"...Nan…?"
Moderately alarmed, Rotsard smacked his knuckles together to get rid of the frozen blood and called out while approaching the door.
"!!!"
…but there was no answer, so he slowly opened it to check, and in the darkness of the night illuminated by the light from the cold room, he saw a dark shape on the floor.
If he relied on the sight alone, he would have some doubts and had to inspect closer, but then a certain smell reached his nose and…
"Mira…!?"
Rotsard gasped in shock, dropping to his knees and propping up the black-haired girl.
"MIRA!"
He called out, shaking her a bit, but despite her faint breath being visible, the girl was unresponsive.
…her body was trembling as she was covered in frost…
His initial thought was to look back into the cold room, but bringing someone on the verge of hypothermia there would be like a death sentence.
"...!"
Rotsard bit his lips and picked Mira up, holding her close to his bare chest, and rushed through the hallway.
His bare feet clapped on the icy floor, but he didn't stop.
He didn't stop even after passing the barriers preventing the cold from spreading to other parts of the Academy.
Rotsard didn't even attempt to run to the dormitories, instead going straight to the hospital wing.
"WHO'S THERE!? Eh…?"
As the almost naked boy barged in while carrying someone, the night-shift nurse screamed in panic, putting up her arms defensively, only to flinch and let out a shocked voice.
As it turned out, the nurse in question was none other than Miss Peasant, although Rotsard was already aware of it when he was entering.
"You… you didn't leave the Academy…?"
"Mira collapsed in front of my cold room! I don't know how long she was there! She's breathing, but she's not waking up…!"
While the peasant nurse gasped in shock at the sight of the bleached-blond-haired boy, he wasn't listening to her in the slightest, instead almost knocking her over and declaring in a desperate voice.
"She what…?! Hold on a moment!"
Since Rotsard was basically pushing Mira into the peasant nurse, the woman could clearly see the girl's bluish lips, and she also witnessed her body starting to thaw, convulse, and shiver, which made her immediately grab a magic crystal with a check-up spell and use it on the girl.
"It's not that bad. Calm down, first we have to warm her up. Let's get her on the bed."
The nurse breathed out in relief and looked Rotsard in the eyes before pointing at one of the private rooms.
"Put her here… Grand Fae! What are you wearing!?"
As they hurried over and the nurse closed the door for the patient's privacy, she tapped the mattress only to jolt and step back, staring at Rotsard's profile.
"Underwear. Could you start Mira's treatment already? Huh…?"
Rotsard answered with a hurried scoff and asked, trying to place the black-haired girl on the bed, only to realize that, despite being unconscious, Mira was clinging to him desperately.
"What in the…! Gaah! She's subconsciously clinging to the warmth…! Screw it, get on the bed with her, I'll cut her clothes off."
"You'll wha…?! URGHHHH! Do you have crystals with fire spells? Do you know how to use them to augment items?"
The peasant nurse clicked her tongue and scoffed before commanding, and although Rotsard's instinctual reaction was to growl in fury, the knowledge of someone born in the North quickly kicked in, and he followed the instruction while asking.
"Yes, and I will use you as a medium since she's unconscious and her mana barrier would block it."
"...!"
The woman grabbed scissors and was already in the middle of removing Mira's drenched clothes before she answered, making Rotsard open his mouth only to close it and wait for her to finish.
"It's a bit late to ask, but this girl is…"
While Rotsard was in bed with unconscious Mira clinging to him like a drowning person to a lifeline, the peasant nurse covered them with a thick blanket and inquired while rummaging through the shelf in the corner for at least one more.
"Mira Vultress. My fiancee."
"En-ember. You have a fiancee, but you gave another girl your ring? That's why nobles like you are the… ekhem."
Rotsard answered, making the peasant nurse scoff immediately after she used the spell that turned the bleached-blond-haired boy into a heater… of course, she did stop herself from saying what she actually wanted to say, but the intention was still conveyed.
"If you're talking about the practice of taking at least three wives with each having different sets of traditional responsibilities, then you might rethink your opinion because peasants are doing the same thing, only unofficially. By cheating on each other. Besides, both Vallhalls and Vutresses traditionally have only one spouse."
Rotsard pointed out while embracing Mira and holding her head close as the peasant nurse walked around the bed, tucking in the loose blankets so the heat had no way of dissipating.
"Oh. I see. So what you're saying is that only you are a scum. Understood."
"..."
After confirming all the necessary preparations have been completed, and the only thing left was to wait, the nurse got herself a chair and seated herself by the bed before nodding her head and speaking up with an outrageous amount of sass, that Rotsard couldn't even counter.
Because she was right.
"How long do you think she was waiting outside my door?"
"You're asking me…!?"
After it was clear that the peasant nurse wasn't leaving, Rotsard nuzzled his forehead against the top of Mira's head and inquired, causing the woman by the bed to let out a voice of disbelief.
"I lost track of time. Staying in a cold room does that to a person."
Rotsard grumbled, putting up his shoulders defensively.
"Well… considering I haven't heard any new rumors about you since that duel, you cheated in and still lost, two weeks ago, I might even believe you… Haaa… Hold on, let me check her up again… hey... She's curled up anyway, make sure that her feet are touching you or there's a chance the nerves in her toes will suffer permanent damage."
The woman rolled her eyes without even trying to be discreet, but also ended up letting a sigh and giving the boy an acknowledging nod. She then reached out and touched Mira's head and used another magic crystal, only to then instruct Rotsard.
"..."
"Don't you even try to touch anywhere funny, though! That girl's unconscious. and I don't care if you claim she is your fiancee, or whatever. There will be no inappropriate business on my watch! And definitely not with an unconscious person!"
Rotsard didn't respond to the command, but the movement under the blankets proved that he did listen, only that the peasant nurse immediately started a preemptive scolding in an ice-cold voice while glaring down at him.
"...as if I'm as perverse as peasants, Miss…"
Rotsard glared at her with disgust for a moment, but he then nuzzled his forehead against the top of Mira's head again and only scoffed under his breath.
She was helping Mira and, by doing so, helping him too, after all. There was no reason to treat her too harshly.