What Remains in the Damaged Place - Side Story 2 (5) (END)

“Do you realize who you just struck?” he asked, his voice a deadly calm that made Count Ezra straighten in fear.

“I—I didn’t mean it!” Count Ezra’s voice rose, as if trying to justify himself. “It was an accident! The Duchess suddenly intervened, and—and I wasn’t in my right mind!”

Valderion’s eyes narrowed. “So, you’re saying you weren’t aware of who you were striking?”

Count Ezra’s eyes darted nervously between Valderion and Lirette. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

Lirette, knowing Valderion was playing along to keep the situation under control, took a deep breath and spoke.

“Lady Ezra dropped her shawl,” she said, her voice steady despite the lingering pain in her lip. “I was merely trying to return it to her. Before I could react, Count Ezra struck me.”

The more she spoke, the more her injured lip stung. She let the pain show, knowing that it would make her story all the more convincing. Count Ezra’s face drained of color, as though he had just been pushed to the edge of a cliff.

He clearly wanted to protest, to explain that the Duchess had intervened unnecessarily, but he was smart enough to realize that he wouldn’t be believed. Not with his drunken state as evidence against him.

“I—I didn’t mean to…” he mumbled, his voice losing its strength.

Standing in front of a duke required a high level of caution in both speech and behavior, and this awareness only intensified the pressure on him, making his head feel like it was about to explode.

“L-Lady. No, I mean…”

“Do not cause any more disturbance. Unless, of course, you wish to spread the rumor that you struck my wife, who approached you out of goodwill.”

Count Ezra immediately shut his mouth with a gulp.

His forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his face had turned pale, indirectly reflecting his inner turmoil.

Valderion quickly took control of the situation.

Fortunately, as the commotion had occurred in a corner, there were no witnesses.

Count Ezra looked as if he was ready to kneel if necessary, but Valderion’s cold demeanor left him flustered and speechless, unable to act.

Taking advantage of the moment, Lirette returned the shawl to Countess Ezra. Receiving it, the countess glanced up at Lirette with teary eyes, unable to hold back her silent tears.

That alone was enough to understand.

It was clear how grueling the time leading up to today had been for her, and how much Lirette’s intervention in this moment meant to her.

Even at the very end, Count Ezra appeared desperate, as if he wanted to plead further, but Valderion remained just as resolute. As soon as Sir Tillin, who had been sent on some errand, returned, Valderion took Lirette and left the scene.

As they departed, Lirette wanted to check if the countess was truly okay, but Valderion, seemingly sensing her intent, gently tightened his grip on her shoulder, stopping her.

***

“It’s just a minor abrasion.”

The household doctor made this remark as he applied simple first aid. As it was late, he gave a brief farewell and quickly took his leave. Lirette, who had met with the doctor for treatment immediately upon arrival, hadn’t even had a chance to properly remove her dress, clutching the hem of her long skirt tightly.

She glanced around at the framed carvings on the walls and then cast a fleeting look towards the terrace.

She didn’t know what thoughts were occupying his mind, but the sight of his back, weighed down under the heavy darkness of night, felt overwhelming.

Valderion hadn’t said a word during the carriage ride home. At first, Lirette, preoccupied with her own thoughts, hadn’t noticed. It was only after a slight delay that she realized his silence.

Even after they arrived back at the mansion and met with the doctor, he remained quiet.

Seated on a sofa, Valderion silently observed the doctor tending to Lirette, before quietly rising and stepping out onto the terrace.

And now, here she was.

Even though she had acted as she wished, there was an unsettling feeling, as if nothing had truly been resolved.

Should she have waited patiently for Sir Tillin? But Lirette was sure. If she were to go back to that moment in the past, she would act impulsively once again.

The more she recalled the sound of friction and groaning from that dark moment, the more certain she felt. If only to stop the trembling in her hands back then.

Still…

The fleeting expression on Valderion’s face, glimpsed behind the doctor who was examining her injured lip, weighed heavily on her heart.

