Chapter 09
9. If it were me, I wouldn’t treat you like this
They said a summit meeting was coming soon—it must have been that desert kingdom.
Probably an order to infiltrate and gather intelligence on the Nix Empire.
And the one who gave that order was likely his older brother.
After all, a younger brother talented enough to contract with the Spirit King would be a threat.
‘He was probably hoping the kid would get caught infiltrating and die here. But what can I say? I’ve decided to save this one.’
Blood had pooled in the water bowl. I couldn’t use something so unsanitary, so I threw it out immediately and snapped my fingers.
“Fresh water.”
Clean water shimmered and filled the bowl. The spirits’ doing.
I dipped a handkerchief into it, wrung it out, and began by wiping away the dried blood.
I hadn’t expected to end up in a situation like this, but I was glad I’d accepted Derek’s handkerchief earlier.
After cleaning around the wounds, a breeze came from somewhere. I looked at the herbs the wind had brought and quickly sorted them into useful and useless.
“Hey. This is poison ivy, isn’t it? Are you trying to kill this kid?”
The boy, who had been on edge and wary, had lost consciousness sometime along the way.
‘Good.’
I hurriedly worked my hands before the kid woke up and caused another ruckus.
I splinted the fractured bones and bandaged the areas still seeping blood. In the process, I inadvertently discovered that the boy’s body was covered in countless scars.
Frowning, I saw that the skin around his shoulder blades and spine—which should have been as smooth as desert sand dunes—was a mess.
‘At this rate, he’s practically a combat slave.’
No, even combat slaves aren’t treated like this at this age.
It was common knowledge that adult slaves fetched a higher price than young ones. So slave traders didn’t bother sending underdeveloped children to the battlefield.
But this boy—simply because he was born with threatening abilities—must have been forced to fight from a very young age.
And yet, he seemed to have never received proper treatment.
“Hey, water. Aren’t the Sun God’s bloodline supposed to be hard to injure? I heard that even if they get hurt, they heal quickly with proper treatment.”
The water droplets swirled around erratically, as if reluctant to answer my call. I raised an eyebrow and pointed at the boy.
“Are you not going to treat this?”
The threat worked easily.
The now-docile water droplets formed letters in the air:
[My contractor has never received treatment.]
The sentence wasn’t difficult to understand, yet I couldn’t accept it. I had to read it several times.
Just what kind of treatment was he receiving that this precious bloodline couldn’t even get proper care?
Reluctantly, I applied medicine over the scars as well. Even knowing it wouldn’t do any good since they were old scars, I did it anyway out of pity for this kid who had been driven, driven, and driven again to the brink of death, eventually ending up here.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t treat you like this. I cherish what’s mine.”
I muttered quietly, then crushed some anesthetic herbs and applied the juice to the severe wounds. I had to stitch up the large wounds, so it was fortunate he was unconscious.
After a short, deep breath, I worked my hands skillfully.
Being naturally aggressive and fond of fighting, I had stitched my own wounds countless times. It was awkward at first, but after doing it for about two hundred years, I could suture without even thinking.
‘But that was with my original body…’
Right now, it required quite a bit of concentration.
Finally, after treating the last wound, I rolled my stiff shoulders and stretched.
I had no idea how much time had passed outside. Everyone was probably very worried.
“…Ah, but what do I do about the coat?”
It was already covered in blood, so I couldn’t put it back on and go out.
An even bigger problem was my dress.
I looked down at my disheveled state with a troubled expression.
Derek and Lady Bertholdt would be on the verge of fainting, and I had no excuse to give them.
‘What should I do?’
I was tired, so I sat down heavily. The water droplets bubbled up and swirled around me.
“Ah, are you trying to help? Thanks.”
The spirits’ work was truly impressive. From the sleeves to the fluffy fur trim on the hem of the skirt, everything was instantly clean.
Relieved, I lay flat on my back.
It wasn’t exactly befitting an empress, but this was how I’d always lived.
There’s no harm in acting the way I did when no one was watching, right?
Saving a dying human had left me incredibly exhausted.
“Wake me up after a little nap. Just let me sleep for an hour….”
Spirits were quite convenient.
If it were possible, I’d like to contract with the Spirit King too, but there’s no way a demon could do that.
Indulging in such pointless thoughts, I soon curled up and patted the boy’s shoulder.
Perhaps because so much had happened, sleep came easily.
‘My body feels light.’
Some time had passed. The boy snapped his eyes open and immediately checked his condition.
His fingers moved normally, and his thighs felt solid and strong.
Judging he could stand up, he slowly raised his upper body.
There was still pain, but it was minor.
The injuries were severe enough that others would need a full month of recuperation, but the boy’s recovery was remarkable. Plus, his pain tolerance was lower than others’, so there was no reason he couldn’t move.
Water droplets hurriedly gathered around him. They had been sent by the Spirit King with whom he was contracted.
“I’m fine.”
The boy, Meruem, did not smile. He simply didn’t know how.
