Eva! Wake up! Eva!

Eva's eyes flew open. She immediately raised her guard and looked around her dark room to check if there was something wrong while BaoBao filled her in.

Someone's breaking into the mansion. He's currently at the front gate.

Keep me informed.

With the winter cold being the least of her concern right now, Eva merely put on a pants and shirt, equipped herself with her different weapons before heading out of her room. The entire house was enveloped in darkness but Eva made her way around and out of the house without a hitch.

He's heading towards the carriages.

He's quite the coward huh. Eva pegged him as such because ever since they placed a bodyguard or two to watch the carriage, nothing happened to the carriage or the driver again. He had also taken flight so quickly when he first shot at them. He seemed to be avoiding any confrontation.

He knows his way around the garden. He took the shortest route to the carriages.

We can start rounding down our suspects.

Eva headed straight for the area where the carriages were parked, which was around the west wing of the mansion. She hid herself where BaoBao predicted that he would come from, cocked her gun in advance, and laid in wait for the person to arrive. She hoped that he would appear somewhere near her as expected so that she could jump him. She had more confidence in her close combat fight. After all, she fought in every world but only started shooting in this world. Moreover, she had been holding off on her shooting practice because the wound on her shoulder would not be able to handle the recoil.

As BaoBao predicted, he arrived not too long later. Ah! He suddenly decided to go by the back instead! 

As luck or fate would have it, the mystery man was at the other end of the row of carriages.

Not wanting to spook him if she made any sound on the ground by sneaking up on him, she chose to use her gun. While he began fiddling with something on the carriage, Eva fired a shot. The sound was deafening in the silence of the night. Lights in the mansion soon turned on but Eva's full focus was still on capturing the man.

Seeing that she missed his heart, she quickly fired a few more times but the man had reacted fast and the subsequent bullets whizzed past him. He had ducked and rolled away into the grass then stumbled off. 

Eva immediately gave chase and decisively abandoned her gun. It would be useless to shoot now since her aim while she was moving would only be worse. She threw out several poison darts at once and half of them embedded themselves into the man.

It's only a matter of time now!

However, the man suddenly threw something behind him and onto the ground while running.

Wha-

Bomb!

Eva immediately stopped in her tracks before she ran straight into the blast, but it went off upon impact on the ground, giving her no time to retreat. The impact threw her body back. She cursed as she landed heavily on the ground. Her ears rang a bit and it felt as if there was water stuck in her ears.

So that's what he wanted to do.

Just as she pushed herself off the ground, she was picked up by someone who then began to run towards the stable with her in his arms. She looked up at the person's face already expecting who it was, but was still surprised to see his expression full of panic and fear. She knew that she was not injured that badly to warrant this kind of reaction.

She could see that Austin was talking but everything sounded muffled at the moment. Sensing her confusion and knowing the condition of her body, BaoBao helpfully conveyed to her what was happening. He's repeatedly asking you to survive and saying how he does not want to get left behind again.

While BaoBao continued to act as a live commentator, Eva finally understood what was going on with Austin.

 

Austin had been having a good sleep when he was suddenly woken up by a loud gunshot. The ones that followed after the first gunshot triggered a flashback to the night he lost his parents. With his mind still half in the flashback, he ran to Eva's room with his heart filled with terror. When he saw that she was not in the her room, he ran off, intending to search through the house for her. Images of his parents dead bodies and Eva's dead body dominated his mind. 

Just as he passed the main door to the outside, a loud explosion sounded. Tears were already flowing from his eyes as ran out to the source of the sound.

No no no. She can't die. She can't be dead.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him and very quickly reached the scene of the explosion to see a bloodied body lying on the ground. Without sparing another thought, he rushed forward and carried her in his arms then took off for the horses.

"Please don't die. Don't die, don't die. It can't happen again. Not again. Not when I can do something now. I don't want to be left behind again, please, hang on. Please."

Just as he was about to jump up onto the horse, he lost his sense of sight and was hugged tightly. He froze still in shock. Only when Eva started to stroke the back of his head and his back did he realise what was happening. 

More tears flowed down his face. "You're alive... You're alive... Thank you..." Then like a deflated balloon, his legs gave away as he collapsed onto the ground, hugging Eva tightly. As soon as Eva lifted her hand from his eyes, he spoke. "You're still injured, I have to get you to the doctor to fix you up."

Eva wanted to shake her head but she looked at his tear streaked worried expression and decided to nod. If seeing her patched up would put his heart at ease, she would go along with it.

