NPC Fell onto My Bed C46

Chapter 46

As the wave of light Noah released swept across the wounded, the labored breathing of those burned and choked by smoke eased noticeably. The healing left no visible changes, but even that alone stirred murmurs among the crowd.

Soon, someone kneeling beside an injured person suddenly burst into tears and cried out:

“G–God has saved us! Amen, amen!”

Just as Noah had promised, there were no radiant halos or spectacular divine displays. Yet a certain few—those with keen senses—felt something unseen wash through the victims.

As the atmosphere near the fire site grew stranger, Noah tried to leave quickly. He bent his knees to stand—

—but halfway up, his right leg trembled violently.

He stared in confusion, and then his body gave out and he collapsed sideways. His head nearly struck the asphalt—until someone caught him.

Gu Taeheon.

“Taeheon… kuh, cough…”

“Don’t speak.”

“That—koff, koff—”

“I said don’t talk.”

Taeheon scooped Noah into his arms and rose. Holding him tight, he strode out of the disaster zone. No one questioned the man carrying someone away amid chaos.

Noah, eyelids fluttering, looked up at Taeheon. The sharp line of his jaw was clenched, trembling almost imperceptibly. Seeing it, Noah realized:

He is worried about me.

I made him worry for me.

That feeling was foreign. Few, if any, had ever truly worried for Hardiel Noah Hildegart, High Priest of Healing. Someone who could save anyone so long as they still breathed—himself included. Why would anyone fear for a man who could revive himself?

Even those who pitied him worried only for the burden he carried, not his well-being.

“I… am fine.”

“You look like a ghost, saying that?”

Noah tried to touch his face, but his arm would not lift. The sensation resembled complete physical collapse—like the exhaustion after spending all divine power.

Not wanting to trouble Taeheon further, Noah began forming the incantation for recovery magic—to soothe himself and to clear the smoke Taeheon had surely inhaled.

But the spell fizzled. There wasn’t the slightest trace of divine power to gather.

He understood at once.

I used up all the divinity I had left.

It was no cause for panic; divine power, like mages’ mana, always replenished slowly over days once exhausted. In a day or two, he would recover.

It was merely that he hadn’t realized sooner. In his world, Noah had never once run out of divine power— not even after sleepless nights healing soldiers in battlefields. His fall into this world had weakened him more than he knew.

Feeling the familiar helplessness he had forgotten long ago, Noah sagged against Taeheon’s chest. Guilt and gratitude surged up in his throat.

“We’re going home. Close your eyes on the way. Don’t move needlessly.”

Fortunately, Taeheon had parked a little away in a public lot. He opened the passenger door and settled Noah inside, fastening the seatbelt firmly before taking the wheel.

Half-reclined, Noah truly could not move. His heart pounded violently, like a novice priest overspending divine power and suffering backlash.

Noah let out a faint laugh at himself—just a tremor at the corner of his lips.

“What’s funny? You’re only getting scolded once we get home.”

Noah blinked, confused. Scolded? Why?

Traffic choked the streets near the fire. At a red light, Taeheon stared at the windshield and spoke quietly:

“…I was scared to death.”

“Scared…? Of me?”

A world without magic might fear his power. Noah braced himself for rejection, stung already.

“If I get hurt, you’ll heal me. And if you see someone hurt, you won’t ignore them—you’ll save them.”

“….”

“But Noah—what if you get hurt?”

Noah, what do I do when you are the one in pain?

The raw tremor in Taeheon’s voice pierced Noah, leaving him silent.

“In this world, sick people go to hospitals. But Noah, you can’t go to one.”

Not because of money or identity, but because someone might discover him. Someone who could do what Noah could would attract dangerous desire.

Taeheon knew Noah had no sense of his limits. In his world, Noah could endlessly heal himself and keep going. His life wasn’t a life—it was a machine programmed to mend others without rest.

The thought of sending Noah back to that world flooded Taeheon with helpless rage.

Then Noah collapsed on the asphalt—knees scraping the ground, divinity used to its last drop. Taeheon’s chest had shattered then—again and again.

“…Still, thank you, Taeheon.”

“…For what.”

“For permitting me. If I had turned away today, my heart would never have been at peace.”

Taeheon exhaled sharply. How could anyone hate this man?

Noah called unimaginable burdens “obligations,” and thanked the one who did nothing but stand by him.

For the first time, Taeheon glimpsed the scale of Noah’s past. Endless emergencies. Endless lives to save. Endless grief when he could not.

“…Noah.”

“Yes?”

“Stay here. With me.”

Noah’s eyes widened. Taeheon kept his gaze forward.

“Forget being a priest. Forget destiny. Forget duty. Just stay here and live normally with me.”

Until now, Taeheon had begged out of selfishness—terrified of losing Noah. But now he knew something else:

If Noah returned to his world… Noah would break.

“…Should I?”

The answer stunned him. Taeheon jerked his head, then forced his gaze forward again.

Noah was smiling softly.

“May I… be allowed to want that?”

At the same moment Taeheon realized he did not want Noah to return for Noah’s own sake—

Noah realized he wanted to stay for his own.

For the first time, he wished to choose someone not because of duty, or sacred mission, or divine love—

but simply because he loved Gu Taeheon.

That man.