Chapter 22

Chapter 22

“He trusts me? The deputy chieftain…?”

Still, Ihita secretly asked one more time.

Her expression became strangely satisfied only after hearing Enya’s enthusiastic reply, ‘Of course.’ There was no reason to be offended when she was trusted by the deputy chieftain, who had reached the peak of his life and was at the peak of his power.

“By the way, Enya, why is your neck so swollen again…?”

She asked, looking at Enya’s neck, that she had been looking at with suspicious eyes for a long time. It kept getting on her nerves. The dazzling mottled marks on her slender, white neck kept catching her attention.

Ihita quickly turned, confused, and opened her mouth.

“Are there many bugs in the house? May I bring you some herbs?”

What kind of seasonal insect had made Enya’s neck to such a level that there was no more smooth skin on that pretty neck?

Ihita clicked his tongue.

That deputy chieftain… She thought he really cared for Enya, but he left her getting bug bites that bad. Ihita thought he was a very ignorant man.

The woman’s skin was so white, like it was not exposed to the sun, but as if someone had grabbed it and kneaded it with a strong grip just a while ago. There were endless bruises not only on her neck but also on the path down to her chest.

“Oh my God, it must have bitten your stomach, too. Take off your clothes, I’ll give you some medicine.”

Ihita lifted Enya’s coat slightly before she was able to avoid it, then saw her nape and her reddish skin, just like the nape of her neck. She rummaged through her basket.

However, Enya got shocked and clasped her clothes tightly and waved her hands violently.

“No! No, it’s really okay. It’s not an insect bite, it’s just a rash…!”

Enya’s white face turned red like an earthen vessel heated in the furnace, as she claimed so strongly that it wasn’t an insect bite.

She was so red that Ihita was at a loss for words for a moment.

“Reash? There are also medicines that are good for rashes. Take off your clothes first. Uh, did it get to your leg?”

There were similar marks on her white thighs, which were dangling from under the long skirt, so thick that they could never be mistaken. How impressive it was that it bit her whole body—!

Now, beyond doubt and with certainty, Ihita grabbed Enya.

“You have to treat it early! I will give you medicine.”

“No! No! Ihita, it’s really fine! No pain at all! It disappears quickly with time! It’s really fine, so…!”

Her big eyes were so round that they couldn’t get any bigger, swinging her arms back and forth, pushing Ihita away. Enya got embarrassed, slowly pulling her skirt down to her ankles and pulling the coat up to her neck in shame, to the point that the inside of her throat tickled strangely.

She was so embarrassed that she was about to cry, so she had no choice but to reply that she would be fine.

Hearing Enya, it seemed like it was a common occurrence, but Ihita wondered if it was an early symptom of skin disease.

‘Old Woman Piache also said that Enya is different from other Aquilean girls, so she can’t be taken lightly for a moment.’

Ihita looked at Enya with troubled eyes.

“Still, I’m going to talk to Tarhan. I suspect it’s a precursor to a skin disease, so he won’t blame me for your illness later, right?”

Ihita folded her arms and threatened the patient like a healer.

Enya answered with a cold sweat on her face.

“Huh? Uh, uh…”

Talking to Tarhan seemed very embarrassing.

Enya’s face, which seemed like it could no longer blush anymore, became even redder there. As she contemplated whether she should say something or not, she eventually pursed her lips and shut her mouth.

Ihita looked at Enya with her cheeks blushing while she was looking at her, and she got a strange feeling that somehow made her feel bad. So, she nagged Enya about the skin disease. Even at the words that would make another tribe scared, Enya only shook her head and didn’t look too scared.

Perhaps because she was the deputy chieftain’s woman that her courage resembles him? Ihita thought shyly, looking at the patient who was not afraid of her threats.

So, after making a fuss, her appetite changed. Ihita picked up the boiled beans that Enya had brought out one by one and ate them while speaking to her.

“Ah, this is delicious. I had something to say anyway.”

Then, she was unable to speak as she chewed the sweet bean stew in her mouth. So, the food was good. She just thought it was the deputy chieftain’s favorite, but every snack she brought out matched her palate.

‘This is why, every time it’s time to eat, the deputy chieftain struggles to get home somehow…’

It was possible to eat meals outside at least once while doing business, but Ihita had never seen the deputy chieftain having a meal with other men.

“Ihita, I have something else, do you want it? It’s fried in peanut oil…”

Besides, Enya was going to give it to her first, so she couldn’t resist. She wondered if Enya had any bizarre hobbies that made her feel happy when she saw other people eating when Enya herself was skinny.

