“Why is this here?”
A reddish blister had risen large on Rose’s hand that had been nothing but white and smooth.
“How did this happen?”
It was clearly a burn. Elijah, who had pulled the palm closer to examine the wound more closely, asked.
“…While putting ingredients in the pot. I forgot the flame was strong and must have been too close.”
His heart felt like it would tear. The child who disliked even going near fire because it was hot had gotten burned while cooking for him in this summer.
“Then you should have gotten it treated first, what is this?”
Elijah unintentionally raised his voice. The skin that had been nothing but smooth and fine without a single unpleasant protrusion anywhere was peeled bright red, which upset him terribly.
This was a child who had been clean without a single scratch no matter how much mischief he caused or how much he stumbled here and there. So Elijah had vaguely thought that because he was a vampire, he was different from ordinary humans.
Even solid cast iron gets minor scratches with long use, yet Rose’s skin was soft and delicate without a single callus. That such delicate skin wouldn’t get a single wound didn’t make sense to begin with.
Rose put a spoon in Elijah’s hand and smiled.
“So finish eating quickly and put medicine on it.”
“No. Medicine first.”
Elijah, who had thrown down the spoon, immediately stood up from his seat. It was the most motivated he’d moved all day. Elijah, who quickly brought the medicine jar, sat in front of him again and held his hand.
He finely ground dried herbs into powder, mixed a little water to make a paste, and carefully spread it over the wound while blowing on it with “hoo hoo.”
“You don’t need to go that far…”
“If you just leave it, it’ll scar.”
Elijah immediately dismissed Rose’s words coming from above his head. He sincerely hoped there wouldn’t be a blemish left on Rose’s body. I should have cherished him more… He’d raised him too complacently because Rose was a vampire.
If I’d known this would happen, I should have at least practiced healing magic. The situation where he couldn’t heal even such a minor wound with his overflowing magical power made Elijah even more upset.
“From next time, don’t carelessly go near fire. Dangerously doing it when you’ve never cooked before.”
“Because Elijah was sick and couldn’t do anything…”
Elijah let out a deep sigh. With weak stamina that made him easily fall ill with just a little exertion, it seemed far insufficient to care for a child who had now grown this big.
The more the child grew, the more he somehow felt like he was becoming a burden. The more things Rose could do, the more he conversely seemed to be in a position of being cared for by him.
“…I’ll get better quickly.”
“Then stop worrying now and eat quickly.”
Rose turned Elijah’s body to sit facing the table directly. His attitude seemed to care only about the other’s meal, with no concern for his own wound.
“Since I cooked with difficulty, you should eat it before it gets cold to make me happy.”
Yet it was Rose who was actually the one starving. Elijah knew Rose hadn’t sucked blood for several months. Of course, he habitually bit or licked his nape, but he seemed to be restraining himself for Elijah, whose body wasn’t well.
Elijah found such kindness from him touching and pitiful. He vaguely felt that Rose’s feeding and his own health could no longer coexist, but at this point, it was truly unavoidable.
If only I had been a healthier person…
“Are you still not feeling well? Why can’t you eat…”
Perhaps worried about Elijah, who couldn’t quite swallow the stew, Rose tilted his head to check his complexion.
“No appetite? The fever seems to have gone down from yesterday though.”
His face was full of concern as he touched Elijah’s forehead, cheek, and nape as if checking his temperature.
My Rose is this kind.
Even if there was an unavoidable habit, that fact didn’t change. If he were an evil being, he wouldn’t have kept him alive until now like this.
‘What kind of suspicion am I having about such a kind child…’
It wasn’t wrong, just different. Fearing such a Rose was tantamount to betrayal toward him.
After all, all Rose had done was patch the ceiling for him, buy food from the settlement, and cook while getting burns on his hands, wasn’t it?
If Rose acted differently from usual, it was all for him. Elijah believed without doubt that he would absolutely never harm him.
“No, Rose.”
When he stroked Rose’s cheek and head with an apologetic heart, Rose, who had closed his eyes languidly, leaned his cheek against Elijah’s hand.
“It’s delicious. I’ve gotten much better too.”
“Really?”
His red eyes sparkled open. Rose, who had kissed Elijah’s palm, smiled innocently.
“Then let’s take a walk today. The sky is clear since the rain has stopped for once.”
“Okay.”
