Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Remembering Kiyan’s low, heavy yet powerful voice, Enya struggled in Tarhan’s arms, almost desperately.

She desperately hugged his neck and whispered.

“Ta, Tarhan. Please put me down, please…? It doesn’t hurt at all. I can walk, or I’ll just walk all the way to the entrance, huh?”

She had always been reluctant to be seen being intimate with him in front of other people.

Hearing her voice mixed with pleading, Tarha’s face immediately hardened, and perhaps he couldn’t help it, he slowly lowered her to the floor.

Even so, he did not loosen his hand on her waist.

Enya couldn’t bear to stop that either, so she stared at Kiyan, who was staring at them as she was still leaning on his arm.

Kiyan stood in front of them, majestic as she was when Enya first saw her. The woman, with her short brown hair down to her neck, had tattoos on her forearm, as was the case with all Nervana forest people.

However, unlike normal Nervana people who had one or two tattoos, her tattoos filled both of her forearms, including her hands.

“…Are you the head of Nervana Forest?”

Tarhan, who saw her, murmured in a low voice.

Enya also glanced at Kiyan, who was staring at her, with a fearful gaze. Although she had recently become acquainted with the people of the Nervana Forest, it was the first time she had met their chieftain in this way since their first meeting.

The head of Nervana Forest, who seemed to have just come out of the conference hall, had her nephew, Yaru, by her side. Yaru must have noticed Enya and Reyhald as well, so she poked her head out from behind Kiyan and shouted.

“I found you, Reyhald! You don’t know what’s going to happen, so I told you to wait at the barracks, but you went to play with Enya…!”

Enya could see Reyhald shaking his head as he gave Yaru a desperate look without moving his mouth.

Soon after, Yaru also realized that the atmosphere was unusual and shut her mouth. Enya also noticed that the instant hardening of their expressions was all due to the stiff man next to her casting a frosty look.

Breaking the freezing atmosphere, Kiyan opened her mouth.

“Tarhan. You seem to care very much about her, just as I was told.”

Even after hearing that, Tarhan didn’t even reply without erasing his cold expression. He said, pointing his chin at Reyhald, who was still stiff as if he wasn’t even worthy of an answer.

“What is the chieftain of Nervana Forest doing here? If you’ve come here to find your foolish escort, I’d like you to take him quickly.”

Enya glanced at Kiyan with concern at Tarhan’s voice, which was sharper than she expected.

Fortunately, however, Kiyan seemed familiar with the temper of Aquilea’s deputy chieftain. She responded to Tarhan’s brusque words with a natural smile, without any sign of being offended.

“As expected, you recognize the face of a tribe’s escort. You surely are the leader of the allied forces.”

Tarhan replied with a snort.

“If he was such a mouthful, you should have taken him out of the meeting room earlier. If you have a business, do it now or at a meeting that will be held again tomorrow. Then, I will go.”

Saying so, he turned away from them without giving them any room. As he hugged Enya’s waist and moved her body after him as he turned around, Tarhan glanced at the people of Nervana Forest with a lingering gaze.

“Wait.”

At that time, Kiyan called and stopped them. Hearing her call, he paused and turned around, not hiding his annoyance.

“What is going on?”

Kiyan spoke directly without hesitation.

“Nothing special. There is something I have always wanted to ask the deputy chieftain.”

Tarhan raised his half-turned body and lifted one eyebrow.

“Ask?”

“Exactly.”

Kiyan didn’t miss the opportunity and took a step forward and opened her mouth. Enya leaned against Tarhan’s side and watched the two anxiously, cradled in his arms.

“I would like to invite Enya, the woman next to you, to our upcoming purifying ceremony in Nervana Forest.”

When Enya heard that, her eyes widened.

After hearing from Yaru the other day about the purification ceremony, she was eager to ask Tarhan for his opinion. However, she never dreamed that Kiyan, the chief of Nervana Forest, would beat her to it.

Meanwhile, Tarhan’s reaction was much harsher than expected. He tightened his arm around her waist and responded immediately with a defensive attitude.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but there is no convincing reason to invite this woman to your ceremony. I will refuse.”

It was a firm refusal, giving no room for reconsideration.

