At the End of the Hidden Greenery - Chapter 288

“That bastard looks like the type who’d actually do it if told… so try not to suggest it unless absolutely necessary.”

“Mm… all right.”

Neither Jiwoo nor Mel had any intention of testing it that way anyway.

They might be able to use the medicine once Helka’s team returns, so for now, she decided to set the matter aside.

Jiwoo also wanted to clear her head after worrying for so long. She was considering taking a nighttime walk with Reed before heading home.

“Hmm?”

A powerful wave of lilac fragrance reached her first. Before she could identify where it was coming from, an irritated voice rang out.

“Are you seriously not opening this? Hey! Hey, open the door!”

Bang! Bang! Someone was even kicking the firmly shut door.

“I swear I’m going to kill you, you bastard!”

That was followed by some rather vicious swearing. Jiwoo and Reed headed toward the commotion.

“What happened?”

“No, damn it, Skiass, that motherf…”

Jiwoo, who had been following behind Reed, peeked around him at the sound of the crude language.

“Ji, Jiwoo!”

The owner of the voice jumped in alarm and clapped both hands over his mouth. Apparently, he had been caught kicking Skiass’s door while cursing at the top of his lungs.

“Kelvar? What were you doing? What did Skiass do?”

At her question, Kelvar’s expression tightened even with both hands still covering his mouth.

“No, it’s just…”

The hair of the Children of Ellandos could change color with the seasons, much like flower petals. Of them all, Kelvar’s transformation was the most dramatic.

This spring, his hair had turned a brilliant lilac and hung in loose waves past his waist. A fragrance so rich it was almost dizzying spilled from between the strands.

That sweet scent was also extremely effective at attracting insects.

The butterflies fluttering around Kelvar made that obvious. Jiwoo had seen a few near him before, but there were far more than usual today.

She had already noticed that the flowers smelled unusually strong this year. Apparently, Kelvar had been affected as well.

“Ugh, damn it.”

The insects must have been irritating him, because he waved his hands to drive them away. It was a surprisingly impatient gesture.

Kelvar was normally so relaxed that he sometimes seemed sluggish. Jiwoo had never seen him this irritable before.

“What happened was…”

Kelvar was just about to explain when.

Creeeak. Skiass slowly opened the tightly shut door and poked his head out.

“El is here…?”

“Thi, this little…”

Kelvar clutched the back of his neck as though he might collapse from rage.

Skiass had ignored him completely even when he had been shouting and nearly kicking the door down, yet the moment he heard Jiwoo had arrived, he had quietly crept outside.

“Skiass?”

Then Jiwoo noticed the small scratch on his cheek.

“Were you hurt?”

“Kelvar did it…”

“Hey!”

The moment Skiass began blaming him, Kelvar shouted.

“You shouldn’t have started acting insane in the first place!”

Apparently, Skiass had done something wrong…

“Well, well. Look at this brat.”

Thump. A heavy sound followed. Narkreed had struck Kelvar on the top of the head with his knuckles.

“What kind of language is that in front of El?”

“…”

Kelvar glared at Skiass with wide, hurt eyes. Then he pushed out his lips and complained with childish resentment.

“I wasn’t saying it to Jiwoo.”

“Hey.”

When Reed warned him again, Kelvar obediently apologized.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have made you listen to that.”

Jiwoo shook her head and stopped Reed.

“Let’s hear what happened first.”

“Jiwoo…”

Kelvar’s eyes brightened with emotion as though she had taken his side, and he bit his lower lip.

“What could have happened to make someone as gentle as him this angry…?”

“You’ve misunderstood something. This bastard has always been like this.”

“What?”

That couldn’t be true.

Kelvar was one of the mildest people in the entire group. If his brothers threw a snowball directly into his face during a snowball fight, he would simply stare blankly into the air and let it go. Whenever his brothers invited him to join them in something, he rarely refused.

His temperament was so unhurried that Jiwoo had assumed he was one of the older brothers. But that was not the case either. She had heard that he was actually younger than Enci.

That was how gentle Jiwoo believed him to be. However, Reed shook his head.

“Think about it. You’ve only ever spent time with Kelvar during the winter.”

“…Have I?”

“Probably.”

When Jiwoo thought back on the days she had spent with Kelvar, they were indeed mostly during the cold season, when every breath turned white.

Part of that impression came from the fact that Jiwoo had first met them during winter.

When she initially arrived in El Ragneil, she often slept for long periods while adjusting to the environment. 

Kelvar was usually the one who held her close and surrounded her with his comforting fragrance. His loose hair always had a faint lilac scent that soothed both her body and mind, and whenever she woke from a nightmare, he would stroke her gently until she fell asleep again.

One of the biggest reasons Jiwoo had come to accept that El Ragneil was different from the place where she had once lived was the calming fragrance that filled the air everywhere.

That same fragrance had now become rather overpowering.

“This one has an especially strong scent, so he rarely comes outside during spring and summer.”

At the moment, Kelvar had twisted up and tied the hair that had hung loose all winter.

Apparently, it was the best way to lessen the fragrance even slightly.