After returning to the safe hollow tree, Nuo Ai’er immediately got busy.
She dragged her still-throbbing calf.
Tore her dress into strips of cloth to use as bandages.
Applied herbs and bandaged her calf. Though she still limped when walking, she could at least stand勉强.
The hunter’s bullets weren’t the ordinary kind—they were magic rounds for capture, with limited lethality. At most, they’d incapacitate you.
Only hit once, and the magic bullet didn’t stay lodged in the flesh. What a relief.
After doing all this, Nuo Ai’er looked at the bottle of healing medicine in her hand.
[Moment of Choice!]
[A. Give the healing medicine to Leinata]
[B. Give the healing medicine to yourself]
If she chose herself, Nuo Ai’er’s leg would heal immediately.
But…
She looked at Leinata, who was still frowning even in her sleep, and chose A without a second thought.
Nuo Ai’er thought: ‘Anyway, I don’t know how to win this game, and even if I win, that witch will control me…’
‘At least… this time, I’m going to follow my heart.’ (◦`~´◦)
She couldn’t allow a good person like Leinata to suffer such treatment!
Then, she poured all the precious medicine fluid onto the wounds on Leinata’s thigh, abdomen, and arm.
The fluid seeped in quickly, and Leinata’s tightly furrowed brow finally relaxed a little.
…
After who knows how long, Leinata slowly opened her eyes.
“You’re awake?”
What came into view was Nuo Ai’er’s face—slightly tired but still carrying a smile.
She moved her body and found that her wounds had been well-treated, and the piercing pain had lessened considerably.
“You… used the healing medicine on me?” Leinata’s voice was a little hoarse.
Nuo Ai’er was sitting nearby, sorting herbs. She looked up and nodded:
“Your injuries were the worst, after all.”
“…”
“Okay, since we’re all injured, let’s not go out looking for food today. Let’s just rest.”
With that, Nuo Ai’er pulled out two sandwiches she’d been saving from her basket and handed one to Leinata: “Open wide, ahhh~~”
After all, Nuo Ai’er already knew these weren’t meant for that Wolf Grandmother.
So no point in cherishing them anymore.
Rather than let them go moldy, she might as well share them with Leinata.
Leinata took the sandwich and looked at the little one in front of her—someone whose own leg was bandaged yet still trying to take care of others. A warmth she’d never felt before surged in her heart.
[Leinata Affection +10]
[Current Affection: 65 (Slowly opening her heart…)]
…
…
Over the next few days, Nuo Ai’er dragged her injured leg, busying herself from morning to night.
She changed Leinata’s dressings, fetched water from the stream, and even spiced up her boring stories from her days as an internet troll, telling them to Leinata to cheer her up.
Though Leinata still mostly kept a blank face… that whole kuudere thing.
And as her wounds gradually healed, Nuo Ai’er noticed Leinata’s affection was quietly rising.
It was already at 90…
Well, that’s fine. Since she was stuck on the game progression anyway, she’d just treat it like a dating sim game for now.
Leinata was so cute, way better than that Wei Ran. Hmph! ╯^╰
One evening…
Leinata sat on a pile of hay, watching Nuo Ai’er sorting wild berries, and suddenly asked softly:
“Nuo Ai’er, that day… you saw it, didn’t you? The power that erupted from inside me.”
Nuo Ai’er paused in her work.
“That red light, and the way I lost control…” Leinata lowered her head, her eyes dim.
Nuo Ai’er: “I saw it.”
Leinata: “Aren’t you afraid—”
Nuo Ai’er: “It was really super awesome!” (✧∇✧)
Leinata: “…?”
Leinata froze.
It was the first time anyone had described her with such words.
To others, she was just a monster, a killing machine.
“But…” Leinata bit her lip, as if she’d made some kind of decision, and began to speak in a low voice.
She opened her heart to Nuo Ai’er.
About how her ancestor was a man-eating werewolf, how she carried monster blood, how she was abandoned by her parents, sold to an assassin camp, and her hands were stained with blood…
And how she was cursed, unable to even touch sunlight.
“I’m nothing but an ill-omened existence, Nuo Ai’er. Why did you do so much for me?”
She poured out all her secrets in one breath, waiting for this little one to show the same fearful expression as everyone else and then run away.
But the expected fear never came.
“So that’s how you see yourself, Leinata?”
Nuo Ai’er put down the wild berries, limped over to Leinata, crouched down, and looked her seriously in the eyes.
“But in my eyes, you’re not that kind of person.”
Nuo Ai’er’s voice was firm: “All I remember is that you saved me from the falling rock trap, you were willing to take me in, and you fought the hunter alone to protect Little Grey and me…”
One by one, she listed all the good things Leinata had done for her.
These were deeply etched in Nuo Ai’er’s memory—dying and reviving again and again in the forest, and Leinata was the only one who never tried to kill her.
“Without you, I’d probably be dead in the forest by now. So no matter how much you put yourself down, in my heart, you’re my hero. I won’t give up on you. Never!”
BOOM—
After saying everything, she received an answer she’d never heard before.
Hero… That word felt both distant and foreign to Leinata.
The unbreakable wall in Leinata’s heart crumbled completely in that moment.
For the first time, those always cold and wary green eyes filled with tears.
“Protecting someone like you—anyone could do that…” Leinata still insisted stubbornly.
“But only you actually did, didn’t you?”
“…”
She had never heard words like this…
Leinata could no longer hold it in. She bowed her head and let the tears fall.
Nuo Ai’er opened her arms and gently hugged Leinata, patting her back like coaxing a child:
“It’s okay. Before, you protected me. So until you get better, I’ll protect you.”
Leinata hugged Nuo Ai’er back tightly, burying her face in that small embrace, like a wronged child.
…
No one would ever know that in that cold assassin camp, in countless nights spent licking her wounds alone, Leinata had always carried a tiny, unspeakable hope—
That someone would someday accept her sins and blood, accept the imperfect, cursed version of her.
Even if it was just one person…
And now, that hope had come true.
She had finally found a reason to live.
Right in front of her.
…
After a long time, Leinata finally stopped crying.
She lifted her head, and on that always calm, cool face, a smile bloomed for the first time.
“Thank you, Nuo Ai’er.” She laughed through her tears, her voice filled with unprecedented warmth.
Nuo Ai’er: ∑(°口°๑)
Nuo Ai’er was stunned.
It was the first time she’d seen Leinata smile so openly and without defense.
Nuo Ai’er thought: ‘She’s this cute when she smiles?’ ( Just then, the system voice rang out.
And this time, it was no longer cold—it seemed to carry a congratulatory tone toward Nuo Ai’er.
[Leinata’s Affection has reached its maximum]
[Current Affection: MAX (Unique)]