Sentencing

Emma, who was exhausted from running around, staggered forward like a zombie.

She kept calling for Inho. The more she did, the more attention she drew from passersby.

Hans, unable to watch any longer, grabbed her shoulder, but she shook off his hand with fierce energy and continued on her way.

As time passed, someone appeared, parting through the groups of people, and called out to Emma.

“Miss Emma!”

“……?”

Wondering who was calling her, Emma turned her head, and her eyes widened.

It was the nurse who had visited the mansion with the Divine Doctor the other day.

“Kate?”

The nurse named Kate approached Emma.

“I finally found you. What are you doing here?”

“What, what do you mean?”

What was she saying? Emma’s overheated brain struggled to think.

“Inho. Ah! It hurts…!”

As Inho’s name came out of Kate’s mouth, Emma changed completely.

Grabbing the nurse by both shoulders, Emma pressed her without taking a breath.

“Divine Doctor? Do you know where Divine Doctor is? Is he hurt? Did he collapse? Is he in the hospital? Tell me quickly. I’m going crazy. Kate. Please, please, please tell me. Quickly. Quickly!!!”

“P, please let go….”

Kate tried to shake Emma off, but her grip was firm.

“Divine Doctor is in our hospital right now. He’s resting in bed.”

Kate said in a faint voice, enduring the pain of her shoulders being crushed.

At Kate’s words, Emma’s empty eyes gradually filled, and soon she lowered her hands that were holding Kate.

“Hoo… What strength…. Anyway, I tried going to the mansion to find Miss Emma. It seems we kept missing each other.”

“H, how long has it been?”

“About an hour and a half since he came to the hospital?”

“I, is he in a lot of pain?”

“Our Divine Doctor examined him and said there’s no danger to his life.”

“Haa… That’s a relief.”

Emma collapsed onto the street.

It seemed her legs gave way from the release of tension.

Kate reached out her hand to Emma.

“Get up. We need to go to the hospital. Miss Emma, you’re Divine Doctor’s guardian, aren’t you?”

“Guardian… guardian….”

Emma muttered, taking Kate’s hand and standing up.

“And, it looks like Miss Emma needs some treatment too.”

Kate said, looking at the scratches and scrapes all over her.

“L, let’s go quickly. D, Divine Doctor is waiting.”

Emma said in a hoarse voice.

Emma ran to the hospital with Kate, and Hans, who had been hesitating, followed behind with his luggage.

“……”

Emma looked down at Inho, who was fast asleep.

“It seems the problem is going back and forth between warm and cold places.”

The Divine Doctor standing next to Emma explained the cause.

“Sudden changes in body temperature aren’t good for the human body. It’s dangerous even for young people, but even more so for someone like Divine Doctor….”

Tears streamed down Emma’s face.

Her heart was a swamp.

Self-loathing for being intoxicated by the peaceful days that had come after a long time, and for not taking care of her Divine Doctor.

And….

“Emma, don’t cry. Okay?”

Having seen it somewhere, Hans took out a handkerchief from his pocket and tried to wipe Emma’s eyes.

Smack!

A sharp sound echoed through the hospital room.

Everyone was startled by the out-of-place sound, and the Divine Doctor and nurse looked at Emma with surprised eyes.

“…Huh?”

Hans covered his slapped cheek and looked at Emma with wide eyes.

He never expected Emma to hit him.

Facing Hans head-on, Emma raised her hand again.

Smack!

With another sharp sound, Hans’s head turned sharply.

“Em… ma?”

Smack!

Once again.

Smack!

One more time.

As soon as Hans’s head turned back, Emma slapped his cheek, and before long, blood began to seep from Hans’s torn lip.

“Ugh…!”

While Hans, who still hadn’t grasped the situation, couldn’t resist properly, Emma grabbed Hans’s turned face and turned it forward.

And again.

Smack!

“If.”

Smack!

“You keep.”

Smack!

“Flirting.”

Smack!

“I’ll kill.”

Smack!

“You.”

Smack!

“I told you.”

Smack!

Only when his lips and nose were bleeding profusely did the people around him realize the seriousness of the situation.

“Miss Emma! Calm down! Calm down!!”

The Divine Doctor sealed Emma’s arms from behind and pulled her back, and the nurses grabbed Hans, who had fallen to the floor, and took him out of the hospital room.

“If you hadn’t kept bothering me!!!”

