37 [Ch. 37] A Lovely Garden (Past)

"This is Lady Moao's garden." Amanda said after they had walked on a cobbled path beside a fence made of large rose bushes. They walked under a rose awning and were stunned by the sight in front of them. Several plants and flowers towered the garden. They felt as if they were in a forest instead of a garden.

They traveled along the garden path taking in the sights. Korph exclaimed, "Wow! I've never seen so many plants and flowers before. I didn't think anyone from the Baron's nation would be interested in this."

Amanda smiled in pride, "It is all my lady's work. Whenever she is home, she spends most of her time in the garden. She's really good with plants."

Raylon reached out to a flower and Amanda screamed, "Don't touch that!" He paused and looked at her in confusion. She gave a weak smile, "Most of these are poisonous."

"Ah." Raylon pulled back his hand as he gulped.

Korph looked at her in disbelief, "Why? Who would ever do that?!"

Amanda thought for a second and shrugged, "I suppose you should ask Lady Moao that question."

They turned the corner and saw me bent over with my head sticking inside of a thick bush. The upper half of my body was inside the dense bush while my backside was in view. Raylon gazed at it before forcibly turning to the sky to pretend he was never looking. Korph wasn't as polite and burst into laughter. Amanda cleared her throat to get my attention.

I moved out of the thicket and gave them a blank look. Korph laughed louder when he saw I was a disheveled mess covered in branches and leaves. Raylon walked over and helped me up. He looked at the plants, "Are these poisonous?"

I gave a single nod, "Deadly."

Amanda sighed, "Could you please not ruin your good clothes? Anyway, I have completed giving them a tour. I think I will go prepare tea and snacks now. Will you be joining us?"

"Mmn."

Korph looked over and saw a glasshouse in the distance, "What's that?"

Amanda quickly spoke, "Oh you can't go in there. It's too danger-"

I interrupted with a gleam of interest in my eyes, "It's my greenhouse for my large plants. Would you like to see?"

"Sure!" Korph nodded with excitement in his eyes. I led him over as Amanda groaned in concern.

Raylon glanced at Amanda, "Why are you so anxious?"

"Those are her carnivorous plants."

"Oh." He said and watched them walk inside. He quickly turned back, "What?"

I led Korph over to the greenhouse and let him in. When we stepped inside, Korph looked around with starry eyes. "The plants in here are huge! It's like the giant trees in the forbidden forest!" He ran around the greenhouse to look at all of the plants.

I spoke with no sense of urgency, "Wait."

I watched as Korph ran away without looking back. I slowly followed after him, touching my plants in a comforting motion.

Korph ran around gleefully and came to a new plant. He stopped and suddenly got chills when he saw the ominous plant. The green plant had an almost mouth-like opening with sharp teeth-like structures on the outside that oozed a thick green substance. He looked up at it and felt a bit concerned, "Huh."

The plant twitched and started to move as if he had woken it up.

"Eep!" Korph shrieked, jumping out of its path as it swung down at him with its barbed leaves. He looked around and saw the plants all begin to twitch and move. He shouted, "What is going on?!"

He turned and started to sprint back the way he came while dodging the plants that wanted to gobble him up. He felt his foot caught on a vine crawling along the ground. He landed flat on his face.

He tried to stand up quickly but felt his foot stuck.

The same vine that tripped him was quickly coiling around his ankle and moving up his leg with an unbreakable strength. He let out a squeal as it picked him up and he was left dangling upside down. Without knowing what else to do, he shouted out. "Moao!"

He shrieked as the mouth brought his body closer as it smiled eerily. He panicked seeing the mouth open wide preparing to swallow him. He reached down and clawed at the vine in an attempt to pull it off. He grunted as he yanked at it with all his strength.

He felt his veins bulge as he struggled with the vine, "Why won't it come off?! URG!"

He looked back just in time to see himself dangling just above the open mouth. His eyes shrank back seeing the dark inside of the plant's mouth. He gave one last shout before the plant bit down on his upper body.

I walked over to see the plant with Korphs upper body in its mouth, holding his leg by one of its many vines. I casually strolled over to the plant, "Let him go."

