.

‘Is he feeling dizzy from losing too much blood? Or did we bump too hard?’

Sharti, who had been watching worriedly, patted Ashu’s back gently.

“Are you feeling very unwell?”

“…!”

Ashu’s back flinched at the sound of Sharti’s voice.

However, it wasn’t possible to communicate via notes with someone who was staggering while covering their face.

Sharti bit her lip hard before gathering courage once again.

“The bones might have collided. Let me take a look.”

“I-I’m fine.”

Ashu shook his head vigorously as he refused.

“It might swell up badly as time passes.”

“…”

To avoid the worst-case scenario, Ashu turned around.

He reluctantly lowered his hands while squeezing his eyes shut.

‘Hmm, it doesn’t seem like the bone is injured.’

Sharti carefully examined the condition of Ashu’s nose, which had swollen slightly, and felt relieved.

She also took out an ointment for reducing swelling, just in case.

“It might hurt a bit, but please bear with it for a moment.”

“Ye-yes!”

Ashu nodded, clasping his hands as if in prayer.

He opened his eyes slightly at the moist sensation of the ointment being applied to his nose.

Sharti was still close. Suddenly wondering if Sharti’s arm might be hurting, Ashu slightly bent his knees.

“…Uh-”

“Does it hurt?”

“N-no, no! It doesn’t!”

As their eye levels became similar, Ashu couldn’t bear it and squeezed his eyes shut again.

The stimulation was too much for Ashu, who had no immunity to the opposite sex. Thanks to that, he didn’t even have a chance to feel the pain in his nose.

“Sha, you’re awake.”

Bireta arrived just as Sharti was finishing her treatment.

Having watched everything from afar, Bireta looked Ashu up and down with disapproving eyes.

It was incomprehensible how all the guys who took a liking to Sharti seemed to be somewhat dim-witted.

If Ren was a big dumb dog, the Ashu in front of her was a small breed.

“Nah. There wasn’t a single casualty. Don’t worry.”

Bireta shifted her gaze from Ashu and patted Sharti’s shoulder.

“Besides, I should be the one asking that question. I heard from the kids. You must have been quite shocked.”