He Awakened When I Died

‘I was glad I came here.’

She was glad that she came to know the truth. Shana thought while picking up Bliss with ease.

She thought it was easy because Bliss’ body was thin and small, but it was quite heavy when he lost consciousness in her arms.

Well, she wasn’t even big enough to carry Bliss.

Shana put his arm on her shoulder and supported him.

She was exhausted and almost hugged him when they fell to the bed together afterward.

‘Good. I accomplished one thing for now.’

She laid Bliss down and tucked him in.

“Young Master, you’re not seriously ill, are you?”

Shana became anxious hearing his irregular breathing and asked Baek Ryong.

[His fever was very high, but there were no other symptoms.]

“I guess his fever didn’t go down quickly because he didn’t eat his meals and take medicines properly.”

[Rather than that……]

Baek Ryong crawled sluggishly to Bliss, slurring at the end of his words. Climbing up on Bliss’ chest, he looked down silently at him.

‘I wonder if it’s just my feeling that his black eyes look especially moist today.’

Shana could see that Baek Ryong was in a very depressed state worrying about his master.

[We can not disregard the slow recovery because of the mental turmoil he is going through.]

“In his mind?”

[As you felt it too, didn’t my master change a little by our efforts?]

Shana nodded her head slightly.

It wasn’t a big change. Bliss’ hands were a little warmer than they used to be, and his expression wasn’t as firm as before.

But even those small changes became meaningless after encountering Duke Hope.

‘Because Bliss relapsed worse than the beginning.’

He reluctantly received Shana’s guidance but didn’t participate actively. Of course, he refused to hold hands, and the number of words he said drastically decreased.

[It seems that the door to his heart that had been opened a little bit has been closed again when he met his father.]

Baek Ryong lamented sadly.

[He hasn’t shown any willingness to get well.]

It sounded as if Bliss had given up on his life, Shana’s heart sank at that thought.

“You will get well soon, I will take care of you.”

Shana spoke bravely and headed to the bathroom. She filled the washbasin with cold water and soaked the clean towel in it.

Bliss sighed deeply after she put the cold towel on his forehead.

His face looked slightly more comfortable, but the effect was only for a short while. The towel quickly got hot from his body temperature and had to be replaced from time to time.

‘At this rate, when will he be able to eat his meal and take his medicine?’

Shana agonized over it briefly and a flash of thought came up when she saw Baek Ryong.

“Dear Guardian. Is it possible to lower his body temperature by any spell?”

[My ability is not enough right now. I will freeze my master completely if I infuse cold energy to him.]

“What about making your own body cold?”

[My body? I can do it at my own will.]

“Keeping your body cold continuously?”

Baek Ryong nodded his head as if it was no big deal.

“Then why don’t you keep your body cold and lie on his forehead?”

[…….Do you want me to act as a wet towel for his body?]

“Yes.”

Shana replied promptly. She would do anything she could to help Bliss.

[Hmm, it doesn’t seem quite a bad idea.]

Baek Ryong jumped and laid down on Bliss’ forehead with care.

Shana carefully stroked Baek Ryong’s back with her fingertips to measure his temperature. His body began to cold down little by little.

“It would be great if you could keep him as cold as he is now.”

[All right.]

Baek Ryong answered confidently; proud, he could have been helpful.

Shana carried the food and medicine to bed while Baek Ryong was acting as a wet towel.

“Young Master.”

She woke Bliss up carefully. She grabbed him by the shoulder and shook it slightly when there was no response, then his eyelids fluttered. Soon his eyes opened with great difficulty.

“Please eat your meal and take your medicine.”

“Ah……”

Bliss, who answered absent-mindedly, set his upper body upright.

Baek Ryong tried not to fall off his forehead by wrapping the tail around his hair, but Bliss didn’t seem to feel anything.

Bliss was handed a spoon and he scooped up the cold clear vegetable-broth soup[1]. He lifted his arm sluggishly and took a bite of the soup. No, to be exact, his clothes ate it.

He was opening his mouth assuming he had put it in, but the spoon filled with the soup was hitting his chin and dribbling down his chest.

Feeling sorry for him, Shana swiftly wiped the soup off his clothes with a towel.

Bliss looked at his chest and Shana alternately with blank eyes.

“Sorry.”

“Pardon me? Oh, no! It is quite alright.”

Shana felt strange when Bliss apologized. Did he always apologize so easily?

“Do you want me to feed you, Young Master?”

“It’s fine.”

