novelWhy is the white poplar by the river shining alone? (1)
| ← Ch.055 | Ch.057 → |
Chapter 56: Chapter 56 Why is the white poplar by the river shining alone? (1)
The wind was blowing towards the west section of the forest.
Like Wendy said, the Weslaya spores flew easily with very little wind and allowed the two to float in the air easily. Feeling the resistance of the wind around his body, Lard constantly moved the spores to adjust his direction without taking his eyes off her.
Despite his floating in the air for the first time in his life, he developed a sense of flying in no time.
"How do you feel? Don't you feel so good?"
Although she asked cheerfully, she was not in a good mood.
He opened his mouth, looking at her hardened face.
"Yes, the wind is very cool."
She nodded awkwardly, with her eyes trembling as if she felt dizzy.
In fact, she practiced a lot but was not used to flying.
"Now let's fly down slowly, " she said.
As the arm holding the spores was beyond her power, she spoke with a slightly suppressed voice. Although she built the strength of her arms through continuous training at the martial arts center, she couldn't hold on for a long time because of her weight. As soon as she finished talking, she carefully threw away a Weslaya spore.
At the same time, her body descended. She stared at the top of the trees, which seemed to touch her toes, and tightened her hand holding the spores. She went a little further forward.
"Well, can you see the river over there? Let's go down to the sandbar there. Can you get there?'"
Lard agreed, looking at her forehead with beads of sweat. What she pointed to was the end of the oak trees below the cliff. They floated in the wind and quickly reached their destination.
She stepped onto the sandbar, releasing the last spore from her hand. At that moment, she felt as much joy as she did when riding Balos across the field.
She trembled with excitement when she realized she had actually survived!
As she glanced at the last Weslaya spore soaring above the sky, she let out a sigh of relief with a smile.
Lard also felt greatly relieved when he safely landed like her. He rubbed his wet hands on his green jacket. His defenseless posture was rather unfamiliar to her. She slowly walked towards the stream after finding his gaze fixed on the floating Weslyaya spore in the air.
Sitting before the stream, she dipped her dirty hands in the water. As her burning wound touched the cold water, she felt a little better.
"Those dandelion spores..."
Lard drifted off.
Although she glanced at his face with a suspicious expression, he couldn't take his eyes off of the dandelion spores disappearing into the sky.
"As far as the Weslaya spores are concerned, don't worry. They won't do any harm to the Burgonu forest. Those that grow high like that don't have a long life. Most of all, the soil here is less sticky than the Weslaya region, which is unsuitable for the Weslaya dandelions. They won't have any impact on the ecosystem."
She gently rubbed the wounds on her right hand in the water to remove the dirt and leaf debris in it.
At first, she was also concerned that dandelions native to Weslaya could affect the ecology of the Burgonu forest. She was worried that using the power of her index finger indiscriminately could ruin the ecology of an area, so she always paid attention to it whenever she used it.
Approaching her in no time, he sat next to her and dipped his hands in the water. While shaking her hand in the water blankly, she turned to him with a startled look. The man gripped her wrist and lifted her hand without any hesitation as if it was his duty to do so. Small drops of water splashed and left round marks on the sandbar.
"What I'm concerned about is not the Burgonu forest... I saw your blood stains on the Weslaya stems... Your wounds are severe."
His eyebrows writhed when he frowned at her messy wound. The wound was worse than before.
"I was foolish. I should have moved after treating you first."
He hurriedly washed his hands in water and began to unbutton his jacket.
He wanted to use the clean cloth of his shirt.
"I regret I did not bring several handkerchiefs with me."
He already put his handkerchief, which got wet in the sudden shower, inside his luggage long ago. He also regretted that he didn't bring the first aid medicine that was still in Balos' saddlebags.
Her wounded hand made him feel ashamed of himself for failing to protect her.
Watching him taking off his jacket, she put her uninjured left hand into the inside of her jacket pocket and grabbed a crumpled handkerchief.
She hesitated a bit and pulled out her hand without anything. She couldn't hand him the handkerchief. Perhaps she recalled the handkerchief he had wrapped around her ankle at Jerus Hall, which she later cut off. As she felt that showing it to him would be to confess her sin, she didn't have the heart to give him the handkerchief.
Without knowing it, he ripped the white linen shirt he was wearing without hesitation.
He quickly wrapped up her hand skillfully. As he held the sword for a long time, he also experienced numerous injuries, so treating wounded hands was not that difficult.
"I remember you hurt your hand recently. Well, It's the opposite now."
She recalled her recent memory about him to shake off the awkward atmosphere.
"I may not be as good as you, but the cloth around your hand won't get undone easily. I think we should get back as soon as possible and have it treated to avoid it getting infected."
He grabbed a ripped piece of cloth and began to knot it. It was a special knot method used by the imperial knights.
She hesitated and opened her mouth with a sullen voice.
"Sir Schroder, can you tell me how to untie the knot?"
He looked at her face for a moment then showed her how to loosen the knot several times. He recalled the same knot that he had used to tie the handkerchief to her ankle recently. It was not difficult to imagine that she had a hard time undoing the knot.
"...It's easy. Just pull this rounded part forward. Do you understand?"
Listening to his explanation, she stuck her left hand into the pocket with an embarrassed expression. 'Why did I ask him how to loosen the knot? I wish I had taken out the handkerchief. Stupid!' She sighed deep inside.
"Oh, it's not that hard."
Nevertheless, she wanted to know how to untie the knot properly. She did not want to cut the knot with scissors again. She didn't understand why she felt the urge to ask.
"Your hands are also wounded badly. Don't you feel pain?" she said, watching him tying the knot with his wounded hands.
"No, I don't feel as wounded as you are. Just little scratches..."
"You have scratches on your face, too..."
Wendy couldn't speak anymore, looking into his face with black bruises here and there.
It was he who needed urgent treatment rather than herself, she thought.
Lowering her head, she hesitated for a while then took out her handkerchief.
She felt she couldn't afford to care about her own shame.
"Wait a moment...Let me see your wounds."
When she dipped the handkerchief into the clean water, wrung it out, and looked at his face, she suddenly felt tense. Her heart was pounding loudly.
She looked hard into his eyes, trying to focus.
'I'm just trying to do good for him! I'm returning his favor!'
She had to fidget with the handkerchief for a while to convince herself to justify her actions.
"I think I need to wipe your wounds clean...So, please don't get me wrong."
She reached out to his face, saying something she didn't have to say. As expected, he showed his face without any reaction. She felt relieved.
She caught her breath slowly, pressing the handkerchief over his forehead.
'I don't know why I'm so nervous! Maybe over here where that wisteria petal landed. '
While wiping his face, she tried to distract herself. But the petal that sat on his face came to her mind vividly.
It was unwise for her to recall the wisteria petal at the moment because she kept recalling the act of her kindly taking the petal off his face. She blushed.
"...Done."
She lowered her head, dipping the handkerchief into the water urgently. This time, too, Lard did not say anything. She felt it was fortunate that Lard was a man of few words. Of course, he was tense at that moment, too. She was not aware that he was trying his best not to show his feelings by reciting the Imperial Knights code of conduct.
After taking a long rest near the stream, they stood up. They barely endured the awkward atmosphere.
He picked up his jacket as if he wanted to wear it again. She saw red and blue bruises on his back and shoulders through a thin linen shirt. Obviously, they were the wounds caused by the fall.
She quickly turned her eyes away from it and tried not to feel a sense of guilt.
| ← Ch. 055 | Ch. 057 → |