I Became a Barbarian's Bride - Chapter 9
Even behind her mask, her furrowed brow was evident.
Kagan Xieman, holding the match instead of lighting his cigarette, locked eyes with the saintess.
A dull pain throbbed in his left eye.
Suppressing his irritation with a forced smile, he met her gaze as she slowly shook her head, looking directly into his eyes.
“…….”
Kagan then placed the unlit cigarette back between his lips, lightly chuckling as he shook the match to extinguish the flame.
When he put the cigarette back in his mouth, the saintess gave a slight bow.
Though it was a small, polite gesture, it was executed flawlessly.
“…Quite adept in etiquette, I see.”
“Why do you even have eyes, Sharhu?” Kagan remarked, lightly scraping the cigarette case with his thumbnail, looking at the blond man, Sharhu the merchant.
“Pardon?”
“She’s the bride the oracle mentioned, destined to be the grand sacrifice.”
Suppressing the unbearable pain that made him want to tear out his own eye, Kagan groaned quietly.
Unable to withstand the pain, he lightly pressed his left eyelid with the palm of his hand.
“…Wasn’t the chosen one supposed to be the princess?”
“Yes, it was.”
“Why on earth is she acting as a saintess here…?”
“Well, it seems the delicate princess has found herself a new hobby.”
As the pain gradually subsided, Kagan Xieman slowly lowered the hand pressing his eye and exhaled lightly.
“I always think, aren’t the women of Roshan too frail and dainty? You might worry they’d die on their wedding night, especially if they had to handle Ka… I mean, our brother…”
“Hey, stop with the jokes! It’s already too quiet around here…”
Kagan’s guards, who had been drinking, chuckled nonchalantly, making crude jokes without any shame.
Meanwhile the robed woman went around asking questions to each table and writing in her notebook, and then the saintess visited those tables after her.
“What could they be doing?”
The people filling the large tavern all wore old and shabby clothes.
Eventually, the woman with the notebook approached the table where Kagan sat.
She glanced at the rough-looking men surrounding the table and seemed to assess their appearance before slightly furrowing her brow.
“…It doesn’t seem like you’re here for food. Is there something ailing you?”
After a long pause, she slightly bowed and asked.
“…Ailing?”
“…Is there not?”
For a moment, suspicion flickered in the eyes of the young, freckled woman.
The air grew tense.
Instead of answering the woman, Kagan turned his head to look at the saintess.
She was moving from table to table, examining the sick, placing her hands unhesitatingly on those who were bleeding, broken, or diseased.
The people gathered here were filthy, reeked, and some had ailments that were quite unsightly, yet she seemed unbothered.
From her fingertips, a faint blue light emerged, swiftly healing broken limbs and making unsightly blisters vanish.
‘I’ve never heard of the Roshan princess possessing such abilities…’
Kagan stroked his chin.
The information he had was that Princess Nisha was so cherished by the Emperor of the Roshan Empire that she had never been allowed outside.
“Um, if there’s nothing…”
Mary, with a suspicious look, was about to step back and report to Nisha when Kagan spoke up, almost impulsively.
“I feel phantom pain for no apparent reason. Can the saintess treat such a thing?”
“…Phantom pain?”
“Yes, in my left eye…”
Kagan slowly lifted his head, pressing his left eye, which had started throbbing again.
His golden eyes glinted dangerously.
“It hurts so much that I want to gouge it out…”
Kagan’s rough words made Mary flinch. Observing his grim expression, she seemed to judge that he wasn’t lying and slowly nodded.
“I’ll relay that message. But you’re not from Roshan, are you?”
“We are wandering travelers,” Sharhu replied.
Mary scrutinized them before tearing a page from her notebook and placing it on the table, nodding.