Looking at Hans moving away, Emma swung her foot, but it only cut through the air.

“Let go! Let go! I’m going to kill him!!!”

Her rough, hoarse voice, filled with hatred and Killing intent, was terrifying.

She continued to struggle, and the Divine Doctor, who was holding her body, was amazed by her unexpected strength.

As Hans disappeared out of the hospital room, Emma collapsed to the floor.

“Hoo….”

Just when the Divine Doctor thought the situation had calmed down a bit and released her, she began to do something else.

Smack!

She slapped her own cheek.

With a force that showed no mercy, Emma fell sideways.

“Miss Emma?”

Emma, who got up like a tumbler, slapped her own cheek again.

Thud, she fell sideways again.

In just two hits, her lip was torn like Hans’s.

“Hic….”

She cried, lying face down on the floor.

She tore at her own hair with both hands.

“Crazy bitch. Die! Die! Die!!! You’re not qualified to be a maid!!!! What kind of guardian is someone like you? You should have just died on the street!!! Annie should have lived instead of you!!! Die!! Just die!!!”

“C, calm down! Miss Emma. If you make a fuss here, Divine Doctor won’t be able to rest!!”

The Divine Doctor rushed over and grabbed her hands again.

As he mentioned her Divine Doctor, the force of Emma’s struggle slowly subsided.

Knowing that his words had worked, the Divine Doctor continued to talk to her.

“The more you do this, the worse Divine Doctor’s condition will get. Didn’t you talk to me? You said you would take good care of Divine Doctor.”

“Divine Doctor… I….”

“It was a mistake. He’s just sleeping because he’s temporarily lost his strength. Don’t blame yourself too much. There’s no immediate danger to his life.”

“Sob… Hwaaa….”

Like a wounded beast, she growled lowly.

‘Divine Doctor… you had quite a unique child with you.’

The Divine Doctor clicked his tongue at Emma’s appearance, which he was seeing for the first time.

Inho opened his eyes when Emma, who had calmed down, was sniffling next to him.

“Umm… Emma?”

“D, Divine Doctor?”

Emma felt so sorry for her Divine Doctor calling her name.

His thin arms and legs, his body still shivering from the cold. Just looking at him filled her eyes with tears.

“Hospital… is it? An unfamiliar ceiling.”

“Yes. It’s a hospital. A passerby brought Divine Doctor here after he collapsed on the street.”

As Inho looked at the ceiling and spoke, the Divine Doctor standing behind Emma replied.

“Why did I collapse?”

“It seems your body temperature dropped too rapidly. And your energy wasn’t very good to begin with.”

“I see.”

“……..”

“……..”

“Emma.”

Breaking the silence, Inho called Emma.

“Yes! Divine Doctor, tell me. I, your faithful maid, will do anything.”

“Then, why don’t you get some treatment? Your body looks pretty beat up.”

Inho said, scanning her injured body.

“But….”

Emma hesitated, not wanting to be away from his side.

“Go on.”

When Inho spoke with a slightly firm tone, Emma headed to the treatment room with the nurse like a defeated puppy.

“You have quite an eccentric maid.”

The Divine Doctor said, looking at the door Emma had left through.

“She’s a good kid.”

Inho said calmly,

“Hahaha. That’s true.”

The Divine Doctor agreed.

“But Divine Doctor, I have something to ask you.”

Inho raised his gaze slightly and met the Divine Doctor’s eyes.

Although he was a frail old man, there was an undeniable sharpness in his eyes.

“Yes, please ask.”

“How much time do I have left?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m talking about my lifespan.”

Inho paused for a moment. He took another breath and said calmly.

“How much time do I have left?”

“……”

“……”

“…You knew.”

“I just feel like I’m getting weaker and weaker.”

It wasn’t a lie. Inho had been trying to build up his strength by being active since his possession, but he was clearly feeling that his energy was getting weaker and weaker.

He thought he had recovered all his life force through the possession, but it was only a temporary boost of energy, and his body was still at its limit.

And today. Seeing himself collapse on the street, Inho sensed that he didn’t have much time left.

“…I don’t know how to tell you.”

“Please speak comfortably. I’m a dementia patient anyway. Haha.”

“You’re the only dementia patient who says that.”

The Divine Doctor chuckled in disbelief.

“It’s not certain, but… at most 6 months. At least 3 months.”

Listening to the Divine Doctor’s sentence, Inho thought.

‘I need to prepare. For another death.’