At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 259

At her permission, Skiass trembled, as if he’d finally been set free. His thighs tensed, and the searing heat spreading inside her bloomed into new waves of pleasure.

“Aahh…”

Maybe Skiass had wanted to use Jiwoo’s hands to choke him, not out of a desire for death, but to feel even more desperately alive.

“Uhh…”

Skiass sighed, as if he was finally able to breathe.

Jiwoo pulled Skiasss into her arms, barely able to breathe as he came inside her.

27. True Cunning

Even though they were deep in the forest, it was so quiet that the only sound was the faint chirping of insects.

Jiwoo gently brushed aside Skiass’ bangs, who was sleeping soundly beside her. His sweat-dampened hair carried a bittersweet scent almost like soap, but with a hint of narcissus.

Jiwoo wondered if this was what the mingling of pleasure and pain would smell like.

Skiass, who had seemed unfazed by everything, had ended up crying in Jiwoo’s arms before falling asleep first. 

He had spent the previous day enduring the pain in Jiwoo’s arm all on his own, maintaining intense concentration for hours on end. On top of all that, after an evening of intense activity, exhaustion finally won over.

‘I didn’t expect him to cry this much.’ 

 It wasn’t Jiwoo’s anger that broke him, but rather the fear of being separated.

The conversation kept looping back to the same points, but if she summed up all they’d said, it went something like this:

—Even if it hurts me, I’m going to take you with me.

—It’ll hurt a lot more than you think.

—Maybe it’ll be fine. How would you know?

—From what I knew, this region was all wasteland. It means the miasma that came when the dimensions opened never got purified and spread everywhere…

Skiass hesitated for a moment, then let more tears fall.

—…That means you could be hurt, maybe as much as it would take to dry out an entire region that size.

—Why would that happen?

Crossing dimensional rifts was an immense clash of powers. A normal person who touched such a rift would be torn apart in an instant.

Akarna could instinctively defend against it, but this time, she’d taken on the pain for five others as well, and her senses had nearly collapsed. It all happened because she tried to protect them from external forces. If she tried to cross again on purpose, it was only natural it would be even harder.

Jiwoo couldn’t really grasp what that would be like, but for her husbands, who could imagine it, it was a terrifying prospect. Far more than asking someone to simply endure a knife cut. No wonder they hesitated to ask her to bear it.

But she as Akarna had somehow survived that ordeal. And now, she is even stronger. She thought maybe she could handle it, even if it hurt a little.

—Even if I end up hurting for a long time, I’ll bring all of you with me.

—How could we ever let you do that… we just can’t…

Jiwoo changed her wording just a little.

—You’re mine, so I’ll take you with me no matter what.

—Uuhhu..

For some reason, her husbands always seemed to like it more when she treated them as her possessions…

And then Skiass whispered, barely audibly.

—I love you… I’m sorry. I was wrong, El.

He could never quite say, ‘Please take me with you,’ nor could he bring himself to say, ‘Please don’t leave me’. 

All he could do was apologize for making important decisions alone. It seemed that was the only thing he could say.

Should she really find him so adorable, even in this situation?

Jiwoo took his trembling hand and kissed his forehead. With each repetition, Skiass’s sobs grew quieter, and after enough time in Jiwoo’s arms, his crying faded into gentle, sleepy breaths.

Exhaustion and relief washed over him, and he soon drifted off to sleep. It had taken a while, but still….

In the end, it felt less like she was resolving an argument and more like she’d spent the night comforting a weeping partner.

But Jiwoo’s anger had already faded the moment Skiass came looking for her. There was no way she could stay mad when he was apologizing with tears.

Jiwoo gently touched the warm corners of Skiass’s eyes, which were still flushed from crying.

She was happy to hear his honest feelings, but there was also a heaviness in her heart. 

Their emotions….

To be honest, she was left with a deep sadness.

In a self-punishing way, Skiass wished Jiwoo would at least feel responsible enough to stay by his side.

But when he said he wanted her to stay, he didn’t mean he wanted her to abandon her real life and just live here forever with them.

‘Besides, they’d said that even being separated for a while wasn’t really scary.’

Even a thousand years apart in time wasn’t frightening, as long as she continued to exist somewhere in this world.

That was what Skiass had said, staring up at the distant stars as if he was looking right through the cracked sky itself.

So what, then, was the one thing that could truly terrify them?

‘I need some fresh air.’ 

She needed to clear her head. After the scent of Skiass released while crying, she needed to air out the room, too.

But as soon as she opened the door, she jumped in surprise.

Tyrinos was standing there.

“What’s going on?”

“I needed to talk to you.”

He’d come with a purpose but seemed hesitant to come in because of whatever he’d sensed happening inside.

Tyrinos glanced inside, looking curious. But judging by his calm expression, he hadn’t heard Skiass crying and didn’t know what had happened. 

He had simply come to speak, and, noticing the mood inside, refrained from knocking or breaking the atmosphere.

“You seem to care about him a lot.” 

“Huh? Ah.”

Jiwoo glanced back inside. He hadn’t said who he meant, but it was obvious he was referring to Skiass, the one Jiwoo had just comforted just moments ago.