#24
It felt pathetic that I was thrilled just to see his face even while I was nearly dying from pain, but I couldn’t help enjoying it.
I tried to force my continuously drooping eyes open to see more of him, but the man with the gentle smile firmly grasped my hand that was pressed against his cheek. Then he placed a soft kiss on my palm.
“Noah, have sweet dreams.”
As if his words were a magic spell, Noah gently closed his eyes. The last thing Noah felt was someone’s broad and firm, yet warm and cozy embrace.
“Child… my child…”
Noah turned his head to avoid the small movements trying to wake him. But the presence that followed continued to lick his face.
“…ha… stop it…”
I was sick yesterday and couldn’t sleep properly. Don’t wake me up.
Trying to avoid Aeongi’s attack with annoyance, Noah gave up and raised his hand.
The hand that had felt as heavy as a thousand pounds just last night rose effortlessly and caught Aeongi who was licking his face to wake him. Then he pulled the snow leopard into his arms and hugged him tightly. Throughout this entire process, Noah kept his eyes closed.
“Meow~”
Since I stopped you from licking me, now you’re launching a sound attack?
Despite Aeongi’s call—neither loud nor soft, somewhat melancholic, as if begging for attention—Noah pretended not to hear.
In response, while still being held in Noah’s arms, Aeongi pushed his small muzzle against Noah’s chest, conveying his desire to be released and to play.
“Thankfully, his fever broke overnight, and his breathing improved by dawn.”
“Noah, are you alright?”
It seemed Elisa had stayed by his side all night.
Hearing the door open followed by Elisa quietly reporting the situation to Loren, Noah’s eyes flew open.
Right. Logically, it was Elisa who had stayed by his side all night.
Of course, Loren would have wanted to keep watch, but if she had nursed him and gotten sick herself—with her weak constitution—it would have been worse. And Lucas wouldn’t have allowed that.
No matter how he thought about it, it should have been Elisa by his side.
After stubbornly trying to avoid getting up until just now, Noah suddenly sat up in bed. Then he turned his head to look at the large window beside the bed.
In the cold weather, they always drew thick curtains at night. So the room shouldn’t have been so bright with moonlight.
But judging by the direction from which the moonlight entered, that impressive man had indeed been sitting on his bed, holding him.
From the conversation Loren and Elisa were having now, Elisa said she had stayed by his side all night.
A dream? Was he so deathly ill that he high-fived an angel who told him it wasn’t his time to die yet, and was sent back?
“Huh?”
Noah raised both hands to hold his head.
He had been incredibly handsome. Perhaps even more handsome than Raymond, but while he clearly remembered the man was extremely good-looking, he couldn’t recall his face.
He couldn’t remember what color his hair was, what clothes he wore, or what expression he had—none of it came to mind.
He only remembered that the man had worried about him, gave him medicine, and even let him touch that handsome face. Having thought that far, Noah lowered his arms from his head and looked at his palm.
The man had kissed him here. Noah’s right hand stroked his left palm.
“You can even sit up by yourself. Our Noah, you’ve improved a lot.”
Suffering immense internal agony from not being able to recall the handsome man’s face, Noah looked at Loren, who sat before him, stroking his hair and meeting his gaze.
“Doctor…”
Right. It could have been the doctor. So to check on his condition, he might have drawn the curtains, and even with Elisa present, only a doctor could embrace or touch him.
“Yes. The doctor came. Your father went all the way to the capital by warp and personally brought him here. He went to inform the doctor that you’re awake, so he’ll be here soon.”
As soon as Loren finished speaking, Aeongi placed his front paws on Noah’s palm.
Only then did Noah’s gaze turn to Aeongi. This morning, Noah’s thoughts were racing particularly quickly. Too many things had happened in a short time.
He definitely didn’t remember seeing Aeongi when he was sick. So when had he appeared by his side?
“When did you come?”
Noah’s small palm was filled when Aeongi’s two small front paws rested on it. Displeased that Noah hadn’t properly acknowledged him since opening his eyes, Aeongi continued trying to get his attention.
“Meow~”
What’s the point of talking to an animal that can’t speak? Noah stroked the soft Aeongi. Since Raymond hadn’t contacted him about making the ring yet, Aeongi continued to maintain his small form. If he were in his adult form, Noah would have assumed he’d disappeared into the forest, but in his small state, it was more concerning.