They ended up taking the carriage to the doctor's cottage with the bodyguards in tow, one of them acting as the driver. They had actually woken up the same time as Austin and followed him ever since they found him running about in the mansion. 

Edwin was left behind to handle the aftermath and spooked servants. 

 

"I just saw you this morning!" The doctor exclaimed as soon as he opened the door and laid eyes on them. He made way for Austin to go through the doorway without delay. 

"What happened?" The doctor asked while he patched Eva back up. There were some abrasions on her arms, legs, and back. Only the two small gashes on her forehead and leg needed some stitches.

"Please focus."

Austin said it so seriously that the doctor sighed. "She's fine. It's just a little stitching. Her bullet wound was far more serious. And speaking of it, it looks like it got aggravated. It simply means it'll take longer to recover and worse scarring." The doctor quickly explained before it caused Austin more worry.

Austin still could not forget how terrified he felt when he woke up and later when he found her lying on the ground. He got so immersed in his thoughts once more that he did not notice Eva approaching him after she was completely patched up.

 Eva took Austin's hands in hers, causing him to jump slightly. His hands felt cold. His lips were pale and his eyes were misted over.

"I'm sorry..." He stroked the side of the small stitching on the side of her forehead with his thumb.

Eva shook her head. She took out her notebook. "I'm your bodyguard. This is to be expected."

When she saw his shoulders droop even more. She wrote another message. "I'm still here, Austin. I won't be going anywhere."

Austin teared up once more and she hugged him.

The doctor saw everything that was going on and smiled in relief. He could tell that there was something different about them that hinted at a progress in their relationship. 

"Care to share what happened now?" The doctor asked the moment Eva pulled back from her hug. 

Eva reported whatever happened, giving the excuse that she spotted the intruder by luck because she had still been awake and was getting a drink in the middle of the night. 

Austin started to consider ways to tighten the security around the mansion. He had neglected this point after his parents died because he trusted in his capabilities to fend for himself, only to completely forget about it eventually.

Suddenly, the doctor suggested, "What do you think about me becoming your exclusive doctor and moving into your mansion? I can provide first aid on site and offer treatment as soon as possible."

Austin immediately nodded. He was all for the idea to have a doctor at hand so that he could tend to Eva at the soonest notice. "Let me know once you're done with things on your end and ready to move."

The doctor would have to contact all the families he served, start packing up, and prepare a notice to hang on his door that his home-based clinic was no more. "I will. Now, the two of you should hurry back to res- Wait, would it be safe?"

While Austin had to think about it, Eva nodded. She had BaoBao as surveillance after all. 

 

Everyone washed up upon reaching home before turning in for the night.

Just as Eva headed towards her bed, BaoBao cautioned her that Austin was coming over. With that information, Eva felt like she knew where this was headed. Not long later, a knock was heard on her door. 

Eva opened it to find Austin looking troubled. "Can I... Can I stay in your room? Until I'm sure the mansion is secure again? I'll take the floor. You don't have to worry."

Eva took his hand and gently pulled him into her room. After she closed the door behind him, she led him to her bed, sat him down, then took her notebook to write. "I'm fine with this. I trust you. You can sleep on the bed too. Also, since you're already here, I have a request to make."

"What is it?" 

"With our situation right now, I don't want to invite more trouble and give ourselves more things to handle. There're bound to be people who'll be dissatisfied and unhappy about your affections towards me. So, do you mind keeping all these private for now?"

Austin nodded without a second thought. As much as he wanted Eva to be his, he did not want it at the expense of her well being. With that settled, they tucked in to sleep.

Although Austin was already in the same bed as Eva, he found that he was still too anxious to fall asleep. His mind felt wide awake. He tossed and turned, as slowly and gently as he could, afraid to wake Eva up. Finally, he ended up on his side and staring at her back. 

The feeling of needing to be in contact with her steadily rose within him and he reached out, inch by inch, his hand got closer to her back. When his fingertips came into contact with her nightdress, his fingers curled almost by instinct. Now that he was clutching onto her nightdress, it seemed to give him a sense of comfort and security that quickly lulled him to sleep.

After he was completely knocked out, Eva slowly turned her head back to look at him then his hand that was holding onto her nightdress. 

The sight pulled at her heartstrings. She could not help but wonder if he would ever be okay again.

Maybe if you stopped dying in front of him all the time, it'll go off eventually? BaoBao suddenly responded. 

... Was that meant to be a jab?

Huh? What jab? BaoBao felt genuinely confused. He was sincerely giving a suggestion since he was the one who witnessed how the second male lead in each world reacted each time Eva died. Unable to find another answer for Austin's anxiety, he said the only thing he knew.