" then call me Lise. "

Upstairs, Ash walked down a creaky hallway, past several wooden doors with strange noises coming from beyond them, until they came to the last one. Inside, a tiny room greeted them, with two simple beds along opposite walls and a flickering lamp in the far corner. The lamp was actually a round cage atop a gilded stand, and the light made desperate squeaking noises as it flitted from side to side. Ash shut the door, and the click of a lock was audible before he leaned back against it, looking utterly exhausted. He set Isiea down on one of the beds, unsure of how to help her.




"But I don't want to."

He should probably clean up that wound. She's got blood all over the left side of her face.

" then what do you want to call me? "

Right. He ripped off part of his shirt and left the room for a moment to put water on it. He returned and began to gently clean her face.





"Princess."

Most of the blood is dried. There also must've been something in the cut that was preventing it from healing, because the wound doesn't worsen afterwards.

" fine. "

That was good. Well, kind of. Ash finished cleaning her face but wondered why it hadn't started to heal yet.







"See? I knew you secretly liked it."

He can't see anything, but he can feel that there's iron somewhere on the cloth. Something in it must've been making it not heal, or something.

He was just glad the cloth was between the iron and his skin.