At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 278

Lugarmel nodded and gently took both of Jiwoo’s hands in his own. Contrary to his easygoing appearance, his hands were surprisingly large and warm.

“You must have been terribly frustrated, It was your own body, yet you never truly understood it while other people simply used it.”

There was genuine sympathy in his voice as he spoke about her past. Still, considering what she wanted to attempt now, he clearly had his reservations.

“So the reason you want to understand it this time, is it because you want to help other groups more easily?”

“Not entirely. I also want to be prepared in case I’m away on another expedition or temporarily lose my powers…”

That was the explanation she usually gave. But since they were alone, Jiwoo admitted what she had really been feeling.

“It was mine to begin with, and I hate that everyone else got to use it before I ever did.”

“Ah! I completely understand.”

He hadn’t seemed particularly invested when he’d assumed her motivation was simply helping others, but this, he understood wholeheartedly.

“And besides, in this case it was only Asilion who needed it. I was only planning to make something for him.”

Since her husbands clearly weren’t thrilled about Asilion visiting over and over again, this was the solution Jiwoo had come up with.

“No. It won’t be just him.”

“There’ll be others?”

“Yes. The surrounding environment has changed recently. That’s exactly what the honey is telling us. Even the flowering trees we cultivate have been affected. When something changes on that scale, it usually means the cause lies outside our control.”

“I heard it was because our tree has moved quite a bit.”

Lugarmel shook his head.

“If that were the only reason, then only we would have changed. It’s true that our tree has shifted somewhat, but the broader environment has changed as well. I suspect it’ll continue for quite some time, which means more people will likely come seeking your help.”

Even so, he didn’t sound particularly alarmed.

“They said it was like the tree catching a cold. Is it really nothing serious?”

“Hmm, that’s actually a very fitting comparison. If left alone, it’ll pass naturally in time.”

His attitude was remarkably similar to Asilion’s.

Just as lands naturally infused with miasma could suffer disasters like floods or typhoons, this too was simply another natural phenomenon. Even the worst storms eventually passed.

The tree’s role was to push back against those disturbances. From that perspective, what had happened to Asilion’s body was merely a side effect of the tree restoring balance to its surroundings.

It just happened to ruin the honey harvest along the way.

The honey remained edible, it simply tasted awful.

As long as the tree itself remained healthy, no one’s life was truly in danger. It was more the sort of lingering nuisance that became increasingly irritating the longer it lasted.

“…How long does something like this usually take to heal?”

“Hmm, I’d estimate somewhere between fifty and a hundred years. Since it’s an environmental issue, everyone simply has to tolerate a little discomfort until nature corrects itself.”

That estimate wasn’t far from what Asilion had guessed.

Still, it didn’t really make sense for Jiwoo.

‘Is it because they live so long?’

Apparently, they didn’t consider that span particularly significant. If humans had faced something like this, it would have consumed nearly an entire lifetime. Since it affected an entire region, people might even migrate en masse or start wars over it.

Then again, there had once been countries that went to war over food.

If that was the scale of the problem, then would members of other groups continue coming to seek her out? The solution itself wasn’t difficult. All she had to do was touch them once. But…

As Jiwoo silently pondered that, Lugarmel absentmindedly stroked the back of the hand he was still holding and spoke in a teasingly affectionate voice.

“Darling.”

“Huh? Ah… yes.”

She still wasn’t used to that form of address.

For some reason, Lugarmel didn’t look like the type, yet he always called her that with an almost playful sweetness.

She still found it strangely ticklish to hear.

“Before, you were worried because your body lacked the strength to protect itself.”

“I did think about that. But I’m fine with it now. I actually prefer things this way.”

She was genuinely satisfied with the person she had become. Living independently through overwhelming power certainly had its appeal. But more than that, Jiwoo wanted a peaceful life with her husbands.

And as she had fallen more deeply in love with them, she’d grown equally attached to the power that allowed her to protect that life.

“Exactly….But if someone from another group approached you with ill intentions, you would have no way to defend yourself, would you?”

That was true. Her husbands were always there to protect her so it should be fine.

As if reading her thoughts, Lugarmel continued.

“Just as you worry that we might be injured or fall ill while you’re away, I worry about you in exactly the same way. You understand, don’t you?”

“Huh? Ah… I suppose that’s true.”

Just as Jiwoo worried whenever she had to leave them behind, it made sense that they would feel the same whenever she was absent.

But why was he bringing it up?

Coming from a researcher rather than one of her husbands, it sounded less like simple concern and more like the beginning of a hypothesis.

“…Is there a way to prevent something like that?”