Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A few Aquilean women were chattering when they saw her. Enya noticed that their atmosphere was suspicious and guessed what was going on. She glanced around anxiously in search of Tarhan.

The land inhabited by Aquilea was incomparable to other tribes. However, finding the deputy chieftain’s existence was easier than expected. It was because Tarhan was an eye-catching presence wherever he went.

Tarhan moved around for his work, and people came to him even if there was a problem or no problem, so there were always people around Tarhan.

At that moment, a familiar silhouette entered Enya’s field of vision. She caught Rigata’s wide-eyed gaze upon seeing her, and she limped towards him.

Rigata quickly stepped in the direction Enya was coming.

“Enya.”

Rigata, Tarhan’s henchman, was Suya’s half-brother and the elder’s son.

Muscles twitched in his body as he walked. Countless indescribable scars remained on his entire body with his upper body exposed — it was proof that he was a warrior who made a breakthrough in battle. A medal of victory and proof that he survived death.

He had the second highest number of wounds among Aquilea’s young warriors. Naturally, as he moved, the eyes of the Perugian women turned red. So did some Aquilean women.

The chieftain, Kahanti, had been ill for a long time, and the deputy chieftain, Tarhan, did not even consider any other Aquilean women. Naturally, the area around Rigata was filled with women who wanted to attract him to their hut.

“Tarhan must have told you not to come out, so why are you here?”

Approaching a few steps away from her, Rigata nagged.

“Where is Tarhan?”

Enya immediately asked where Tarhan was. However, Rigata answered without even telling her to follow him.

“Go back. I’ll walk you.”

“I came out to find Tarhan. When I woke up, he was already out… And yesterday…”

“Tarhan will take care of everything yesterday. Tarhan is very busy today. He has a lot of work to do since he had just returned.”

As always, he was an impregnable man.

While Rigata was only polite in the way he spoke, he had a disposition that gave no such thing as mercy.

“Tarhan is talking to the head woman of Perugia who came with him now. So don’t disturb him and go home.”

He just cut her out.

Enya knew he had said that he would take her, and eventually, she would be taken to Tarhan’s hut. Turning her head, she escaped from Rigata and tried to find Tarhan even alone. Fortunately, Rigata was also conscious of Tarhan’s eyes, so he could not force her.

Instead, he closely followed Enya, who was walking blindly in the other direction.

“Enya, can’t you hear me? Tarhan…”

Ignoring Rigata’s words, Enya hesitated and walked for a while. At that moment, a sharp woman’s scream rang out from somewhere. Enya noticed that the owner of the voice was someone she knew well.

It was Ruhan.

Her steps were fast, but she couldn’t run, so her heart was impatient.

“Enya. It won’t look good.”

Although Rigata stood in front of Enya to stop her, she went forward blindly.

Nonetheless, Rigata couldn’t touch Enya’s body. Not only Rigata, but all the men who were close to Tarhan knew how dangerous it was. She was well aware of that. Enya rushed forward without hesitation, in the hopes of pushing Rigata back by pushing her body whenever she could.

Upon arriving at the scene, she saw familiar faces. Ruhan, Suya, and Ashika were all lined up together with the other girls.

In front of him, Servia was passing by, looking at them with sharp eyes.

Servia was the woman who gave birth to the most children from the chieftain Kahanti, and her speech was harsh, so there were many young women who were afraid of her. Servia managed and represented the tribal women after Kahanti fell ill.

“You made a scandal on the Day of Repose, you’re not even little children…!”

Servia, who had been shouting sharply, stopped in front of Suya. In an instant, she slapped Suya’s cheek, who was bowing down.

SLAP!

A terrifying noise was heard, and Suya’s head turned.

Enya stiffened in surprise. Suya sobbed as she grabbed the hit cheek before bending her body. Ashika, who was standing next to her, was also anxiously swallowing a gulp.

“Didn’t I say it wouldn’t look good?”

Rigata’s words scratched her stomach. He advised her to follow him, as he would take her back… but she took her steps in the opposite direction of where he was going. Servia’s hand, which had been raised to deliver it against Ashika’s cheek, stopped when she saw her presence.

Enya stiffened as she saw Servia raise her indigo eyes sharply.