Lirette, clenching and unclenching her hands in hesitation, finally stood up and walked towards the terrace.

“The doctor has left.”

Instead of the response she had hoped for, a gust of the night wind blew past.

“The wind is cold. It’s chilly out here.”

“……”

“Are you going to stay out here all night?”

She asked, but still, there was no response. His silence tugged directly at Lirette’s complex, anxious, and regretful feelings.

Click, clack. The sound of her shoes echoed, still on her feet as she hadn’t yet taken them off, just like her dress. She approached and tugged at his arm.

“Say something, please! Are you angry? Or is it something else…?”

The look on his face as he turned towards her silenced the cascade of words spilling from her mouth.

Another gust of wind swept past, and in the moonlight, his expression became clearer.

“Why don’t you ever think about yourself?”

Before she could even tighten her grip on his arm, he slipped away.

And in the next moment, instead of her holding onto him, his hand clasped tightly around her shoulder. Strangely, though the grip was firm, it wasn’t painful. It felt warm, perhaps more so than powerful, as if his body heat reached her before the force of his grasp.

“Why did you get involved in something like that?”

“……”

“Didn’t you know you could get hurt?”

His golden eyes, now sharp and piercing, seemed to accuse her, making her lips sting.

“You really didn’t think you’d get injured like this?”

His lips, which had remained set in a stiff, unyielding line, twisted awkwardly.

“You couldn’t have been unaware.”

His hand, which had been gripping her shoulder, slid slowly downward.

“You must’ve known and still jumped in.”

Straightening his posture, he finally pulled away from her.

Lirette’s pupils trembled as she absorbed every moment of his shift in stance.

“You didn’t even consider the feelings of the person who would see you like this.”

His hand continued its descent, from her elbow to her wrist, before slipping away completely. Before he could fully pull away, Lirette instinctively grabbed onto him.

“My old self…”

She hadn’t meant to say it.

She didn’t want to dwell on the past any longer. These were memories she had buried deep, ones she wanted to leave behind, entombed in the sands of time.

“But my old self came back to me.”

Despite her intent, she confessed.

“I know it was foolish… I know it was reckless. But I couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. If I had left it alone, if I had done nothing…”

She saw herself in that moment, abandoned, neglected, receiving no help from anyone.

“I thought the only way I could help was if I put myself in harm’s way. As the duchess, the only way I could intervene was by doing that…”

Her heart swelled with emotion, memories rising from the depths like water.

“But if I had known—”

She squeezed his sleeve tightly, enough to leave creases, as though she never wanted to let go.

“If I had known you would make that face, I wouldn’t have done it…”

She didn’t know why, but she felt as though she might cry.

Lirette leaned her forehead against his arm, which she had been gripping like a lifeline. It wasn’t hard to understand why he had only shown her his back while she was being treated. He had been making a face too difficult to reveal to her.

A face of worry.

As she reflected, she realized why she felt this overwhelming ache.

It was because someone was hurting more than her—because of her injury.

And that, after all her misfortune, was like an anchor of warmth and safety, settling deep inside her.

Like the roots of a great tree planted firmly in her life.

His hand gently cupped her cheek, lifting her head.

“…Hmph!”

Suddenly, his lips crashed into hers with a force that made her body lean back.

“Ow, wait, it hurts.”

As his tongue softly brushed against her teeth, coaxing her to part her lips, the sting at the corner of her mouth made her wince. Though his intention was not to hurt, his eagerness caused him to pause.

A brief sigh escaped him as he lifted her easily, placing her on the terrace railing.

Under the pouring moonlight, her pale hand rested on his cheek. At last, the emotions Valderion had been suppressing were plain to see. She gently stroked his face, whispering softly.

“You’ll help me, right?”

“What is it that makes you so charming?”

“…Valderion.”

“It’s amazing how quickly you’ve learned to soften people’s hearts.”

