By Zephyria 
93
Time passed meaninglessly like that. Ho-eun, who had been having trouble breathing, glanced at Tae-muk, then slowly began to exhale. His back also became hunched. Regardless of the situation, soaking in the warm water made his tired body relax, which was unavoidable.
“……”
Sleepiness washed over him. He just wanted to fall asleep like this. Then suddenly, he opened his eyes wide. He had belatedly remembered Tae-muk’s injuries. He quickly looked at Tae-muk.
Tae-muk had his head tilted back on the edge of the tub, with his eyes closed. His chest was still covered in wounds, and his shoulder, where the Devouring Ghoul’s claws had pierced, was the same. The bleeding had stopped, but the dark red holes looked very painful. It was almost miraculous that he was staying still without touching Ho-eun.
“……”
Looking at him, Ho-eun thought that maybe Tae-muk was waiting for him. Waiting for him to approach first. Waiting for him to fulfill his purpose as a Bondmate first.
Ho-eun swallowed hard. Then, in a small voice, he said as if whispering,
“Shall I… hold your hand?”
At those words, Tae-muk’s brow, which had been tilted back, slightly furrowed and then smoothed out again.
“…If you want to.”
Ho-eun immediately grabbed Tae-muk’s hand, which was resting on the edge of the tub. But at that moment, his entire palm tingled.
“Ouch…”
Ho-eun, who had been off guard, let out a short groan. Tae-muk raised his head sharply. Then he grabbed Ho-eun’s hand and pulled it.
“Oh, I’m okay.”
Ho-eun habitually said he was okay and twisted his wrist, but he couldn’t overcome Tae-muk’s strength.
Tae-muk, frowning as much as he could, examined Ho-eun’s hand. His small palm was covered with red welts. They were like welts from being hit repeatedly on the palm with a very thin switch.
“Why is it like this?”
Tae-muk asked, his gaze fixed on the wounds. Ho-eun, embarrassed by the gaze, wiggled his fingers, but they were soon straightened out again by Tae-muk.
“Ah… I fe-fell at the hospital…”
“…Fell where?”
Tae-muk asked, looking as if he had misheard. He also looked as if he was saying, “What kind of nonsense is that?” Ho-eun scratched below his ear with his free hand.
“Well… the Devouring Ghoul rushed into the hospital, and there was no way to escape. So I went out through the window on the third floor, and I grabbed a bedsheet instead of a rope and fell. I think I got scraped then.”
“What a…”
Tae-muk furrowed his brow. He thought there were so many ways to get hurt. He examined Ho-eun’s palm again. He didn’t like the rough wounds on his palm, which was always white or pink.
It wasn’t that he was worried or heartbroken. He was just annoyed that his property was damaged. Besides, it was his hand. It was the part of the body that could most easily touch his Bondmate.
Tae-muk wondered how much ointment he would have to apply to heal it, glaring at the wound, when Ho-eun twisted his wrist.
“It doesn’t hurt much. I didn’t even know I was hurt until just now.”
But Tae-muk said in his unique low voice.
“Ouch.”
“…Yes?”
Ho-eun’s eyebrows arched. Ouch, he said. Such a cute and adorable word. It was a exclamation that didn’t suit Tae-muk at all. Ho-eun looked at him with a blank expression, and Tae-muk said again.
“You said ouch.”
“Ah, that was… just unconsciously… It’s really nothing. My leg could have been broken, or my neck could have been broken.”
Ho-eun chattered, looking as if to say that compared to that, this was nothing.
“……”
Tae-muk couldn’t even laugh at Ho-eun. Even those who had rolled around on the battlefield didn’t easily say they almost died. For some reason, this preciously raised young master always said it was okay to be hurt, it was okay to be in pain.
Tae-muk frowned at the stuffiness in his mouth. Ho-eun, who had given up trying to escape Tae-muk’s grasp, instead grabbed his hand tightly with both of his hands. It must have hurt to have the wound rubbed, but he didn’t even groan. He pursed his lips and stared intently at Tae-muk’s hand. It was as if he was casting a spell, telling it to heal quickly.
Did the spell work? Tae-muk felt the wounds on his back slowly healing. But he didn’t show it. If he said he was healed, Ho-eun might let go of his hand.
Of course, even if he let go, he could just grab it again, but he didn’t want to today.
He didn’t know why. Maybe it was because Ho-eun, who was already skinny, looked even thinner today, or maybe it was because the image of him crying and clinging to him at the church kept flashing before his eyes.
