At Aidan’s words, Brody nodded.

He looked at the generous cascading water with eyes full of awe and joy.

Then he quickly took off his shirt and stepped into the water.

His body had been soaked in sweat as he had been chasing Brody under the scorching sun in the stifling heat.

Though resistant to cold, he had suffered from the unfamiliar heat.

As he entered the cool water, he felt revived.

He was suddenly aware of his filthy appearance and felt embarrassed.

He had been searching for Brody like a madman, never properly washing himself.

He had held her in this state. ‘I hope she didn’t look down on me for smelling,’ he thought, scrubbing himself clean and diligently.

Brody smiled at the joyous Aidan.

She sat where he had laid her down and carefully dipped her feet into the water.

It felt better under the warm sunlight, but when the water touched her feet, she was startled and withdrew them.

The water felt as cold as ice.

She wanted to remove the moss but didn’t have the courage to go into the water.

She took a handkerchief from her cloak pocket, wetted it with water, and managed to wipe it away.

In contrast, Aidan felt the temperature of the water to be warm and marveled at it.

‘How can the water be so warm?’

In the far north, where his castle Ither Heel was, there was rarely a shortage of water because of glaciers. However, the cold prevented plants from growing well.

In the northern part between the far north and the middle, plants grew fairly well, but water was scarce. Especially during droughts like this year, it was fatal.

Aidan was reminded of the barren north and admired the abundance of the south.

If he could, he wanted to bring this abundance to the north.

‘The north…’

Suddenly, his heart felt heavy.

He trusted River, but he had to return quickly.

He looked at Brody.

Brody was loosening her disheveled hair and brushing it off with a towel.

It was beautiful, but it seemed uncomfortable.

He approached her and snatched the towel from Brody’s hand.

“I’ll help you.”

Brody sighed, looking as if she had given up.

In contrast, Aidan kept beaming with joy.

With his clumsy touch, he carefully washed her.

He brushed off the moss and wiped the dirt off the parts where the flesh was exposed.

“It’s the opposite of usual.”

At his words, Brody chuckled.

“I get to be taken care of by Your Grace.”

Aidan answered seriously as he concentrated.

“This much is nothing.”
He soon examined Brody’s palm and frowned.

There were wounds on both palms as if they had been scratched by ropes.

“It was while holding onto the vines to climb down earlier. I knew there was moss down there, but it was scary to just fall down.”

“Don’t do that next time. It was scarier to see you jumping down than me falling.”

“So you would leave me to die?”

It was a valid point.

The cave floor was strewn with rocks.

If Brody hadn’t come down, if the moss hadn’t been laid, Ian wouldn’t have been able to step on the land of the North again, let alone preserve his form.

He decided to jump over the pit and took a gamble to some extent.

He wasn’t certain that he could jump over it when he gauged the width.

But he thought there would be a way even if he jumped short, since Brody had crossed there.

He would live if Brody saved him, or he could die.

The gamble was successful, but Ian’s mind was not at ease.

He had not thought that Brody would be in such danger.

But on the other hand, he was also happy.

That she had gone to such lengths to save him.

That she didn’t want him to die.

With these contradictory feelings, Ian frowned.

“Does your head hurt?”

“Not at all. I took medicine when I woke up today.”

“Ah, medicine!”

Brody smacked Ian’s arm.

Since he was undressing his wet clothes, it made a loud sound.

It wasn’t that painful, but Ian stared at Brody in surprise at the unexpected situation.

“How can you just throw it away after making it?”

“Mi…sorry. It must have been a difficult medicine to make.”

Brody closed her mouth, finding it difficult to explain.

She didn’t want to tell Ian how the method to calm his headache worked.

He smiled at Brody’s sullen expression.

He was usually expressionless in the North, so he was pleased to see her showing emotion.

As he looked at her, Ian suddenly turned his head.

His southern clothes, thin enough to reveal his arms, clung to his body due to the dampness caused by the moss.

So, he was trying his best not to look.

Brody’s face, strangely feverish, added to the stimulation.

‘Hmm? Fever?’

It was then that he realized that something was wrong with Brody’s condition.

She was burning with fever, shivering, and her lips were turning purplish.

“Brody, why didn’t you say you weren’t feeling well?”

“I was about to tell you.”

Brody thought ‘I felt good.’ but spat out different words from her mouth.

Ian was flustered and unable to compose himself.

He had often seen male fellows sick, but seeing Brody ill made her seem so frail that she might collapse and disappear at any moment.

When Ian said this out loud, Brody laughed.

She turned her eyes from Ian and looked at the floor as she spoke.

Her face was flushed, perhaps due to the fever.

“Home. Let’s go to my house.”