I Wish You Well In Your Next Love, My Love - Chapter 63
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Alvar could only stare up at Hartheon Temple with anxious eyes.
āPlease, just not murder. Anything but murder.ā
He prayed sincerely.
Though Gerard was merciless with his hands, he wasnāt some lunatic who regarded human life as no more than a bugās. But this morning.
The Gerard Alvar had seen at Melvers Temple had looked like an Awakened on the verge of rampage, as if he would pour out vicious fury at whatever was in front of him.
Even so, suppressing the flames rising inside him, he had ordered Alvar yesterday to go find out what had happened to the trainee Purifiers at Hartheon Temple.
āā¦So, it seems there had been complaints about the lower-ranked Purifiers using the west annex. In the process, there was some malicious gossip about Miss Odriann, and apparently Miss Odriann happened to hear all of it.ā
Because Arvina was involved, Hartheon Temple was handling the matter very seriously.
āAnd this is unofficial, just something I heard among the trainees, but that fourth-rankā¦ I mean Miss Louize. They say she actually never took part in the gossip, but ended up taking all the blame alone. The temple had to show some sincerity toward the Odriann side, and Miss Louize was the only one they could touch without consequences.ā
After that, Gerard headed to Hartheon Temple.
Sensing that something was about to happen, Alvar got into the carriage after Gerard. But once he was ordered to wait, he could do nothing but sit there burning with anxiety.
Only after thirty minutes had passed did Gerard return.
Alvar first examined Gerardās clothes. Fortunately, other than a few drops of blood spattered on his sleeve, nothing had changed.
āUmā¦ Shall I take you to Melvers Temple?ā
āNo.ā
Instead, the carriageās destination was unexpectedly the entrance to a slum area.
Gerard got down in front of an alley too narrow for the carriage to go farther and walked into it with the ease of someone familiar with the way.
āHah.ā
There was no need to look to know whose house stood at the end of that road.
Alvar stood there for a long time, unable to take his eyes off Gerardās disappearing back.
* * *
Had I become an idiot, I wonder.
I couldnāt clearly make sense of a single thing.
What time it was, where this place was.
Sometimes it was too hot, and other times it was so cold my teeth chattered.
Was it summer, no, autumn since the rainy season had passed? But it was this cold.
Even in the midst of barely being able to come to my senses, the sound of the iron gate opening and closing alone came through clearly.
Someone stayed by my side, then left, again and again.
It wasnāt until dawn light began settling into the room that I could finally tell the ceiling from the floor.
āUghā¦ā
When I shifted, I felt someone who had been lying beside me spring up at once.
āThirsty?ā
A large hand slipped behind my neck.
Lifted slowly by that strength, I raised my head and drank the water that had somehow already been brought to my lips, a little at a time.
I hadnāt felt thirsty, but once the water started going down, I drained the whole cup.
It felt as though the thick fatigue had finally receded.
Only then did my focus clear, and a figure, dim in the pre-dawn light, came into view.
I recognized his features at once.
Gerard.
When he lit the lamp on the bedside table, its light pushed back the darkness.
Gerardās face, which I saw again after sleeping in a daze, looked a little rougher than before.
It struck me anew that just as I could see him, Gerard was looking at me too.
All my fussing because I didnāt want him to see my injured face had become pointless. In the end, it had still come to this.
āUm, how long did I sleep?ā
āA day.ā
āOne whole day?ā
Gerard nodded, then gently cupped my cheek with a careful hand before letting go.
āYour feverās down.ā
I lightly pressed the cheek his warmth had just left with the back of my hand.
ā¦Donāt tell me Gerard had nursed me the whole time I was laid up sick?
My memory stopped at the moment Gerard pulled away the blanket.
No, a little beyond that, I remembered the feeling of my fingertips clenching the hem of his clothes so hard they felt like they would break.
Did Iā¦ cry in Gerardās arms?
A similar scene brushed past my mind, but it was hard to tell whether it had been a dream or reality.
