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Chapter 46
Translated by Yonnee
Edited by Yonnee
‘So uncomfortable!’
A pair of deep purple eyes were staring at her. To be more precise, they were staring at the large gauze bandage on her forehead, but she kept averting her gaze because she was feeling embarrassed for no reason.
Receiving his steadfast gaze really should be nothing much, but whenever she looked into his purple eyes, her heart pounded inexplicably.
‘It’s a natural reaction. People say that when they meet celebrities, their hearts feel as though they’ve burst into flames. And he’s not looking at you, he’s looking at your forehead! Wake up, Sera Popo! He’s your students’ guardian!’
Digging fingernails into her palms, Sera urged herself to calm down.
“Miss Sera.”
As though carried by the wind, his low voice snapped her out of her tumultuous thoughts.
Startled, Sera’s eyes widened as she looked at him. Staring at Helios for a moment, she once again recognized that he was so beautiful that it made her speechless.
He had a gentle smile on his lips now, but he still looked worried.”
“What happened to your forehead?”
He tapped his own forehead on the same side as Sera’s injury. Even his long, pale fingers were incomparable to her own hands that were calloused by writing so much.
“Ahaha, I just fell a little earlier.”
Sera laughed as she lied. This was already the third time she lied, and this was the same answer she gave to both Raphael and Jean on her way from the Star Palace to the Central Palace.
‘Since those two believed it without any doubt, His Majesty should also believe it, too.’
But thinking that she might have gotten caught, Sera looked up at Helios, anxious. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have noticed anything.
When asked to give details about how she fell, Sera sighed in relief.
‘For some reason, those purple eyes always seem so deep and endless, like they’d get to the bottom of the truth no matter what every time.’
Even though she did think that she should tell the truth, Sera decided not to since she made a promise with RosĂŠ.
“For your bandage to be that big, it must have hurt a lot.”
Helios said this in a woeful voice, his curved eyes colored with concern.
“I’m…”
Sera hesitated to say that she was fine and that it wasn’t a big deal. What followed was a sharp stinging pain as her forehead muscles on her eyebrows moved,
She delicately placed her hand over the gauze as if to check if the wound was alright.
“Why? Is there a problem? Does it hurt a lot?”
“N-No, sire. It’s not a severe injury. It only hurts a little when I move.”
“Can I look at your wound for a moment?”
“Of course, but why…”
When he asked for permission, he smiled gently. After Sera nodded, he cautiously touched the gauze.
The fingertips that came into contact with her skin were cool, as if his body temperature was lower than the usual. Sera’s pulse accelerated when his hand was on her forehead.
Helios gingerly pulled the edge of the tape and slowly removed it. It didn’t hurt. Rather, he was just looking at the injury, but this was enough to make her face as red as a tomato.
“The bleeding has stopped, but there’s a laceration.”
With a languid expression, he spoke in a serious tone.
‘He’s way too close.’
Sera had only this thought as she looked up at him. As he leaned forward with her obliquely under him, it felt like she’d be able to rest her head on his shoulder if she raised her head only a little bit. With them being this close, the air seemed to be charged with a new atmosphere.
“I’m glad that the cut isn’t deep.”
As he gently examined the wound, his voice was quite grave.
What Sera wanted to do right now was to pull back and stay far away from him, but she couldn’t move easily because Helios was still touching her forehead.
The wound felt as though it was burning, but she didn’t know if it was because it hurt or if it was because of his gaze.
“Would it be alright if I heal you?”
Perhaps not noticing how stiff Sera was at that moment, Helios asked carefully.
“Heal?”
‘Ah, Raphael did say that His Majesty had divine power.’
“How dare I… receive such a favor from Your Majesty…”
At the undeserved kindness that Helios had offered, Sera could only blink.
“Using divine power won’t wear me out, and obviously, you were injured while you were working, Miss Sera. It’s my duty as your employer to heal you.”
“Oh, but…”
Sera muttered as though she was talking to herself.
The thought kept nagging at her that it would be insolent of her to be healed through divine power like this, so it was difficult to accept his offer. More than that, the one who’d heal her was His Majesty himself.
As a mere citizen of the Adelio Empire, she was worried that this would be too much of a discourtesy.
“You’ve been injured while working, so you can just think of this as a substitute for medical expenses. It bothers me that you got hurt, Miss Popo.”
As he said this, there was a kind smile on his lips.
It bothered him, he said… It was like magical words that made Sera give up on finding an excuse to refuse him. Sera knew he was being this way for his concern as an employer towards his employee—not because he thought of her as someone special—but for no reason at all, Sera’s heart jumped.
‘Alright. Okay. Since it’s divine power, it wouldn’t scar anymore. And as His Majesty said, it’s an injury that she got while on duty… And I shouldn’t bother His Majesty more since he has so many other things to be worried about.’
Taking a moment to rationalize it all, Sera looked up at Helios.
“Then, please go ahead if that’s alright with you.”
Sera said this awkwardly, and in response, Helios smiled kindly as he reached his right hand towards Sera’s wound.