Servia was a menacing presence. She was as thin and neat as a young woman, even after having had four children. After Kahanti fell ill, she continued to take on the same job of educating and supervising young women.

She saw that, apart from Tarhan’s vehement dislike of Servia for what she had said about Enya, he recognized Servia’s ability to lead. There was no talent like Servia to manage the young women of the tribe.

When she stood in front of her, Enya was always intimidated.

If she was as old as Servia was, had a noble status as the daughter of elders, and had produced as many children for Tarhan as Servia bore children from Kahanti, she thought she would rule over women without fear—just like Servia.

No matter how much she thought about it, it seemed that that day would never come.

Servia, having seen Enya, still raised her hand to the sky. Her lips twisted.

“…Stupid things. Even if I warned you not to cross the line like that, I can’t believe I still have to do this.”

Slap!

Soon after, Ashika also had her head turned. Servia did not stop, even though the women’s cheeks were puffed up. Returned to her first position, she tried to slap Ruhan on the cheek again with a savage expression.

Enya quickly approached them. She called Servia’s name as loudly as she could.

“Servia…!”

Servia, who had seen Enya, raised her sharp eyes and spoke in a tone as if lecturing her.

“What’s going on?”

The tone that showed she was offended was evident. Servia was one of the few people who didn’t fear Tarhan when dealing with Enya. Enya knew that her voice would tremble when she stood in front of Servia.

“Servia… I think there is a misunderstanding.”

Servia narrowed her eyes at Enya’s words.

“What misunderstanding? Now, I am scolding the immature women who caused a scandal on the Day of Repose, as the deputy chieftain ordered yesterday. At the end of the day, something big was about to happen.”

Enya tightly closed her eyes.

As expected, Tarhan had already roughly noticed what had happened last night. This time, she didn’t know what he had done to find the women who bullied her. Even that was not enough, he used Servia, the head of the women who disliked Enya the most, to punish them.

She knew this was not a coincidence.

Tarhan had no hesitation in using his position as deputy chieftain to punish the women who tormented her. When he was in such a situation, he would surely use Servia to punish them. She did not know if this was a feud between Servia and Tarhan, who did not recognize Enya as his woman.

“This is the place where I am entrusted with the chieftain’s authority to punish these women. No one should have come in without my permission.”

Servia glanced at Enya’s body up and down and smiled. The inside of her stomach was twisted by itself at those infinitely ignoring eyes.

“But, I am not just no one. Those women…”

Saying so, she glanced at Ruhan, Suya and Ashika. They couldn’t even raise their heads and just stared at the ground. Seeing them reminded her of what happened last night. Feelings of endless sadness or anger flooded in.

Enya clenched her teeth and said.

“…Whatever they did wrong, it is right to apologize to me, not to Servia.”

Servia raised one eyebrow.

“Are you questioning my authority given by the deputy chieftain now?”

“It’s not like that… Though because I am the target of their wrongdoing, I’m asking you to let them off even if you punish me.”

Enya opened her eyes and spoke to Servia, who had lined up Ruhan, Suya and Ashika.

“Besides, Ruhan is pregnant now. What if the child is miscarried? Please. Please stop here.”

Servia sneered as she begged.

Regardless, she didn’t seem to find any excuse to further punish Ruhan’s group, who had been lined up without a word. As she licked her lips, she looked at Enya and gave a brief command.

“…Stop.”

Even Servia did not want to go against Tarhan’s. Hearing that command, Ruhan, Suya, and Ashika quickly turned around.

“Wait.”

However, Enya summoned them.

“I asked Servia to stop… I never said I would not punish you.”

Servia crossed her arms with curious eyes and watched Enya in front of Ruhan. As expected, Ruhan’s cheeks were swollen. Ruhan didn’t meet her eyes.

Enya approached Suya this time. A slight scratch remained on Suya’s cheek.

When she saw them, she was overcome with an unknown emotion. Those days when she sneaked around the workshop to catch the eyes of those women… The nights she practiced alone to learn how to weave a basket like the Aquilean…

Her body was trembling. At the same time, she remembered what they had done to her last night.

“You… You think you’ll never be like me. But, how are you sure?”

—

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