For now, he had to wait since the doctor was coming.
Could that man really have been the doctor? What if he wasn’t?
Lost in all sorts of fantasies, Noah quickly turned his head toward the door at the sound of a knock. As the door slowly began to open, Noah’s small heart started racing madly.
What if it’s really that incredibly handsome man? Is he married? Ah… if he’s a doctor too, he must be quite old?
Hah… even if I can’t have him, at least I can feast my eyes on him.
After fantasizing excitedly, Noah turned his head elsewhere exactly one second later. A middle-aged man with thinning hair and a dignified, well-rounded physique showing both character and respectability was entering through the open door.
“You’re sitting up on your own, and just by your complexion, you look much better than last night.”
Loren’s expression brightened at the doctor’s words as he sat in a chair beside the bed, examining Noah. Whether it was this place’s method or similar to traditional medicine, the man briefly touched Noah’s hands, wrists, forehead, and head before pulling away.
“For a young person to be outdoors in cold weather for a long time and even play in water—as I said yesterday, it seems like a cold. You should rest well for a few days and you’ll be fine.”
Sitting obediently on the bed while receiving the doctor’s diagnosis, Noah looked at the door once more. Could he have been the doctor’s assistant? That was possible.
After the doctor and Lucas visited Noah’s bedroom, and Elisa also left saying she would bring breakfast, only Noah and Aeongi remained in the large bedroom.
Although he wasn’t as sick as yesterday, after the whirlwind of events and with his condition not fully recovered, Noah flopped back onto the bed.
As if waiting for him to lie down, Aeongi also pressed against Noah’s side and lay down.
“Aeongi…”
With his troubled heart still unsettled, Noah expressed his inner thoughts. After all, Aeongi was just an animal. And no matter how much he called him, Aeongi wouldn’t answer.
“…I don’t think I’ll ever get married.”
No one else would know, but the implicitly first-ranked candidate for Noah’s marriage, Raymond, had been pushed to second place after last night. But he didn’t know the name or surname of the man in first place, let alone clearly remember his face.
Noah’s conclusion, which was extremely simple yet skipped several dimensions of complexity, was just one thing.
“If I get sick again, could I meet him?”
He met him when he was sick. And since he said Noah wouldn’t be sick anymore…
If he gets sick again, whether at dawn or night, or whenever, wouldn’t he come visit again, even in a dream?
“Meow??”
“Why are you suddenly acting like that?”
After looking indifferently at Aeongi, who had been lying down peacefully but suddenly jumped up, Noah sighed deeply and turned to lie on his side. I should have at least asked his name…
As Noah was recalling the man from last night who he couldn’t remember, he slowly sat up at Elisa’s call. Then he looked at her.
The next moment, Noah slightly pouted his lips and lowered the corners of his eyes as much as possible. He needed to look pitiful. He wanted to stimulate some emotion deep in her heart to avoid this situation.
“Just swallow the honey water. Say ‘ah’.”
Why doesn’t this repertoire ever change?
Elisa spoke as if it were nothing, with a gentle smile, trying to coax Noah and somehow implement her will.
Opposing her, Noah reached under the blanket and pinched his thigh. Why did he have to do this to make tears come? When his pitiful expression—which usually worked as a free pass—didn’t work, the next tactic was an attack with a few teardrops.
“Young master, you’re a child now, so you do well. Are you still a baby?”
Elisa countered Noah’s attack with words that subtly provoked the gap between being a baby and a child.
Whether he called himself a baby or a child, he would still have to endure this, or if he said he was a child, the attack would come that children do these things well. While he hesitated, Elisa launched her second attack.
“So you’re a baby?”
Ah, come on. Don’t push me like that.
Noah’s gaze shifted from Elisa’s face to the spoon she was holding. What an uncivilized place. In Korea, you know, medicine for children is a really delicious syrup.
Of course, syrup isn’t purely sweet and delicious, but at least it makes some pretense of hiding the bitter taste of medicine.
Honestly, when he first saw the dark brown liquid filling about half of the small spoon Noah used when told to take medicine, he thought all medicine would be similar, so he obediently swallowed it.
Thanks to that, Noah experienced a taste from another world. He was even curious how they had created such a bizarre, terrible taste that tortured the tongue so cruelly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
