At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 131

Before long, the orbs split into two, growing larger until they reached the size of tall men.

In the blink of an eye, the spheres of light transformed into two beautiful children of Ellandos. Jiwoo had heard that the children of Ellandos were born this way, but she had never expected it to happen so suddenly right in front of her.

Their appearances were unusual. Their skin was pitch black, resembling charcoal, yet it had a subtle blue hue, making it seem as if she was gazing into the distant night sky. Their hair was vividly gold and silver, resembling a galaxy scattered above.

Completely oblivious to her rudeness, Jiwoo was staring at them when they smiled back at her, causing her to hastily turn her head away. Then the female manifestation spoke.

“Those, gifts.”

“Excuse me?”

Jiwoo could only repeat the question.

She pointed at the two men she had just seen born.

“Those?”

“Gifts.”

“What?”

“Much better.”

“…What?”

“Accept them as a gift.”

No no!

What did she just say?

What is going on here?

A gift?

Are those two men the gifts?

Helka had mentioned that there might be gifts, but was he referring to that—no, to those people?

Jiwoo turned her head stiffly to look at Helka. He was covering his mouth with his hand, seemingly genuinely shocked.

What is happening? What’s going on?

At the very least, she sensed that this situation was definitely not normal.

She expressed her refusal, quickly shaking her head.

“I, I can’t accept that!”

“You don’t like them?”

“Well…well, I can’t just exchange things like that! I already have husbands!”

“I’ve never used them.”

For a moment, Jiwoo felt dizzy and placed her hand on her forehead.

‘Isn’t that an even bigger issue?’

Here, the men valued such aspects highly and actively showcased them when necessary.

There had been similar situations with her husbands before. When Helka had been saved, he had offered to reward her with nighttime service. At that time, Jiwoo had been too flustered to accept, but it seemed to have been quite a big blow to them…..

For the men, it felt like a significant commitment to offer their bodies in that way…

Jiwoo felt unworthy of receiving such treatment and turned it down, but in reality, they were more afraid of being rejected in front of her.

This was a cultural difference she needed to adapt to, yet it remained a challenging issue. Even now, she doesn’t know how to decline gently in this situation.

“No, no, and wait a moment. What about their will?”

“They have no choice.”

As if on cue, the two newly born beings looked down submissively without responding. Jiwoo felt increasingly overwhelmed.

Was this what a ‘gift’ meant?*

No, she had even referred to them as ‘tokens of gratitude’ right here. How pale had Callan’s face gone when hearing those words?

‘This is a big problem…’

For now, she had to refuse. She needed to turn it down gently.

But what would happen to those men if she did? Her head spun more than when she had been feverish just a few days earlier.

As she stood there stiffly, the female manifestation kindly changed the subject.

“Seo Jiwoo, would you show me around the village?”

“Ah, of, of course!”

“Great. Let’s go.”

The female manifestation took Jiwoo’s hand and started leading the way, as if the gift issue was nothing of importance.

Jiwoo was concerned about her husbands and the two men labeled as gifts behind her, but given her slow understanding of the situation, she had no choice but to be swept along.

“Yes, yes…”

In any case, being in El Ragneil meant the men would have little choice in the matter. Since this person seemed to be in charge, it would be best to coordinate with her.

“…”

The problem was that throughout the journey to show the female manifestation around the village, the back of Jiwoo’s head felt prickly.

* * *

It was only then that Jiwoo realized she had been harboring a ridiculous misunderstanding. Now she understood why they had reacted so sensitively to the ‘gift’ the female manifestation brought.

It would have been hard to give a definitive answer even if she asked what the gift was. She felt as if cold sweat was flowing down her back the entire time. What should she do about this?

“It’s beautiful. The tree that had withered has returned to life.”

Finally, Jiwoo looked up. The female manifestation was admiring the white tree Jiwoo had been nurturing, particularly its roots.

It was the root area prepared inside the house. The Ellandos here had become much healthier since Jiwoo first revived it. Although it had been large when she first saw it, this Ellandos was relatively young compared to other trees on the continent, which meant it was expected to grow even larger in the future.

This symbolized that Jiwoo would be spending much more time here.

“You know all that? Even though you’ve never seen it.”

“Yes.”

“You know my language… and my name.”

“That’s just how I am. Just as you seem untouched by anything here.”

Was it natural for Akarna to become this way? She could understand, but somehow, having accepted thirty husbands while living here made her feel like her capacity for acceptance had only grown.

“What’s your name?”

“Ah.”

The female manifestation feigned surprise but didn’t seem displeased.

“You won’t be able to pronounce my name.”

“I’ll give it a try anyway.”

Jiwoo recalled her first time arriving here. She knew that people often struggled to pronounce her name and that it didn’t really matter if they couldn’t say it properly.

What she disliked more was the attitude of not even attempting to try or the belief that her old name was unnecessary. She wanted to establish a good relationship with this person and hoped to earn her favor.

“―――――.”

However, as soon as she heard the next word, the little confidence she had evaporated.

It was natural that she couldn’t understand the words, but the very sound felt entirely different. They said that tiger roars contain infrasonic frequencies, and she felt a chilling sensation just like that.