North x Northwest

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Lil had already moved towards him quite a bit, but her body leaning forward closed the gap between them even more. Her half-exposed shoulder, still dripping with water, drew nearer. Ed felt like his reason was about to fall into pieces. He closed his eyes, not knowing what was happening.

“Didn’t you bleed on your forehead? Seeing it up close, you don’t have enough scabs yet.”

“..!”

A slick liquid was smeared above his brow. It was the ointment that he had applied earlier by hand. Ed let out the breath he’d been holding along with the relaxing of his tense muscles. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting or nervous about, but he was.

“I didn’t know I hit you so hard back then, I’m sorry. But you’re a doctor, so why aren’t you taking care of your own body? Instead, you’re putting it on someone else’s knee…”

“…”

A circle was drawn in the centre of his forehead, which was common practice when applying external medicine. Lil twirled her fingertips round and round. Even though he wasn’t a child, she carefully rotated her finger several times as though thinking that it would permeate well only if she did that.

‘Just a few days ago, she acted like she was going to kill me, but now she’s making me laugh because of the absurdity that she’s doing this.’

“Why are you laughing? You’re making me feel bad now.”

“I bet you don’t even know why I’m laughing.”

“Come on now, I can’t just let this go.”

Ed sneakily opened one of his eyes. Lil frowned at him as soon as he made such a mischievous expression. She still has the same mannerisms and temper he saw of her every day, but he now thinks she was just cute. It seemed strange to him that their many days together had actually led to this. He started complaining with a smile, not wanting to miss out on this opportunity.

“What’s the use of only applying ointment? Once I leave the captain’s office, everything will be washed away in the rain.”

“Then what should I do? I already saved you from drowning and being eaten by a mermaid, but now you want me to nurse you back to health too?”

“No… not to that extent. I only ask you to put a cotton cloth on it.”

“You can do that yourself.”

“But didn’t you say you were sorry? This is the wound you caused, isn’t it?”

While looking at Lil, Ed touched his forehead with a slight hesitation and a pained sound. Lil snorted at the obvious trick, but saw that he stubbornly held out a small piece of cotton cloth to her. She looked down at his palm as if it were something dirty before she eventually snatched it out of his hand.

“You’re really weird. It’s strange no matter how I look at it, you’re asking a man to put this on you?”

“It’s fine if it’s the Captain.”

“Somewhere in the near future, I’ll let Marenzio be the Captain for a day. We’ll see if you’ll let him do the same thing to you then.”

“..!”

Even though recalling the terrifying image brought a shiver down his spine, Ed tried to shrug his shoulders like it was nothing. A delicate face came closer to put the bandage on. Her expression, which had only looked annoyed before, was different this time around. With her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed, her face was just lovely. Her cheeks, which began to slowly rise in colour, also turned a bit puffy due to the pressure she put on her lips.

With an excited smile, Ed lowered his head slightly and held it out to her. It was out of consideration so she could easily access his forehead, but his gaze unintentionally drifted to a certain spot. His eyes were fixed on the opening of her robe, which followed her movement. However, the robe didn’t open as he expected it to, so he was waiting for the wind to blow, but at the same time, he felt a bit nervous…

– Pak! –

Ed regained consciousness with a groan before grabbing his brow and retreating. At the same time, Lil sneered, thinking the surprised expression on his face was amusing.

“Feeling better now?”

Dumbfounded, Ed held his forehead and let out a scream.

“What was that? Did you just flick the medicine bottle at my head?”

“Did that hurt you? But the bottle was already so close?”

“Did you think it wouldn’t hurt?”

Lil snorted and put her foot on his leg.

“Hurry up and finish what you were doing, then get out.”

The ointment that had been applied to her knee was half smeared off. The sullen Ed looked at Lil, but she only cleaned her ear and remained silent. In the end, Ed could only grumble as he grabbed the vial and did what he was told.

Lil’s knee was half dark blue, half dark red. It happened when she swung the rope and knocked Jacques Poussin down with her knee. The abrasions and bruises almost resembled battle wounds.

‘Normally, it would have been fine to leave it as it is, but because of the rib injury, additional unattended abrasions on her legs would be aggravating.’

Ed began to disinfect the area again, he was actually planning on reducing the number of painkillers he was giving her over the next couple of days. Meanwhile, Lil kept moving her toes, possibly because of the stinging disinfectant.

