I Wish You Well In Your Next Love, My Love - Chapter 64
Hoping that, at the very least, my unconscious self hadn’t made such a spectacle of itself, I cautiously asked,
“…Um, did I, by any chance, cling to you, Lord Castion?”
While I waited for his answer, I traced with my eyes the dark brows that drew together slightly.
“Cling… ah.”
Gerard, uncharacteristically, started to speak, then swallowed the end of his words and fell into thought for a moment.
What’s going on with him?
Only after sensing something strange did I realize that what I said could be taken ambiguously.
The heat that had barely gone down came rushing back into my cheeks.
“I mean, a hug. Holding someone like this. You know?”
Worried we might both end up embarrassed by some other misunderstanding, I even used my arms as I earnestly explained.
“Was it only that?”
I bit the inside of my cheek hard. So it hadn’t been a dream that I made a spectacle of myself.
“Did I, like, burst into sobs or something?”
“You cried like a baby. Wah, wah.”
“…I think I would’ve preferred outright sobbing.”
I threw back the blanket and tried to get up, but there was a tight bandage wrapped around my ankle that I hadn’t seen before.
My gaze fell to it, and while I hesitated for a moment, my arm was caught.
“Where are you going?”
“To the bathroom. Did Your Lordship wrap this bandage on me?”
“It would’ve been better if I had, but a doctor came by.”
I didn’t know why it would have been better if Gerard had wrapped the bandage, but that wasn’t the important thing.
“A doctor?”
“You could barely even hold your head up, but you said you’d rather die than go to the temple, so I had no choice but to call one.”
I had no memory of that, but it probably wasn’t so much that I hated the temple as that I hated the idea of him taking me into Melvers Temple.
If Gerard Castion personally brought some common woman in and had her treated, even I knew rumors would spread.
“…Thank you for helping me.”
“The bruising and swelling will go down soon. The cuts on your face won’t last long either.”
“I see.”
“And your ankle, they said the bone isn’t injured, so it shouldn’t be a big problem, but you still have to be careful. But you.”
A hand suddenly came up and fully cradled the back of my head.
At the pull, my head turned to the side, and I had no choice but to face Gerard’s close-up face right in front of me.
“Are you interested in things like environmental pollution, animal welfare, world peace, that sort of thing?”
“…What are you talking about all of a sudden.”
“I mean, are you carrying every problem in the world all over yourself.”
Gerard said strange things like this sometimes.
Was I stupid for not understanding, or was he the one being inconsiderate.
“I’m busy enough just living my own life.”
I gave the answer that suited my station.
“The doctor said you collapsed from extreme physical duress.”
“……”
A faint bit of strength entered the fingertips cupping the back of my head.
“Was it here…, no.”
His hand slipped downward through my hair.
When his cold hand brushed past my neck, slightly damp with sweat, goosebumps rose on my skin.
I couldn’t sense any hostility from him at all, yet I couldn’t move, as if a blade were pressed to my throat.
Even by the time his rough palm slid over my collarbone and came to rest at the center of my chest, near my heart, I was only breathing in quick, shallow breaths.
“So this is what got all worn to shreds.”
My heart was pounding loudly. As if begging him to notice my existence, it threw itself with all its strength against his palm.
So, this was just because I was nervous.
It wasn’t that I had suddenly started harboring some other feeling for Gerard. He had just touched me so suddenly that it startled me.
“Um, I drank a lot of water, so my stomach hurts.”
“Mm.”
At last, the hand resting on my chest fell away. But the faint warmth it left behind seemed to burrow into my skin and clutch at my heart.
At that moment, Gerard got up from the bed before I did and slipped both hands under my arms to carry me.