There are no kind vampires in the world, Elijah. In the end, they’re all unavoidable cannibals! Igrit, sprawled under the table, made a fuss.
However, Elijah deliberately ignored his words, pretending not to hear. He didn’t want to unnecessarily break this sense of relief and happiness with useless worries.
…I should hurry and float a letter to Master.
He wanted to get some fresh air outside with Rose after a long time.
Chapter 4
Outside the window was entirely white. For Elijah, winter was a season that robbed him of all energy. No matter how vigorously he burned firewood, if he moved even a little away from the fireplace, his hands and feet would freeze immediately.
Elijah, who had barely managed to pull only his hand out from the tightly wrapped blanket, began writing a letter. The letters that had been written by pressing down hard with charcoal on old, worn scrap paper had now changed to new white, crisp paper and a high-quality pen that Rose bought from the settlement.
They say a house comes alive when touched by human hands, but it seemed that for the past 200 years in this house, Elijah hadn’t been human. The cabin that had consistently given off a gloomy, abandoned-house atmosphere despite having a person clearly living in it finally changed through Rose’s touch.
It was Rose who fixed the door that always creaked because the rusty, worn hinges were misaligned, Rose who firmly patched the ceiling that would collapse after just one season, and Rose who fixed the table that always rattled because one leg was short.
Since he came, there had been so much to be proud of in daily life, but regrettably, his hands were too cold to contain all the words he wanted to write.
‘Rose and I are doing well today too.’
Elijah filled an entire sheet of paper and then crammed all the words he couldn’t finish into the last line and put a period. Winter was inevitably such a season. Elijah, who blew on and warmed his fingertips that had grown cold again, neatly folded the paper.
“Are you done?”
A gently asking voice came from behind.
“Yes.”
Rose, who had been standing leaning against the table with his arms crossed, straightened up. He lightly lifted Elijah, who had been crouching in front of the fireplace, and sat him on the table. Elijah, holding the completed paper boat in his hand, looked down at Rose kneeling before him.
The child who had been so small and cute like a fairy from a fairy tale had become a complete adult in just a few years. Though he couldn’t know exactly if there was room to grow more, Rose now far exceeded his height with more than a head’s difference.
A small speck of dust floating in the air settled on long silver-white eyelashes. Even that seemed like an element of light composing Rose, so Elijah stared at his face in a daze.
With the face of a youthful young man who had just shed his boyish appearance, he was mysterious and beautiful like an angel. His snow-white skin without a speck of dust was so dazzling that it seemed like it would glow alone even in darkness.
Every moment Elijah faced such beauty of Rose, he realized that he was a clearly different species from himself.
Rose, who had grasped Elijah’s feet dangling below the table, slowly massaged his calves stiff from the cold. The ankle held in his large hand looked particularly gaunt. Embarrassed for some reason, Elijah wriggled his feet to escape his touch.
“I just want to walk today, Rose. Get my shoes out.”
The thumb that had been touching the back of his ankle pressed firmly on the protruding ankle bone.
“More snow piled up than yesterday.”
Attempts to pull out the captured foot were useless. Elijah quickly gave up and replied grumpily.
“So what if some snow piled up? It’s just a short walk.”
“Do you have to go out?”
Just when he thought it had been quiet for a few days, it was starting again. Elijah, who swallowed the sigh that was about to burst out, answered.
“…Yes. You know I’ve never skipped a single day.”
Rose had a tendency to overprotect him. It was just going to float a letter in front of the house, but from some point on, similar arguments occurred every time he tried to go outside.
“You’re still not well, Elijah.”
At times like this, there was really nothing to say. Especially from the standpoint of having been sick for several days and just barely regaining energy.
“…I’m fine now. I’ve recovered.”
Rose, who had been staring at and fiddling with Elijah’s feet, raised his head. At the stare without an answer, Elijah felt unnecessarily guilty even though he’d done nothing wrong.
“Are you really okay?”
The voice that broke the brief silence was kind enough to make that guilt feel meaningless. Elijah raised his head following the gradually rising eye level. A large shadow fell over his face.
The difference in physique that he hadn’t felt when Rose was kneeling below him just moments ago became newly real at times like this. Elijah now averted his eyes diagonally downward, avoiding the gaze looking down at him from above.
Soon cold kisses fell like feathers on his forehead, eyelids, and the bridge of his nose. The lips touching his cheek lingered as if gauging his body temperature.
