At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 255
So really, it wasn’t that they were giving up on Seo Jiwoo. They were more willing to give up themselves for her sake.
And knowing that, Jiwoo couldn’t stay angry for long, even if she was upset at first.
“Skiass, you have to answer honestly, as much as you can. Otherwise, I’m not letting this go.”
Skiass, who’d been fidgeting ever since he came in, edged closer to the wall.
Truthfully, Jiwoo’s anger had already faded, but she asked insistently anyway.
“Would you want me to abandon you all just so I could have an easier life?”
“N, no…”
“Then what is it you actually want from me?”
“I, Seo Jiwoo…”
Skiass folded his hands, hesitated for a moment, then said.
“I just want you to stay with us.”
“So, in truth, you wanted to ask me to come with you, didn’t you?”
“That’s… not what I meant…”
Skiass, who’d been standing there looking like a guilty child, glanced over with a furtive look.
“El, honestly… What we’re most afraid of isn’t being separated.”
“…What?”
“Physical distance isn’t a real issue for us. The thing we fear most is a world where you don’t exist at all.”
At that moment, Jiwoo remembered how desperately, almost obsessively, Tyrinos had pleaded. How he’d begged her to touch the place where dimensions collided, even going so far as to kneel before someone from another race, despite the famed pride of the children of Ellandos.
“It’s fine if I’m not the center of attention in the group. Or if you bring in another group and move between two trees. Sure, I’ll get a little jealous, but it’s fine. But if you’re just… gone from this world entirely, then none of that matters.”
Time and place weren’t really obstacles. Jiwoo was someone who could disappear into another dimension at any time.
Sometimes, watching the children of Ellandos made her ponder.
‘What is love, anyway?’
Some researchers say love, or the desire to be loved, is just another survival instinct. Maybe even a kind of power drive. The urge to reproduce is simply about the continuation of their species for most creatures.
But in El Ragneil, the children of Ellandos don’t reproduce. They don’t leave descendants to ensure the survival of their kind.
—That’s the common misunderstanding of creatures that reproduce sexually.
Lofrel had once said, worrying over Jiwoo when she’d been clueless about these things.
So their idea of love wasn’t the same as what Jiwoo knew from humans or from other species that reproduce sexually.
Their greatest fear wasn’t their partner’s affection fading, or being unloved. Maybe even physical separation wasn’t so serious for them.
As long as the tree remained healthy, most of their survival needs were met. As long as the tree didn’t completely disappear, they were fine.
If they see love only as a survival instinct, it all comes down to that.
“It’s called ancient history, but it’s only a thousand years at most. It’s not like you’re leaving us because you hate us… We could wait that long.”
“Ah…”
Maybe, if Jiwoo hadn’t been upset, or if she’d been more used to their ways, she might have just accepted that as reasonable.
She’d always thought of this place’s culture as foreign, so she tried to let things go, telling herself she just didn’t understand. But this time was different.
Jiwoo narrowed her eyes.
“Then why did you cry?”
“Huh, huh?”
“You just said all you need is for me to stay in this world. So why did you cry?”
“Ah, that’s…”
“You liars.”
“……!”
When Jiwoo strode toward him, Skiass kept backing away until his back hit the wall.
“Do I always have to match myself to your standards just because I’m an outsider?”
“Th, that’s not it! El, you’re not an outsider…”
“Then why do you keep lying?”
“N, no. I, I’m not lying, it’s just…”
“I told you to be honest, but you’re still trying to hide things from me, even here.”
Thud. Jiwoo put her hand on the wall beside Skiass, cutting off his escape.
Trapped between Jiwoo and the wall, Skiass swallowed nervously. His shoulders twitched. He even seemed to hiccup without a sound.
…Of course, Jiwoo was on the shorter side, so the scene looked a bit odd, but still.
“I said I wouldn’t get mad. If you’re honest with me now, I’ll do whatever you want, Skiass.”
“…!”
Skiass’s eyes went wide, as if he couldn’t believe she was actually offering.
Then, his face flushed and he clapped his hands over his mouth, excitement sparking in his gaze.
“…But, but that would be like a reward. El, aren’t you still angry?”
Jiwoo gave him a bit of a glare. So he saw it as a reward. If she did what she was thinking of, he might not consider it a reward for long.
“Take off your clothes.”
“Uh, uh…”
With a dazed, almost entranced look, Skiass did as he was told, slowly removing his clothes.
Once his shirt was off, his body was revealed. It was much more muscular than you’d expect from someone with such a scholarly face, though not as bulked up as Callan or Tevon.
“You have it with you?”
“…Yes.”
She didn’t need to specify what ‘it’ was but Skiass knew right away what she meant.
He obediently held out the pen used for tattooing, his hands trembling slightly.
Jiwoo took the pen, gauging the right spot, and pressed her fingers into his lower abdomen.
“I’ll put it here.”
“…”
He shivered at her touch, the veins under his skin standing out even more from his lower belly to his hips.
“But before that, can you make it so the sense-sharing only happens when I want, not all the time?”
“Yes, yes, that’s easy. You just need to give a signal after the tattoo…”
“What kind of signal?”
“Anything, as long as we both agree to it…”
“All right.”
Jiwoo slowly traced his lower abdomen with her fingers.