CH 31

Trigger warning.

“It’s a crazy world,” Gareth murmured to himself, then glanced down at Elena’s head leaning comfortably against his chest. ‘She falls asleep easily,’ he thought. He couldn’t believe that she had fallen asleep in his arms despite his terrible odor. Gareth knew exactly what he smelled like; the smell of blood that covered him would make anyone near him nauseous.

Gareth was a mercenary who had faced countless deaths. He also had no way of knowing when he was going to die. Despite that, he had gone and done something crazy for the first time in his life. He had asked someone to be his wife, a woman to belong to him.

“It seems that I’ve gone crazy as well,” he laughed coldly at himself, then wondered when he had ever been sane anyway. He had been until 11 years ago, but since then, had never lived with a sound mind. If he were in the right mind, then he wouldn’t have been able to witness the scenes of his slaughters. Even now, the time he spent standing in the middle of his victims while covered in their blood constantly dragged him to his nightmares from the past.

‘They…’ Gareth decided that his family might not recognize him anymore. If they found out that he was a murderer, then they might turn a blind eye to him, or worse, they might not even remember him at all. Gareth scoffed at how foolish he was being by having such unnecessary thoughts. He had already given up living a normal life. Excess thoughts were only going to bring regret. Gareth shook his head lightly to get rid of his cumbersome thoughts.

“We’ll run at full speed until evening,” he ordered his men. The 11 knights gave absolute obedience to his command and spurred their horses. Gareth leaned forward and followed suit. At that moment, Elena woke up, startled.

“Stay still if you don’t want to fall off,” Gareth warned as he held Elena tightly in his arms. He could feel Elena shifting closer to him at his words. It seemed that she was still half asleep, yet she was leaning her whole body against him as if she were afraid of falling. Gareth held her body safely in a firm embrace as his horse ran at full speed.

* * *

Nightfall came quickly in the forest. While the sound of owls echoed throughout the desolate forest, Gareth and his men began setting up camp. They gathered dry branches to make a fire and took dry food out of their bags to stave off hunger. Gareth held out a piece of jerky to Elena, who was sitting painfully close to him.

“Thank you,” she said as she took the dry meat from him. With a pale face, Elena tried to tear the jerky into little pieces, but failed to do so due to its tough texture. She instead placed a tiny part of it in her mouth and chewed it, instantly becoming nauseous. ‘How are they eating something like this…’ Unable to swallow the food, Elena looked around with the jerky still in her mouth. Gareth and the knights looked indifferent. They were sitting on blankets and chewing on the tough jerky as if they were accustomed to it. Elena ended up sighing with the jerky she couldn’t even chew in her hand.

“Seems it doesn’t suit your noble taste buds,” Gareth’s cold, sarcastic remark flew into her ears as he suddenly snatched the jerky from her hand.

Realizing that her sigh had offended him, Elena reached out her hands in a hurry and explained, “No, it’s just a little tough.”

Gareth ignored her and tore the tough jerky into little pieces. He then threw the pieces in front of her dirtied dress and spat out, “Eat it even if it doesn’t suit your taste. You might end up dead if you continue to eat so little.”

Elena stared at Gareth with surprised eyes. She had not expected him to tear the jerky into small pieces for her.

“Eat!” Gareth shouted . Elena started eating the pieces of jerky again, realizing that she couldn’t be picky if she wanted to continue this journey. It was all the more so because she didn’t know how much longer it was going to last. Gareth was sitting beside her, chewing on the tough jerky, when he held out a canteen. Elena quickly reached out her hands and took it. Their dinner consisted of beef jerky and water; that was it.

After dinner, the knights pulled out their swords in unison and began to clean them. It seemed that this was the norm after they finished eating. Elena hugged her knees close to her body and observed them. She then began to process what had happened up until now. She had seen a mercenary for the first time in her life and left the Townsend territory. Getting married to a mercenary had never crossed her mind, but she had taken Gareth as her husband. At that moment, Gareth took out his longsword and began to clean it as well. It was a double-edged sword, distinctly different from the single-edged swords used by Townsend knights. Perhaps it was shaped differently for its purpose—killing.

She then decided to help Gareth. “I’ll clean it for you,” she offered. Back home, Elena had oftentimes cleaned the knights’ swords. She tried not to mind doing such chores since her family lacked the money to hire enough servants and maids. However, she could hear several sharp intakes of air coming from Gareth’s men at her proposal. Oblivious, Elena looked at Gareth with a confused expression and asked, “Did I say something strange?”

Although Gareth showed no reaction to her words, Elena could distinctly feel that her offer had irritated him. Her face and neck burned red in embarrassment.

The sound of Gareth and his men cleaning their swords filled the silence once again. Elena turned her gaze towards Giggs this time; the man was scratching his neck without even realizing it.

“Can I take a look at your neck?” Elena stood up and approached Giggs. Giggs flinched at her attention and quickly turned his eyes to Gareth.

“Don’t annoy me, Elena,” Gareth warned.

“Just let me examine his neck. It looks like he’s been scratching it a lot,” Elena replied. Based on the redness on Giggs’ neck, it seemed to Elena that the skin had peeled off from all the excessive scratching. Such skin diseases were usually caused by washing with and drinking contaminated water. Elena approached her horse and rummaged through the pouches she had fastened to its front. She hadn’t brought all of them, but had packed some medicines she had made in the pouches.