Fearing the stones might be dangerous, Cassian wrapped his hand in something before picking them up.
“Ugh!” Even Cassian immediately pulled the stone away from his nose afterward.
Cassian’s gaze was fixed on the red line running down the center of the stone; his face tensed when he saw the mark, but only for a moment afterward, his expression returned to calm.
Before Cassian could toss the mysterious stone aside, Zinnia pulled his hand closer to her; she needed to examine it more closely.
“What are you—” Cassian’s voice caught in his throat as he felt Zinnia’s touch on his arm.
“Be quiet. I need to look at this more closely,” Zinnia replied quickly, but her eyes remained fixed on the stone Cassian was holding.
“It’s completely black, like coal. Is this a rock from a mine?” Zinnia now turned to Cassian with a questioning look.
Hearing this, Cassian’s expression turned serious, and his eyes returned to the rocks they had found.
“After hearing what you said, I thought so too. But, as far as I know, there aren’t any mineral mines in Greenmarch,” Cassian replied softly, as if realizing something.
“Huh? Then where did these rocks come from?” Zinnia grew even more confused after hearing his words.
At first, Zinnia had thought the rocks were there because the river had accidentally carried remnants of mined rock downstream.
“That’s exactly why there shouldn’t be rocks from a mine like this in this river,” Cassian replied, realizing that his bad hunch was indeed correct.
There was something far more dangerous behind this issue of river contamination.
Cassian clenched his teeth tightly; he had to find out immediately what was really going on.
Before the same thing happened to Greenmarch as had happened in other regions.
“It looks like we’ll have to comb through this area. I’m afraid there are bad people doing irresponsible things in Greenmarch.” After thinking hard, Zinnia realized that those suspicious rocks wouldn’t be there if there weren’t any mines.
If there really weren’t any mines in Greenmarch, then where did these mining rocks come from?
Zinnia still hadn’t found an answer to this puzzle.
“This is going to be dangerous, Zinnia.” Cassian looked at Zinnia seriously.
For a moment, Zinnia fell silent when she heard Cassian call her name; it seemed like this was the first time he’d called her by name, and she still wasn’t used to hearing it.
“Relax, we still need to find the source of this chaos. So that’s our priority right now; I’m not stupid enough to go looking for my own death,” Zinnia replied calmly.
“At least you’re still in your right mind,” Cassian replied, letting out a sigh of relief.
Cassian then wrapped up the rocks they’d found and put them away, and they proceeded to examine the area around the Lume River in search of other clues.
To be honest, Zinnia regretted not changing out of her dress before heading out to inspect the Lume River.
As a result, she had to tread carefully as she walked along the riverbank.
“Ugh! This dress is really wearing me out,” Zinnia muttered as she lifted the hem of her dress to make her steps lighter.
With a frustrated frown, Zinnia walked toward the headwaters of the Lume River, and that’s when she realized there was another spring whose water flowed into the Lume River.
Convinced that something was happening up in the mountains, she called out to Cassian.
“Cassian! Come here!” Zinnia was too tired to go looking for Cassian, so she decided to just call him.
It didn’t take long for Cassian to appear before Zinnia.
“Why did you call me?” Cassian emerged from behind Zinnia.
“Argh!” Zinnia jumped in surprise when she heard someone’s voice from behind her.
Her face was full of shock as she turned around and found Cassian standing there.
“Why did you come up so suddenly without a sound?! Goodness, my heart almost stopped!” Zinnia glared angrily, patting her chest to calm herself down.
“You’re the one who didn’t notice I was here,” Cassian replied, rolling his eyes lazily.
Zinnia clenched her teeth tightly, annoyed but unable to refute Cassian’s words.
“So what’s going on? Did you find anything?” Cassian had no intention of beating around the bush right now.
Zinnia put her hands on her hips in frustration, then pointed toward the stream flowing down from the mountains.
“It looks like the problem is up there. The stream that flows into the Lume River is already murky, so the problem might be there,” Zinnia explained calmly.
“You’re right…” Cassian looked at the stream Zinnia was pointing to.
And Cassian felt that what he said made sense, but it would be difficult for them to continue their journey.
Especially when Cassian glanced at Zinnia, who was wearing a dress unsuitable for hiking in the mountains.
Not to mention it was almost nightfall, and the sky above them was already starting to darken.
“We’d better continue our journey tomorrow. Hiking in the dark would be very dangerous, not to mention…” Cassian glanced at Zinnia, who was wearing a dress.
“Ugh…” Zinnia looked down in embarrassment, unconsciously clutching her dress.
“Besides, we don’t know what the conditions are up there; it would be better if we prepared ourselves before actually heading up.” Cassian looked up at the mountains with a complex expression.
“I suppose so…” Zinnia continued, realizing that they could only continue their investigation tomorrow.
What annoyed her was the fact that she’d embarrassed herself in front of Cassian.
.
.
.
With a broad grin, Zinnia felt proud of herself as she stepped out of the manor in her new outfit.
Learning from her previous mistake, Zinnia decided to wear a casual vest and long pants, an outfit she often saw people wear when they wanted to practice horseback riding. Follow the newest chapters on novelping . com.
Zinnia had also tied her long red hair up in a high ponytail.
Of course, she asked Anna to help her.
“Anna, please help me take care of my children, okay! They’re very vulnerable at this stage, so you have to follow the steps I’ve written in this book!” At the end of her sentence, Zinnia glared at Anna to make sure she understood what she was saying.
“I’ll do exactly as instructed, Miss!” Anna nodded obediently.
Zinnia laughed happily as she patted Anna’s shoulder proudly; she seemed to keep chattering away at Anna, reminding her over and over about those seeds.
“Let’s go!” Cassian’s voice rang out from the direction of the manor.
“Tsk! You took forever; I’ve been waiting for you this whole time!” Zinnia said irritably.
“My wound hasn’t healed yet. Do you really want to carry me if I suddenly pass out?!” Cassian shot Zinnia a quick glance.
“No problem! I’ll just push you from the top so you can roll all the way down,” Zinnia replied, laughing happily.
Cassian, on the other hand, clicked his tongue in annoyance, then stepped forward, leaving Zinnia behind.
“Ugh! Wait for me!” Zinnia hurried to catch up with Cassian’s long strides.
“Anna, don’t forget my orders!” Zinnia glanced back and shouted at Anna before finally disappearing into the distance.
“Is it really okay to leave the two of them to handle the river problem?” Anna felt worried as she watched them both leave.
Meanwhile, Zinnia and Cassian, who already knew where they were headed, began their journey cautiously.
They had come to the mountains today fully prepared, so their journey went fairly smoothly.
Zinnia realized the conditions around the mountains were worse than those around the Lume River.
“Isn’t the vegetation here even worse? How can even the wild grasses look so withered and lifeless like this?” Zinnia couldn’t help but remark when she saw the state of things.
“You’re right; whatever is polluting this water is truly dangerous,” Cassian agreed.
Not only that, but the stream flowing from the mountains was narrow, so it was easy for them to see it.
Zinnia’s face paled when the grayish-black rocks with mysterious red lines reappeared in greater numbers.
“These rocks… there are more and more of them.” Zinnia reached out to pick up a rock; she couldn’t help but want to remove it from the stream.
That was when Cassian grabbed Zinnia’s arm.
“Don’t touch that rock!”
Without realizing it, they found themselves gazing into each other’s eyes, with only a sliver of space between them.
For a moment, Zinnia could sense the anxiety in Cassian’s eyes as he looked at her.