Weed ~The One’s Gardener~ - Chapter 21

“…I, I don’t think I’ll ever forget my time here.”

“What…?””

“I don’t get sick, everyone here is kind, there’s nothing to worry about… and it seems like I only see things that are much clearer and more beautiful than the vacation I planned.”

Her sweet tongue spoke words of praise again, but he didn’t like the feeling of the content. When h couldn’t even answer what she was saying, he gazed down at her stiffly.

“I’m glad I met Weed. It was a little sad since I wish I had a little more time.”

‘…Then, you don’t have to go back.’

Weed couldn’t say that.

She had to go back since she also had an important situation for her. Besides, her body shouldn’t be here. The priests would use her as a sacrifice until the end, yet he didn’t want it. He didn’t even like the summoning of the last sacrifice.

The fact that the one who crossed over was a human was even the worst.

In fact, he could have made her stay here instead of sending her back because of his own greed. Even if the priests clamored to use her as a sacrifice, he had enough power to stop them. Still, there was a desperate situation.

…If she couldn’t return, he would be hated.

So, there was nothing he could do except send her back to her original world in time.

“Weed. So, I have been thinking…”

“Yes.”

“Do I, really… came here by mistake?”

Perhaps revealing a concern she had just had, she asked a rather sharp question. It was a pretty key question to ask.

Hana was being suspicious.

At her question, Weed couldn’t make eye contact and lowered his gaze.

“…It is true that calling you was a mistake.”

“Even if my eyes are golden? Could it mean something?”

As he shook his head, she seemed a little downcast at that reaction.

“But maybe… you don’t know. Is there something I can do?”

“No. There’s none.”

The words came out rather cold, so Weed hurriedly added more.

“Just make good memories while staying with me. That’s all you need to do.”

“Haha. This is the first time that I have to do something like that.”

Hana laughed even though she seemed to think it was a pity for some reason. That was good. Somehow, he felt happy if she would miss her life here later… he would be more than happy if she remembered him for a long time.

“Well then, Weed. Could you come early tomorrow? I want you to do it… early…”

“Of course.”

Did that mean she wanted him at such an early hour?

At the thought, Weed forgot his sunken feelings and replied in a joyous state as if he would fly away. As he blushed without asking why, Hana explained the reason first.

“Tomorrow is going to be sunny. They said earlier that they wanted to show me a nice place…”

“The priests? You could have just told me.”

“Weed came too late today.”

It was his mistake. Weed nodded his head.

“Yes, no problem.”

He overlapped his lips with hers.

This was not meant to give her medicinal properties, just when he pressed his quivering lips on her instep. The action was not harsh. It was because he had a little thought mixed in that it would be good for her to remember him long and well, even after Hana went back.

9. A Lie That Will Be Revealed Soon.

Weed had always upheld the truth.

To him, lying was a tactic employed by the weak to escape challenging circumstances or a malicious act aimed at harming others or gaining personal advantage through deceit. He had no inclination for such white lies either.

It was when he first saw the light of day with himself that he had lived as an observer. His long life had been spent on the sidelines, a privileged position that those in power could choose to assume.

From this vantage point, Weed witnessed creatures around him being born, lived, and demise of countless beings in his surroundings. While everything around him underwent constant change, he remained unchanged. There was no inherent problem or difficulty in his existence.

As a result, he never found himself in situations where he harbored hatred towards others, prompting him to resort to intentional deceit, nor did he feel the need to veil his good intentions in lies.

Even during his encounters with the divine affliction, he refrained from lying. When the priests, belatedly recognizing the truth, beseeched him for an explanation, he didn’t deem it necessary to respond. No one had ever posed that question to him before.

Thus, this moment marked a unique juncture in his life—the time when he told the most lies.

A challenging predicament arose, one that even his immense power could not easily resolve.

Despite his orders to halt the summoning ceremony, the priests defied his command and opened the gateway to another realm. It was the first instance where he felt taken aback after nurturing them by his side.

Weed harbored no desire for sacrifices, not even to extend his own lifespan. Instead, he made the decision to return the sacrificial offering. It was during this moment, witnessing her trembling with anxiety in an unfamiliar place, that he uttered his first lie.

It was a lie spun with the intention of providing solace.

Once the floodgates of falsehood were opened, the subsequent lies came more effortlessly.

Before he knew it, a cascade of lies accumulated, ranging from inconsequential to significant. It all began with good intentions, aiming to offer reassurance to someone who found themselves in an unfamiliar environment.

Gradually, however, those words started to carry a personal touch. Subconsciously, he began to realize how he could derive benefits from his fabrications.

“Hana, I’ll be away for a while.”

“Yes? Weed, where are you going?”

“I think you’re going to be hungry, so I’m going to prepare a snack for you.”

Such lies were no longer a big deal to him.

Hana tilted her head and seemed to think for a while, then got up and tried to follow Weed. The petals of the flower that had fallen on top of her fluttered and spilled onto the floor.

“Then, let’s go together.”

“No. You can rest here. The way is rough.”

With that, she glanced down at her feet and nodded her head without saying a word. Since she couldn’t be left alone, Weed called one of the priests and left them by her side before quickly walking out of there.

As he went, he glanced back and saw that she was talking about something with the priest Lutacea, laughing.

Perhaps explaining about flowers. It was because Shin Hana liked petals rather than blades of grass. She preferred flowers in the trees to flowers in the fields. She preferred a flower with a unique effect rather than a flower with a beautiful appearance.

This time, he could temporarily use magic to smell the fragrance of flowers or drink the nectar. She said that there were many beautiful flowers in her original world though it was nothing like this.

When Weed explained it, she listened curiously.

She was now temporarily entrusted to the priest, but he would soon go back and take her back to himself.

After confirming that he was so far away that not a single figure could be seen from a distance, he finally lowered his hand that had covered his mouth.

He has been enduring it for quite some time.

“Kugh…”

Either mouth or lip or both, blood was already dripping. Weed roughly brushed the blood off his hand into the air and spat out the saliva and blood in his mouth on the floor.

Cough, cough.

Weed coughed a few more times. The blood he couldn’t spit out splattered in all directions, along with the cough.

Not being able to pass it by gracefully, he poured out the blood coming up from the inside several times. At the same time, every muscle in his chest was pulled tight, like the moisture had been squeezed out of his body and pulled out with pain.

For a while, he felt like his heart was being squeezed or his lungs were being squeezed.

He coughed for a while longer in that state.

It took a while before he felt there was no more rising blood or coughing. He was like this periodically, but today was especially difficult to bear. The symptoms were also more severe. The blood that he usually spat out once or twice became too much to pour out this time.

After regurgitating blood for a while, Weed calmed his breath. He felt dizzy.