At The End Of The Hidden Greenery

Chapter 6

Yes. That’s right. That was the right thing to do. Thinking about it rationally, that’s all right. He was a member of the imperial family, and she was merely a shell of the Akarna that could be replaced at any time.

She did not know when she would die due to the Akarna’s frequent dispatch to the wastelands.

She could bear no successor. The crown prince had done nothing wrong.

Besides, he was not going to throw her away, he was just going to give her a realistic place. Wasn’t this sensible enough?

But what about her? No one asked her opinion or even her feelings. They said that it was an honor for her that they had decided on their own and she had to accept it.

She clenched her fists tightly. She trembled all the way to her shoulders.

“That wasn’t the only way.”

“Hmm? Another way? Oh, hahaha. No way.”

The fan that was making the wind softly blew past. What she saw behind that was a pitiful look. The woman seemed to laugh at her for wanting too much from her position.

“You didn’t expect Aleph to abandon my terms and choose only you, right?”

Thousands of words went round and round in her head, but only one word came out of her mouth.

“Ha.”

She clearly remembered what she was thinking that day.

She was, after all, just a stranger here.

* * *

Drip, drip, drip.

The cold water dripping down on her forehead gently opened her eyes. Suddenly, the light entered her senses and her vision got blurry. A long time later, when the first sight was seen, all she could see was the roots of a tree dripping with water.

Was she still lying here? Jiwoo hurriedly got up.

“Ugh… Ah.”

Her head was spinning. Her whole body was lethargic. She felt off, as if she had slept from drinking some sleeping pills last night, then woke up.

However, for lying down for such a long time, her body was not cold. A thick cloth was draped over her body.

There was a bonfire burning not far away.

‘I cut my arm with a knife…’

Jiwoo looked down at her arm, which was carefully wrapped in a white, clean cloth.

Only the wounded area was swollen, and the cloth was stained with blood. Jiwoo carelessly touched that side.

“Uh.”

The open wound hurt her. Jiwoo gave up looking at her wound and looked around.

Of course she was alone. There was no way the escort had come down here to rescue her.

The man of the other race that she had purified the miasma from… She didn’t save him for anything, so he probably had no intention of taking her to a nearby village. Still, the fire seemed to have been left behind.

Drip, drip.

‘What a tough life.’

As Akarna, she realized something after doing relief work for a long time. It’s either people died surprisingly easily, or they didn’t die surprisingly easily.

She must have been closer to the latter since she was Akarna.

“Hoo…”

She let out a sigh.