By Zephyria 
I heard the story earlier, but I wondered if he should be saying it with that expression in this situation. Did he hate it that much?
“Why do you hate it so much? Because it’s cold? You said earlier that you didn’t like it because the blood was cold. Is that why?”
“The taste is a little different, and the smell is slightly different too. Originally, if you eat it right away, it’s super soft, savory, and warm, but if you eat it through a syringe, it’s a little dry and bitter…”
Aska was diligently critiquing the taste and aroma of my blood. Everything else aside, the expression “savory” was too bizarre. Seeing my expression gradually turning strange, Aska hurriedly added,
“It’s like the difference between eating grilled chicken skewers right away and leaving them out and eating them tomorrow.”
“That’s a huge difference. Is it like that even if you take it out and eat it right away?”
Aska nodded at my question.
“Then why didn’t you say anything all this time?”
“Just… I was afraid you wouldn’t give it to me if I said something… And you kept saying you were in pain. So I just put up with it.”
“……”
Seeing him stammering and speaking cautiously made my heart flutter. From the moment he looked so apologetic and hesitant, my mind was made up, no matter the reason.
But I couldn’t answer easily.
This outing made me realize anew that I was excessively lenient with Aska. Even after what happened yesterday, just seeing him make that kind of face made me want to give him what he wanted.
Of course, it’s not like Aska ran away from me, but the fact remained that he left my sight without permission.
“Can’t I?”
“……”
When I didn’t say anything for a while, Aska drooped his eyes. Seeing that made my heart flutter again. On the one hand, I was a little angry.
He usually thought so little of me, looked down on me, and even cursed at me, but he only acted pitiful and cute like that when he wanted something.
Was this a special secret of his species to increase the survival rate during their relatively weak infancy? Perhaps it was their own survival strategy using their appearance. Whatever it was, it seemed to have evolved very well in a very appropriate direction.
“Never mind, then.”
Aska mumbled, his shoulders drooping as if he had given up. I could feel deep heartbreak in his small voice.
He listened well sometimes, but he also had an undeniable arrogant side, so I couldn’t just say yes right away. Apart from my softened heart, a strange stubbornness arose, and I hesitated as if pondering before saying,
“First, if you wash me properly, I’ll think about it in a positive light.”
“If I wash you properly?”
Aska’s face lit up when I nodded. Just a moment ago, he had been looking like he was about to die… Maybe it was because there weren’t many people around who showed their true feelings on their faces so much, but my body stiffened every time this happened.
Should I give him a warning? Shouldn’t I say a word or two about how showing all your true feelings was never a good thing? But Aska wouldn’t be talking to other people for a long time anyway, and he would be with me all the time, so it didn’t seem to matter.
“Then I’ll wash you, so don’t move a finger.”
Watching Aska kindly undress me, I nodded again.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
Even with my eyes closed, I could constantly hear the busy footsteps and rustling sounds around my ears.
Being still in the warm water, the pain and fatigue that I had been trying to ignore washed over me like a wave. I relaxed my whole body and dozed off for a moment, and then I felt a gentle touch stroking my hair.
My eyelids were too heavy to even open my eyes.
“What’s this smell?”
I heard a voice muttering to itself.
“Ugh…”
I could also hear him making a disgusted noise, as if he didn’t like the smell of the bath products very much. I couldn’t help but chuckle, and Aska grumbled.
“Why are you laughing?”
“……”
“I’ll wash your hair first.”
“……”
I didn’t answer or nod, and just kept my eyes closed obediently. Thinking about it, I belatedly realized that it would be impossible for Aska to wash my whole body.
I’ll just have him wash my hair and then…
“Does it hurt?”
I felt his fingers massaging my scalp, and my body trembled. I got goosebumps, or maybe my skin was ticklish, but it got better after a while.
“I asked if it hurts.”
“Don’t talk to me…”
I mumbled, almost half asleep. Aska didn’t say anything after that, so I gradually fell asleep. I was asleep, but I could still hear everything, so I was going to call the Servant as soon as he finished washing my hair, but at some point, my consciousness faded.
“……”
My chest hurt, so I opened my eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. I drowsily lowered my gaze and saw Aska lying on top of my chest, fast asleep.
“Heavy…”
Was it because I was tired? Or did I have some kind of body ache? I could feel that my throat was severely hoarse.
“Haa.”
