I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 440: In Bad Shape

For a moment, Irene was at a loss for words. She knew she wasn’t supposed to be there, and Ingrid had expressed that he might not like to wake up to people hawking over him.

However, his eyes searched her face for an answer, and she stared up at him in much of the same way.

For the first time, it was more evident that, beyond his sickly complexion, it also seemed that he had lost a bit of weight.

In her worry, Irene reached towards him as well, wondering if she could gently touch him the way he had touched her. But her daringness caused him to recede. He pulled his hand away, and his gaze left her face.

"I don’t want you to see me like this," he admitted.

She watched as he sank into the bed again and placed a hand on his head. He seemed to be hurting badly. She felt a pang in her heart at that.

Feeling daring and deciding to prove herself as someone who wouldn’t leave his side just because of something like that, Irene sat down on the bed just next to him. Irene wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled his head down against her shoulder so that he could lean against her as she held onto him.

At first, he was shocked, but Irene was relieved when he relented.

Finally, he allowed her some of his weight. Her heart felt warm.

He took it even a step further by loosely placing his arms around her. Each movement he made, she could feel him trembling as if even the tiniest bit of exertion was too much for him.

She hoped that he couldn’t hear her heart pounding away in her chest. The urge to run and escape was alive inside of her, but she managed to stay put. She had too many questions to leave him alone.

The first and most important one appeared as she asked, "What happened?"

He slowly exhaled. It seemed even talking was a task, but he still didn’t leave her without an answer.

"I don’t know how many days it’s been," he admitted slowly, his head still resting on her shoulder. "I took Bren up the trail to the first set of caves to see if there were any signs of goblins. I asked him to be my apprentice, but a goblin shot an arrow at us before I could get an answer."

Irene gasped.

Henry paused for a moment. He took a deep inhale, and Irene tried to patiently wait for the rest of his explanation because it didn’t seem he was finished speaking.

"I don’t remember much," he continued. "I pushed him out of the way, but I was the one who was shot. There was poison on it. Sylaron saved us. She burnt every inch of the cave. I don’t remember anything else. That’s just what I was told."

The dragon waiting just outside of the castle, completely unmoving, made a lot of sense.

Silence fell over them again. Irene’s hand took to soothing him with small circles on his back.

"I’m just relieved that you’re here like this," she admitted. "Within my grasp and able to speak to me."

He sounded so confused. A part of her wished that she had been there sooner to help him through how awful it must have been for him. While her father was stable, she had been worrying about him; her Commander was out there suffering on his own, and she had no idea.

Her hand stopped on his back as her thoughts took over everything else. Henry seemed to notice it because he lifted his head and gazed at her.

"Ah..." she uttered and quickly looked away.

Whenever he gazed at her, she felt like he could see right through her. Merely being next to him was already nerve-racking enough without him looking directly at her.

A worthy distraction appeared before them when Henry’s stomach let out an audible growl. He covered his taught stomach with his hand and seemed a bit guilty.

"You’re hungry?" she asked. "You should have said something."

Not letting him get another word in, Irene stood up and rushed towards the door, she only made it down the hallway halfway before she found a maid attending to one of the rooms.

"The Commander is awake," she alerted the woman. "He’s hungry as well."

The maid stopped what she was doing right away.

"I will get him something light to eat," she assured the female knight. "Thank you, my lady."

At that, Irene returned to the room.

"They said they will bring you something light," she explained, still unable to meet the Commander’s gaze.

That time, she took a place at his bedside. Since she was still avoiding his gaze, Henry asked about something else to distract her but keep her there.

"How was the journey back?" he quietly wondered.

"It wasn’t bad," she admitted. "My brother was the one who brought me halfway. I think he was feeling a bit wound up after an entire winter indoors, just as I was. But how was your winter, Commander? Except for this..."

"Uneventful otherwise," Henry responded. "Plenty of letter writing. I was a bit sad that none ever came from you."

"How could I possibly...?

However, another distraction walked in, and Irene quickly cut herself off.

Unable to sit still, she stood up and greeted the man, but he was well-trained and greeted her first.

"You must be the dame I have heard so much about," the man realized. "My name is Jakob. I have taken on the role of His Grace’s butler upon recommendation by Earl Auden."

Irene smiled politely.

"Yes, I’m Irene Litharion," she responded. "It’s a pleasure to meet you."

He nodded politely before continuing on into the room and placing the tray on the Commander’s legs. Henry responded with quiet thanks, but didn’t look all that pleased about the contents of his plain meal of broth set out before him.

"Do you require anything, Lady Irene?" the butler asked.

"Nothing, thank you," she responded quickly.

And with that, he was off after bowing and leaving the room.

"I don’t mean to be impolite, but you ought to go eat with the others," he advised. "I’m not sure you want to witness this. I haven’t been able to keep down a meal since I’ve been poisoned."

Irene glanced at him. She hadn’t gone all that way to back down just because the Commander was unwell. In her insistence on being someone he could rely on, she shrugged at him.

"I don’t mind, Commander," she persisted. "After you saw me finish a barrel of ale with the others, I’m sure there is no appearance more shameful than that."

She tried to reassure him with a smile. He seemed to accept it as he shakily picked up his spoon.

But just as quickly as he finished half of the bowl, he pushed it away from him.

The expression he wore was urgent as he asked, "Could you please take this?"

On shaky legs, he went as fast as he could to one of the windows in his room and pushed it open before letting the sill hold all of his weight. His trembling hand covered his mouth as he tried to get himself together and overcome the wave of nausea just from eating a bit of food.

However, Irene took it as a moment to prove herself to him...