CH 2

“Thank you, guys!”

Lathyrus said goodbye to the plants that helped her and started running away.

Fragile plants won’t be able to hold on to the oversized Chris for long. Plus, with her crippled leg, she was sure to be caught by Chris. So, now that Chris can’t move, she had to run away as quickly as possible.

The birds flew back to Lathyrus’s side. They led her into a deep forest that humans rarely reach.

After passing through an open field lit by sunlight, the birds scatter as they enter the charred forest with thick trees. Lathyrus hid under the tallest tree among them. And just at the same time, she heard from far away a sprinter running in haste.

“Lathyrus, you bastard! Where are you hiding?”

Lathyrus’s shoulders trembled as Chris shrieked at her evil-doing.

‘I wish he would leave like this…’

“If you get caught, I’ll beat you down hard!”

Sadly, Chris didn’t seem to want to disappear like this.

‘What if he comes this way…?’

Lathyrus, who had never been in good shape for even accidentally pissing Chris off, looked like she was about to burst into tears.

When she was so nervous that she couldn’t even breathe properly, she felt a tickling sensation on her shoulder. As she cautiously lowered her gaze to her shoulder, a blue butterfly with jeweled wings fluttered softly and flew in a direction.

Lathyrus held her breath and followed the butterfly, staring at Chris in the distance. The butterfly was heading deeper into the woods.

“Butterfly, where are we going now…?”

When Chris was nowhere to be seen, Lathyrus still spoke to the butterfly quietly, but the beautiful butterfly remained silent.

Lathyrus, who had never been out this far before, and was afraid that she might even meet a scary beast, wanted to go back. No matter how much she communicated with animals, there was no guarantee that she would be able to communicate with animals that wanted a taste of blood.

Lathyrus, who had been contemplating whether or not to continue following the butterfly inwardly, stopped her steps as if she had finally made a decision. However, by this time, the butterfly had already reached its intended destination.

“…”

There was a small tomb. The tombstone was engraved with inscriptions, but the old and corroded marks made it difficult to read. It was enough to give her a spooky feeling, but the flowers blooming as if hugging the grave diluted that feeling.

The flowers in abundance on the grave were unnaturally gorgeous and beautiful.

“Do you know who the owner of this tomb is?”

Lathyrus spoke to the flower in a friendly way. However, unlike other plants that have always favored her, those flowers did not show any reaction to Lathyrus, as if in a deep sleep.

She didn’t force the flowers to answer. Instead, she caressed the fragrant, beautiful petals as she whispered the name of the flower.

“Lisianthus…”

Was it a mistake to whisper the name of a lovely flower? The flowers that were blooming next to the grave began to glow. Surprised, Lathyrus fell. An even more amazing scene unfolded in front of her, who couldn’t even scream in surprise. The flowers turned into a human form.

A man with long hair as black as the night sky leaned against the tombstone and had his eyes closed. As if he was injured, one of his eyes was covered with a white cloth.

The man who used to be a flower had an outward appearance that was clearly beautiful even though he had one eye covered and the other closed. His skin looked as smooth as flawless pottery with his long eyelashes. His shoulders were broad and stout, and veins sprung up on the back of his large hands.

‘Who is this suspicious man… Should I wake him up…’

Lathyrus, contemplating, carefully reached out to the sleeping man. The moment his hair touched the tip of her slow fingers, the man’s eyelashes trembled finely.

“Ah…”

The man’s eyelids opened as Lathyrus was surprised and retreated her hand again.

“…”

“…”

The man who had just opened his eyes met Lathyrus’s eyes with a sleepless face. Lathyrus, surprised by his even more beautiful appearance, was unable to say anything.

“Little girl.”

“Yes…?”

It was a low voice, but it was not like he had woken up from sleep. He then asked in a friendly voice to Lathyrus, who was dazed by the low but soft sound.

“How did you get here?”

“That’s because the butterfly told me to follow, so I followed…”

“…”

“…Um, by accident…”

“Accident?”

At the question, Lathyrus quickly nodded her head.

“Is it time…”

As if the man was talking to someone or muttering to himself, he said something strange and glanced back at Lathyrus.

“So, are you the one who woke me up?”

Lathyrus hurriedly bowed her head because it was true that she had just woken up the person who had been sleeping hard.

~pls read at pinkmuffintl only~

“I’m sorry if I made you angry…I didn’t think it would be good to let someone sleep outside…”

“You don’t have to talk long because it’s annoying.”

The voice that had sounded friendly turned into a blunt one. But even so, the man smiled at Lathyrus. He was a hard-to-follow man, but…was it because of his beautiful appearance? As one of his unobscured eyes curved into a half-moon, Lathyrus realized that her heart was beating loudly.

It has been a long time since someone showed such a friendly smile to her…

“Little girl.”

However, the words from the man’s mouth…

“Will you please go now?”

Contrary to his face, he wasn’t friendly at all.

