Invitation of the Crescent Moon - Chapter 94

Even though it was midday, the room was dim, covered by thick curtains. The air inside was stifling because the windows were tightly shut to prevent the cold forest wind from seeping in.

Drushia’s expression, sitting on the edge of the bed, had already lost its composure. With a pale face, not knowing what to do, he desperately tried to speak in a gentle voice.

“Ashika, look at me.”

“Huu…urgh. Rushia…”

“Yes, I’m here.”

Drushia pulled Ashika, who couldn’t even sit up on her own, into his arms. Her sweat-soaked hair leaned against his chest. Ashika fumbled at his face with her weak hands.

“…Blood…, blood on your face…”

“No, I’m fine. I’m fine, that’s why I can hold you like this.”

“Huu… ugh…”

Drushia’s hand wrapped around her white hands that trembled convulsively. With an aching heart, he kissed them and brushed back her sweat-dampened black hair.

“It’s okay. Nothing happened. Neither to you nor to me.”

His arm tightened around her slender shoulders. But no matter how firmly he held her, Ashika’s trembling wouldn’t subside.

He couldn’t tell if she was seeing hallucinations or still having nightmares. Half out of her mind, she mumbled incomprehensible words, and even in that state, she kept searching for Drushia.

Right after leaving the Grand Duke’s Castle, everyone was too busy tending to Neoren’s serious injuries to pay attention to anything else. When they saw him recovering and tried to move, it was Neoren who urged them to leave the Grand Duchy.

[What happened at the Grand Duke’s Castle must not be known. Leave immediately. Return to the capital and prepare for any contingencies.]

Despite suffering from his injuries, Neoren tried to send the two away, adding that he would follow to the capital once he recovered enough to travel. Drushia had no choice but to listen to him. Thinking it would be safer for Ashika as well, he had to move first.

Until they departed from the Grand Duchy, Ashika had seemed fine. Strangely, even the wound from the arrow had already healed. All that remained was a slight trace that looked burned. He had tried to ask what had happened, but he couldn’t force her to speak when she remained silent.

Two days after leaving the Grand Duchy, Ashika collapsed. So they hurriedly moved to the villa while summoning the knights and personal physician from the capital mansion.

Even after arriving at the villa, Ashika couldn’t regain consciousness. One day she would cry until she fainted, another day she would have a fever and be delirious. Watching this, Drushia’s heart burned black with anguish.

Even in her confusion, Ashika constantly searched for him. Amid his anxiety, this was Drushia’s only comfort.

“Ashika, you’re fine, so please rest.”

A gentle, soothing voice mixed with her faint moaning. Ashika’s sobbing body went limp. She had fainted from having no more strength to cry. Drushia’s face contorted as if he might cry.

Sharp reproach flew at the attending physician who was keeping watch nearby.

“Do something about this. How can a person endure being so drained?”

“As I mentioned, it’s due to overwork and psychological shock. Mental and physical rest is the only answer.”

“Mental and physical rest—yes, I asked you to help her achieve that rest.”

“The thing is… the medicine isn’t working…”

The physician summoned urgently from the capital couldn’t even lift his head.

‘What on earth did she experience?’

Though he said that, people don’t have such severe episodes just from being shocked. Seeing how she recognized Drushia even while deliriously talking nonsense, she didn’t seem to have gone mad.

Her crying to the point of exhaustion seemed like that of a mother who had lost her child, or a woman who had cruelly lost her beloved.

What kind of ordeal could a nobly raised aristocratic lady have faced? Though he wondered, he was also genuinely worried that she might die like this.

“I’ll bring more medicine. For now, getting a good sleep is important.”

The physician bowed his head and withdrew. As he opened the door, Aegonite, who had been waiting outside, entered the room.

After laying Ashika on the bed, Drushia seemed about to get up, but then sat back down beside the bed. His large frame leaned over the unconscious woman.

He wanted to cry but couldn’t bring himself to, so his broad shoulders trembled. The intimidatingly large man’s body shrank helplessly like that of a patient.

“I should have been more careful.”

He had only checked for physical wounds to see if she was hurt. While his attention was focused on the seriously injured Neoren, Ashika must have been enduring the shock alone.

He instinctively felt that the death threat at the Grand Duke’s Castle wasn’t the only reason. Something unbearable had broken Ashika down to this state.

He didn’t know what it was, and there was nothing he could do with his own power in this situation.

“I feel like my blood is drying up.”

Drushia’s voice trembled. What if she couldn’t wake up like this? In his anxious state, he couldn’t sleep or leave her side. It was a time when his insides burned black with worry.

Aegonite, who had entered the room to make a report, quietly left the room again.

The face of the woman who had been pale white, covered in blood, wouldn’t leave his mind. He couldn’t forget the image of her desperately struggling to save Neoren while trembling with a face that looked ready to faint.

It was only on the third full day after arriving at the villa that Ashika’s episodes subsided. Drushia, who had been waiting anxiously, found her sitting quietly on the bed like a painting when he visited her bedroom. Her dark silhouette in the moonlight filtering through the window was as precarious as a ghost.

For a moment, he was about to call Ashika’s name but pressed his lips tightly shut. He was afraid that making a sound might startle her, that the precarious silhouette might truly shatter.