“……”
Tae-muk, with his hand given to Ho-eun, slowly scanned his body with his eyes. It wasn’t a gaze for the purpose of flirting or appreciation. He was checking if there were any other places he had been hurt without his permission.
Ho-eun’s face was a little pale, but it was still white and clear without any wounds. The shoulders visible over the Sokjeogori were round, his back was smooth, and his arms were slender. There were no other wounds visible on his chest, only his nipples and ribs protruding.
And as he lowered his gaze deeper, Ho-eun fidgeted, and his foot briefly flipped over before returning to the floor. At that moment, Tae-muk’s eyes sharpened.
He grabbed Ho-eun’s slender ankle.
“Ugh…”
Ho-eun’s upper body suddenly fell backward from the unexpectedly raised foot. If Tae-muk hadn’t supported his back with his other hand, he would have swallowed a lot of water. Ho-eun’s surprised eyes widened as if they would pop out, but Tae-muk didn’t care about Ho-eun and only looked at his foot.
“Why is your foot like this too?”
His feet were even worse than his hands. The tips of his toes were bright red, and there were large and small blisters under his toes. Some of them had burst and the blood had hardened. The heel was especially badly injured, with a hollowed-out shape that looked like it had been hit with a fingernail-sized axe.
“Ah…”
Ho-eun wiggled his toes inward. It was the first time he had shown his bare feet to someone, and since ‘feet’ were not a very clean part of the body, he was very embarrassed.
And the condition of his feet… Ho-eun was also surprised. He didn’t even know his feet were in this state. He was amazed that he had run on the road, climbed hills, and ran through the rain with these feet.
“Why is it like this?”
Tae-muk asked again in an annoyed voice. Ho-eun stammered out the reason.
“I, I walked a lot…”
“Walked what? Did you fall while walking?”
“No, I didn’t fall… I just walked a lot… That’s the only reason.”
“……”
Tae-muk furrowed his brow. He couldn’t understand how walking a lot could make his feet like this. He would have understood if he had stepped on a grenade.
But Ho-eun pondered something and whispered, even though there was no one to hear him.
“Maybe. Even if I added up all the walking I’ve done since I was born, it might be less than what I walked today.”
“……”
Tae-muk stared at Ho-eun. He wondered if he was making some unfunny joke. But there was no lie on Ho-eun’s face. Tae-muk let out a hollow laugh.
“So. You’re saying your feet are like this because you just walked a lot?”
“Yes. I’m not used to walking…”
“There are so many ways to show off that you’re a nobleman.”
Tae-muk muttered something that was neither sarcastic nor mocking. He had thought before that Ho-eun’s body only looked good, but it was actually terrible. He was definitely not good as a soldier, and as a man, no, just as a human being. He was like a boy who hadn’t fully grown up yet. It was amazing that he had lived this long with such a weak body.
“It’s not because I’m a nobleman…”
Ho-eun scratched his cheek. His mother and father had protected him very carefully, but, well… that was probably possible because he was a nobleman. If he had been hoeing fields since he was young, his feet wouldn’t be like this just from running a little today.
Ho-eun stared blankly at his feet, which were his but didn’t feel like his. Then suddenly, he smiled, his eyes curving. It was a truly out-of-context smile.
“But I’m a little proud.”
“Of what?”
“If I get hurt like this once, won’t I get calluses? Then next time, I’ll be able to run more, for longer.”
“……”
At those words, Tae-muk looked at Ho-eun’s feet again. Small, fair, emaciated, with blue veins visible on the instep, and pink toes, the existence of calluses didn’t really suit his feet. The blisters and wounds were also obviously foreign.
After looking at Ho-eun’s feet for a while, Tae-muk felt annoyed at the injured feet for no reason and pressed his thumb hard on the sole of his foot.
“Ouch…”
Ho-eun frowned and groaned at the stinging, throbbing pain. Tae-muk clicked his tongue and stopped tormenting him. But he continued to hold his foot.
He was amazed by the foot that fit perfectly in his hand. It wasn’t like a child’s, but how could his foot be so small and soft? His toenails were also soft, and it was an appearance that made it impossible not to admit that it was a foot unfamiliar with walking.
Tae-muk was kneading the small foot like rice cake when Ho-eun said something out of the blue.
“Are my feet also effective for you, General?”
“What?”
“No, I mean, you’re holding my feet instead of my hands… I was wondering if that’s more effective…”
“……”
Tae-muk looked at Ho-eun with an expression that said, “What is this all about?”