The foot placed on Ed’s thigh kept pressing and rubbing his leg. The soles of her twitching feet were a constant stimulation to Ed. It became so bad that at one point he had to bite on his tongue and tense his leg muscles.

‘Did she do this since earlier?’

Flinch.

‘I don’t know… I don’t remember.’

Flinch.

‘As I look at Liloa’s legs, I can see that they’re never exposed to the sun..!’

Ed suddenly couldn’t stand it anymore and shouted.

“Hold on!”

He jumped up from his chair and quickly ran to the other side of the room. Fortunately, there were no wall lights, so it was dark enough. A puzzled question came from behind him.

“What’s the matter?”

“…”

Ed rested his head against the wall and took the time to calm down, looking as far away from the bed as possible. Lil, who could never understand why he had to do that, eventually asked in a more firm tone.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“…”

He deliberately ignored Lil’s questions. It’s been a long time since Ed had been teased by a woman like this. So to him, it was like they were already moving to the next phase. Clinging to his corner, Ed lowered his head towards the floor and pounded his fist against the wall in the hopes to make him feel better.

– Thump! Thump! –

Suddenly he could hear a different sound that rang even though he didn’t hit the wall.

– Knock! Knock! –

With each sound, the wooden walls vibrated minutely. Ed lifted his head and turned his attention to the door. Someone was knocking.

“…Captain, it’s me…”

The voice belonged to Marenzio. Ed turned on his feet and moved away from his spot. He glanced back at Lil. A woman in a single robe.

“No!”

He didn’t even have time to think anymore. Ed crossed the captain’s quarters in haste. Lil, who was sitting on the bed with a fierce aura, looked at him suspiciously. But Ed, unable to afford an explanation, pushed her back on the bed with all his might.

“What..?”

Ed hurriedly bent over her and tucked her body in. Although embarrassed, Lil couldn’t resist properly and had to let herself be wrapped tightly in various blankets and clothes. She was getting trapped from head to toe. When she finally realised what was going on, she started to struggle with her arms like a drowning person. It was only then that Ed realised she couldn’t breathe properly and freed her face. Her flushed face couldn’t take the absurdity any longer and yelled.

“What are you doing!”

At the same time, Marenzio burst the door open. Along with the sound of pouring rain, his complaints invaded the room.

“How can you be inside, but you don’t give me an answer?”

He came inside grumbling and brushed the water off his wet hat.

“Marenz…”

Ed covered her mouth with a blanket, fearing that her voice would be heard.

“…Ugh! Ugh!..”

“Don’t talk.”

“…”

He then quickly responded to Marenzio.

“Marenzio, the Captain has a very bad cold right now. If you come any closer, you might catch it, so why don’t you talk from over there.”

“…”

Unfortunately, however, Marenzio was a man who neither cared about nor feared diseases. Marenzio approached them, digging his nostrils as if asking why the dog barked. Ed pressed Lil down with his back so that she could no longer be seen between the blankets. But her struggles only got worse, and Marenzio continued to stride along.

‘No, this is too dangerous. He must be stopped.’

Ed hurriedly stretched out his leg to stop the large gunner.

“Hey, wait!”

“..!”

At the calling for a stop, Marenzio stood tall.

“Do you think everything will turn out well just because you’re feeling good? As this ship’s doctor, I won’t allow any more infections. Stay there.”

“Boohoo, doctor. Then I promise that I won’t visit you if I catch a cold, stop making a fuss.”

He drew closer and closer. Ed kicked his foot in the air again and held him back again.

“Whoa, whoa! Don’t you know that when you catch a cold, it doesn’t just end with you? The entire shelling deck will be sick. Next, the entire crew moving from and to that shelling deck will get sick. So, why don’t you just listen to me when I say that you aren’t allowed to come any nearer?”

Marenzio finally stopped walking. But he stopped because he didn’t understand what Ed was saying and not because he agreed. Marenzio stood there with his mouth open as if he never heard about the science behind the spread of disease. Ed frowned for a moment, but he thought the situation was fine for the time being. He lowered his head towards Lil.

Her enraged eyes were throwing daggers at him.

“…Oh.”

 – – – – –

TN:

Hi guys,

With the end of the year around the corner, we would like to wish everyone happy holidays and last few days of 2022! 🎄🎄🎄

Love,

Pru and Formidable