After Rolanna left, the room suddenly turned quiet.
The subtle silence lasted for an unknown amount of time, then I heard Angelica behind me murmuring in a low voice, “let me…dress up your wounds… that, clothes…”
I don’t know if it was because she hasn’t spoken for a long time, her pronunciation was a little stiff, and spoke intermittently.
“Oh….”I slowly took off my shirt.
It was not usual for me to take off my shirt in front of people, but this time, I felt strangely nervous.
Then, the cold gauze soaked in the medicine was applied to my shoulder.
Clumsily but carefully, she began to clean the wounds on my shoulder. Through the gauze, I could feel her fingertips trembling slightly.
“.. hurts?” after a while, she suddenly asked.
“It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt at all.”
This bite mark on my shoulder was the deepest wound I suffered in that battle, but thanks to the excellent physical fitness of our orcs, during the two days of imprisonment for the trial the wound has scabbed, and the disinfectant didn’t penetrate in so easily, so it was not painful like when disinfecting the new wound.
“No…” she said.
“Huh?”
“Not now… it’s when I bite you…” she said nervously, her voice was thin, “at that time, did it hurt?”
“A little bit.” after a long silence, I replied.
To be honest, it really hurt a lot… that kind of bite force which seemed to crush even my shoulder blades, was so painful that I subconsciously fought back.
Angelica didn’t speak, but her wiping action became slower and slower, and finally, it stopped.
However, the trembling of fingers was even more clear than before.
After a long time, I felt something dripping on my shoulder.
It was very different from the cold liquid that oozed out from the gauze, it had a little bit of temperature.
“I’m sorry… Brock….I’m sorry…” a choked voice repeated the words of apology, “I’m sorry…it’s all my fault…”
More tears fell down, even if I couldn’t see it, I could still imagine her expression at that moment.
I remained silent until sobbing gradually subsided.
Then, slowly, I said, “I don’t think it’s your fault.”
“Don’t….comfort me…” she sniffed, “it’s all due to me… you got hurt…”
“In the past, when I was just promoted from a soldier to sergeant, my senior officer told me that the premise of talking about responsibility is the basis of being capable to do it.” I put my elbow on my knees and said calmly, “There is a limit to what one can do. Asking just one soldier to protect a village and resist an entire army. He bravely goes, then dies meaninglessly in the battle, and the village gets destroyed. Is the soldier responsible for the destruction of the village?”
Angelica didn’t speak and just listened quietly.
I took a long breath, raised my head, and continued, “ No, it wasn’t his fault. A soldier resisting against an entire army? It’s nonsense. Who can achieve that? He has died like a hero, who can blame him? Who has the right to go to his grave and spit on it?it should be blamed on the officer who ordered him to die, if not, it should be blamed on the enemy, because it was they who destroyed the village. It’s also okay to blame the villager who didn’t stand up with the soldier or blame this bullshit reality. Only when we can do it and we don’t do it, can we blame ourselves to be irresponsible.”
“What… do you want to say?” Angelica asked hesitatingly.
“I know that no werewolf could maintain itself after seeing the full moon, no matter how strong the willpower is. You can’t do something, and no one has the right to force you, so it’s not your fault. Blame Felina who did the wrong thing. That girl is a complete idiot, creating trouble everywhere, and almost got into a disaster. I feel that I thought very slowly about finding out a way to subdue you. I’m a warrior but not good at learning. I got riddled with scars when dealing with a beast with no IQ, I simply humiliated my ancestors. Even we could blame the moon…” I chuckled to myself when I said this point, “who told it to be round that night?”
“That, that statement… Cough cough..” she immediately laughed with tears, and gently coughed, “shirking responsibility… there is a limit to it.”
I gently shook my head: “No, I understand. You’ve tried very hard not to hurt anyone. That’s why you told me to stay out of your business, right? I’ve heard that you came here on your own initiative. Coming to a strange place alone, and silently enduring the bullying, is very hard. In short, it’s not your responsibility, so there’s no need to apologize. you should say… should be something else.”
After a long silence, she said, “Thank you.”, the voice was lighter but clear, “Thank you, Brock, thank you for stopping me at that time…”
“You’re welcome.” I raised the corners of my mouth to smile, even though I knew she couldn’t see it. “Then In that case, please help me dress my wounds, it is not an excessive request right?”
As I said this, I straightened up and raised my right arm.
“Well, okay… leave it to me.” her voice still sounded nasal, but she clearly had a smiling expression.
She began to wrap the bandage around my shoulder in a little clumsy way.
The bandage she had been holding in her hand, felt a little warm.
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