Savage Forest - Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Enya glared at him in surprise.

She knew that this man was abnormally obsessed with her safety though she didn’t expect that they wouldn’t be able to have a rational conversation like this. His intense reaction, almost irrational, made her sick.

“Why, why the hell did you always have to take care of everything for us…?! Why, why won’t you let me help a little bit? I know my suggestion is ridiculous…! Still, you can think about it! A meeting with other elders is something that can be worked on…! Why are you being so rigid!”

“I don’t know that right now, so I—!”

Tarhan shouted as he gently shook Enya’s shoulders.

As she swayed relentlessly from the force and raised her arm to shake him off, his arm fell off immediately. She then bit her lip after pushing away the massive arm that fell off like a wax figure with no strength at all.

In the end, the core emotions exploded like a flood. Enya shouted, slamming her trembling hand across his chest.

“I know that I am worthless and incompetent! Though don’t ignore me like this…!”

Tarhan’s impression, who was not avoiding her hits on his body, suddenly became stern. He grabbed Enya’s tiny hand as it slapped him on his chest and squeezed her shoulder again.

“When did I ignore you?! I just…d*mn, why do we have to be fighting over something like this…?!”

“That’s because you, Tarhan, are not even listening to me right now—!”

Veins suddenly sprung on Tarhan’s neck, who had been shouting at the top of his voice. He let out a groan like someone strangled by him, and his hand on her shoulder tightened at once.

Before long, he opened his mouth in a low but ghastly voice that could never be ignored.

“…So, why didn’t you tell me about the people of Nervana Forest?”

Enya glanced up at him with eyes wide open in surprise as he suddenly questioned her. She was dumbfounded and felt as if all of the tension that had gone into her body had suddenly drained away.

Tarhan, unable to contain his emotions, bit his lip and continued to ask questions.

“I knew they approached you from the start. However, since you didn’t say anything, I was going just to wait and see unless something big happened. But today, the same thing happened. Why didn’t you tell me anything in the first place?”

Enya opened her mouth, wanting to retort to him.

Nonetheless, he quickly stopped it and asked the question again. A growl seemed to come from his throat.

“Imagine how surprised I was when the old woman of the Nervana forest revealed that you were the daughter of the forest…? I’ve been thinking about all sorts of things. Could this woman have been in contact with the people of the forest without my knowledge? If so, why didn’t you tell me earlier…”

He squinted his eyes and shouted in a painful voice as if someone was choking him from behind.

“Do you think that’s all? What about that b*stard, Gernan…?! At that time, seeing you collapsed in front of the godd*mn b*stard in that warehouse, how did I feel watching that?! Why didn’t you tell me anything about this, Enya? I felt sick… I was so angry that I wanted to kill myself for being the most ignorant when those present were accepting so quickly. Was I just that kind of existence to you? I was so unreliable that you couldn’t even say that…!”

He spewed the words out as he nearly collapsed in front of her.

Shocked by those words, Enya’s heart broke. Resisting the urge to immediately hug his cheek, kiss him and say no, she hurriedly gathered all her remaining reason and put her finger on his chest.

“N, no, that’s not true at all…! It’s not because you’re untrustworthy. It’s just that you’re too busy these days… It’s only recently that I’ve started interacting with the forest people, and I don’t want to disturb you in any way!”

The more she spoke, the more inexpressible emotions piled up and broke her heart. Enya ended up clenching her teeth and muttering to him as if to vent her anger.

“…You’re the one who didn’t tell me about the Argon War.”

In the end, she even brought out the accumulated emotions from her past. As soon as Tarhan heard that, he immediately stiffened and retorted.

“This and that is different! I hid that fact to protect you! I hid it because I was afraid you would be surprised and worried! You admitted it too!”

Enya was taken aback by his words and was at a loss for words. Soon, her body, engulfed in anger, began to tremble. She started shouting at him at the top of her voice.

“But, but you, too, about the allied forces! You didn’t even mention Perugia..! You, you think I never felt that way. Every time you hid such an important thing from me, I felt that…! I, I—! Even when Avisak told me that she would make you her husband, I couldn’t say anything to you because you were facing an important war! You are Aquilea’s greatest warrior! All, all I can do is stay out of your way…!”

