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~Chapter 43~
She tried to find more logic to back up her actions.
“People bring flowers or gifts when visiting someone who’s sick.”
Shariette explained herself using a bit of social knowledge she had learned a few days earlier.
“Oh, that’s why.”
Noxian recalled the flower basket fiasco from before and nodded in understanding.
“You learned that from Josef, didn’t you?”
“And these are flowers that are said to bring happiness. So they’re perfect for a hospital visit.”
Noxian looked back and forth between Shariette and the lily-of-the-valley, puzzled.
He noticed that Shariette was acting a little softer than usual.
Normally, she would’ve forced medicine on him, saying resting with flowers was pointless.
‘She really is a pharmacist… Maybe she goes soft on people who are actually sick.’
Noxian memorized this new fact and asked,
“Do I really look that sick?”
“Of course you do.”
Look in the mirror. Shariette answered without hesitation and stepped closer.
“But your breathing and blood circulation are normal…”
Wait.
She sniffed, her nose wrinkling. There was a faint scent—one she didn’t imagine.
‘The smell of blood.’
He said something about mental strength… Did he fight that holy relic with a blade or something?
She narrowed her eyes and looked him over carefully. No visible wounds or bleeding.
‘Internal bleeding.’
The Duke was wrong! Shariette’s gaze sharpened even more.
Noxian gave a sigh-like laugh and brushed back his hair.
“A flower that brings happiness… I was planning to give you a reward, but looks like I got one first.”
“Reward?”
“For your hard work.”
“Who do you think doesn’t understand such a simple word?”
Shariette snapped, irritated by his tone, like he was teaching a child.
Instead of replying, Noxian grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him.
“…!”
She stumbled and fell against him, barely catching herself with her free hand on his shoulder.
“What are you doing?! Suddenly—”
Shariette started complaining, but then paused.
Wait a second.
Something cold was on her finger.
“What is this…?”
She pulled her hand back, and Noxian let go without resistance.
“A ring?”
Shariette looked at her left hand and saw a ring on her second finger.
A red gem sparkled on a twisted metal band.
“It has more functions than it looks. So don’t try selling it.”
Noxian said as he lightly touched her fingertips.
“But it’s too big.”
Shariette held up her hand, the ring dangling loosely.
“If something’s on your finger, it’ll get in the way of delicate work.”
Just as he finished speaking, the ring glowed red and shrank to fit her finger perfectly.
It felt so natural that she wouldn’t notice it if she wasn’t paying attention.
“…!”
Shariette’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.
“I told you, it has a lot of functions. It’s an old holy relic.”
“A relic? Is this a family heirloom?!”
Shariette panicked and shook her hand wildly, but the ring didn’t budge.
“It won’t come off!”
“Why would you take it off? Unless you’re going to sell it.”
Crazy guy! Is this what he meant by “reward”? Shariette was about to yell at him when—
“It’ll protect you from most magic or curses. Like that magic fire from last time.”
Wait… this is a really good thing? Shariette’s eyes sparkled.
Noxian smiled slowly.
‘That’s not the only thing it does, though.’
His gaze lingered on her hand, like he was admiring or examining it.
This was the Rubenscher relic he had wrestled with for 12 hours straight.
It had originally been a necklace, but after he subdued it, it transformed into a ring.
‘I guess it responds to the owner’s needs.’
Shariette already wore a pendant showing she was a licensed pharmacist.
So if he was going to give her something, it had to be something else—something more.
Just then, as he was feeling proud of himself, Shariette, staring at the gemstone, murmured:
“…The color is the same.”
“What?”
She stretched out her arm so that the ring and his face lined up in view.
Sunlight streamed in through the window between them.
Among the shards of scattered light, the red gem sparkled faintly pink.
“Shariette?”
“It’s so shiny… pretty.”
Shariette mumbled.
It looked like her eyes were on the gem, but they were really looking beyond it.
Golden sunlight touched her pale cheek.
Her expression looked awkward and unsure—not quite a smile, more like the corner of her lips twitching.
“…!”
Noxian froze in place.
Thump.
His heart dropped. The world stopped.
His breath caught.
Memory and reality overlapped completely.
It wasn’t her words, her skill, or even their promises that made him start to believe in “Shasha.”
It was something even more illogical—something that couldn’t be explained.
“Are you hiding something?”
[How many times do I have to tell you? Your doubt is the real sickness.]
That day, maybe he was just exhausted from endless interrogations… or just ashamed of how pathetic he looked.
“Liars can’t make eye contact easily.”
[….]
“If you’ve got nothing to hide, why avoid my eyes?”
Frustrated from having to read lips, he became sensitive when she kept looking away.
He pulled her close, so near he could see her trembling eyelashes.
“If you have nothing to hide, why won’t you look me in the eye?”
That moment—when her face, usually blank like a sheet of paper, changed for the first time—
[Because… it’s sparkly. And pretty.]
“…!”
Her cheeks slightly flushed, and her expression looked clumsy, like she didn’t know what to do.
A childish and awkward response.
So pure, so unguarded, so genuine…
And he—he believed her because of that ridiculous reason.
Like someone who had uncovered something he wasn’t supposed to see, he couldn’t even move a finger.
Sunlight shattered across her pale lashes like it wasn’t real.
Just like right now.
Even though there was no sunlight in that dark interrogation room…
“…You.”
Noxian finally spoke, but his throat was tight—no proper words came out.
Time stopped. All sound disappeared.
It felt like he was swaying in a wild storm.
He had asked himself a thousand times—
If he ever found her again, he had so many questions to ask. So many things to say.
Who are you? Why did you save me? What really happened?
Why didn’t you wait for me?
Did you not trust me?
But all of those questions blew away like a storm. Only one remained:
‘You’re alive.’
He didn’t care about evidence or logic anymore.
Her face, the testimonies—none of it mattered.
Shariette was Shasha. The same soul. One and the same.
His instinct and intuition ended two years of wandering in one instant.
“Why are you looking at me like that? I said it was pretty.”
Shariette waved a hand in front of his frozen face.
His gray eyes, once dulled like ashes, now shone clearly.
Could a gem be made from forest, wind, sky, and purest blue?
Noxian stood stiff and silent, and Shariette started to worry.
“Does bonding with the relic mess with your mind this badly? Mental issues aren’t my specialty—”
Squish!
She was suddenly pulled into a tight hug, her words cut off.
The two of them collapsed onto the sofa under their combined weight. The white flowers got crushed.
“Ha…”
Noxian buried her head into his chest and slowly breathed in the air he had forgotten to breathe.
Amid the scent of herbs and medicine was a soft, clean scent—like sun-dried blankets.
The warmth and gentle weight of her body in his arms.
The silky strands of her hair slipping through his fingers.
All the tangled, sharp senses inside him began to melt.
“Are you really sick? Especially your head? Your heart rate’s strange, and—”
Even the grumbling voice and small movements from his chest…
He didn’t need to wonder if this was a dream.
It wasn’t.
It couldn’t be.
To someone who no longer had dreams, this was without a doubt—reality.
Alive.
Might’ve died.
Probably alive.
But they said she died.
Please be alive.
What if she really is dead?
Just be alive.
The endless contradictions inside him finally melted away.
That cursed relic—he had never been more thankful for it.
At last, a soft whisper escaped:
“…Shasha.”
You were alive.
