107. Even Coincidences Seem to Be Fate in the End (4)
"My Lord?"
When no answer came from Vincent, the nurse looked at him questioningly and called out. However, Vincent still showed no reaction, merely staring intently in this direction.
I blinked. He's looking at... Robert, right? I naturally assumed so, but somehow my skin felt prickly.
"Vincent?"
At that moment, another voice interjected from outside the door.
It was Ethan who peeked in. Judging by his light attire wearing only a gown, he must have come out of concern for Robert.
"You said you'd be late because of work. Seeing you come here at this hour, you must have been really worried about Robert."
"...."
"Well, did you finish your work?"
"...."
Vincent didn't reply to Ethan's question either. Ethan paused and studied Vincent. Perhaps sensing the atmosphere was unusual, Ethan called out carefully, "Vincent?" Only then did Vincent turn his head toward Ethan.
Ethan's brows furrowed when he saw Vincent's face.
"What's wrong with your face? Did something happen before you came here?"
"...What's wrong with my face."
"You look like you've seen a ghost."
"...."
Vincent fell silent again. Ethan scanned Vincent up and down as if finding him strange, then turned his head toward the nurse. The nurse shook her head, indicating she didn't know either. Ethan looked at Vincent again, then shifted his gaze into the room.
"How is Robert?"
"He woke up a little while ago."
At the nurse's words, Ethan immediately looked our way. He glanced between me sitting in the chair and Robert lying on the bed, then walked over with a faint smile.
"Robert, are you okay now?"
"It's Ethan!"
Robert waved at Ethan with a bright smile. His voice was hoarse from being sick all night, but it overflowed with delight.
Ethan approached with quick steps and took the small hands. Up close, relief was evident on his face.
"Are you okay now? Does anything hurt?"
"Mmm—my tummy hurts."
"Your tummy?"
Ethan turned to look at me.
"I think he's hungry."
"Ah, then we should prepare something light to eat."
"I was just about to go get it."
The nurse answered, then bowed silently to Vincent and started walking.
I stood up from my chair so Ethan and Robert could talk comfortably. Ethan sat on the chair by the bed, carefully examining Robert's complexion while speaking gently. Robert replied with beaming smiles. Their soft conversation tickled my ears.
Even then, Vincent stood outside the door without moving a muscle. While looking at the two, I kept glancing toward Vincent. Didn't he come to see Robert? If not, there was no reason for him to be here...
But even though he knew Robert had woken up, he didn't come into the room to check on him like Ethan did. No, his state had been strange from earlier. His face, flickering in the lamplight, betrayed no emotion whatsoever.
Did something happen before he came here, as Ethan said? I kept stealing glances at Vincent. Then our eyes met head-on. I immediately turned my head away.
Regretting looking at him, I bowed my head deeply and fidgeted with both hands. My heart pounded like someone caught doing something bad.
A moment later, when I peeked toward the door again, Vincent was nowhere to be seen. I panicked and looked around for Vincent, who had vanished without a trace.
However, his figure was nowhere to be found in the room. Could he have left? Just as I was bewildered, a thin line of light drawn on the floor outside the door caught my eye. As if drawn in, I headed that way.
When I stepped into the corridor, I saw Vincent standing a short distance away. He was huddled against the wall. The shadow created by the lamplight in his hand spread across the wall and floor, swaying uneasily.
I rushed over to him.
"Are you hurt somewhere?!"
I grabbed his shoulder and bent down to look at his face. He slowly turned his head toward me. The shadow on the wall swayed violently.
I opened my eyes wide. Why was he making such an expression? Even bathed in bright light, his face was pale enough to seem like his breath might stop at any moment.
The darkly clouded emerald eyes held me in their gaze.
"Mas...ter?"
Somehow the atmosphere felt ominous, leaving me flustered. Why he was like this, whether he was hurt somewhere—dozens of worries that had crossed my mind vanished the moment I saw his face.
He didn't respond to my call. He merely stared piercingly at my face. That gaze clung to me so persistently that I tensed up without realizing it. I licked my dry lips and gently removed the hand that was on his shoulder.
At that moment, Vincent suddenly grabbed both my arms. It was an extremely urgent movement. My body, which had been trying to step back, was pulled forward in an instant.
The lamp fell to the floor with a clatter. The light spun around, then stopped, illuminating the wall. Darkness rushed into my vision that had lost its light.
When it became bright again, his face was so close it nearly touched mine. My eyes spun in circles.
"U-um."
"You."
His face slowly contorted.
"It's you...."
A thick voice flowed out heavily. However, unlike how he had hastily moved his lips, he couldn't easily spit out the words. His contorted face looked angry, and also like he was crying. The exceptionally sparkling emerald eyes never left me for even a moment.
Was it because the surroundings were swallowed by darkness, or because his shadow cast on the wall was too large? Vincent before me somehow felt frightening.
"You-young Master woke up, aren't you going to see him?"
