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Chapter 6
“Huff, huff…”
“…”
“Huff… haaah…”
Panting heavily, Ponia climbed the stairs. But she couldn’t pick up her pace.
Of course she couldn’t. Ponia wasn’t alone.
“Huff… just a little, just a little more… try to hold on… huff…”
“Ugh…”
She slung his limp arm firmly over her shoulder and grabbed Shionel’s waist with her other hand.
“You have to—have to stay conscious… hng…!”
Though honestly, it felt like I’m the one who needs to stay conscious.
Carrying a full-grown adult man—one soaked by rain and therefore even heavier—was no easy task. She had no idea how many times they’d stumbled and fallen together while climbing the stairs.
Damn cabin! If you were going to build stairs, did they have to be this tall?!
Just as she started wondering if they were destined to climb stairs forever, they finally reached the top.
“Shionel! Huff—don’t fall asleep… haaah…!”
She kept calling his name so he wouldn’t lose consciousness, but now all that remained was the faint sound of his breathing.
She reached the door, but had no free hand to open it.
Ponia kicked the door lightly, and as if responding, it fell inward into the cabin.
“What kind of garbage durability is this?!”
Rebuilding the whole cabin would be faster than repairs!
At this point, she was moving purely on willpower.
“Ugh!”
She barely dragged him to the bed when her vision flipped.
Shionel lost his balance and collapsed forward, pulling her down with him.
They landed together on the bed.
I’m exhausted… today was just too exhausting.
“Ghk…!”
“Shionel!”
There was no time to relax. At the pained sound, Ponia shot upright and checked on him.
Bright red blood was seeping into the bed beneath him.
She turned Shionel’s shoulder and laid him properly on the bed.
“Ah… it hurts…”
“I’m sorry! But I don’t think we can leave you like this! Just—just try once more!”
She knew he probably couldn’t hear her properly through the pain, but he looked so miserable as he groaned that she couldn’t help soothing him.
His condition was worse than when she’d seen him in front of the cave.
His ankle was burning hot, like it had been scorched, and so swollen she couldn’t even remove his shoe. His clothes, stiff with dried blood, wouldn’t peel away from the wounds. Blood kept flowing through the tears in the fabric.
Worst of all, his body temperature had dropped dangerously low. His complexion was pale, and even his fingertips were starting to turn bluish.
If I delay any longer, it’s dangerous.
Ponia pulled every piece of first-aid medicine out of the bag under the bed.
Her hands trembled as she held the scissors, but she still cut away his clothes.
A shoulder pierced by something sharp, an abdomen where the bleeding wouldn’t stop—there wasn’t a single uninjured spot.
She methodically moved on to the next steps.
She pressed hard on the bleeding areas with clean white cloth. Once the bleeding slowed, she dampened a towel and cleaned around the wounds. Finally, she crushed and applied herbs with strong hemostatic effects.
Helping the clinic for money had come in handy.
Only after lighting the fireplace did Ponia collapse beside the head of the bed.
“It’s done…”
She’d touched his body many times while wrapping bandages, but he didn’t move at all—like he’d already lost consciousness.
That scared her, so she checked his faint breathing and pulse again and again.
“How did this even happen?”
The Shionel who’d been reported missing—who would’ve thought he’d be in the Mirvan Forest at this time?
Is this part of the original story too?
But no matter how she thought about it, if she hadn’t found Shionel and simply passed by, his life would have been in danger.
Or maybe, according to the original plot, he was supposed to be saved by the forest keeper, not her?
There was no way to know.
“Ugh…”
At his groan, Ponia leaned in close.
“What is it? Where does it hurt?”
“Too… loud…”
Ah. My fault. Sorry.
“Stop…”
“I’m not doing anything now.”
Still, his fragile voice—like it might shatter at any moment—kept clinging to her.
“Why… why are you…?”
And it didn’t take long for her to realize that those words weren’t meant for her.
