At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 275
“Aren’t you the one who did something wrong?”
“…That’s rather harsh. Is my face really that untrustworthy?”
Even though Asilion had clearly been the one getting beaten, Jiwoo instinctively sided with her husband, prompting him to complain with disappointment.
She knew their group was a little more aggressive than the average children of Ellandos, but they weren’t the sort to resort to violence without a reason. At least… she hoped not.
“It’s not that. It’s just… Quillon isn’t that kind of person.”
“As if.”
Asilion snorted in immediate disagreement.
“I’d heard rumors that someone around here had been going around beating up children of Ellandos for no apparent reason. After seeing his methods firsthand, I’d say the rumors were about him.”
“…Methods?”
“I was told he settles things with his bare fists.”
Jiwoo’s gaze naturally dropped to Quillon’s hands. Startled, he immediately clasped them together. Those hands, which were always so gentle whenever they touched her, had supposedly been going around beating people?
She found it difficult to believe.
“Quillon?”
“…Yes.”
Pressed long enough, he finally answered in a quiet voice.
“Really?”
“….”
Silence was as good as an admission.
“Come to think of it, do you remember the group from Silaran Hill that you visited before?”
“Hm?”
“What about Lamun? Surely you remember that snake.”
Lamun?
Jiwoo searched her memory.
She didn’t immediately recognize the name Silaran Hill, but she remembered Lamun well. Now that she thought about it, their Ellandos tree had been on higher ground.
“You mean… the group that asked me to heal their tree, then ambushed us the moment they found an opening?”
“Exactly.”
“What about them?”
Asilion dusted himself off as he nodded toward Quillon.
“I imagine they were the first ones he dealt with. That’s where the rumors started.”
“Then…”
She had vaguely suspected it during their business trip to the beach, but perhaps it was finally time to admit the truth. The group she had chosen was considerably more combative than the average children of Ellandos.
Still, they weren’t violent without reason.
“…Isn’t that alright?”
“…!”
Both Asilion and Quillon flinched at the unexpected response.
“You were protecting me, weren’t you?”
“…”
Jiwoo wanted to believe there had been a good reason. More than that, she wanted Quillon himself to say so.
He remained stubbornly silent for a long moment before finally speaking.
“This has nothing to do with you, Jiwoo. This matter was entirely personal, and I ended up causing you trouble. I sincerely apologize.”
“You don’t need to apologize… Back then, so many things happened at once that we only scolded them and let them go.”
Considering that group had actually tried to kill them, letting them leave with nothing more than a warning had been remarkably merciful.
Normally, when the children of Ellandos clashed, retaliation only led to more retaliation until the conflict dragged on endlessly. But that never happened.
Jiwoo had never imagined Quillon had quietly taken care of it himself.
“You…you weren’t hurt, were you? You should’ve said something…”
It was the only thing she could think to ask.
Truthfully, she herself was flustered. She had never dealt with anything like this before, and the words had simply come tumbling out.
“….”
She didn’t know what those words meant to Quillon.
His face turned bright red all the way to his ears, and he hurriedly covered them with both hands. The children of Ellandos wore their emotions plainly on their ears, and apparently he had no intention of letting anyone see them.
“Yes, I’m fine. I apologize.”
With that, Quillon bowed deeply and fled. Asilion let out a helpless laugh.
“See? He apologizes to you, not to me. I’m the one who got punched.”
He seemed determined to convince Jiwoo that Quillon wasn’t nearly as gentle as she imagined.
“I’m sorry.”
In the end, Jiwoo apologized on Quillon’s behalf.
Asilion had come seeking treatment, only to leave after getting beaten up instead. She genuinely felt bad. After healing the bruises on his face, she told him to come visit again another time.
Asilion didn’t even pretend to refuse. Like a typical children of Ellandos, he immediately recognized an opportunity when he saw one.
In any case, even though the condition of the tree meant it would probably be difficult for them to harvest honey for quite some time, he had still brought Jiwoo the finest jar they had left.
All Jiwoo had done in return was touch the back of his hand once. It hardly seemed like enough.
As she pondered how she might repay him properly, she went to ask Callan for advice. But the moment Callan arrived, her thoughts drifted somewhere else entirely.
“…I mostly spend time with the people I’m comfortable with.”
“Hm?”
“My husbands.”
She had wanted to talk with Quillon after that incident, but somehow never managed to find the opportunity. And because of that, the worry had only continued to grow.
“I keep wondering whether some of them still feel uncomfortable around me.”
“You’re actually worrying about that?”
Callan looked genuinely surprised.
“Well… if you think about it, except for a few of you, everyone married me first.”
“They all married once before that, though.”
“…Let’s set that aside.”
Callan could have repeated the usual explanation that the children of Ellandos weren’t the ones who chose their partners in the first place, so it wasn’t something worth worrying about.
But Jiwoo already knew that. Knowing it didn’t stop her from worrying. So instead, Callan explained it in a way she could understand more easily.
“In that case… perhaps what you’re sensing has more to do with the roles each of us naturally takes on.”