Honey Wine Ch.15

Chapter 15: Injured

The moment Alan pushed open the door, Veles stood up.

Though he was reluctant to admit it, he had indeed been startled. The dragon vine hadn’t given him any warning of Alan’s arrival—not at all. And because of the pain from his wounds, Veles’ awareness of his surroundings had dulled (of course, there was also another possibility: that in Veles’ subconscious, Alan had already been marked as someone who could be trusted absolutely, even though Veles himself wasn’t consciously aware of it).

When Veles met Alan’s gaze, he froze for a moment, and only then did he remember that he should cover his terrifying body. He raised his hand to grab his cloak, and in his panic, he tensed his muscles, which drove the irritating spines along his back deeper into his flesh, causing a brief stiffening in his movement.

This chain of unexpected mistakes was already enough for Alan to reach Veles’ side before he could completely cover himself with the cloak—and see the wounds on his body clearly.

“By the Forest Goddess! Mr. Veles, you’re hurt!”

Alan shouted in alarm.

Veles’ back was covered in dense, deep wounds, and within those wounds were shattered little spines, glimmering with a dark green light, evidence that they were filled with toxins.

With his skill, Veles wouldn’t have had to get injured—but in order to protect the little one from the Hans family, he had used his own body as a shield, leaving behind these damn poisonous spines.

Even in the dim light, Veles’ wounds looked horrifying. Because of those injuries, Alan once again forgot the taboos regarding demi-humans. He hurried to Veles’ side, opened his hands, and let his fingertips move quickly across Veles’ back, casting a healing spell.

The light of the healing spell flickered a few times, illuminating some of the scales beneath Veles’ back.

Alan heard a faint, muffled grunt from Veles and only then realized that he might have just overstepped again.

“Ah, sorry,” Alan quickly stepped back, feeling a flush creeping up his cheeks. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Mr. Veles. I just… damn it, your wounds need treatment!”

The human mage’s voice gradually grew serious as he noticed that even after casting the healing spell, Veles’ injuries showed little improvement. As long as those poisoned spines remained lodged in his body, their toxins would continue to corrode his flesh.

To make matters worse, the spines were extremely thin, and the points where they had broken were awkwardly positioned—right in spots that no normal person could safely touch.

Before Alan arrived, Veles had been roughly sprinkling herbal powder onto his own back. While this could numb some of the searing pain, it did little else in terms of actual treatment.

“Don’t worry about it. It’ll be fine,” Veles said stiffly to Alan. One of his hands still clutched his cloak, and from the tension, his sharp nails dug deep into the thick fabric.

He glanced at the human beside him from the corner of his eye, paused for a moment, and added, “I’m strong. In a few days, these spines will work themselves out.”

He wasn’t lying.

His bloodline certainly caused him endless pain, but it also granted him immense strength. Once the new flesh had healed, the spines would naturally come loose along with the already rotted tissue. He only had to endure a few days of intense pain as his flesh slowly disintegrated—a type of pain he had experienced countless times and long since grown accustomed to.

In comparison, Alan’s presence, and the fact that Veles was aware of his own body being seen, made Veles even more tense.

Alan saw Veles’ scales, and his malformed body. The realization surfaced slowly in his mind—and then Veles felt as if invisible hands had reached into his chest, ruthlessly squeezing his heart.

He felt deeply uncomfortable, even a little pained.

He had been prepared for this—he expected to see disgust and caution in Alan’s eyes.

“How can you just ignore this?! Mr. Veles, these are poisoned stingers left by the Ghostridge Wasps, aren’t they?! These spines can dissolve your flesh!”

In the next moment, Veles unexpectedly heard Alan’s scolding.

The gentle, sweet country mage suddenly showed a spark of the temper that a mage ought to have.

Veles unconsciously flinched under the rebuke, then turned to look at Alan. In the human mage’s eyes flickered a small, fiery spark of anger.

But there was no disgust.

No caution.

Not even a hint.

Alan and Veles held each other’s gaze for a moment. The young mage’s heart raced—he knew he had overstepped. After all, not everyone could tolerate a stranger poking at their wounds.

Yet the moment Alan saw the wounds on Veles’ back, he lost a little control. Especially when he realized that Veles didn’t care about his own body, a strange flame of frustration ignited in him.

How could anyone be so careless with themselves?

Such a strong, refined, and handsome body—and yet Veles treated it as if it were worthless.

“Mr. Veles, please turn your back to me. I’m going to remove these spines now.”

Suppressing his nervousness, Alan forced himself to speak with authority.

Fortunately, Veles was not like those rebellious adventurers Alan had encountered before. He looked reluctant, but in the end, he obediently turned his back as Alan instructed.

Alan snapped his fingers, and a few glowing orbs appeared in midair, their light from the Light spell illuminating the bloodied wounds on Veles’ back.

He tore the hem of his own clothes and wrapped the strips around his fingers. Using his fingertips, he gently pressed the flesh around the poisoned spines, exposing the broken ends, and then carefully began to extract the Ghostridge Wasp stingers, one by one, from Veles’ wounds.

“Mr. Veles, please try to relax a little,” Alan said after a moment, frowning.

“Your muscles are too tense—it makes it very easy for the spines to break off inside your flesh.”

Alan began to doubt his own technique, thinking that perhaps being away from the adventurer’s team for so long had made him clumsy. Otherwise, how could such a simple procedure—removing spines—cause Veles to tense up so much?

He could even feel the muscles in Veles’ back lightly twitching as they strained.

Veles’s tail was also tightly coiled, trembling slightly against the ground.

“Alan…”

Then Alan heard Veles’s hoarse voice.

“I beg you…”

The silver-eyed half-orc spoke as if in immense pain.

“What is it?”

“Please… be rougher.”

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