CH 57

She didn’t know how much time had passed while she was dreaming, but her stomach was hungry. Holly rummaged through her bag and found dried jerky in a paper wrapping. As she munched on the jerky and glanced at Badin, a faint smile did not leave his lips the whole time he was asleep.

“It looks like the bottom of his eyes is a bit dark…”

Holly studied Badin’s pale face and tilted her head.

The people of Aisen Kingdom, including Cahill, originally had pale skin, so she couldn’t tell if it had changed. At the same time, she couldn’t decide if it would be okay to leave him like this.

‘I was just going to move to find Cahill after filling my stomach…’

She could not leave a defenseless person alone in the forest, where there was even a log with eyes. Holly wrapped the leftover jerky back in the paper again and put it in her bag.

“Hey, Badin.”

And again, she went up to Badin and shook his shoulder, but he still didn’t move.

“Get up now!”

Frustrated, she took a deep breath and yelled into Badin’s ear though he didn’t lose an inch of his smile as if he couldn’t hear her at all.

“This is kind of scary…? Badin, Badin!”

Slap, slap.

Holly slapped his cheeks until it was flushed red. She couldn’t stop. Adam told her what would happen to a person whose energy was drained.

“Could he be dead?”

Holly muttered, looking at Badin with trembling eyes. She lowered herself and put her ear to his nose. A small, even breathing sound was heard.

It was just when she was going to sigh in relief…

“What are you doing?”

A low voice penetrated her ears.

“Uwah!”

Holly let out a grotesque scream and backed away. Badin opened his eyes and watched her as she fell back.

Badin, who tried to raise himself, realized that he was wrapped around the trunk and could not move, so he lowered his head to the ground again. It was a relaxed attitude as if it didn’t matter, even if he was tied up.

“Are, are you okay? I keep shaking you, but you won’t wake up…”

“So, what were you trying to do to me?”

Holly, who was gibberish, bit her mouth shut.

Seeing that the red handprints left on Badin’s cheeks became clearer, her eyes trembled.

Badin, who spoke half-jokingly, narrowed his eyes at her questionable expression. She then hurriedly looked away quickly before Badin could speak to her. Then, he tapped the stems around his arm with his fingers.

“Clear this away.”

Badin gave her a strange look as he spoke to the tree trunk.

Holly’s face lit up at the sight. On top of that, this stem, like the stem that was entwined around her, didn’t listen to him. Looking at her, who didn’t know what to do, Badin puffed himself up. The stem, which was pulled taut, was torn off.

At that moment, she felt the air around her turn wild.

Holly’s eyes widened.

“What have you done?”

“I loosened the binding stem.”

He replied as if asking a strange question. It was so right that she shut her mouth.

“But, why are my cheeks so hot?”

Asking that, he rubbed his burning cheek with the palm of his hand. Holly was stunned and turned away from him, although he could feel her gaze resting on his cheek.

“I couldn’t help it because no matter how much I shook you, you wouldn’t wake up.”

In the end, she decided to confess the truth with only her lips moving. As she muttered in an excuse, the water that belatedly filled the spring came to mind.

‘Isn’t it better than getting your clothes wet?’

When she said that she was trying to wake him up, Badin nodded his head without saying anything. As he looked at the ground where he had been lying a moment ago, regret was reflected in his eyes.

“Did you have a good dream?”

Holly asked lightly, thinking that it didn’t matter whether he told her or not.

“I was able to sleep to my heart’s content without anyone disturbing me.”

Even thinking about it again, Badin licked his lips as if he was very disappointed.

“Sleep in a dream…?”

Wondering if it was a happy dream, she nodded her head. He seemed to be quite happy if he could sleep comfortably without doing anything.

“That’s too bad. I wish I had a dream like that, too.”

Badin stared at her. A shadow fell over Holly’s face as she thought of her dream again.

“Let’s go find Cahill. It’s a big deal if he’s still asleep.”

Holly, who had been speaking briskly on purpose, suddenly became genuinely anxious. Even before she entered the forest, she knew that she would be separated from Cahil, but she did not know that she would not be able to see him for such a long time.

“Are you worried about His Highness?”

Badin asked as if he couldn’t understand her concern for Cahill.

On the contrary, Holly couldn’t understand him, who wasn’t worried about Cahill. Was it because of Cahill’s ability or because he was not interested in him? He even explained the circumstances of the Kingdom in order to save Cahill, so it must be the former.

“Cahill doesn’t do self-control.”

Holly uttered incredulously and shook her head. He was a guy who didn’t even understand that he had to put up with what he wanted to do.

“Well, you can find him if you go. I’m more hungry than that…”

Badin, who should take care of Cahill more than Holly, glanced around while speaking nonchalantly.

“Are you good at cooking?”

Badin asked, looking back at her. Holly, who has been in charge of housekeeping since childhood, was naturally confident in cooking though the simple ingredients she bought from the village were in Adam’s pocket.

“Cooking? Is there anything I can cook with now…?”

But, perhaps that wasn’t a problem, Badin’s face turned bright.

“Go and catch a deer.”

When Holly was taken aback by those words and pulled his clothes, Badin frowned at her hand holding him.

“Don’t touch me carelessly.”

Holly quickly withdrew her hand from the firm tone that felt cold.

‘…Does Badin hate me more than Adam?’

If he had been forcibly hiding such feelings because of Cahill, itwould have beens really great patience.

“I get tired when I see His Highness, who is just jealous.”

As Badin made an expression that he was tired of just imagining it, Holly, who was nervous that at least two people in the group would hate her, sighed in relief.

“So, why did you stop me?”

“We’d better not hunt and eat.”

At her dissuade, he looked at her with eyes wondering why she had to do that. His eyes seemed more ferocious because he was hungry.

“It’s the spirit realm, so what if we make them angry?”

As much as Holly didn’t know Badin, she wasn’t as reassuring as Cahill.

‘Maybe he doesn’t care if I die or not.’

Her body flinched at the stare. Badin’s expressionless face made him feel even colder.

“Isn’t it a law of nature that the strong prey on the weak?”

If, as Holly said, they shouldn’t catch and eat things in nature, carnivores shouldn’t catch and eat other animals, and herbivores shouldn’t eat plants.

“That’s right.”

Holly, convinced, nodded her head. However, she grabbed Badin, who was about to enter the forest again.

“Still, lighting a fire is another matter. It’s not like you can’t eat it without cooking it…”

It wasn’t even clear if there were any edible animals in the forest. They barely met, so she could not lose him while hunting.

“So what? I’m hungry, so I can’t even go a step.”

It was not that he could not go, he was not going. Holly glanced at the obstinate Badin with disgusted eyes before opening her mouth.

“Look for edible fruits nearby.”

As she was talking, she suddenly burst into laughter. Badin gave her a strange look at her sudden laugh.

“Ah, it reminds me of when I was traveling with Cahill in the beginning. Even then, I tried to eat something from the forest because I was saving food.”

“…Saving?”

Holly, who had been spitting out words soaked in memories, flinched at the gloomy voice. Even Badin, who seemed indifferent to anything, seemed to become sensitive to hunger.

“Hmm, since it’s late at night, shall we settle down and eat beef jerky?”

She suggested it casually as if she had intended it from the beginning and sat down. The next moment, Holly rummaged through her bag before pulling out a package of beef jerky she had just eaten.