~*~

Fortunately, Lathyrus returned to the tavern that day and was able to avoid being beaten by Chris. As time passed, Chris, who was exhausted from his anger, didn’t go after her.

Of course, they needed a hand, and Madame Margot scolded her for having disappeared somewhere, but it was much better than being beaten by Chris.

Since that day, there has been a new wind in Lathyrus’s boring and depressing daily life. It was to divide the very small amount of meal that Madame Margot gave her into half and head to the forest.

Today, Lathyrus went to the man to share her poor meal.

“Th-there…”

Lathyrus, who was hiding behind the tree, timidly called out to the man, and the man who was leaning against the tombstone, as usual, looked at Lathyrus with a tired look.

“I told you to stop here.”

“But…”

“If you don’t have anything to do, just go away.”

The man no longer showed his smiling face. Today, with a particularly annoying face, he told her to leave again, but Lathyrus, who got used to the reaction of such a man, did not back down as easily as before.

And above all else, the man didn’t hit Lathyrus like Madame Margot or Chris. The words that came out of his mouth were not kind to her, but she never felt insulted.

That alone was enough reason for Lathyrus to look for him.

The other villagers felt sorry for Lathyrus because she was lame, so she felt uncomfortable with them. Very rarely, when she had the chance to talk to a sympathetic person who didn’t belong to either side, Chris wouldn’t standstill.

Margot’s only son, Chris, was very possessive and hated others being close to Lathyrus.

She was less lonely because she had plants and animals, but it was still inevitable.

“Today, Madame Margot made the stew. It was burnt while making it, but it’ll be delicious…!”

In fact, the man never ate the food Lathyrus gave him. No matter how many times she recommended it, only his gaze returned as if he was looking at waste.

Of course, the food that Madame Margot gave to Lathyrus was usually leftovers from guests or was accidentally burned, so it was a natural reaction.

“Just… Stop.”

The man, as if tired, covered his eyes with his hand and ground his teeth, but Lathyrus struggled to pretend she didn’t notice. Far from that, she nudged the man with a piece of bread that had an unburned corner.

She heard the man’s scornful laugh, but this time, Lathyrus pretended not to hear the negative reaction.

“Kid, don’t you think I’m scary?”

“…”

“What if I am a scary monster?”

“…You.”

“What? I can’t hear you.”

Lathyrus, who had answered with a timid mumble, took courage and spoke out loud.

“You don’t hit me.”

“…”

“So I’m not afraid when you tell me to go away.”

She was a child who made him feel sad, like a small animal wet in the rain.

The fact that Lathyrus was being abused had already been known to the man because of the new bruises he sees every day. He just pretended he didn’t know because he had no reason to intervene.

“I think I should go. The last time I was late, I was scolded by Madame Margot.”

The girl, who spoke those words, left the food that the man wouldn’t eat, bowed her head to say goodbye, and hurriedly ran with her lame legs.

A girl who dines as if she had come on a picnic in front of someone else’s grave, didn’t ask for the identity of the suspicious person and was uselessly polite.

Why are humans so unique these days?

The man, who was tired of the young human girl, closed his eyes while stroking the soft green leafy grave to get his rest.

~*~

Now, 30 minutes later, the only pub in this town was about to close.

Since it was always Lathyrus’s job to clean up and wash the last dishes, she was cleaning out the empty dishes on the table today. All the tables were empty except for the regular customers who came almost every day.

While Lathyrus was working, Madame Margot was sitting next to her regular customers and chatting with them.

“Oh, did you read the newspaper this morning?”

“I want to see what interesting news you have today.”

“This guy doesn’t even read the newspaper! You should know what’s going on in the world!”

“I’m going to die from being so busy. When do I have time to read this?”

Their drunken voices were so loud that she had no choice but to listen to their conversation even if she didn’t want to.

“I heard that a dragon has been seen recently.”

Lathyrus’s hands, who were stacking the dishes one after the other, froze.

“Hey! This man! Stop being childish! It’s just a rumor!”

“Oh, but I’m serious! There are people who have seen dragons in the capital too. Even in the neighboring country! Do you hear eyewitness accounts these days?”

“Where is the dragon? They are just mythical creatures.”

“Still, our ancestors worshiped dragons as gods.”

“So? It doesn’t exist. Where do you think God is in this world?!”

“You said you weren’t religious!”

Lathyrus, who had hardened, moved again after hearing Madame Margot’s swearing not to smoke. It was inevitably slow to go around each table and clean dishes.

After finishing her work, Lathyrus went straight upstairs to the attic and covered her head to toe with a blanket. She felt nervous as if she had to hide from a dragon and didn’t know when and where it would appear.

Lathyrus remembered the conversation the guests had earlier.

“I heard that a dragon has been seen recently.”

“Hey! This man! Stop being childish! It’s just a rumor!”

‘That wouldn’t be a rumor.’

People will think it’s just a rumor, but Lathyrus knew that dragons existed.

‘I saw it.’

Even though it was a very young memory, she could still vividly recall it.

The moment the dragon destroyed her village.