Then, Aska raised his head, looked at me with only one eye open, and suddenly sighed. I raised my heavy arm and placed my hand on his back.
Just as I was about to tell him to get off because he was heavy, my chest throbbed. It wasn’t the weight pressing down on my chest that hurt, but a pain as if a sharp, cold awl was digging into my heart.
The sudden and extreme pain, which made me get goosebumps all over my body, completely woke me up. As I widened my eyes and frowned, Aska placed his hands on the bed and raised his upper body.
“……”
In the dark room, his white hair, lit by the moonlight, was faintly glowing. How could a person’s hair glow like a firefly? Was I still half asleep, or was I hallucinating from the pain?
As I met his gaze without blinking, a small cough burst out.
“Cough.”
At that moment, something hot and bitter welled up in my throat. A stinging pain wrapped around my heart and spread to my chest, shoulders, and stomach. Just as I was reflexively trying to curl up into a ball, Aska almost headbutted my lips.
I could feel blood passing down the back of my throat. No, I don’t know if it was blood or what, but the unpleasant feeling made me frown involuntarily. I reflexively reached out to push him away, but Aska opened his eyes.
As I met his gaze, in which blood-red mist swirled like a storm, my mind became hazy. All the strength drained from my body, and the hand that had been holding Aska’s shoulder fell onto the bed.
Amidst my fading consciousness, an uneasy warning sounded, but soon the pain began to subside immediately. As soon as the pain that had been making it impossible to breathe disappeared, Aska took his lips away. Then, I saw him putting his ear to my chest.
My eyes closed on their own, and I don’t know what happened after that.
“Does it hurt?”
Only the faint sound of Aska’s voice asking me remained in my ears.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
“Ah.”
Even though I hadn’t moved, I felt like my head was shaking. A groan burst out from the pain that made me want to smash my skull, even without opening my eyes. Then, I heard a voice that I felt like I had heard dozens of times in my dreams.
“Does it still hurt?”
“……”
When I finally opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the ceiling. Something… something about this situation was familiar…
“Does it still hurt?”
When I lowered my gaze, Aska was lying on my chest, raising his head and looking at me.
“Heavy.”
“Is ‘heavy’ the only thing you know how to say?”
Aska grumbled and brought his face closer. As I blinked with a bewildered expression, something entered my mouth. This situation was also somehow familiar…
As soon as Aska saw my Adam’s apple move, he rolled to the side and got off of me. My body, which had been as heavy as lead, became lighter, and my headache subsided.
“You stopped breathing and threw up a lot of blood several times in your sleep.”
“……”
Aska, who was lying close to me, propped himself up and looked at me as he spoke. His tone was too light for the content, so I thought I had misheard for a moment.
“Stopped breathing?”
“You weren’t breathing.”
“Me?”
When I asked in surprise, Aska nodded. It seemed to be because of the rebound, but was it enough to kill me?
“……”
Come to think of it, when Aska hit that person and made them explode, I felt like something was exploding inside me too. And when I thought about the amount of blood that had burst out of my mouth, it wouldn’t have been strange if I had died.
With a flustered expression, I raised my hand and stroked my stomach. Surely my internal organs hadn’t exploded… No, that couldn’t be. Even if Aska’s saliva had healing magic, how could it put exploded internal organs back together?
“……”
No… If you use healing magic, you can reattach severed arms… Is it the same principle as that? No way… Even so…
“But who is Jia?”
As I was making a terrible assumption, a name I hadn’t heard in a long time came to my ears. I furrowed my brow and asked.
“How do you know Jia?”
“I don’t know her? I just asked because you kept calling her in your sleep.”
“I called her?”
“Yeah, you called Jia and Asella too. Anyway, you kept calling for a Wizard.”
“……”
Jia was the nanny who took care of me when I was young. Seeing that I was looking for a Wizard while I was out of my mind, it seemed that I was really in mortal danger.
I looked at Aska with a dumbfounded expression and asked.
“Was I about to die?”
“Weren’t you just about to die, but actually dead? You didn’t breathe for a few seconds. Your heart stopped too.”
Was it because I couldn’t believe it? I wasn’t that surprised, so I just nodded.
“You saved me. Thank you.”
“If you’re grateful, let’s throw away the syringe. I really didn’t sleep a wink and watched over you all night. Really.”
Aska’s eyes sparkled as if he was asking for a reward for doing a good deed.