Chapter 80 The Cruelty of The Gods - Part 5

Chapter 80 The Cruelty of The Gods - Part 5

His odd behaviour did little to assuage her worries – for by her eyes, it made him look even closer to death.

Hurriedly she began to clean the rest of his blood from his leg, eyeing up the cuts on his torso as she did so, to make sure there were no serious ones that had escaped her notice.

Her mother smiled at her, watching her work. "To think that you'd ever tend to a boy," she said, flashing her the sunniest smile Nila had seen in a while. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

With how emotional she'd been for the past few hours, such a thing caught her off guard, and she couldn't help blushing where normally she might have merely frowned. "S-stop!" She said weakly, unable to think of a good response.

Nila's mother giggled to herself as she patted Beam on the shoulder. "I'll fetch you some of my husband's old clothes – you can't be going out like that in this weather."

"...Thank you," Beam said, his face finally looking as though something pained him.

"Sorry, am I hurting you?" Nila asked, as she cleaned her cloth again in the bowl of warm water and dabbed at him more carefully.

"It's not that... I'm just unused to such hospitality. I don't know how I'm going to be able to pay you back," Beam said, awkwardly scratching his cheek.

Nila sighed a long sigh. "You're so difficult. You're making it harder on me, now. Can't you see that me and my mother are grateful for what you did? Just accept that we want to pay you back, idiot."

Beam winced as Nila cleaned around his stitches with a little more aggression than she had intended to. "Ah, sorry," she said, realising her mistake.

After the honey, they cleaned off his body again with their cloths, making sure any of the blood that had leaked out during the dressing process was long gone.

"And now for your shirt, put your arms up," Nila's mother said with a smile.

But Beam was hesitant. "Are you really sure? It's going to get ruined from my cuts."

"Nonsense," she said, "it wasn't doing anything being tucked away in the chest like that. If someone can get some use out of it, then I'm sure everyone is happier, no?"

Beam looked to Nila, not feeling entirely convinced.

"Just put the shirt on, stupid," Nila said, exasperated, grabbing the shirt from her mother and putting Beam's head through it.

"Ah! Be gentle!" Her mother warned, as she helped get his arms through.

"I know that..." Nila said huffily, as she did the other side. "There, done."

It was indeed a little big, Beam realized instantly, as the shirt hung down nearly to his knees. But the warmth it offered was well worth it. Beam hadn't realized he'd been so cold until he finally had something to keep the heat in.

"Thanks," he said, looking down on himself.

"Now for your trousers," Nila's mother stated, holding up a pair of woollen trousers that would be way too big for Beam. "Nila, you're going to have to change him with me. He won't be able to move himself, after all."

Like that, Beam was on his feet before he knew what was happening, shaking his hands urgently in front of him as he fended them off. "Nope! I'm fine for trousers, thank you. You've already given me too much."