WLWES 22

Gideon carried him on his back to a rather impressive house. Earlier, he had mentioned he would take Rio to a hut, but to Rio, this was clearly a house. In fact, it looked twice the size and much sturdier than the house he used to live in back in his home village.

As Gideon stood in front of the thick wooden door, it opened right away, and Atlas rushed out.

“Lord Gideon! How is Rio?!”

“He’s safe.”

Rio peeked his face out from behind Gideon’s shoulder. When Atlas noticed him, relief washed over his face.

“Rio! Thank god! I heard you fell off the cliff. That cliff’s really high, you know? No one’s ever fallen from there and lived to tell the tale!”

“What, no way?! I guess it’s because when I fell, I kinda hit a bunch of branches on the way down. That probably made my fall a bit softer, which might’ve saved me.”

“But your condition could suddenly change! Just make sure to tell us right away if you start feeling worse. Did you bump your head or anything?”

“I don’t think so. But my leg is killing me.”

“What?! Lord Gideon, we have to return to the castle right away! He needs medical attention!”

“Calm down.”

Gideon’s composed voice cut Atlas off. He walked past Atlas and brought Rio inside, gently placing him down on a chair by the fireplace.

“Atlas, get me a towel.”

“Ah! Right away, sir! Lord Gideon, please dry yourself off, too!”

“It’s fine, I don’t care about a few drops of rain.”

“I understand, but still, even you shouldn’t let your guard down like this!”

“You’re talking too much. I get it… so hurry up and dry Rio off.”

“Yes, sir! Please dry off yourself, too, my lord!”

Gideon took a large cloth from Atlas and roughly dried his own hair. As Rio watched blankly, a nice-smelling cloth was placed over his head.

“Whoa…”

“Rio, aren’t you cold? You’re shivering,” Atlas asked.

“What? I’m not cold, and I’m not even shivering…”

“No, you really are. Hmm, maybe you’re getting a fever?”

“I’m telling you, I’m fine.” Rio protested

As he wiped Rio’s hair, he looked directly at him. Rio could see that Atlas was very worried about him, but because of his pitiful expression, Rio couldn’t help but smile.

“Thanks for worrying about me, Atlas. I’ve always had really good luck, so you don’t have to be concerned. I’ve actually fallen off a cliff once before, and look, I was totally fine… ahh.” Rio realized he had revealed too much.

“You what? You’ve fallen off a cliff before?! That’s not good luck! That’s just bad!”

“Umm… you think so?”

“Of course I do! Right, An?”

Leaving the towel draped over Rio’s head, Atlas began wiping An’s entire body with a smaller towel. An narrowed her eyes contentedly and let out a soft “woof” as if to agree with him. Rio clicked his tongue in his mind, thinking he’d said something unnecessary.

“You fell off a cliff before?”

Suddenly, a low voice interrupted from above, and Rio looked up in surprise. Gideon was staring down at him. Drops of water fell from the tips of Gideon’s black hair and splashed against Rio’s cheek, causing him to instinctively close his eyes.

“Ah, it’s cold… Gideon, you need to dry off properly, too. You’re still soaked.”

“I’m fine. You’re still wetter than I am.”

Gideon began drying Rio’s hair. Meanwhile, Atlas was too busy chasing An around to help, completely forgetting about Rio. Without saying a word, Gideon softly squeezed Rio’s damp hair with the towel and dried it gently.

Rio started to feel guilty about having the lord dry his hair, so he reached for the towel and said, “I can do it myself.”

“It’s fine. Let me. Your arm is hurt, right? So don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, but still, I can still move it.”

“No. I’m done soon, so leave it to me.”

“…Alright. Thanks.”

“Mhm.”

Rio fell silent and allowed Gideon to take care of him. As Gideon gently touched his hair, Rio listened to Atlas talking to An in the background. Suddenly, his eyelids felt heavy, and he slowly shut his eyes. He had gotten up early that morning, had a long trip, played with An, and even used magic, which had left him feeling completely exhausted.

When Gideon asked, “Are you sleepy?” Rio quickly opened his eyes in a panic.

“Oh, sorry. I’m okay.”

“If you’re tired, you should sleep. I’ll wake you when it’s time to go.”

“No, I’m okay. My clothes are still wet, so it feels gross. I can’t sleep like this.”