Even as he approached, Ashika didn’t turn around. Following the light of the candle flickering on the table, shadows fell over her.

Even when Drushia carefully sat on the bed and reached out his hand, Ashika’s gaze remained fixed somewhere in the air. After studying her face for a moment, Drushia picked up the wet cloth beside the table.

He carefully wiped Ashika’s face, still damp with sweat, with the wet cloth. Only then did her half-vacant eyes turn to look at Drushia.

Still those beautiful black eyes, dark as ever. But the eyes, deepened beyond measure, suddenly became anxious.

“You probably can’t eat a proper meal right away, so I had them bring soup.”

He spoke to push away the anxiety. Ashika was still looking at him with an undisturbed gaze.

“Are you thirsty? Shall I give you some water?”

The gentle voice seeped into her ears as softly as being tickled by feathers. The warmth that seeped in peacefully was so comforting that tears seemed ready to pour out. Even after crying and crying so much, were there still unburned emotions remaining?

“If you feel stuffy, shall I open the window? Or whatever you need…”

His choked voice couldn’t reach its end. The emotions he had been desperately suppressing surged violently in his blue eyes.

Deep blue eyes that seemed ready to shed tears at any moment, trembled. Having lost his composure long ago, he could neither hide it nor was it hidden.

Unable to face those intense emotions, the obsidian-black eyes fell downward. At her desolately cast gaze, Drushia felt his heart sink. Sensing an ominous premonition, his chest tightened.

Deliberately avoiding Drushia’s gaze, Ashika barely managed to part her lips.

“…How is His Grace the Old Duke?”

Her voice was so dry it seemed ready to crumble at any moment. Drushia’s hand holding the wet cloth slowly fell. Though it was a natural question, it felt like the prelude to something Ashika wanted to hide, making him uneasy.

“He’s recovering.”

Please look at me. He found her reluctance to meet his eyes frustrating.

“I’m receiving reports regularly, so don’t worry. He said he’ll come to the capital when he’s recovered enough to ride in a carriage, so you’ll be able to see him.”

“That’s a relief.”

“How’s your wound? Does it hurt?”

Ashika shook her head. There had been no other changes since checking at the Grand Duchy. Only a blackened mark remained where the arrow had pierced her shoulder. It wasn’t a scar but looked like a black spot.

“…I’m sorry.”

At Drushia’s apology, the black eyes that had been avoiding him looked up at him in surprise.

“I was careless. I should have considered every possible danger. This happened because of my complacency.”

“It’s not your fault. If I hadn’t asked you to take me along in the first place…”

“I’m sorry, this is just…”

He had almost lost her. He couldn’t even voice how terrifying that possibility was.

Ashika deliberately turned away from the feelings he couldn’t reveal. She was afraid that if she faced that sincerity, she would be helplessly drawn in.

“I heard Sir Coltern’s voice. Is he here?”

The building was too small to hide the presence of visitors. The Igraine knights who had arrived a few days ago had been hovering around, constantly requesting to meet with Ashika.

Drushia’s face hardened.

“Let’s talk about that later. First, recover your health.”

“Please call Sir Coltern. I need to meet him.”

“Whatever you’re going to discuss, I come first. I haven’t asked you anything yet.”

She knew. Ashika knew that Drushia was completely considerate of her, putting aside countless questions. She could see the strength entering her white hands gripping the blanket. Though her expression didn’t change, she could feel her body tensing.

Even her breathing stopped, and her trembling lips barely made a sound.

“I have no… obligation to answer.”

His deep blue eyes widened and then narrowed again. Ashika didn’t avoid his increasingly sharp gaze and spat out the rest of her words.

“Thank you for faithfully responding to our deal. If this matter causes other problems, I’ll take responsibility on my honor as the Young Duchess of Igraine. So…”

Drushia didn’t open his mouth. He neither seemed incredulous nor angry. With an unreadable gaze, he waited for the next words Ashika would utter.

“I’ll return home with Sir Coltern.”

For a moment, it felt as if even Drushia’s breathing had stopped. The tender emotions disappeared without a trace, and a solid shell surrounded him.

Drushia slowly straightened his body that had been leaning toward her.

The shadow of the man looking down at Ashika after standing straight was intimidating. It was a silence more frightening than any reproach or angry words. However, Ashika accepted the threatening silence he displayed.

With a thud, the wet cloth fell from Drushia’s hand.

“Yes, you’ve had a hard time. But if you go home now, will you be able to come out again?”

“That’s my problem to handle. It won’t be something you need to worry about.”

“But I am worried.”

“Thank you for helping me all this time. You’ve done more than I expected. But now I’ll handle it myself…”

“Is that the conclusion you’ve reached?”

His deep blue eyes sank coldly. The woman with the pale complexion looked precarious, as if she might faint at any moment.

“I’m sorry. But we should stop now…”

“Alright. I understand, so let me call a maid first. It won’t be easy for you to move alone.”

Drushia refused any further conversation and walked toward the door. He cut off the conversation because it seemed like some words he didn’t want to hear might come from Ashika’s mouth.

Whether sincere or not, if he heard those words, he felt he might lose his reason and truly do something insane, so he couldn’t bear to look at her any longer.