At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 195
“If those sea bastards try to get too close, I’ll deal with them with this!”
“They’ll be turned to mush.”
“That’s right, haha.”
They were talking in a way that sounded less like a group of therapists and more like a group of thugs.
Then Jiwoo noticed a white animal running behind them. It had seemed familiar when they were playing on the lake earlier, so it stood out even more now.
“Ah, look at that.”
“What is it, a deer?”
“Should we catch it?”
Lanset and Arven, who had been demonstrating with their clubs, quickly noticed and suggested it.
“No, I think I was mistaken.”
Jiwoo shook her head.
Realizing she was a bit disappointed to find out it was a deer, Jiwoo couldn’t shake the thought of it and brought it up again during dinner while camping.
“By the way, Solmih, I had a dream before. It was a dream with a tree.”
“A dream?”
“Yes, on my birthday.”
Was it a dream with a tree? Or was it a dream with Raelan in it?
Normally, Jiwoo liked to talk about trivial things with her husbands, but surprisingly, she decided to bring this up for the first time.
She hadn’t had the time to mention it earlier. Right after her birthday, she had to prepare for the first night together, and then she was busy preparing for a business trip right after that.
Without needing much explanation, Solmih smiled gently and said,
“It must have been a pleasant dream.”
“Ah, how did you know?”
“Usually, the gift a tree gives in a dream is like that.”
A gift, perhaps. It certainly felt like a gift in the dream.
Jiwoo reflected on the dream in her mind and spoke almost dreamily.
“If… if no one had forcibly summoned me, I think that might have been my first experience in this world.”
Though it was from the past, since Akarna is said to appear across time and space, it could still be relevant.
In truth, it was something Jiwoo had hoped for vaguely. She didn’t regret her past life, but she often found herself imagining a better direction she could have taken.
As time passed, she grew to love her husbands more, and maybe she wanted to embrace even the pain they had gone through in the past.
Now she understood that it was something she could do.
But in some ways, the dream also left her with a sense of longing. After all, if it was a dream, wouldn’t it have been better to show her a more perfect paradise?
“Was that a gift?”
“Dreams that could be fulfilled often leave you feeling empty once you wake up.”
Solmih said, noticing Jiwoo’s slight disappointment.
“That’s why usually, dreams offer consolation for past regrets. They may seem like fantasies, but if you think about it, they lead in a very realistic direction. After waking up, they help you love your reality more…”
A regret from the past?
Jiwoo often found herself pondering these thoughts. If they weren’t here, what would have happened to her? Conversely, if she hadn’t been here, what would have happened to them?
It was definitely an impossible scenario, but not one that couldn’t have happened.
“Wouldn’t that have been something I secretly wished for?”
“If you say so.”
“Then do you have something like that?”
“Of course, I do.”
Solmih only said ‘yes’ and smiled without revealing what it was.
“Yes, I have one too.”
Instead, Kaman suddenly interrupted, offering a wooden cup filled with warm tea.
“What is it?”
“Marriage.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
It was clearly an expression of regret about the marriage, but Jiwoo wasn’t surprised. Kaman had a way of speaking so casually, and he immediately added:
“We got married too soon.”
Kaman sighed, and his warm breath blended with the cold winter air.
“We should have dated a bit more first.”
“…We did rush the first night a bit.”
As they said that, they both glanced at Jiwoo’s face.
“That must have been… overwhelming for you.”
“Hmm. The first night was done according to the female body’s standards…”
Though they were hinting at it, it seemed like they regretted being too eager, trying too hard during the first night.
Well, if it were any other female body, she might have accepted it without issue. It was just Jiwoo who struggled with it.
“Even so, it’s fine.”
In the end, they all adapted, and it became a good memory.
Jiwoo didn’t want to leave them feeling deflated over it any longer…
“Then we can just try again, right? According to my standards. We still have plenty of time to be together.”
Solmih and Kaman’s expressions brightened at that.
“We can still date now, too.”
“Really?”
“Is that okay?”
Was it really something to get so excited about…?
Feeling a bit embarrassed, Jiwoo took a sip of the tea instead of answering.
It was a little unexpected. After all, weren’t these people the ones who had been so eager for marriage from the beginning?
In fact, the children of Elandos weren’t the type to marry out of love. Even after marriage, they didn’t live as husband and wife in the traditional sense. Rather, they were more focused on taking care of their spouse. While love could develop, it wasn’t the case for everyone.
The culture was more focused on marriage as a union rather than love or dating.
So, this… was probably the worry if they had lived an ordinary life. It was probably more about their recent change in mindset or values.
Was it right after the wedding? No. They had made it through the first night, but they had actually been giving more consideration to the time they had spent with the original five people she became close with.
So, it was more recent… if Jiwoo had to guess, it was probably after she prepared gifts for Ellandos during the night.
“But just to be sure.”
Jiwoo said, recalling the image of Skias, who had come to help with the winter preparations. Jiwoo smiled at the memory of him shivering outside, waiting for her answer. It was cute, but…
“…Do you know how to date?”
“…”
“…”
These people really…
They knew how to seduce with their bodies but didn’t know much else. They were suddenly acting like this because they had wanted to date.