“Why… me…?”
He was having a terribly painful nightmare.
Just from the few words Shionel murmured, she could easily guess its contents.
So he found out. Who was behind the assassination attempt.
Shionel had been tracking the mastermind for a long time. But even with the duke’s family’s formidable intelligence network, he’d never been able to uncover the culprit.
No matter how hard he tried, he never would have.
Because the one who tried to kill Shionel was—
“His uncle…”
The uncle who raised him.
Her hand tightened reflexively with helpless anger.
At times like this, she knew better than anyone that there was nothing she could do—and nothing she should do.
She knew that trying to help would only put him in more danger…
But at least, she could hold his hand.
“Just wake up. Just wake up…”
Ponia gently held his pale hand and quietly closed her eyes.
Someone approaches his fallen body.
“Why… why are you…?”
Even when his parents died in a carriage accident, leaving him alone with his younger sibling…
Even when a cook who had served the family for twenty years confessed to poisoning the food…
Even when his most trusted attendant tried to kill him…
He never lost faith in people.
Because of his uncle, who raised him like a son.
“Uncle…”
“I told you. You should never have trusted anyone.”
But now, at this moment, the eyes of the uncle who had always looked at him warmly were cold.
“Want to hear something interesting?”
“…”
“Your parents, who supposedly died in that carriage accident? We killed them. On your uncle’s orders.”
And later, when he escaped the estate and overheard the ramblings of a talkative assassin—
He realized that everything he’d had was fake.
The affectionate gazes, the warm environment around him, the people who smiled at him—and even he himself.
Powerlessness and emptiness crushed his entire body.
Slowly, he began to sink. In the endless darkness, he kept sinking deeper.
—Just wake up… just wake up.
That was when he heard it.
—Well, if possible, I’d like you to wake up quickly…
A lively, bubbly voice that didn’t belong in this place.
—I’m not rushing you! You can rest as much as you need before waking up!
Though hurriedly explaining, there was a subtle hope hidden in the words.
—Just… please wake up.
A clear voice calling him.
—That’s all I need.
At those words, he was suddenly pulled up to the surface of consciousness.
“….”
Stars filled the night sky.
It had been two days since Shionel Devonham lost consciousness.
And thus, back to the present.
“Do you want to die?”
“Gk—!”
Being suddenly choked by her first love, Ponia experienced time slowing to a crawl.
She’d once wondered how she might die.
For example, the family going bankrupt because her father got scammed again, and dying together on the streets.
Or being crushed to death under the dresses her mother bought.
Or Alvio growing up to become a second father figure and dying of stress-induced rage.
Amazingly, all of those were entirely plausible.
But I never thought I’d die at the male lead’s hands?!
“Ghh…”
I’m really going to die! I’m actually dying!
Ponia let go of his wrist and fumbled blindly at the floor. Something landed in her hand.
She put all her strength into her arm and struck his head. With a loud crack, the grip around her neck loosened.
“You….”
Even as his body went slack, Shionel’s eyes followed her to the very end.
“Stay… still…”
His uncontrolled body collapsed right on top of her.
“Ghk! Cough!”
Barely survived.
As her breathing returned, Ponia checked the object she’d used to knock Shionel out. It was a smooth, polished stone.
She’d brought it along to warm like a hand warmer for his still-cold body.
Even though it ended up being used for something else.
The crisis was over, but her face was still tearful.
“I was kind of expecting something, you know.”
Like maybe Shionel would fall for the person who saved his life.
But can you fall for someone who knocked you out? With a rock to the back of your head, no less…?
After a brief moment of shock at having knocked out her first love with her own hands, Ponia quickly regained her composure.
Who was Shionel, after all?
He’d just woken up and was confused. Once he got his bearings and calmed down, they’d be able to have a proper conversation!
“Yeah. That’s definitely how it’ll go.”
“Bullshit. Don’t make me laugh.”
My male lead has lost his mind.
