Bab 37: Goddess Grant Him Patience

[JIHOON]

Jihoon had been resting in the cave when he heard Rania's voice. It had been so distant and felt like an illusion. This wasn't what he had expected, but hey, Han Seong had said the woman would recover, though they weren't sure if it would be today or in three years.

With Rania, even the goddess herself was uncertain.

At first, the Calindra alpha thought he was hallucinating because Kim Rania had been unconscious for so long, way too long for an alpha of her caliber. It was almost like she hadn't wanted to wake up, but right now, Jihoon had heard her voice.

"Do you have friends?" Rania asked, sarcasm filling her voice, like she was certain that Jihoon had lost his sanity. Even after all she had gone through, Rania still managed to be a pain in the ass, maybe there were just some things that couldn't stop the woman.

"What?" Jihoon asked, unsure of what he had heard. Was she even serious right now?

"I asked if you have friends, or if you were talking to yourself this whole time, which wouldn't be so surprising considering you look like you communicate with the goats. Or maybe that's why you didn't want us to cross the valley of the Whites," Rania asked as she looked around her.

'This little shit,' Jihoon thought to himself while looking at the woman he had spent days nursing.

Maybe leaving her to die out there wouldn't have been such a bad idea, because it would have saved him time and energy with the ungrateful woman.

Goodness, Rania was a fun sucker. The little shit would probably be bickering till kingdom come and Park Jihoon didn't exactly have enough patience left in him at the moment. So he stayed silent as he watched her come to terms with her surroundings.

Kim Rania had just realized that she was no longer on the field where she had last been crawling. She wasn't in that terrible state and for some reason, she was thankful that Jihoon had shown up for her, not that she would tell him to his face.

She would have rather died over and again than say anything positive to the Calindra alpha. Maybe both of them were cursed to bring each other misery, and that was something that Park Jihoon agreed with, because this woman had been hell in itself.

The brown walls of the cave stared right at Rania as she looked around, silently taking in her surroundings and appreciating the nature of things around her. The cave was huge, and seemed to have endless tunnels leading to other places.

It had a tad more holes than Rania had ever seen in other caves, not that she expected the cave to be a compact space, but still, it was a beauty she would relish before she heard Jihoon's annoying voice again.

Oh if only the young alpha shut his mouth for days Rania would be in her own heaven.

There were a few mold patches on the cave walls, but that was expected, considering the place was cold as fuck.

'Maybe he brought me here to freeze to death, this conniving unthankful alpha with a useless mate,' Rania said to herself, her anger making itself known through her silent growls.

Jihoon stared at her, each time she growled, wondering if her feral opponents had finally managed to take away all the possible common sense in her. But what if she never had the sense to begin with?

He was infuriated with Rania, but he knew she would just piss him off more if he made known his thoughts, even if she had zero emotional intelligence.

If the mission hadn't been important, Jihoon was certain he would have left Rania's ass out there to freeze or even exchanged her for gold, considering she was a stubborn mule and a hated one too. People would want to buy her and show her off as some fucked up trophy.

However, what if Jihoon had done this, not because of the mission ahead of them, but because he was a kind person? Would kindness really be a factor when he was dealing with the woman who had taken away the woman who meant the world to him?

Fuck, everything was confusing for Jihoon.

If only the fates made it clear what role Rania played in his life, but he was scared they would tell him that she was there to terrorize him. Then again, wasn't that their new favorite hobby with each other anyway?

'It doesn't look that bad, even though it's cold as fuck,' Rania thought to herself as she focused on where she currently lay. The comfort she was getting was insane considering the floors of the cave were made of rocks. No rock or even amount of sand gave that kind of comfort.

Rania was currently laid on a bed of grass and clearly, it had taken a lot of magic to get that amount of grass in here. Maybe Jihoon's friend had helped him with it. The level of grass was raised on one end, the part where Rania's head lay.

Beside Rania, were different portions that had been tried on her. Ointments that had been used to make her heal, and even then she still felt like shit. Well, at least she could be thankful that someone cared about him.

She was amazed at how much care she had received. It was so obvious that whoever had brought her here, didn't want her to die. If their positions had been switched, Rania would have left Jihoon's ass out there, but would she have, really?

Jihoon looked at the now conscious woman who had no regard for all that had happened to her, the woman who had given up even when she should have kept on fighting. She was a warrior but in the past three days, Kim Rania had shown no signs of her strength.

Maybe this was the side of Rania that Dalrae suffered through each day. Honestly, if this was it, then Jihoon had massive respect for Kim Rania's best friend, because this woman was a piece of work. She was unhinged, mannerless, not to mention unthankful.

She was a complete whacko, even when she lay on the grass, it seemed like she was contemplating her next move.

Jihoon was tempted to tell her that there wasn't exactly a next move for her considering her bones hadn't even healed, but he decided to save himself the trouble.

The crazy woman would probably think he wanted her dead, which he did, but not when she lay like a vegetable without brains.

"Is that all you have to offer after being unconscious for three fucking days?"