There was no way to stop the sudden outburst of anger.

Enya sobbed and hit him again on his shoulder.

“Are you the only one thinking of me? I think of you, too…! You look busy and exhausted, did you think I could speak out such a weak noise there?”

There was not much she could say as her sadness came like a tide.

In the meanwhile, Tarhan’s expression had already hardened as he listened to her words.

“Avisak said that to you…?”

A look of bewilderment, which was not often seen on his face, was revealed.

Enya couldn’t contain her anger any longer at his reaction. It was as if he had never thought of such a thing. She was also astonished at herself for being jealous of Avisak though she also resented this man who reacted as if he didn’t know at all.

On the other hand, Tarhan reacted sensitively, like a wife whose chastity was questioned. His two hands, moving without knowing what to do, wandered in the air and landed on Enya’s shoulders before long.

“Enya, that woman… Sh*t! I’ve never really looked at her like that for a single moment…! You saw earlier that I almost burned that woman’s cheeks! That woman, to me, is nothing more and nothing less than a member of the Allied Forces. On the contrary, I have thought several times that I would like to get rid of that irritating red hair right in front of my eyes!”

Even after hearing his answer, Enya felt that her heart was not resolved. Tarhan hesitated whether to speak or not, and then he spoke quickly and in a small voice.

“…You’re the one who often flirted with that long-haired Nervana forest guy.”

Hearing that, she couldn’t shut her mouth in absurdity.

Was he jealous now?

She couldn’t believe it. That guy with long hair must be Reyhald. Enya didn’t even feel worthy of responding to his absurd remarks but cried out in resentment.

“Are you talking about Reyhald? He is like a boy who has just completed his coming-of-age ceremony. He’s younger than me…”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re young or just finished the coming-of-age ceremony. The problem is that he held your hand—!”

Even though he was about to shout in agitation, Tarhan hurriedly shut his mouth. He quickly raised a hand to cover his expression.

At first glance, the area around his cheekbones was reddish.

Both of them were silent for a moment, perhaps regretting what they said out of mad jealousy and anxiety towards each other. Then, at some point, Tarhan turned his body, which had been slightly turned before her, and looked at her again.

“…Looks like I said too many useless things. Let’s calm down for a moment.”

He murmured, rubbing his furrowed brow with his hand. Enya, who looked up at him resentfully, did not respond.

Tarhan let out a low sigh and opened his mouth again.

“I already knew that I was a man who was always lacking for you but don’t say things that hurt me like this. Don’t say that I’m ignoring you…”

He caught his breath for a moment, though unable to control the emotions that suddenly rushed in, shouted in a slightly exasperated voice.

“I alone am enough to sacrifice every time for this tribe. At that time, too…!”

Enya watched with shaky eyes as Tarhan closed his mouth again with eyes full of remorse.

“Calm down what? What are you talking about? What do you mean at that time?”

There was no turning back from the already wounded eyes.

Seeing those eyes, he immediately stopped in a rigid posture, and in the end, Tarhan roughly tousled his hair.

Watching him speak lowly, Enya felt her heart break.

The memories of her past, which would never be refined, became afterimages and blurred her eyes. The feet of those as she looked up while lying on the floor, the murmurs, and the blood that soaked her hands. The fetal movement that was not felt in the stomach that swelled round after eight months…

Enya pressed her teeth and opened her mouth.

“Tell me, Tarhan. What happened then…? Did you have anything else to say?”

She knew she was cruel.

Even though she did, she couldn’t stop. This time, she wanted to hear his heart… She didn’t want to see him evade in silence like this again. All she wanted was a breakthrough, not just another pit.

However, Tarhan, this time too, chose to keep his mouth shut.

It was the same as then.

Rather than delve into that feeling, he chose to run away. Enya felt that her insides, which seemed to be unable to wrinkle anymore, were being torn by the solid iron retaining wall that appeared on his face.

“If, if you don’t want to talk, I don’t want to be here anymore…!”

In the end, Enya couldn’t overcome the silence that was more terrifying than the shouting, and she tried to leave first, but Tarhan grabbed her wrist with all his strength the next moment.

Staggered and drawn by that power, she gritted her teeth and shouted.

“Let go of me…!”

—