At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 183
“How did you get here? Outsiders aren’t supposed to enter this place.”
Jiwoo didn’t know either. The fact that she had come here, not just to this place but across time, was a problem.
“How did you get past the great vortex?”
That was another question Jiwoo couldn’t answer.
“How do you understand me?”
That too…
After Lanceil asked Jiwoo a few questions and realized she couldn’t respond at all, he gave up on communication.
Despite everything, Lanceil still tried to take responsibility for Jiwoo in some way.
He started asking questions she could answer with yes or no.
There were times when he forced those kinds of answers, and the memories of those moments became blurred because Lanceil’s constant nagging was overwhelming.
“Can you eat this?”
Jiwoo nodded.
“Maybe you need to hydrate?”
Jiwoo shook her head.
But Lanceil shook his head sternly.
“It’s hard to notice dehydration until it becomes severe. You need to drink water regularly.”
He then made sure Jiwoo had water and food. Finally, he wrapped his cloak around her shoulders and said,
“This is all I can do.”
All you can do? It seemed like he was saying he had fulfilled his duty.
‘Aren’t you taking me with you?’
Jiwoo stood still, clutching the food, water, and cloak he had given her while watching him.
“I can’t take an outsider with me.”
It wasn’t just the people she had met earlier who didn’t consider Jiwoo a useful person. Lanceil thought the same.
Right now, she was just a burden who couldn’t even speak.
‘Don’t go.’
But Lanceil, even after sensing Jiwoo’s silent plea, shook his head and left.
Jiwoo watched him go, feeling helpless. Lanceil looked back once but didn’t stop walking.
Eventually, Jiwoo was left alone.
‘Where should I go…’
Jiwoo looked up at the sky in frustration. Far off, Ellandos glowed like a pillar connecting the sky.
‘Maybe I should go there.’
She had once heard that the children of Ellandos revered trees not only because they drove away evil miasma but also because the trees possessed mysterious powers. Sometimes, they fulfilled desires that even their owners weren’t aware of.
Since a solution seemed out of reach, Jiwoo decided to head toward the trees.
But as soon as she made that decision and began walking…
Drip. Drip, drip.
Swoosh.
It seemed like trouble followed her. The sky, which had been growing dim, finally started to rain.
‘Oh dear.’
Jiwoo stopped and looked around. While trying to find shelter, she spotted a cave and hurried inside.
She was soaked to the bone, so she had no choice but to take off the cloak. To prevent losing too much warmth, she huddled into a corner of the cave.
‘I just want to go home…’
It had been a long time since she felt so miserable.
* * *
“Here you are.”
Jiwoo heard a deep voice and looked up. She had apparently dozed off while curled up in the cave.
‘Lanceil.’
And for some reason, Lanceil, who had left her, was now here.
Lanceil was drenched from the heavy rain. He looked like he had been walking through it for a while.
‘Why?’
Feeling the confusion in Jiwoo’s eyes, Lanceil muttered irritably while wringing out his wet clothes.
“What? What do you want? Should I have just left you to die in the rain?”
Well, was that not it?
Jiwoo hadn’t treated his wounds like she had in their first meeting, and he didn’t even know she had the ability to heal trees. He likely saw her as nothing but a burden now, someone who wasn’t useful.
“Damn it. How did I end up with this responsibility?”
Lanceil threw something in front of Jiwoo, clothes and a towel wrapped in waterproof leaves.
“Dry off and change. What if you feel sick?”
Jiwoo picked up the clothes and towel.
…She couldn’t understand.
* * *
Lanceil had made a small fire inside the cave.
“Normally, we shouldn’t use this, but… I guess there’s no choice.”
It seemed that because the tree wasn’t healthy, he hadn’t been able to find the stones used for warmth.
But, perhaps worried Jiwoo might die in this condition, he hesitated before finally making the fire.
‘I can heal trees. I can heal this too.’
Jiwoo pointed at Lanceil’s ear. It seemed that his ear had been cut at this point.
“What? My ear?”
Jiwoo nodded.
“Are you saying my ear is different from yours?”
That wasn’t it. Jiwoo shook her head and pointed again at his ear, alternating between his intact ear and the partially severed one.
If she showed her healing abilities, maybe Lanceil would see her as useful. Then he would take her with him. Now, there was no need for her to bleed, all she had to do was touch him. She had tried it before.
But Lanceil didn’t understand.
“It was injured by miasma. If I leave it, it’ll spread through my whole body, so I had to cut it off. You know what miasma is, right?”
That wasn’t it. She just wanted him to let her touch his ear, even if just for a moment.
“…Why do you keep focusing on this? Are all outsiders this shameless?”
Lanceil was flushed and raised his voice.
If this were before, Jiwoo, unaware of what was rude, would have just touched his ear, but now that she understood, she couldn’t do that.
In the end, Jiwoo couldn’t show him her healing abilities.
But Lanceil didn’t leave her.
Even though he thought Jiwoo was useless…
* * *
The next day, as soon as the rain stopped, Lanceil told Jiwoo to wait here for a moment and left.
He soon returned.
“I found out something. I heard Caranazion people live to be around 70 years at most.”
That’s not true. You’ll soon find out that I’m not a Caranazion person, I’m Akarna.
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