Enya got excited and encouraged her to do this and that, but Ihita didn’t hate it.

“This is delicious, too.”

“Ah, right…? It was made by Tarhan.”

Enya’s eyes quickly curved, and she responded with a smile. Her face bloomed like a flower. She was happy as she’d always thought so, and now she had found someone to share it with.

Hearing those words, Ihita almost spat the rice puffs from her mouth into Enya’s face.

“The deputy chieftain… He made this?”

The image of the deputy chieftain Ihita had created inside of her shattered like a mirror, and she asked as she was soothing her shocked lungs that got choked and were burning with pain. The next moment, she stopped Enya from answering her and shook her head.

“Ah… I asked the wrong question. I don’t really want to know.”

After the time filled with chatting passed and the bowl that Enya brought out was showing its bottom, Ihita stiffened and sat cross-legged in front of Enya.

Ihita had a rather solemn look, so Enya sat quietly as she adjusted to it.

“Hmmmm. I was going to stay for a little while, but now the time has passed.”

“You can stay longer.”

She almost opened her mouth at the quick reply and then asked again.

Enya felt sorry for her young friend, who seemed to be slowly getting ready to go. As a way to thank her for taking care of everything, she gently handed over the snacks Ihita had just eaten, wrapped in dry leaves.

It was cute that the corners of Ihita’s lips slowly rose in even though she pretended not to.

With a stern look, she crossed her arms and fixed her posture, so Enya also straightened her sitting posture and smiled sweetly. She wanted Ihita not to be afraid of Tarhan or her and to come to play more often.

“…The daughter of the Perugia chieftain. Have you met her yet?”

Then, she couldn’t hide the fact that her face hardened in an instant upon hearing Ihita’s words that came out.

…The daughter of the Perugia chieftain.

Enya felt a sharp pain in her stomach again. She found out that this had to do with her emotions rather than her body.

At once, she remembered the luscious back of a woman with red hair standing next to Tarhan. The image of the two standing naturally and harmoniously became an afterimage and scattered over and over in her mind.

Her hands and feet trembled slightly as if she suddenly felt a chill in her body.

“Because this morning, the daughter of the Perugia chieftain called all the women of Aquilea. She has something to say on behalf of Perugia.”

Enya widened her eyes, shocked by the unfamiliar words.

“I have never seen a woman so frivolous and rude. As soon as she saw us, she said that she was the daughter of the chieftain, and that we should be courteous to her and the Perugian women she had brought.”

Ihita told her about what had happened outside like she was leaking information.

“She just carelessly used her mouth. She asked who the chieftain’s wife was, and Servia came forward and explained the culture of Aquilea, and she said, as she heard, that we’re a tribe with savage habits.”

The more Ihita spoke, the angrier she got, the more her arms crossed with an anguished face.

“Even if you look at Tarhan’s face like it can’t be helped, they all say that we should understand, but how arrogant they are. It was hard to just listen to it.”

Enya heard it with a puzzled face. Just by hearing it, the daughter of the Perugia chieftain seemed to be a tough woman.

Then, Ihita carefully added.

“Then, she asked where Tarhan’s wife is.”

Enya felt her organs draining out of her body in an instant, so she asked Ihita.

“Ta, Tarhan’s wife…?”

“Yes. So, when the Servia replied that Tarhan had no such thing as a wife, she bluntly said with a strange look. She said she had heard that Tarhan had a long-time wife. She asked to call her.”

As Enya looked at her with a frown, Ihita scratched the nape of her neck a little hesitant.

“…And she asked the woman if she had children, and she asked how many children she had of Tarhan, if she did.”

Ihita looked more and more amazed.

“She said she learned a lot about Aquilea when she decided to come here, and she knew that, no matter how long they lived together, they wouldn’t be considered important without children. No matter how close they were. That’s why outsiders…”

Saying so, she snorted at her and growled.

Enya became devastated and asked Ihita.

“Then… What happened after that? What did Servia say?”

“What would she say? I can already see the relationship breaking. How bloody was the look in her eyes when she said that she would ask Servia to take care of her as she would soon become the wife of a chieftain in Servia’s footsteps? It was like two lioness fighting.”

Enya felt dizzy and rubbed her forehead. She could see what it looked like without having to be there in person.

…What would Servia have to say?

The woman who occupied Tarhan’s hut for over ten years was as useless as the barley sack and could not give Tarhan any children. Still, she clung to his hut like a parasite and lived on…

Servia would most likely say something similar to that.

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