The Thorn that Pierces Me

“Ughhhhh!”

At that moment, Heesoo stood up and shook her hands in the air. It seemed she had inadvertently ignited a stick she was holding. Hot embers tumbled onto the ground. Startled, she stood up hastily, seeming to accidentally kick them in the process.

“Huuuh.”

Every time she came into his sight, he couldn’t hold back from sighing. Calix ran a hand through his hair, at a loss over how to handle her....

It was a real headache. He was not in a position to help someone else right now.

Seeing him in distress, Heesoo started fidgeting, trying to poke the stray embers back into the fire with a stick.

“Move.”

Calix approached the campfire with a piglet he had prepared. He picked up the embers with his hands and pushed them back into the fire. Heesoo, next to him, widened her eyes in astonishment, looking back and forth between the blazing flames and his bare hands.

Without meeting her gaze, Calix pointed to a corner under a tree.

“Sit over there.”

He wrapped the piglet in several large leaves he had picked from the forest. Usually, he made do with dry rations. But today was different.

Calix felt a pang of guilt toward her.

After the ‘incident,’ when he came to his senses, he immediately noticed the bruises he had left on her body. Her bony shoulders were purplish and reddened.

‘Damn it!’

The varicolored marks on her fair skin looked incredibly violent. The area he had gripped in excitement was severely bruised.

Calix was inwardly shocked. She couldn’t even express her pain.... He might have broken her shoulder bone if he had been any more careless.

Though he couldn’t express his apology since she wouldn’t understand, he felt a strong desire to do something for her to relieve his guilt.

‘Anyone would have shown at least this level of kindness.’

Since he had already lit the fire, he made sure to wrap the leaves properly around the meat, ensuring no part was exposed. He lifted the embers to place the leaf-wrapped meat underneath.

Throughout the process, Heesoo hovered near him, unable to decide whether to sit or stand.

“Go sit down.”

Calix nodded toward the back. But Heesoo stood still, unsure of what to do, reaching out her hand as if wanting to help, only for him to dismissively swat it away.

“I said... Sit.”

“....”

Frustrated, he finally turned to look at her. When their eyes met, she quickly looked down and fiddled with her fingers.

“Do you not understand anything at all? Even a little?”

“....”

“Say something.”

“....”

“Just say anything.”

At that moment, a strange premonition prompted Calix to pull her hand toward him. She complied quietly. Even as his large hand pressed against her cheek, she offered no resistance. Calix examined the insides of her mouth, where her tongue lay.

“The tongue is there.”

He wondered if her tongue had been cut, but even her teeth were all intact. Of course, he felt all of that earlier when she was caressing him.

Still, he checked, just in case.

It wasn’t odd for her, an outsider from another world, not to understand the language here. But upon closer inspection, it seemed she couldn’t make any proper sounds.

“Ugh.”

Impulsively, Calix inserted his finger into her mouth. Heesoo, startled by the sudden action, pulled her head back slightly.

But she didn’t resist this either. Considering what she put into her mouth earlier, a finger was nothing to be so shy with. As he stirred her mouth with his index finger, he felt the slight movement of her tongue.

There seemed to be nothing wrong with her ability to move her tongue.

‘W-What am I doing...?’

The truth was, he already knew! The way she moved her tongue, the way her lips curled, the way she swallowed his ‘thing’.... Calix already knew it all. But he just wanted to put his finger in her mouth to feel that soft inside again.

Yes, that was actually the case.

‘Damn.’

Her presence kept prompting impulsive actions from him. Calix tried to speak casually, hiding his agitation.

“Then why don’t you speak? Are you not speaking, or can you not speak?”

“....”

“Or, do you....”

The question of whether she had a disability rose to his throat. He knew she wouldn’t understand, but he found it hard to ask directly. Asking directly seemed too rude.

“So you really can’t say anything?”

“....”

“This isn’t going anywhere....”

Watching her just blink in response was exasperating. She couldn’t speak, nor could she understand a word.

‘What am I supposed to do with her?’

There were six cities in this country. To enter a city, one had to pass through the city gates, which required perfect identification using a magic stone necklace.

The reason behind all this inconvenience was the emergence of ‘maenok.’

People whose souls had been taken by the evil Caesar wandered outside the cities, who were also known as the ‘maenok.’ Maenok hunted people for food. Hence, ordinary people never ventured outside the city.