Jin-wi and the other soldiers could not say anything about Dan’s unexpected action. They just stared at the extraordinary scene in awe. When Dan was about to feed water to Gyeol for a second time, Jin-wi finally recovered from his surprise and shouted at her.

“What the hell are you doing?!”

Jin-wi tried to detach Dan from Gyeol. He was worried that something might happen to Gyeol after forcing him to drink water. But just when Jin-wi was about to push her shoulder, Dan raised her hand to stop him. Her eyes were fixated on Gyeol. Jin-wi, who’s eyebrowed were wrinkled, lowered his gaze to where Dan was looking, then his face turned into surprise.

“...Nonsense.”

The bulge on Gyeol’s neck was moving up and down. It meant that he was drinking the water that Dan had passed through his mouth. Everyone relaxed but the truth was no one really knew. 

Gyeol, their leader and the northern ghost, could not drink water. To be precise, it was impossible for him to drink clear and transparent water. Some say it’s just for taste, some say it’s for his health. Some even say it was part of his mental training. But in reality, they all thought the same. He was under a terrible curse. Because he carried the karma of so many sins, he felt the bloody smell on lifeless water, and even tried to suppress it with a strong perfume. As if to prove this, his face would harden and he would turn his head when he sees clear water, whether it was a stream or a spring. Even alcohol which was not close to clear, light water. The only thing he could drink was the dark colored tea that Dadong made himself in front of his eyes. 

However, he was now drinking water in the arms of a woman whom he had only met for a few days. The scene which they couldn’t believe even when they were seeing it with their own eyes, had their eyes twitching like fools. Each time Dan fed him with water, Gyeol took it all without any hesitation. It was like he was drinking the sweetest thing in the world. 

“Down…”

Dan, who had emptied all of the water in the gourd, exhaled. She laid the grain back on the floor and checked his condition. Gently wiping the cold sweat on his forehead, his closed eyes finally lifted and he let out a deep breath. 

“General! Are you okay?”

When Gyeol opened his eyes safely, Jin-wi and the other soldiers exclaimed in relief. However, his black eyes were fixed on the woman in front of them. 

“...”

A strange emotion flashed in his infinitely cold and dark eyes. It seemed like a question, it seemed like a boundary, and it seemed like it was thanks. Everyone who saw it had thought so. Gyeol, who soon lost his gaze, rose from his seat.

“...Just go.”

“Would you like to rest a little more?”

“I showed an unsightly appearance in front of you all.”

“Don’t say that, the general’s safety is our safety.”

“Let’s leave before we get tied up further.”

“Yes.”

Jin-wi helped Dan get up, who had been sitting on the floor until then, and headed to the place where his horse was. Dan, who was following Jin-wi, stopped for a moment and looked at the grain again. In a moment shorter than an instant, she had seen one thing in his eyes for which the reason was unknown. 

‘Me… you were resentful to me.’

Dan bit her lower lip slightly.

Why did you look at me with those eyes? 

No matter how much she thought about it, no answer came to her mind. Did she open her mouth recklessly? Or do you just drink tea instead of water? But the one who had the answer to these questions only looked at her then turned away.

In the end, without an answer to her questions, Dan followed them back to Hanyang.