I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 455: Mended

Irene was stiff at the attention she was receiving. She was surprised that the Commander was so openly taking care of her in front of Siverly. While she didn’t want to make assumptions, he didn’t seem all that worried about what the mage might think of their interaction or her being in his room in the first place.

It seemed the overthinking was all on her because Siverly simply got to work after Henry brought a shallow bowl and placed it on the table near Irene, which he had also pushed closer. He had even brought another pitcher to pour more water.

"It’s going to hurt," the mage stated as he began.

"It already does," Irene insisted just before clenching her teeth in response to the water being gently poured over her skin.

"I don’t want to wipe it with anything, however," Siverly admitted. "It’s enough to make sure the poison is entirely off of it or we’re going to displace more skin. I’ll also only be able to shallowly heal some of the bleeding parts, but the outer layers of the wound will have to be packed with honey and changed a couple of times a day for a few days."

"I trust... Whatever you need to do." Irene had to pause mid-sentence because she was wincing in pain. The hand of the arm not being worked on was gripping the arm of the chair. Water over the wound felt like the Nok’s spit was on her again and melting through clothing and flesh."

Siverly did one final dump of water before he looked at his handiwork so far. He seemed satisfied with the wound’s cleanliness, and he nodded before turning to the Commander.

"A clean towel," he requested.

Henry already had one hanging over his shoulder, and he unfolded it for the mage, who, as gently as he could, lifted Irene’s arm out of the water.

"I will press against it to dry it," the mage explained, being surprisingly kind in warning her about what he was going to do.

With each press against the outside of her forearm, she had to squeeze her eyes closed because the urge to punch Siverly kept rising with each action that brought pain. She was very much the fight half of fight or flight.

To her surprise, she felt a comforting hand on her shoulder. Momentarily, she was too distracted by the Commander to think of what she was going through. It felt a little pathetic to be in this situation, considering it was her oversight that got her there. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

However, the two present didn’t seem to be blaming her whatsoever. They were merely trying to get to the bottom of the situation.

When Irene’s left arm was resting against her stomach, and the pain was less since no one was touching her wound, she looked up at the man who had given her such a gesture of comfort. Her heart thudded at the faint smile that he offered. Ever present was his silent persistence that he wanted to be there for her, even for something like this.

It was a bit scary to want to rely on him so much, as if that wasn’t what she was unintentionally doing already.

Her attention was pulled away from him when Siverly changed what he was doing and began to conjure up magic to heal the bleeding parts as he indicated before. At least she knew this part wouldn’t hurt quite as badly. Instead, magic always felt warm to her. Even though it was strange for it to feel like it was permeating into her, she didn’t mind it, knowing that the outcome would be positive.

With his thin hand just a few inches from her arm, the familiar feeling encompassed her for a moment, and she couldn’t help glancing at Siverly’s focused face. He didn’t care about many things, but there was something about his expression that always changed whenever he used magic. It must have been very important to him and likely to all mages, which was another reason she wasn’t quite sure why people were so against something that was so deeply embedded into their entire being.

As soon as he was finished, Irene realized only then that she had been breathing shallowly, and she let out a relieved sigh as she returned to normal and relaxed more.

All that was left to do for the mage was to spread honey on greased bandages so they wouldn’t stick and wrap what couldn’t be completely healed on her arm.

That part hurt far less than anything else, and she was so relieved that mere air didn’t sting her any longer.

After the final knot was tied, Siverly cleaned up all the items he had brought with him and stood up straight.

"Thank you so much, Siverly," she said. "I already feel much better."

"I suppose I have to earn my keep somehow," he responded. "Make sure to change the bandage at least once a day and get more honey... Preferably twice, but I know how you knights are." He pointedly glanced at the Commander, who had been avoiding his suggestions from the moment he was able to.

Irene obediently nodded, and the smile on her face didn’t wane despite his tone.

However, she watched the man strangely turn to Henry and hold out his hand.

"The apples," he stated.

More surprisingly, Henry really did have a jar of apples, and the mage didn’t say another word as he quickly took them and left the two behind.

Henry seemed to relax more as soon as the mage was gone, and he settled into the chair he had occupied when Irene first got there. He let out a sigh.

"You really do have a high threshold for pain," he muttered. "I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that."

"Sorry—"

"Don’t apologize," he quickly cut her off. "I don’t mind this about you. I just realized how much pain you must have been in to actually show it on your face. Even when you were attacked by a dire wolf, you hardly reacted."

She felt a bit embarrassed by that, realizing just how long he had been paying attention to certain things about her.

"I suppose it takes one to know one," she responded quietly. "Everyone was worried sick over you, while the words you said didn’t match how pale you were or how much weight you had lost. Soon you’ll be back on your feet completely, and then I won’t know what to do with myself beside a version of you that isn’t tamed down."

Plenty of other times, she had witnessed just how energetic the Commander truly could be. While she preferred him at tip top shape, she was a bit nervous.

The older knight extended his hand towards her.

"You have a lot to prepare yourself for," Henry responded simply.

But the words were enough to cause her heart to pick up speed. She still managed to reach out and clasp his hand.

A new silent promise was formed, it seemed.