“Come on, do as you please.”

Christine threw his shirt on the sofa with a grin, as if he only desired Adel’s command. His bare, sculpted upper body was utterly tempting, making it impossible to look away.

But Adel, shocked, approached with a scowl and finally lost her temper.

“You can’t be serious. Is now the time to joke in this condition? Sit on the sofa at once!”

“Oh, today I want to be on the sofa…”

Facing Adel’s icy gaze, Christine reluctantly grumbled and sat down on the purple velvet sofa.

Adel sat beside him with the medicine box.

“I can’t stand you. Even after getting hurt, you joke like this?”

Christine’s left shoulder, from which he had removed his shirt, was roughly bandaged, but the cloth was soaked with blood.

“It’s nothing.”

Christine pouted with disappointment.

If all had gone as he’d expected, they would be sharing a passionate love in the bell tower by now.

But earlier, while engrossed in kissing her, he’d forgotten to hide the wound. The moment he was about to lay Adel down on the cape he had removed, she saw the blood on his shoulder. The cape had concealed his wound, so Adel, who hadn’t noticed it before, quickly turned pale.

And then she began to scold. How had it happened? How bad was the injury? Why hadn’t he said anything? Etc., etc…

The heated lover suddenly became a protector and began to nag.

Eventually, she started to pull him down from the bell tower. No matter how much Christine insisted he was fine, it was useless.

When they arrived at Marble Palace, Adel asked Henry to call the doctor. Christine barely stopped her, insisting he would only accept treatment from her.

“Ugh, this must hurt.”

Adel winced as she carefully unwrapped the bloody cloth around his wound.

The bloodsoaked cloth oozed whenever she touched it.

“Did you really fall into the Wolf’s Valley? I’ve heard no one survives falling in there…”

Wolf’s Valley was a dangerous place filled with steep slopes and rugged rocks. Besides, it was rumored to be home to wild beasts driven from the Imperial Forest, so most people dared not venture there.

“I was just lucky.”

“You’re not blaming Stone for this… are you?”

“Ha, Stone, taking me down? The horse just missed a step, that’s all.”

Christine nonchalantly replied.

Had Stone not suddenly transformed into a wolf, he would never have been in this situation. Surprised by the unexpected appearance of his kind, he had been caught off guard.

So he couldn’t tell the already worried Adel the truth.

“But your horse returned safely.”

“It found its footing, but I was careless and rolled down. Disloyal beast.”

“Really?”

Adel’s green eyes pierced him, as if to catch even a hint of falsehood.

“Yeah. Why would I lie?”

“You hid this injury, too.”

“It was nothing…”

Adel took a closer look at his wound. Although his shoulder was soaked with blood, the wound didn’t appear to be large, fortunately.

“Alright. But if it doesn’t seem to heal in a few days, you’ll see the doctor?”

Adel carefully applied ointment to the wound and wrapped it.

“It should heal in a few days.”

Christine, being of the Wolf Tribe, healed much faster than ordinary people.

In fact, the wound had initially been so deep that the bone was visible, but now it was much better.

“That’s not an injury that will heal in a few days.”

Adel’s face continued to show concern.

The thought that he had rolled down a cold valley and lost so much blood was enough to make her heart sink.

If something had gone wrong there…

The thought was too horrifying to bear, and she began to tear up.

Christine, who had been quietly watching Adel, smiled faintly.

“It reminds me of the old days. Remember? When I fought with the woodcutter’s son and broke my arm.”
When Christine was young, he was small and pretty, often the target of teasing by the boys. He had fought with the big boy who was the boss of the neighborhood at the time and showed up with a broken arm.

“Do you remember? Do you know how surprised I was then?”

“What are you talking about? I was more surprised. You ran to the woodshed with a hoe, saying you would fight with that guy. You were ready to have a big fight with a guy twice your size.”

Adel chuckled as she remembered, too.

“That’s right. But when I went to check, the boy’s condition was more serious. I was sweating bullets trying to stop the woodshed owner from attacking you.”

“Yes. That’s what happened.”

For a moment, the two smiled gently, as if they had returned to their youth.

Then suddenly Christine asked,

“Were you really going to fight with that guy?”

Without hesitation, Adel answered,

“I would have. I lost my senses when I saw what happened to you.”

Christine’s turquoise eyes deepened and calmed. That emotion he felt for the first time then rose again.

There were people on my side in this world.

It felt so reassuring and heartwarming.

I should be that kind of presence for others.

“Don’t ever do that again, Adel.”

“You can’t ignore it if I’m done by someone either.”

“It’s different with me.”