“I think it’d be faster that way,”

Bliss thought about it for a moment, then nodded slowly.

“Thank you.”

The obedient voice who answered so well and even said thank you.

‘He must be out of his mind because of the fever.’

To be exact, should she have said that he was losing his mind because of fever? Shana was amazed by Bliss’s meeke4 behavior when she took the bowl and scooped the soup.

He opened his mouth obediently and ate quietly. For a moment, she felt like a mother hen.

Shana was relieved after he listlessly ate half of the soup and drank all the bitter medicine.

“Now please sleep tight.”

“Hng.”

Shana gnawed at her lips when Bliss constantly answered in a gentle manner. He was so cute that she almost laughed.

Shana carefully patted Bliss’ chest over the blanket as she watched Bliss close his eyes and fall asleep again.

Sure enough, even after being treated as an immaculate child, he didn’t hit Shana’s hand or say anything.

‘How nice it would be if you were this gentle all the time.’

As Bliss began to take an even breath, Baek Ryong spoke to Shana.

[Leave my master’s fever to me and go.]

Baek Ryong was still hung on Bliss’ forehead.

She gave all of the medicine to him, so Shana decided to leave with Baek Ryong in charge of Bliss’ health.

“I will be back tomorrow morning.”

Shana stopped petting Bliss’s and got up from her seat. But the moment she turned around, Bliss grabbed the hem of her sleeve.

“…….Where are you going?”

Shana was surprised when Bliss spoke.

Bliss’ eyes were half-opened, but he was looking somewhere on the ceiling with unfocused eyes, not at her.

‘Is he sleep-talking?’

Shana tried to take his hand off her sleeve carefully. He held onto it more firmly.

She was amazed at where such power came from when he couldn’t even lift his head because of the fever.

“Don’t go.”

“……”

“If you are going, take me with you too.”

“What?”

Shana was quite taken aback by the weeping sound blended into Bliss’ voice.

“I don’t want to go to that house.”

That house. Shana, who couldn’t understand what he said, suddenly remembered something.

‘Don’t tell me, did he think I was his mother?”

Bliss was separated from her mother when she gave up Bliss to the Hope Family.

Bliss’ mother received huge sums of money from the duke in return for relinquishing her custody of her son.

Considering Bliss’ future, he decided that it would be better for him to become Duke Hope’s son.

“I hate all the people in that house…….”

In the end, big drops of tears leaked from Bliss’ eyes.

When Bliss cried, Shana didn’t know what to do.

“I’m scared.”

She wouldn’t have been deceived if he was pretending to be dauntless as she had expected.

Shana’s heart beat faster with a surge of many emotions when she heard his whiny pleading. She felt sorry for him.

“I will listen to you, I promise. I don’t want…… I don’t want anything.”

Shana held her breath.

When Shana didn’t say anything, Bliss let go of her hands shortly after as if he had been renounced.

That renunciation made Shana’s heart even heavier. She held his helpless hand with both of her hands.

“I will not go.”

“….Really?”

“Yes. I will stay here.”

Bliss held her hand so tightly that her fingertips turned white as if he couldn’t fully believe her words.

Shana didn’t let go of his hand until Bliss fell asleep again.

***

Early in the morning, Bliss woke up from his sleep. His clothes were dampened in a cold sweat, but his body was strangely light.

‘Did the fever go down?’

He unconsciously tried to place his hand on his forehead but stopped all of a sudden with the hands that moved along his.

Someone was sleeping lying prone on the bed holding his hand.

Bliss frowned in the dark to find out who was holding his hand.

The touch and warmth of familiar hands.

‘……Shana?’

The room was still dark, his eyes blurry and unfocused, but he was certain that Shana was holding his hand. His body remembered her hand.

‘Did Shana take care of me?’

Bliss let out a small sigh. Feeling relieved, his eyelids started to get heavy again.

[That’s a relief. You look so much better than before.]

Bliss widened his eyes at the unfamiliar voice.

“Who just……”

He took a look around chillingly while raising his upper body falteringly.

Beck……! Beck beck!

Then his Guardian jumped and shrieked in front of him.

It was quite a desperate cry, but it sounded loud just to Bliss.

“Did I hear it wrong?”

He might have heard some nonsense because his fever hadn’t gone down yet.

Bliss laid down to sleep again and saw his hand still held by Shana.

‘It’s a bother.’

But he didn’t have any energy to unravel her hand.

Yes, that was the reason.

Bliss fell asleep again making up excuses in his mind that no one asked for.