Arianell has the same dream all over again. She was floating in cold water, drowning without any hope of surviving. Then someone lifted her and got her out of the freezing lake.
"Hey… are you awake?" His voice was muffled and close, yet she couldn't see his face. She could feel his gentle shake and a tickling warm breath, the fresh scent of forest lingered around her senses.
"Hey, wake up!" He said more urgently.
Why is it so dark? How is she supposed to see? This is like teasing with a preview for another episode, but then the broadcasting was cancelled!
Then her dreams suddenly change. It was tremendously bright all at once, but she still could not see anything except the light.
Suddenly, a pair of purple eyes appeared before her.
"Wake up!"
Woah… what the hell are these huge eyes?!
"WAKE UP, SUIN!"
Arianell opened her eyes with a startle. The voice of someone calling her by a name from her past life was ringing in her ears. It was pitch dark around, hard to determine the time.
The nights were usually silent, but today a rustling sound was detected from the backyard.
"Thunder? Whisper?" She called drowsily when she heard the stomping of horse hooves.
"Horse?! Has someone come?!"
She was so surprised that her heart almost stopped. No one except her and the count's butler should know the location of the house, so it could be a passerby. But who would wander so close to the Forest deep at night? Fully awake, Arianell went to the living room. Using the aftermath of the previous fire, she lights up a lamp. The horse keeps on neighing and snorting.
She carefully opened the door to her back garden.
"Hello…?"
She held the small lantern, yet she could not see anyone. Then when it was needed, the clouds cleared the sky and the moon finally peeked out, illuminating the land.
The young man sat leaning against the olea tree with his long legs stretched and head dropped to the side. He looked like he was sleeping, but even with his eyes closed, she recognized that perfect face.
"Lu…an? What are you doing here, mister?" After realizing who he was, her voice calmed down considerably. She asked but he didn't have an answer for her. As Arianell came closer, she could see the pool of blood.
"Oh, my Goddess! What happened to you?" She put the lantern away and sat down next to him. Both wounds on his abdomen and neck were deep with dark red liquid gushing out.
Arianell has no previous medicinal knowledge, all she watched in her past life on ytube were farming and food videos, but even an amateur like her could recognize that he was seriously injured.
The man opened his eyes slightly. Arianell was amazed by two clear blue beads sparkling mysteriously like a mermaid's sea but quickly returned to her senses. She used her hands to press on his wounds yet couldn't stop the blood from flowing out.
The knight's lips curved into a smile like everything was alright and there was no need for her to worry. He opened his mouth, but no words would come out. He lifted his right hand trying to reach her face before losing consciousness.
"Hey!! Don't die on me! I don't know where to bury such a big body!"
Arianell panicked. Since they parted ways, she wasn't expecting to meet him again. She occasionally thought of him as he was always kind to her, but the soldier's life was unpredictable. She would rather for him to forget her and never hear of him again than find him seriously injured in her backyard at night as his life hung on the thread.
She wished him a safe journey and a good life, but how could fate disregard her prayers like this? Just what did he experience to end up like this?
The army looked for the recruits all the time and no one cared whether soldiers were strong or not. People were needed and if they insisted on being selective, they could never fill the number. Even weaklings can survive the battlefield if they are smart.
Luan was not only unlucky, but he also missed the qualities that the fighter needed.
She remembered the scene in the forest when the unknown assailant attacked him. Luan was frozen with fear and couldn't move, and she had to step in to save him by sacrificing her frying pan.
"Why did you risk your life so much when you are weak? Isn't it okay to run when you are in danger?"
The girl grabbed him by his waist avoiding his wound and tried to bring him inside. He was slim, yet heavy and his shining armour was in the way, but she used all her strength to not drop him until they reached the bedroom.
She stumbled before bed under the heavy weight on her back and dropped him right into fluffy blankets and pillows, making sure that his head would not hit the wooden frame.
The white sheets were stained right away. She hasn't bought any bandages, so she tore clean linens to dress his wounds but no matter how many layers she put on, the red liquid just keeps on flowing out.
"This won't do… I must stop the bleeding first. But how?"
He was someone she was indebted to, there was no way she would watch him die.
Arianell ran out to the kitchen and opened a cabinet with dried herbs. The first thing that came to her mind was the mugwort. It was a common weed back in her world, but the women in the countryside used it to fix their menstruation problems. Next to it were dried stalks of yarrow.
"I'm glad Thunder has a habit of bringing back any herbs she found… Some of these must work."
But the question was how to use them. Grind? Make a paste?
The man on the bed started to shake. His breath was getting erratic.
"Hang in there…! Oh Goddess, please show me a miracle!"
She crushed the dried herbs between her fingers and sprinkled all of them on the wounds. Nothing happened right away, but soon his breathing calmed down.
"It's… working?"
The light in the bedroom was too dim to see anything. She took a lantern and moved it closer to properly examine his injury.
And then, just like a miracle she was asking for, the wound started to close on its own.