At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 284
Jiwoo couldn’t help worrying, because her husbands sometimes had a tendency to be self-destructive.
Worse, whenever something had caused even the slightest harm to her, they had a habit of hiding exactly what had happened.
Unable to take Narkreed’s word for it, Jiwoo turned to Lancet and Arven, silently demanding an explanation.
Lancet looked at her face and pretended to be surprised.
“Did you… already go underground? You sound like you know exactly what happened…”
“Only as far as the entrance.”
When Jiwoo shifted her gaze to Arven, he immediately spilled everything.
“We did run into someone from the roots, but it really wasn’t anything serious.”
“So what exactly happened?”
Lancet and Arven exchanged a glance before finally confessing.
“…They picked a fight with us out of nowhere, so we hit them.”
Of course. There had been a clash after all. And with an underground group notorious for their foul tempers, no less.
“I doubt they just stood there and let you hit them.”
“We only exchanged a few punches. That was all, really.”
“And we won…”
Arven had started to boast about their victory, but Jiwoo’s sharp look made him clamp his mouth shut.
“So it’s exactly as Mel said. You came back because there was suddenly a problem. There was already no reason for the two groups to get along, and then you fought someone from that group. If it wasn’t entirely one-sided and you exchanged several blows…”
“El, we hit them more.”
“Enough. Stop. It was three against one. That isn’t something to be proud of.”
Apparently unable to endure hearing any more, Narkreed cut them off. Jiwoo slowly turned her gaze back to Arven.
“There were three of us…”
That was not something to brag about…
For now, Jiwoo decided not to dwell on how shamelessly unfair her group could be.
“Anyway…”
It didn’t matter who had won.
The underground people had absorbed much more of the Tree’s poison. Even if they weren’t especially skilled fighters, they were probably at least as dangerous as Marron and Night. The mention of poison also made her wonder whether the three had been poisoned during the fight.
“Were your eyes injured then?”
“No. I already told you, I wasn’t hurt. Do I look like the kind of man who’d lose to something like that?”
“Not exactly, but…”
Since he had trained his brothers in hunting and combat since they were young, Narkreed was exceptionally capable physically.
However, he had been forced into retirement for a long time after Ellandos fell ill. It was only recently that he had recovered.
Jiwoo’s Akarna power had healed the starvation and decay ravaging his body, but it couldn’t restore everything he had lost after becoming sick. Even so, she had heard that his former abilities were gradually returning.
“You haven’t been recovered for very long. Of course I’m worried.”
“Fair enough. I suppose it is reasonable to worry. But I’m not injured.”
Despite insisting that he was fine, he still refused to look at Jiwoo even once.
“Then why do you keep covering your eyes?”
“Because you’re too dazzling.”
“…”
The unexpected attack left Jiwoo speechless.
“Damn.”
“He actually said that…”
Lancet and Arven, who ranked among the most hopelessly inexperienced men in the group when it came to romance, stared at him in awe.
However, Jiwoo narrowed her eyes.
“You think a line like that will make me let this go?”
“What the hell have you two done to El for her to trust us this little?”
Narkreed scolded Lancet and Arven.
“It, it wasn’t us.”
“That was all Solmih and Skiass…”
Lancet and Arven had every right to feel wronged. Neither of them was particularly clever with words, and more importantly, they were completely incapable of lying.
“I’m fine, so you don’t need to examine me. You were planning to use that Akarna power or whatever it is, weren’t you?”
“It doesn’t take much effort.”
“No, I just don’t think it would help much. Check these two instead.”
As though proving he truly was fine, Narkreed sprang to his feet, still covering both eyes with one hand.
He rose in an almost picture-perfect motion, turned around, and attempted to enter his home.
Bang!
“Whoops.”
He walked straight into the door.
“It was closed.”
He had nearly fallen backward after striking his forehead, but quickly regained his balance. An ordinary person would have toppled over, and recovering so smoothly might have looked impressive under different circumstances.
Unfortunately, the situation itself was anything but impressive.
“…Are you really all right?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.”
“I meant your forehead, not your eyes…”
He had been adamant about not letting her examine his eyes, and she could accept that for the moment. But the sound of his forehead striking the door had been extremely loud.
“…That part actually does hurt. But I’m embarrassed, so please let me go hide.”
Apparently, walking face-first into a door had wounded his pride more than anything else.
Narkreed fled toward the forest instead of entering his home, acting as though his obstructed vision caused him no difficulty whatsoever. Once he reached the trees, he moved without hesitation despite still covering his eyes.
It seemed the collision with the door had simply been a mistake caused by his flustered state. Unless there was some other problem…
‘Is he really all right?’
The Children of Ellandos did rely more heavily on their hearing than their sight.
While Jiwoo watched him disappear into the forest with concern, Lancet muttered quietly to Arven,
“If it were me, I would’ve said I was hurt.”
“Why?”
“El would’ve examined me.”
“Ah…!”
Arven sighed as though that possibility had never occurred to him. Having heard every word of their whispering, Jiwoo slowly turned toward them and approached.
“Lancet. Arven.”
“Yes?”
“What, what is it?”
When Jiwoo beckoned them closer, they hurried over at once.
Since they had already been scolded, both men approached cautiously, watching her expression.