Only with Your Heart

Alde-- now.

When Alde and Lone returned to Thousand Cranes' room, Nadal had already gathered what had been instructed and was just standing behind Estabel and bowing his back.

The usually happy boy also seemed to be completely drained of excitement and tension now. The brown curly hair sticks to my skin and my hands are shaking faintly even though my complexion is not good.

I couldn't afford to be distracted and concerned about Chizuru and Ruklov, but Nadal is still old enough to be called a child. And it is night.

Alde put his hand on the boy's shoulder as he followed Nadal behind him in a quiet foothold.

"From here I will help. Nadal, you have to stay back in your room."

"So, but..."

The Nadal boy stared over Estabel's shoulder, kneeling on the floor, at the laying thousand cranes.

Looking at the same sight, Alde breathed unexpectedly.

Estabel was just about to use salt water to wash the wounds of a thousand cranes. It is a necessary procedure to prevent putrefaction… However, I have seen a tenacious knight undergo similar treatment and pass through severe pain.

A luxurious thousand cranes must endure such pain from now on.

"Yaku, grab my daughter's hands and feet. Or do you want me to tie you up?

That's what Estabel said in a perfectly clerical tone, so Alde doubted his ears for a moment. Alde, Lone and Nadal made their bodies tense to tension, but they couldn't answer. Because Estabel's question was undoubtedly directed at Lucroff.

After this, Ruklov must choose a way for Chizuru to suffer.

When he thought of it, Alde couldn't keep his mouth shut and stepped forward.

"Wow, I'll hold her back. Please, let me."

Estabel looked up slightly suspiciously.

The old woman stared alternately at Alde and Luklov and waited quietly for the answer.

"I'm not old."

and Ruklov controlled Alde with a faint voice. "I'll keep it down. Nadal... you go back to your room. Alde, you're next to the pharmacist, help me change the cloth."

Alde opened his mouth to argue, but suddenly Lone's hand rested on his shoulder and turned around. The red-haired knight is quietly shaking his neck to the side with his lips drawn and tied. And whispered in a calm voice.

"Even if I were Luklov, I would. We can't let other people do this... It's not going to happen."

After Alde stared at the loan, he twitched his sincerity and slowly became bitter.

While Estabel was preparing a handled water drain, Ruklov cautiously rode on the sleeping table, making sure to cover and suppress the hands and feet of the thousand cranes.

"Mmm..., ha... ahh"

Chizuru leaks his fine voice out of his lips.

After faintly opening his eyes and letting his gaze wander into the universe for a while, he stares at him still, realizing Luklov's presence. Thousand cranes shook their lips to call Luklov's name, but it did not make them voices.

Ruklov smiled sadly and showed him, softly lips on his lover's cheeks obscured by pain and bleeding.

"Chizuru..."

His voice was sumptuous. "My dream. My heart. It's just you... what I want"

Alde sat on his knees right next to Estabel.

Prepare by layering a cloth that is not yet dirty so that it can be served immediately.

Nadal pulled back to the center of the room, but hesitated to go outside, eventually standing shaking his shoulder next to the loan. Ruklov said nothing more.

"Okay, I'll go. It hurts. But if it works, I can stop the pus. That way you may not die."

Surprisingly, Estabel's tone had kindness.

Chizuru's eyes shake anxiously. No, no, I was trying to shake my head just a little bit, but I didn't seem to be left with enough power to call it resistance. Alde felt Luklov snuff his teeth all the time.

"Ahhh...!

Estabel pressed and spread the wound, sprinkling salt water from the top to wash the shoulders of the thousand cranes. With water mixed with blood and a light peachy stained liquid flowing through the shoulders of a thousand cranes, Alde had to wipe it off quickly and over and over again while replacing it with a new cloth.

A voiceless scream clings the throat of a thousand cranes.

Chizuru had turned his back against the bow and was desperate to endure severe pain. I was trying to resist, but Luklov was holding my hands and feet tight, and I couldn't move very much.

For a long time that seemed forever, Estabel continued to carefully wash the wound.

Chizuru gradually lost his strength and sank just fine on his pillow except for leaking a sob as he trembled sometimes.

"All right... the rest is medicinal herbs. Give it to me."

Upon receiving the bottle of herbs, the wrinkled hands of the old medic gradually applied something to the shoulders of the thousand cranes in a skilled move. And wrap a bandage around the finish.

When it was all over, Alde was sober with sweat and completely exhausted.

When I managed to take a breath and wipe the sweat off my forehead, Ruklov slowly, almost left Thousand Cranes in a motion that didn't make me feel as alive as a ghost.

The man, formerly known as the 'Horseman of Fiery Flames', rose loosely from his bunk and looked at the many bloodstained cloths scattered on the floor...... distorted his face sadly.

At that moment Alde stiffened to the spot as time had stopped.

I think it's the first time I've seen one man look so uncut. A glimmer of tears slowly conveyed Ruklov's cheek.

Nadal, who was just watching, was also completely exhausted, and yet she also lost the temper to pinch her mouth on that loan.

Only Estabel calmly explained the situation to one while rinsing his hands completely dirty at work.

"Now, it won't be badly purulent. But,"

Nevertheless, the old woman's voice was not as bright as it was to announce good news.

"We're losing a lot of blood. It's too much blood for one daughter to lose. Besides... I think I know, but you're going to suffer from high fever. If we can stand it, maybe we can survive..."

It was also felt by Alde that Ruklov and Lone gripped the cobwebs firmly.

Alde hasn't seen much of it, but Ruklov and Lone, experienced samurai, should have seen it less unpleasant. Even if he didn't die soon after the stab wound, there are as many people who lose their lives because of the subsequent high fever.

Even though the worst case scenario of purulence of the wound was avoided, the danger has not yet left.

The next few days will be a long and hard one.

Alde no longer knew how far to hope. I guess that's what Ruklov thought. His eyes were staring at the blue-white face of Chizuru, and he seemed to be offering an unabashed prayer.