Enya peered up at Tarhan with her mouth open. She, too, expected it though hearing it directly from his mouth had a different feel. Still, she lowered her gaze to hide her disappointment so as not to make him uncomfortable.

Kiyan, who was looking at Tarhan, smiled strangely and continued.

“Take it easy. Could we have approached the woman living in Tarhan’s hut with some other impure intention? There will be nothing special. I just want her to come and watch our ceremony.”

Nevertheless, Tarhan still refused while holding Enya’s arms tightly around her waist.

“I should have said no. No matter what intent or purpose you approach, my answer will always be the same.”

He declared with a more determined expression and voice than ever before.

“My woman will not go anywhere except to my hut and work.”

Enya flinched at the terrifyingly determined voice. Had his anger, which seemed to have subsided earlier, flared up again?

The next moment, Yaru, who looked very much like Kiyan, but whose voice was thin and high, stepped in front of them.

“Wait. We’re not asking her to participate in the ceremony. It’s good just to come and watch. We became friends with Enya while in and out of the medicine place where she works. I never meant to harm her. Just some confirmation…”

“I heard that people of the Nervana Forest often visit Piache’s herbal medicine shop these days. I never knew you were so close to my woman this way.”

Tarhan cut off Yaru’s words with a single cut.

“So far, your movement hasn’t been great, so I’ve just left it alone, but I won’t just wait and see from now on. Don’t approach my woman like this anymore. It’s very unpleasant.”

Even Yaru, unable to hide the slight surprise at the words Tarhan made as if threatening her with his eyes wide open, flinched.

Enya shuddered as she felt the atmosphere suddenly heat up unexpectedly. The situation that she was worried about in the dark while hanging out with the people of Nervana Forest had exploded.

‘As expected… I knew Tarhan wouldn’t like a relationship with them.’

Even though she guessed it, Enya couldn’t hide the bitterness when the thought came true.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand him. In the end, the people of Nervana were strangers whom she had only recently gotten to know and strangers who could turn enemies at any moment. They were in a shallow relationship tied only with the thin ties of the Great Plains Ally.

Though knowing that he was going to act so strongly for her safety, she somehow couldn’t hide her sense of disappointment.

Eventually, Kiyan, the chieftain of Nervana Forest, who had been listening to the words silently, replied with a cold look.

“I don’t think there is a need to show any vigilance like wild dogs that have been deprived of their food. We have no intention of doing any harm to your woman.”

Tarhan’s voice, which responded to her harsh voice, became ferocious as well.

“Then, it is simple. I’d appreciate it if you take that little bastard of yours and get it out of here.”

Enya shuddered at the cold dagger-like words that flowed from his throat.

Kiyan, who had been watching silently, opened her mouth again with a slightly mocking expression.

“Certainly, as I’ve heard, it seems that if it’s about that woman, you’re willing to go out of the way. Still, don’t overprotect her. The woman in your arms looks like she’s choking on your arm.”

Despite her words, Tarhan did not relax his arm around her waist. Enya gazed up at him with a distant feeling, feeling the force tightening even more.

“…At the conference hall, you kept your mouth shut like a toad so I thought you weren’t used to Great Plain’s words, but I didn’t know you were such a free-mouthed person.”

Tarhan responded aggressively to Kiyan with a fishy smile and one eyebrow raised. He murmured low, as if warning, with Enya still in his arms.

“If you do, I might think that it would be good for you to keep your mouth shut, just like at the meeting.”

She didn’t know what to do. Enya glanced anxiously at the man who held her tight in front of Kiyan and Yaru and showed his anger openly. As usual, Reyhald, who would have joked casually, didn’t say anything right now.

Yaru, who had been watching the situation quietly, intervened between Kiyan and Tarhan as if meditating.

“Wait. Both of you, please stop. We are here simply to ask Enya to participate in our ceremony, not to blackmail or kidnap her.”

Then, Yaru gave a reaction she never expected. She had asked Enya, who had been silent and had her head down next to Tarhan for a while.

“Enya, Enya answer me. Are you willing to come and watch the ceremony in Nervana Forest?”

Hearing the completely unexpected question, Enya blinked her eyes, unable to find anything to say. She could feel all three gazes focus on her at once. Enya fumbled for Tarhan’s arm, blushing at once while he took hold of her hand at once and squeezed her fingers.

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