Mia was taken aback for a moment, then stepped aside.
Vera pressed the gauze against Lovene's waist, applying firm pressure. Blood seeped from the edges of the gauze, so she folded another layer over it and pressed down again.
Her movements were not as precise as usual, but the look in her eyes had changed. It had become just like the look she had many years ago, when she stood before an operating table for the very first time.
Lovene's lips parted slightly, and her eyes fluttered open a crack. She saw Vera's blood-stained hands and her tightly pursed lips.
“...Your hands... aren't shaking anymore,” she murmured softly.
Vera pursed her lips even tighter.
“Don't talk. Save your strength.”
She wrapped the bandage around her waist, layer by layer, her movements growing much more efficient.
Lovene didn't have the strength to smile, but her eyes curved slightly, like a tiny crescent moon flickering briefly in a sea of stars.
While Vera was treating Lovene, Mia walked over to the clinic entrance.
The door that Vera had opened was still ajar, and cold mist kept pouring in. The ground near the entrance was covered in blue slime and shattered stones. No one knew if there were other things lingering in that mist.
The door was very heavy.
It wasn't just the weight of the wood, but also the resistance of the mist. The mist seemed almost alive, resisting being shut out.
Mia let out a cold snort. Bracing herself against the door, she pushed it forward inch by inch with all her might, causing the hinges to groan with a heavy creak.
Finally, the door fit snugly into the frame, and the iron bolt slid into its slot with a heavy click.
Inside the clinic, the blue-light lantern glowed, its halo returning to its former brightness, illuminating every corner of the room.
On the floor lay splintered bedboards, overturned medicine cabinets, scattered vials, and puddles of blue slime. In the corner, Vera knelt beside Lovene, her head bowed, her expression unreadable.
Once the bleeding was completely stopped, Vera picked up the unconscious Lovene and carried her toward the emergency room at the back of the clinic. In the clinic's main hall, the others huddled silently in the corners, too terrified to make a sound.
What had just transpired had truly scared them out of their wits.
At the same time, their dread of the white mist rose to a whole new level. After all, they had just witnessed a real monster emerge from it!
The light of the emergency room remained on for a long time, never once flickering out. Mia stood outside the door, clutching her longsword, her head lowered as she lost herself in thought.
Finally, after about an hour had passed, the light went out. Vera settled Lovene into the clinic's most expensive ward and prepared some medicine to help replenish her blood.
Only after completing all of this did she step out of the ward.
Mia had already been waiting nearby for a long time.
“How is Her Highness?”
She tried to sound casual, but her tone betrayed her anxiety.
Vera said in a low voice,
“The tentacle broke many of her bones, but the Holy Light has healed them. Right now, she has just lost too much blood and fallen into a coma. She should wake up after some time.”
The scene from earlier when she was examining Lovene's wounds involuntarily flashed through her mind.
When she peeled back the blood-soaked holy robe, she could barely find a single patch of intact skin. Lacerations of various sizes covered Lovene's waist, abdomen, shoulders, and back, as if she had been violently torn at from all directions at once.
The deepest wound was on her right waist, the flesh torn open with jagged, uneven edges. Despite her years of medical practice and the countless traumatic injuries she had seen, that single glance still made her palms break into a cold sweat.
Fortunately, the bleeding had stopped now; otherwise, Lovene would have certainly died from blood loss.
In addition, many of Lovene's bones had been shattered, the fragments piercing her muscles and creating several unnatural bulges beneath her skin.
Without the Holy Light magic to piece those shattered bones back together and reconnect the torn blood vessels one by one, she would have been doomed to die no matter what.
Having treated so many patients, Vera understood this all too well.
If Lovene hadn't saved her back then, and if she had been the one to take that blow instead...
Vera pursed her lips and stopped herself from thinking any further.
Hearing this, the tension that had gripped Mia for so long finally snapped, and she let out a long breath.
“...That is good to hear.”
The clinic fell silent for a moment. The glow from the blue-light lantern cast upon them, stretching their shadows long across the floor.
The mist outside had grown somewhat thinner than before, and the light filtering through the cracks of the door had shifted from a dull greyish-white to a faint, warm hue.
Dawn was fast approaching.
Vera stared down at the blood staining her hands. After a long silence, she finally spoke:
“Did you come to the clinic to arrest me?”
Mia looked up, a trace of confusion flashing in her eyes. She knit her brows as if she didn't quite understand the question.
“Arrest you? Why would we arrest you?”
Vera's lips twitched in a self-deprecating smirk.
“Did the Saintess not tell you? I am the one who spread those rumors.”
Mia's movements froze. Her hand instinctively drifted to the hilt of the sword at her waist, her knuckles tightening slightly.
“It was you?”
She had not forgotten the suffering Lovene had endured these past few days. For such a kind-hearted lady to suffer such unjust treatment, if it had been up to Mia, she would have made the culprit pay no matter what!
But, in the end, she was not Her Highness.
Vera clearly caught the conflict in Mia's expression and asked in bewilderment,
“She didn't tell you?”
“No.”
Mia let go of her hilt, her anger gradually subsiding.
“Why would she...”
Vera choked on her words.
She couldn't bring herself to finish, because the answer had already surfaced in her mind. But that answer was too gentle—so gentle that she felt utterly unworthy of receiving it.
Mia looked at her—at this disheveled woman covered in blood—and shook her head. Then, she spoke somewhat absentmindedly:
“Do you still not understand? She is simply that kind of gentle person.”
“Not only did she not tell me, but even when Lady Elena suggested finding the culprit behind the rumors, she refused. She said she didn't care.”
She was a girl who, even if pushed into a pit of fire, would still give her all to care for others.
The world kissed her with pain, yet she repaid it with song.
“Only, by that time, you had already left, hadn't you?”
Indeed. By then, Vera was no longer in the slums.
She had already returned to the clinic, rummaging through drawers to find her travel documents, preparing to pack up and flee the Oswell territory.
She hadn't known about Lady Elena's public apology, nor the gossip of the townspeople, let alone that Lovene had shielded her from the consequences of her actions.
She only knew she was running, believing her end would be miserable, never expecting that everything would turn out far less dark than she had feared.
Lovene had used her light to illuminate Vera's world.
“I'm sorry...”
Vera murmured, her head bowed.
“Apologizing to me won't do any good. When Her Highness wakes up, you can apologize to her in person.”
With that, Mia cradled her sword and closed her eyes.
She would not leave this spot until Lovene woke up.
As for Vera, she still had work to do. The clinic had been breached by the tentacle, and the main hall was in complete disarray. She needed to help the nurses restore the hall and treat the other patients who had been frightened out of their wits.
But before she left, she silently cast a glance at the young girl on the sickbed.
Her eyes grew red as she struggled to hold back her tears.
Rate on N.U.
