At The End Of The Hidden Greenery

Chapter 8

trigger warning: mentions of self harm

***

He turned around for a moment and wiped Jiwoo’s face with a cloth moistened with cold water. He wiped away the sweat from her forehead and the medicine that had spilled under her chin, and put a hand on her forehead to check her temperature one last time.

And he let out a shallow sigh.

“…You seem to be getting better.”

Jiwoo, who had become accustomed to the neglectful treatment she received at the temple, did not understand why this man was desperately trying to lower her fever. Still, it was reassuring. Jiwoo opened her heart for the first time in front of him, closed her eyes as she felt the heat in her body begin to lower. Her consciousness fell into a much more comfortable darkness than before.

* * *

For the next few days, Jiwoo continued to be bedridden, and so he fed and would put her to sleep.

He took off her wet clothes and personally changed them. Jiwoo was so ill that she didn’t even care about showing her naked body to someone else.

After a few more days of being sick like that, she finally regained her senses.

The thin coat she wore as the Akarna was washed by him, but it was not comfortable, so it went into his bag.

Even though she was wearing much lighter and more comfortable clothes than before, he still carried her in his arms.

“…Where are you taking me?”

“You’re going to stay with my colleagues for a while.”

Jiwoo looked at him, and he explained before she even asked.

“You can’t always watch the progress from the outside forever. Don’t you also need a place to recover safely?”

Even though she was the Akarna, she must recover. She had to rest. She needed a break. The crown prince was the first one who had said that. So that was why she fell in love with him from the beginning.

But when she thought about it now, those were words that even people unrelated to her could say.

Even this being, who knew that she was no ordinary person. She had already saved him from the miasma. Although she had shown him such a transcendent power, it was strange for her to be treated like this.

“I can walk on my own now.”

“No.”

He shook his head. His head moved in big motion, and his long ears caught her eye.

“Your body… It was amazingly quick to recover from trauma. That’s why your broken ankle got mended incorrectly. Your recovery power is rather poisonous. It’s going to be difficult for you to walk.”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever heard such words…”

Her recovery was poisonous. Everyone said that this was an unlimited useful power and a blessing from God. So she should be willing to serve mankind.

When Jiwoo looked perplexed, he sighed regretfully.

“Of course, every power has a bane.”

“But… I will recover quickly anyway…”

“Because you’re going to recover anyway, so is it normal to cut off your arm to the point of death? Say something that makes sense. Then, how would you describe the pain you had from your fever for several days? It seems that there were only naive people around you.”