Instead, he reached out toward the water droplets, intending to stroke them.
“Hmm…”
But then, someone else’s voice—a voice that shouldn’t have been heard in this space—reached his ears.
If the water droplets hadn’t blocked his path at that moment, he would have mistaken the intruder for an enemy and killed them.
“…You’re saying she treated me?”
Thanks to the spirits’ explanation, he stayed his killing intent, but he didn’t let down his suspicion and guard.
After all, there was no way an ordinary person could enter the Spirit King’s subspace.
“………”
But still. After staring at the sleeping face, breathing softly for a long while, Meruem felt like a fool.
The woman looked fragile.
He could feel her carotid artery pulsing. The blood flow was slow, her heartbeat barely audible—as if it might stop at any moment.
Her skin was as white as snow that would melt at the slightest touch of sunlight, her wrists slender, her frame small.
She was a woman who seemed incapable of harming him, let alone taking care of herself.
Her dark blonde hair seemed dazzling, and Meruem furrowed his brow for no reason.
‘Strange woman.’
Come to think of it, the fur coat wasn’t his.
She must have laid him down here and treated his wounds, then fallen asleep from exhaustion.
Making a slow but clear judgment, Meruem rose from the fur coat. At his will, the water droplets washed the coat clean, and Meruem carefully lifted the woman into his arms.
She was so light she seemed like she might fly away at any moment, so Meruem had to unconsciously put strength into his arms.
“Did this woman kiss my forehead?”
After laying the woman on the blood-washed coat, Meruem suddenly asked. She had said something strange about the price for treatment being a goodnight kiss.
But the water droplets scattered, meaning ‘no’.
‘So her offer to treat me first wasn’t a lie.’
That was unexpected.
Meruem had never met someone who didn’t lie.
Not to go far, wasn’t this mission itself a lie?
He sat down heavily beside the woman, stroked his chest—now almost healed, with only faint red lines remaining—and gritted his teeth.
All of this was because of his half-brother.
His mission had been to infiltrate the imperial palace of the Nix Empire before the summit and obtain top-secret information about the Empress.
In the desert kingdom, the emperor’s orders were absolute, and disobedience was unthinkable. To prove loyalty, one had to accept and complete the five missions the emperor assigned.
The children of noble families were usually given safe missions, but Meruem, who had no mother and thus no backing, was given only dangerous tasks.
Still, Meruem did not complain.
He knew well how much his half-brother, the emperor, feared him.
He was a double-edged sword—too valuable an asset (the Spirit King) to kill, but too dangerous to keep close. So he was sent far away, with the hope that he would die on his own.
Meruem had crossed borders, been sent to volcanic regions, and forced to traverse snowy plains, yet he had somehow survived each time.
No one welcomed him back, but still, Meruem had to return to the desert kingdom.
Because there was nowhere else he could call home.
Of course, even that was about to disappear because of a sudden <Revelation>…
Rubbing his face, Meruem tried to erase useless sentiments from his mind.
If he killed his emotions, killed them again and again, someday he would feel nothing at all. That day would surely come.
Repeating this like a promise to himself, he recalled the one who had inflicted these wounds on him.
‘That bastard was a monster.’
All the advance information Meruem had been given about Nix was fake. The internal palace maps were also false.
He hadn’t trusted them in the first place, but because of that, he had been caught by the emperor while wandering the palace. Even though he had been as careful as possible and suppressed his presence, the emperor had swung his sword at him without hesitation.
When Meruem blocked the first strike, the emperor looked surprised, then unleashed an enormous amount of divine power and launched a swift attack.
Meruem had saved his life thanks to his superior physical abilities and reflexes, but he was too injured to return to the desert. So the Spirit King had created a protective barrier for him.
‘That was three days ago.’
The emperor was cruel-handed and didn’t hesitate to take lives. His pitch-black, dead eyes held not a trace of vitality.
‘If I had fought him in the desert, it would have been a close match.’
Indeed, his power weakened significantly when he left his homeland.
Repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists, Meruem gazed down at the woman sleeping so obliviously.
Her peaceful face strangely gave him a sense of calm.
Even though he knew that hell awaited him just one step outside this space, perhaps it was because he was with someone, for the first time in his life, whom he didn’t wish dead.
For Meruem, who had never once been told “it’s okay to live,” someone treating and saving him came as a profound shock.
“This thing called a goodnight kiss… is it enough just to press your lips to the forehead?”
He asked in a low voice, afraid she might wake. The water droplets burst into bright laughter at once. Annoyed by their teasing laughter, Meruem growled fiercely, pretending to be angry.
“Don’t laugh. I’ve never done it, and I’ve never received it.”
Just imagining it made his whole body tingle. The back of his neck felt hot, and he wanted to run somewhere.
He had no idea why anyone would bring their lips to another’s skin, but a deal was a deal.
He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his lips lightly against her smooth forehead.
He couldn’t breathe.