I tried to laugh as if nothing was wrong and subtly tried to pull my arm away. But the more I tried, the tighter he gripped. Though I was flustered, I wanted to ease the atmosphere first, so I kept rambling on.
"He just woke up, but fortunately his fever has gone down compared to before. His complexion seems to have improved, he's speaking well, and he's even smiling..."
"...."
"Ah, he seems to be hungry too. He said his tummy hurt, so I was worried it meant his stomach ached, but the nurse said it's because he's hungry. So I think you can rest assured. Looking at him, it seems he'll recover soon."
"...."
"It's really a relief, right? Really. Haha, ha..."
The silence was heavy. His gaze was even heavier. When Vincent still gave no response, I grew tired of trying to be lighthearted and stopped talking. As my voice faded, the corridor became quiet again.
I let out a sigh.
"It hurts."
Finally confessing my honest feelings, I shook my captured arm slightly. The arm he was holding was starting to hurt more and more.
His intensity was so strong that I thought he wouldn't easily let go.
"It hurts?"
Surprisingly, Vincent loosened his grip obediently. Only then did I step back two paces.
Rubbing my tingling forearm, I glanced at him. He had only grabbed my arm, but he examined me here and there as if my entire body was in pain.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you."
Those words startled me. Vincent, apologizing! Forgetting even the bewilderment I had felt earlier, I looked at him seriously. Was he really hurt somewhere?
"Actually, the dragon was a princess."
"What?"
While I was puzzled by the sudden topic, Vincent bent down and picked something up. It was the book I had been reading to Robert. I must have brought it out without realizing.
He held the book out to me. The yellow-haired man on the cover smiled at me. I took the book reflexively.
"A man took up a sword and went to save a princess kidnapped by a dragon, and defeated the dragon, only to discover that the princess cursed to become the dragon. The dragon's death was no different from the princess's death. Only after death was the curse broken, and the man who witnessed the princess return to her original form was so shocked by what he had done that he killed himself. People thought the princess and the man had sacrificed themselves while defeating the dragon, and called the man a hero, remembering him for a long time—that was supposedly the original ending of that book. They said it wasn't appropriate for a children's fairy tale, so they rewrote it and published it."
"I, I see. I didn't know."
I blankly digested the story he had told me. No, why would anyone make a fairy tale out of such a story? It was shocking enough for me as an adult to hear. If they hadn't adapted the content and gone with the original, let alone a fairy tale, it would have been banned from publication.
I flipped the cover up and down, then fanned through the pages. Cute illustrations that I could never have imagined from the original ending caught my eye.
"That man must have felt this way too."
The low murmur somehow pierced my ears unfamiliarly.
"It's a relief, right?"
"What?"
"That it didn't end up with such an ending."
"Uh... yeah. I suppose so."
I replied offhandedly, but it felt strange. Was that really a relief? I frowned at Vincent's unexpected love for fairy tales. His state had been strange from earlier, but I couldn't figure out exactly what was strange.
"I also think it's a relief. That it's not such an ending."
"...."
"Truly a relief."
I didn't know what was supposed to be a relief, but Vincent seemed to smile slightly as he said it. So I awkwardly laughed along, haha.
Just then, Ethan's voice calling for me came from inside the room. I quickly came to my senses and turned around.
At that moment, a large hand gently enveloped my shoulder. Though the touch was careful, I couldn't help but flinch. Feeling that, the hand on my shoulder hesitated.
"Go on in. I'll be going in soon too."
It was a surprisingly light voice. I nodded once and slowly began walking. But after three steps, I stopped and looked back at Vincent again.
The corridor without any sign of life was quiet to the point of being scary. A silence where not even a small breath could be heard. In the endless corridor, only darkness revealed its presence. Vincent stood alone in that darkness.
It was really strange. Although it had fallen on the floor, the lamplight illuminated him, yet he looked more anxious than I, who stood at the boundary of light. Just like a lost child, just like that time five years ago when he sat alone on the bed with a sheet draped over his blinded eyes.
Suddenly I worried that the pitch-black darkness might swallow him up. That was why I kept failing to walk more than a few steps and turning around. Each time, Vincent stood in that same spot, watching me move farther away. From that spot, continuously, until I reached Robert's door.
"Are you really okay?"
Before entering the room, I suddenly asked. Even I didn't know what I was trying to ask, but I just blurted it out.
"I'm fine."
He answered without even asking what I was worried about.
"I think I'll be fine now."
Robert continued to be sick for several more days after that. Strangely, he kept running a low fever and suffered. The nurse and I took turns staying up every night to care for Robert, and Ethan and Joely visited day and night to stay by Robert's side.
Everyone took such tender care of him that whenever Robert couldn't sleep at night due to his fever, without anyone having to go first, they volunteered to keep him company, and even the busy Vincent came without missing a single day.
And whenever Vincent came, I would secretly tense up. It was because of his gaze that followed me from behind.