The plant opened its mouth obediently and spit him out.

"Oof." Korph landed on the ground with a painful thud. He gasped for air as he clutched his stomach. His upper body was covered in a slime mixed with a black-like substance.

I looked at his pained expression, "What's wrong?"

He groaned through clenched teeth, "It bit me!"

I moved his hand and saw a black-like substance gushing out. I found it rather strange. There weren't black substances in my plants. Where did it come from?

I muttered out loud, "Why is it black?"

"Dragon blood is black! Now get me a healer before I die!"

"Ah."

How interesting.

He snapped at me, "Stop gawking and help me! Or do you want an international war on your hands?!"

Definitely not. That would be too much of a headache.

I placed my hand over the wound and a bright light shined underneath it.

Korph felt his blood stop along with the pain. He looked down in disbelief, "What did you just do?"

I ignored him and moved over to the plant that had attacked him. I held out my palm and the plant leaned against it. It rubbed my hand lovingly as I stared at it with no expression. The other plants moved towards me and followed suit by rubbing against me.

Korph watched the scene in horror, "What are they doing?!"

I looked at him amongst the overly affectionate vines and plants, "They missed me."

"They?" He said with a hint of terror in his voice. He quickly stood up and wanted to run out of the building, but then he recalled the last time he did he nearly got eaten by a plant. He whined, "Why didn't you warn me that they were going to try to eat me?!"

"I tried to."

"Tried to?!"

"You ran off before I could."

Korph forced his mouth shut and folded his arms. He stared at me with an expression that revealed exactly what he was thinking. His scowl lifted as he admired how well I treated the plants, then his expression turned sour as he realized he was admiring the daughter of the baron. Even if I did treat nature kindly, I was still an enemy to the dragon race. He stomped as he jumped back and forth between trying to decide whether to admire me or not.

I paid his fidgeting no attention and started walking through the garden. After I greeted my plants, I made my way towards the exit. Korph followed me closely, too afraid that he would be bitten by another plant. Once outside, we were greeted by Raylon and Amanda. Raylon looked at Korph whose clothes were in tatters and had half of his body covered in slime.

Raylon raised an eyebrow, "What happened to you?"

"Her plant tried to eat me!" He shouted pointing towards me. He then pointed to his stomach that now had a hole in his clothes, "Look! It bit me! I almost died!"

Raylon saw that his skin was unscathed, "You look perfectly fine."

Korph growled, "That's because she healed me."

Raylon revealed a shocked expression as he turned towards me, "I thought you have never attended a healing class?"

"I haven't."

"Then how?"

"I read a book." I said growing disinterested, "It's simple to learn."

Raylon shook his head, "I have never known anyone to master healing and to be so capable at it too. Even those considered Masters didn't become like that just by reading a few books."

Amanda sensed the strange atmosphere and changed the subject, "Would you all like to have tea now?"

Korph shouted, forgetting that he had just been bitten, "I want juice!"

As I followed, I felt a stinging sensation in my head. I rubbed my temples to chase away the pain. Healing was a very arduous process. The worse a wound is, the more it will hurt the healer. Some have even been killed attempting to heal a fatal wound.

However, Korphs wound wasn't so fatal that it should have damaged me. As the pain grew in my head I felt as if it would explode. I stopped walking and propped myself up against a tree. I felt something pop inside my head and let out an unwanted groan.

I opened my eyes as I felt something drip down past my lips. I touched the liquid with my hands and glanced at it.

It was fresh blood.

"Ah."

It must be because I used too much magic when I was healing Korph. Human bodies can only withstand so much. I'm not omnipotent either.

I knelt down, allowing my nose to bleed freely as I watched the group's figures retreating. They hadn't even realized that I was no longer following. I opened my mouth to say something but hesitated.

What should I say?

Should I say: "Wait! Stop! I am in a bit of pain after healing him."

But what would be the point of that? It's not that they would care. Saying that would be useless.

Pointless.

No.

It's better that they didn't notice.

It's better if I just return to my room to recover in secret.