"You brats will have to fix this," Ophelia told us.
Claire, Della, and I were sitting on the floor while Ophelia scolded us. We didn't realize that our clothes had gotten dirty from walking through the garden. Because of that, Ophelia spotted us right away.
"We didn't do anything wrong, that thing bit me!" I said, lifting my pants to show her the bite on my leg.
"You asked for it, you invaded its territory," she countered, unconcerned with my injury.
The plant I had kicked was now in a small pot on a table, moving from side to side. Although I didn't know anything about plants, I felt as if it was mocking us. My anger toward that plant increased when I saw it baring its teeth at me, as if it were smiling.
"Tomorrow morning, you're going to the garden to replant it yourselves. If you hurt any of my other plants, I'll leave you without food for the whole day!" she yelled at us before walking away.
The three of us got up, but not before giving the plant on the table the finger and going to bed. As soon as we arrived, the others asked us why we had taken so long, and when we explained, they laughed in our faces.
"HAHAHAHA, how could you even think of going to the garden!" Anna teased, leaning on Niko, who was also laughing.
"We weren't thinking about that while we were running," Della told them, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"I hadn't thought about it either. Ophelia's garden isn't close to where we were," I thought, becoming more and more amazed at my speed. "Well, that's a good thing," I said to myself, smiling.
After everyone laughed at us, we went to sleep, reassuring myself that I wouldn't break that plant as soon as I saw it.
<<<<>>>>
"Be careful with the soil, if you do it wrong you'll just end up with more work," Ophelia shouted at us, sitting behind us.
Ophelia had come into our room and dragged us to her garden early in the morning. The sun was just beginning to rise as we knelt on the ground. To make matters worse, we were taking too long; every sudden movement was repressed by Ophelia.
"Stay still," I said to the plant, which stared at me with its mouth open.
Contrary to what I said, it bit my finger, causing me to let out a loud cry of pain. Before I could defend myself, I could feel Ophelia's gaze fixed on my back. So, resisting the pain, I left the plant on the ground while I surrounded its roots with soil.
It seemed to have calmed her down a bit, as she let go of my finger the moment I left her in the garden.
"I'm done!" I celebrated, before looking at Della and Claire.
They were both planting new seeds where they had pulled up the flowers. Although they had more dirt on them than I did, I didn't think it was any harder than what I had done.
Finally, after a while, we were done, looking at the garden now as neat as it had been the first time.
"It wasn't as annoying as I thought it would be," Della said.
"Yeah, the good thing is we only pulled up a few flowers, unlike someone who kicked a plant who knows where," Claire said mockingly, looking at me with a smile.
I didn't pay attention to what Claire said, already knowing what she meant. Instead, I asked Ophelia:
"Why are these plants so important?"
"They sell for a good price, plus they're pretty," she said, shrugging. "Most of these plants have medicinal properties."
"What's that one for?" Della asked, pointing to the plant that had bitten me earlier.
"That one is used for dyes; it used to be used for a wizard's disease."
"Disease? What wizard disease?" I asked, and when I heard the word "wizard," Oswin, Della, and Thomas came to mind.
"There used to be a disease that mainly affected wizards; their bodies were much weaker and absorbed more mana than they could handle, which led to their deaths."
The most surprising thing was that she told us this as if it were nothing. Della and Claire seemed to be thinking the same thing as me, rushing to ask:
"Oswin, Thomas, or I, can we get sick?" Della asked, fear on her face.
Ophelia shook her head before explaining: "That disease is very old; no one suffers from it anymore. Although the plant is not worth as much as it used to be, the dyes that can be created with it are highly valued in high society."
She seemed more concerned about how much it would sell for than about the disease.
"But you said no one has it, so they won't have it, right?"
As I was thinking more about what Ophelia had told us than about my surroundings, the plant took advantage and bit my leg. Although this time I was able to control myself, I just pushed it away to free myself from its mouth, doing my best not to send it flying. Ophelia was watching me, as if challenging me to do something bad to the plant, so I could only insult the plant in my mind.
"I hope they dye you," I said to the plant in my mind.
I didn't even know what dyes were, but as long as that plant suffered, I would be happy.
"If you're done, go take a bath, you're covered in dirt," Ophelia told us, pointing her finger at us.
Now that I looked at myself, Ophelia was right. Since my hands were dirty, I always tried to wipe them on my clothes, which only made me even dirtier. Della and Claire had even more dirt on their bodies than I did.
We had no choice but to go take a bath. Since we arrived, we had already bathed many times, so we knew where to go and how to do it. The first time I bathed in this place, I was surprised to see so many types of soaps and herbs to make us smell good. In my village, we also used things like that, but I had never seen as many as here.
"Stay still, Conan!" Della would say as she pulled my head from side to side, cleaning the dirt out of my hair.
"Don't pull my hair!" I would yell, feeling a burning sensation every time Della moved her hand.
I was always the one who cleaned my hair, but Della had told me that I was doing it wrong, causing my original color to fade. So now she cleaned it, which I hate. How can she be so rough?!
"All right, now you're clean," she said, looking at me with a smile.
"Yes, now I can clearly see your blond hair; before you were so dirty that I thought your hair color was brown or something," said Claire, running her hand through my hair.
"My hair is always clean, the problem is that you guys are blind," I said, stroking the places where Della had hurt me.
"Stop crying and let's go eat, then we have to practice," Della said, walking ahead of everyone.