14 Chapter 14 : Self-harmed

Lyte flashbacked back to the fight with Naba that morning after leaving Snow's mansion.

During the fight, the ogre indeed did not hurt him as he had remembered. What hurt him was so embarrassing anyone would laugh at him. Lyte remembered summoning a rain of daggers to attack the ogre amongst all the attacks he threw at the beast, and he remembered now that one of the daggers flew too close to him. So close it was at a range where Lyte would get hurt, and he did. He did not feel the pain at first because he was too preoccupied and focused on defeating Naba which explained why it took a while for him to remember that event.

Snow took the shirt from Lyte's hand with the purpose of fixing it and cleaning it up using magic. But as she held the piece of green cloth in her hands, she carefully observed the tear. She knew different types of tears all too well from her job and knew that that one on Lyte's shirt did not came from an ogre's attack.

"Lyte, I have a question. How did you get hurt again?"

"O-oh, I got hurt while fighting an ogre in the Dead Forest. I told you just now, silly,"

"Hmm... Can you be more specific about what you think had caused it? Did you get hurt by the ogre's teeth, or claws or something else?"

"I'm pretty sure it was its claws. It was swinging its dagger like claws at me during the fight. I thought I had gotten a perfect score in dodging all its attacks but I guess not. Haha,"

"Are you absolutely sure? This tear does not seemed like it came from an ogre's claws. It seemed to be cause by something thin and sharp. Blades to be precise,"

"O-oh really? Maybe the ogre had a p-pedicure and had its claws modified?"

Lyte was trying very hard to make sure Snow would not find out about the real cause of the wound as he did not want to ruin his image in Snow's eyes. Sadly, Lyte could not lie to Snow for long. Snow concluded through the painful Q and A with Lyte that the wound was caused by the wounded himself.

"Lyte, I need you to be honest with me. Did you hurt yourself during the fight with a dagger type weapon? You can tell me. I will not make fun of you. I promise,"

"N-nonsense. I know better than that, Snow. What kind of a Griffin would I be if I can manage to hurt myself while my opponent didn't even made a scratch on me?" it was after Lyte finished his sentence that he realised his mistake but it was too late to stop himself.

"There. You admitted it yourself that your opponent in fact did not even made a scratch on you meaning your wound was not caused by the ogre you fought, which also meant that you were the one who had hurt yourself. That or the witch sisters you had encountered,"

"I, uh, I was just making an example. That would be the case if I did hurt myself, which I didn't instead of the ogre hurting me. It was just an example,"

"Do not lie to me, Lyte. I can tell that you are hiding something from me through you body language. Lyte, if you could not trust me enough to even tell me a simple truth, then I cannot continue this journey with you. A team requires trust among the members to be strong and efficient. If you could not trust me, I shall take my leave from this team and we shall continue our separate paths. I bid you goodlu-"

"W-wait! Okay, okay. I admit it. I hurt myself from summoning a rain of daggers to attack the ogre. I didn't want to tell you because it is embarrassing. Now you can start making fun of me…"

There was a pause of dead silence between them. Lyte's words were hanging in the air. He braced himself for the hurtful mockery or cruel insult that was to come from Snow, but he heard none. He was very confused but saw Snow's expression changed from an annoyed one to a satisfied one.

"Y-you're not going to make fun of me?"

"Of course not. Why would I? I am glad you can be honest with me. Now I can help you practice your magic skills during breaks in our journey. I am sorry for pressing on. I know you must have felt embarrassed about the fact that you hurt yourself. But as a friend, I am here to help you with the challenges you may face in your journey and helping you improve yourself,"

"O-oh. All this time I thought you were going to make fun of me, most people would in my opinion. That's why I tried to hide the truth. Thanks for not laughing, Snow. Oh, but please don't tell Lisa about this,"

"No problem. Ah, like I said, Lisa would be back. She is heading this way now. Remember what I said, Lyte. Be weary and cautious around her cause she is not what she seemed. Do not trust her 100%, okay?" then, with a snap of her fingers just like the night before, the shirt was cleaned and fixed in a blink of an eye. Snow folded the shirt then handed it to Lyte which he happily accepted and kept it in his bag.

"Yes, I'll be sure to remember. But you said it yourself, Snow. You should have more trust in your team or it will not be a healthy team. So I would appreciate it if you would give her a chance, okay?"

"Alright. I will be more open to her if she lets me,"

"If she lets you? What does that mean?"

"Lyte, how clueless are you? Did you not see how hostile Lisa was towards me just now?"

"Oh, I bet she was just frighten seeing a reapress. Usually when people see one around is when someone is about to die, so it was understandable,"

"Ok, I will take your word for it, though you still should not change the fact that you should be a little weary when and if it comes to personal things with her,"

"Does the same rule applies to you, Snow? Should I be weary of you too?"

"That is your choice, I cannot make any decisions for you. I would not blame you if you do,"

"Sounds fair. Wait, what is taking Lisa so long?"

With that said, both of them turned towards the direction where they last saw Lisa walking their way. It took them a while before they finally spotted the black hair witch. Only then did they realised what was keeping Lisa from reaching them minutes ago.

There, on the ground near some rose bushes was Lisa, sitting with her legs to the side on the ground. She was holding her face as if her cheeks were cut. A little blood could be seen dripping down from the place she held onto the grass beneath her. By the looks of it, she had been sitting there for a while as the amount of red blood pooling on the green grass is quite a lot if it was from a cut on the cheek. If one was to look closely, crystal clear liquid can be seen dripping down from her eyes, indicating that she was crying.