At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 273
Spring had already come to El Ragneil several times since Jiwoo first arrived.
By now, she had grown accustomed to the way winter ended here, with spring beginning in the first month after the Festival.
This spring, Jiwoo had come out with her husbands to gather honey.
Callan, Kaman, and Enci had joined her, as their scents were relatively poor at attracting bees. Enci wasn’t particularly suited to this kind of work, but the mint-like fragrance he carried naturally repelled bees, so he was often called in whenever honey was harvested.
“Jiwoo, come a little closer.”
“I think I’m fine here.”
Perhaps because the Children of Ellandos were so easily bothered by insects, Enci seemed more concerned about Jiwoo than himself. Strangely enough, though, despite living in a land teeming with bees and butterflies, Jiwoo had never been stung once.
“Maybe it’s because we’ve planted so many seeds we received as gifts, but the flowers smell especially fragrant this year.”
All those business trips had paid off in an unexpected way.
The flowering trees around the village bloomed more vibrantly than ever, filling the air with rich, layered scents. Even the naturally strong fragrances of her husbands seemed somehow more pronounced this season.
“That may be part of it.”
Callan said, offering another possibility.
“I think our tree has moved quite a bit. That could be the reason as well.”
“Really? Then this year’s harvest should be even better, right? The honey we gathered last year was already delicious. Even the tree smells wonderful this year.”
Jiwoo brightened immediately. As far as she knew, whenever their tree moved, it was always a good sign.
However, Callan tilted his head thoughtfully, as though something still bothered him.
“Precisely because of that, we should inspect the first batch of honey carefully. If the flowers have changed, the honey is bound to change with them.”
No sooner had he voiced the concern than it became reality. Kaman sampled the honey from the jar he had just filled and immediately frowned.
“Uh… this isn’t good.”
“What is it?”
“Look at the color.”
Normally, the honey produced in their village was a pale golden color, almost white. This year’s batch was much darker. It wasn’t the usual amber or reddish-gold, either. There was an unmistakable bluish tint swirling through it, as though someone had mixed blue paint into the honey.
Callan dipped a honey spoon into it, tasted it once, and slowly shook his head.
“…It’s poisonous. We can’t eat this.”
“It suddenly became poisonous?”
It had been perfectly fine just last year. Perhaps the flowers or trees the bees had been feeding from had changed. She had heard that honey could become toxic when that happened.
Still, after everyone had come all this way to gather it together, it felt like such a waste.
“…If it’s just poison, wouldn’t it be alright?”
Poisons generally didn’t affect Akarna very much… and perhaps she could even remove the toxicity altogether. Besides, there were surprisingly quite a few Children of Ellandos who actually enjoyed ingesting poisonous substances.
Jiwoo found herself thinking far more boldly these days than she had in the past. This was just another example. Callan found that change rather adorable and smiled to himself. Still, poison wasn’t actually the real problem.
“Haha, that’s not the issue. It simply doesn’t taste very good.”
“Really? Let me try it too.”
“Of course. After you detoxify me first.”
Callan playfully puckered his lips.
These days, her husbands no longer tried to shelter her from absolutely everything. Small, slightly risky games like this had become something they all enjoyed.
“I did just drink poison, after all.”
“Oh, alright.”
Jiwoo leaned in and kissed him.
The moment their lips met, she tasted something sharp and prickly, almost as though it really were poison. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, just incredibly unusual.
“What are you two doing now?”
Enci, who had been diligently collecting honey a short distance away, grumbled after spotting the affectionate display.
Standing right beside him, Kaman quietly held out the honey jar and whispered.
“You have to eat this first if you want to do that.”
“Huh?”
Although puzzled, Enci didn’t even inspect the honey before taking a generous mouthful of the honey Kaman offered. His face turned pale almost instantly.
“Ugh, what is this? Why does it taste like this?”
“Kim Enci, you actually fell for that?”
“…”
Kim Enci’s ears flattened sharply. He looked about two seconds away from exploding.
Just then, a voice called from beyond the hill in the distance.
“Seo Jiwoo! There you are!”
They had a special visitor today.
***
They decided to discuss the honey contamination later. For now, Jiwoo went to greet their guest.
“It’s been quite a while.”
“It really has. Have you been well?”
Even with his hood pulled low over his face, she recognized him immediately from afar. His long silver hair spilled out beneath the hood, and his group was one of the few with whom they kept in regular contact.
Asilion hadn’t come empty-handed. He held out an elegantly wrapped box to Jiwoo.
“The nearby trees have all started acting strangely. I had a feeling you might need this.”
“Huh? This is exactly what we needed. Thank you.”
When Jiwoo opened the box, she found jars of honey that gleamed like liquid gold.
Considering this year’s honey harvest in their own village was practically a complete loss, it couldn’t have been a more welcome gift.
“But how did you know we’d need this? Did something happen over there too?”
“A little.”
“Is your tree sick again?”
Asilion smiled, clearly pleased that she was worried about him, but quickly waved the concern away.
“Oh, nothing that serious. It’s just that I’ve been having a bit of trouble physically, and I was hoping you might be able to help.”
As he spoke, he rolled back his sleeve to reveal his wrist. After removing the ornaments covering his arm, the skin beneath was finally exposed. It had turned pitch black, as though someone had soaked it in ink.
Jiwoo immediately recognized what she was looking at.