He clicked his tongue in disapproval, but his expression, full of tenderness, betrayed his words. There was no trace of resistance left in him.

Feeling as though she had done everything she could, a sense of relief settled over her. As the tension left her body, she was reminded of the cold she had momentarily forgotten. Her body shivered slightly, and Valderion immediately scooped her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting out a deep breath.

Warmth spread through her, melting away the disordered thoughts swirling inside her. His embrace was just that comforting.

***

After washing up, Lirette found herself reapplying ointment to her lips, undoing all of the doctor’s previous work.

“Who would’ve thought I’d end up tasting ointment in my life,” she muttered.

He had licked it all off, using kisses as an excuse. Of course, it wasn’t because he wanted to aggravate her injury, but rather because he simply couldn’t resist her. The result, however, was the same.

“What are you going to do?” she asked, watching him as he screwed the lid back onto the ointment jar. Valderion glanced at her, letting out a chuckle, as if teasing her for thinking about that even during their bath.

“There are plenty of ways to deal with someone like him, someone without any strong backing.”

“……”

“I’ll make sure the countess suffers as little as possible. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

His large hand reached over, tucking her messy hair behind her ear before gently gripping her chin.

“But in return, promise me something.”

“……”

“Promise me that you won’t act so recklessly like this again,” Valderion said.

Lirette immediately nodded, not just obediently but almost as if she had been waiting for this moment. Perhaps finding her eager compliance a little exasperating, he lightly pinched her cheek, not hard enough to hurt but enough to make his point.

After this small form of “punishment,” his hand fell away. He moved toward the nightstand to turn off the lamp when—

Tap tap.

A soft sound echoed in the quiet room.

For a moment, Lirette thought she had imagined it, but Valderion also froze, confirming that it wasn’t just in her head. Soon, the tapping sound came again, a bit firmer this time, followed by the slow turn of the doorknob. A small head peeked in.

“Evan.”

Lirette quickly sat up from where she had been leaning against the cushion. She had assumed it might be Roselean waking up from a dream, but she was surprised to see it was their other child, Evant.

“Come here, sweetie.”

Rubbing his eyes, little Evant waddled over to the bed, clutching the cloud doll Lirette had sewn by hand when she was pregnant with the twins. It was the same doll he hugged to sleep every night.

Lirette picked him up by his underarms and brought him onto her lap, patting his back gently as she asked, “Did you wake up from a dream?”

“Mmhmm.”

Evant, holding the cloud doll close, blinked sleepily as Valderion gently poked his cheek with a finger.

“You’re a sound sleeper. What’s woken you up this time?”

In a small, almost whispering voice, Evant mumbled, “Monster… ate me.”

“A monster? Who?” Valderion asked, his tone curious.

“A big, scary monster…” Evant had clearly had a nightmare.

“Oh dear, did you have a bad dream? But look, Mommy’s here with you, right?” Lirette said soothingly.

“Mmhmm.”

“Would you like to sleep with Mommy and Daddy tonight?”

Although Evant was trying to act brave, it was clear he was still shaken. He clung tightly to his mother’s nightgown. When she stroked his hair and gently asked, he nodded his small head up and down.

“We should bring Roselean, too. If she wakes up and finds Evant missing, she might get scared,” Lirette suggested as she lay Evant down in the empty spot between them.

“I’ll get her,” Valderion replied, slipping into his robe and stepping out of the bed. He soon returned, cradling a sleeping Roselean in his arms. She, too, held her favorite toy—a bright sun doll—close to her.

After placing her beside her brother, who had already started to drift back to sleep, the twins naturally wriggled into positions facing each other. Lirette smiled, pulling the blanket over their small, snug bodies. Valderion turned off the lamp on the nightstand and left a soft kiss on Lirette’s cheek.

Now, with the room completely dark and peaceful, Lirette closed her eyes. The quiet sound of the twins’ breathing and the comforting presence of Valderion next to her enveloped her.

It was, at last, a night when happiness felt complete.

—fin—