“I see. In that case, get closer to the fire.”

“Okay. But you should dry off properly, too, Gideon.”

“Alright. But you know, your hair looks really nice when it’s wet. It looks even shinier than normal.”

While Gideon was drying his own hair with one of his hands, he reached out to the other to touch Rio’s hair.

Rio pinched the ends of his hair, inspecting the color of his strands while tilting his head slightly in curiosity.

“Really? I think it looks similar to Atlas’s.”

“No… It’s nicer than Atlas’s.”

“Umm, thanks.”

Since Rio was quite accustomed to receiving compliments about his hair, he simply responded casually and nodded along. Atlas, who had just finished drying An, must have overheard their conversation, as he suddenly came over and sat beside Rio, exclaiming, “Hey!”

“My hair gets a fair amount of compliments, too, you know! Although, yeah… yours is definitely prettier.”

“I like your hair too,” Rio replied.

“Rio…! Thank you! You’re really such a good kid. I want to get even closer to you!”

“Yeah… me too,” Rio said.

Atlas held both of Rio’s hands and smiled at him. Rio politely replied with a smile as well. Good kid? But we’re the same age, Rio thought, laughing awkwardly as Atlas suddenly let go of his hand.

“Rio injured his arm. Don’t touch him so carelessly,” Gideon warned.

“Ah! Right. Sorry, Rio,” Atlas said.

“It’s fine… Anyway, do you guys mind if I lie down for a bit? I’m kinda starting to feel a little… tired.”

“Huh?!”

“What?”

Although Rio had thought he was fine, he started to realize that falling from that height might have caused more damage than he had initially realized. As he lay down, a wave of dizziness washed over him. Just like Atlas had said, he really was shivering. Was it the cold? Or had the fall done more harm than he originally thought?

Rio had a painful cut on his forehead, but otherwise, his head didn’t hurt. He was certain he hadn’t hit it during his fall, yet he began to feel uneasy. His discomfort stemmed from the fact that his magic could only heal bruises, cuts, and broken bones, but it couldn’t cure internal injuries or illnesses. He desperately wanted to return to the castle as soon as possible because the uncertainty of his condition, combined with feeling terrible, scared him. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on Rio’s side, as the rain showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.

Rio suddenly collapsed. Immediately, Gideon scooped him up in his arms and prepared to dash out of the hut, but Atlas did his best to stop him. “Lord Gideon! If you take him out into this rain, it will only worsen his condition! Please, don’t push him too hard!”

“But he’s clearly in pain! What if it gets worse?!” Gideon argued.

“I know! But look! The sky over there is starting to clear! Please, let’s at least wait for it to ease up a little!”

“Damn it… why do we only have disinfectants here? We should’ve stocked some potions too!” Gideon exclaimed.

As the two of them argued loudly, Rio lay quietly with his eyes closed, still listening. It was unusual to see Gideon flustered like this since he was usually so calm and collected. Although Rio found it somewhat amusing, he didn’t have the strength to laugh or even speak. All he could do was breathe slowly.

An whimpered softly and licked Rio’s face repeatedly, clearly worried.

After some time, the rain started to let up, and they decided to return to the castle. Rio was wrapped in a water-repellent blanket and once again carried on Gideon’s back as they stepped outside.

He doesn’t have to carry me, Rio thought, but then he heard Atlas say, “I’m sorry, Lord Gideon. I’m not strong enough…” and understood why.

The horses were already tied up right outside the hut since Atlas had brought them down from the top of the cliff earlier. Atlas mounted his horse and skillfully pulled Rio’s horse alongside him.

Rio, along with An, rode on Gideon’s horse. Usually, he would face forward while riding with Gideon. However, since he was too weak to sit up straight on his own, he sat in front of Gideon, facing him.

Gideon pulled Rio closer by his waist. But with An tucked between them, the puppy looked a little squished, so Rio adjusted his body slightly to avoid squashing her.

“Rio, feel free to lean on me. I’ll support you so you won’t fall, but if you have enough strength, you should hold on to me as well,” Gideon said.

“Mm… okay,” Rio replied.

“Let’s go then.”

“Yes…”

Rio rested his head on Gideon’s shoulder as the horse slowly began to walk forward.