At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 237
“So… how was it this time?”
Solmih hesitated slightly before asking.
This time, Jiwoo had hurt herself badly while protecting her husbands again. He was asking if it was caused by the circumstances or any coercion.
“Hm.”
Jiwoo widened her eyes as if she hadn’t even thought about it, then smiled brightly.
“It felt good.”
A light, breezy laugh scattered like spring wind.
“Hmm… thanks to you, I tried things like this too.”
“If you want, I can do even more…”
Jiwoo felt an urge to playfully bite Solmih’s ear when he said that.
“So I’m going to cherish what’s mine.”
“Good.”
Instead of hugging Jiwoo’s shoulders, Solmih rested his forehead against her small shoulder.
Seeing him scrunch up his big body and lean on her made Jiwoo laugh even more.
Rather than offering the usual comfort or understanding, she decided it was better to just indulge in being spoiled once more.
And that was the right choice. Jiwoo hummed softly while stroking Solmih’s hair, who was leaning on her despite his much larger size.
“Yes. You’re pretty.”
Though Solmih wrapped it up nicely, all of this was actually rooted in jealousy. Whether scars on the body or hesitations born from past memories, though he used the excuse that she needed to be properly healed, it was really a possessiveness wanting to completely erase them.
Since crossing from Caranazion to this continent, whenever Jiwoo looked at him, she felt relieved but also a sharp sting in her chest.
Their possessiveness eventually erased even that little sting.
22. The Absence of Ellandos
The next day, Jiwoo confirmed that her body was completely normal again.
She also heard several theories about the cause why her senses were severely disturbed.
“Because Ellandos isn’t here?”
That was the most likely explanation.
Tyrinos, the leader of this group, urgently requested a meeting as soon as he confirmed that Jiwoo had recovered.
“What does Ellandos not being here have to do with me suddenly getting sick?”
“In theory, there’s a connection. But we don’t know the exact facts.”
He twisted his bangs with his fingers as he spoke.
Unlike the soft, flowing hair of the husbands, Tyrinos’s hair was dry and brittle, rustling like dead leaves.
“Do you know exactly what Ellandos is?”
“A sacred tree… isn’t it? Like a parent responsible for the lifespan and life of the people of El Ragneil, no, even more precious than a parent.”
“Hmm. That’s right. The true master of El Ragneil. But it doesn’t have to be a tree. Rarely, it could be a mushroom or coral, through rare. And…”
Tyrinos paused, thinking how to explain this.
“This world is a place where different dimensions often collide. You’re ‘Arkana’ from another dimension…”
“It’s Akarna.”
“…Anyway, if that’s the case, you know well.”
He knew that the trees here were like temples.
He knew that dimensional collisions were a normal phenomenon in this world.
That’s why it was possible for Jiwoo to exist here.
“In short, the tree is a being that blocks portals that could lead to other worlds.”
“Blocks them?”
“It’s not just safe beings like you coming through from other dimensions.”
“Unsafe beings like monsters or miasma?”
Tyrinos shook his head, his ear slightly trembling.
“Monsters at least are beasts. But worse than that, there could be creatures from completely different origins, beings that can never seep into this world, that we can’t even see with our eyes. Things that could destroy the world and lead it to ruin wherever they step.”
So this place, without Ellandos blocking dimensional gaps and such phenomena, could at any moment become poisoned ground, flood suddenly, or even turn into a barren wasteland of just sand.
Like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
Though the forest without Ellandos looked ordinary, it had an eerie aura for that reason.
“And miasma are just remnants blocking those terrifying things. If left alone, nature here might cleanse itself, so they aren’t as harmful as unknown beings from other worlds.”
Therefore, if the miasma disappeared entirely, it would mean the loss of that natural cycle.
She recalled an analogy Solmih once made. Winter comes every year, and though cold and harsh, you can’t just get rid of it. The side effects would be worse.
Miasma are definitely harmful, but they are still part of nature.
“We’re trying to revive the trees here too, but as you know, once this place becomes a desert, it’s irreversible. During our expedition, we sensed an energy similar to Ellandos, and when we came to investigate, you were here. You asked me how we found you? It’s not exactly that we were hunting intruders…”
Tyrinos glanced at Jiwoo, still seeming puzzled.
“We were searching for Ellandos that might still be here.”
“Are you saying you mistook me for Ellandos? I’m not a tree…”
It would have made more sense if they had been searching for a female manifestation, since female manifestations and Akarna are similar entities.
But mistaking Jiwoo for a tree? She had never imagined that.
“That’s why I find it strange too. It’s impossible. Have you ever had contact with beings from other worlds?”
Jiwoo quietly shook her head.
But hearing that brought memories to mind. When she communicated with the tree at the beach, or when she suddenly crossed over here, she felt like she had fallen into a distant, deep space.
And there, she remembered the large eyes staring at her. It was definitely something alien to this world.