“Get off my land!” Zinnia pulled the mysterious man’s arms away from her plot.
The mysterious man’s blood had splattered all over Zinnia’s plot, where she had planted her seeds.
“Hang in there, please hang in there…” Zinnia muttered as she knelt down to check on her seeds.
[Potato Seed – Dead (Destroyed)]
Zinnia’s breath caught in her throat when she saw that message; she turned her head to look at her other seeds.
[Carrot Seed – Dead (Destroyed)]
“Dead… all of them… dead…” Zinnia clenched her fists tightly, trying to hold back her surging anger.
“And it’s all because of you!” Zinnia spun around and glared at the mysterious man’s lifeless body.
Slowly, Zinnia’s pursed lips began to form a sly grin as a brilliant idea took shape in her mind.
“I’ll make sure you pay dearly for this,” Zinnia murmured softly, then slowly walked closer.
Reluctantly, Zinnia tried to drag the mysterious man’s body into the manor, not forgetting to glance around the grounds to make sure no one was watching what she was doing.
Others would surely become suspicious of Zinnia if they saw her suspicious behavior right now.
.
.
.
“Miss, who is he?” Anna was scared out of her wits when she saw her young mistress bringing a blood-soaked man into the manor.
“I’ll explain later, help me first!” Zinnia said, out of breath.
With great effort, the two of them threw the mysterious man onto the bed in the guest room.
Only then did Zinnia realize that the mysterious man was in truly dire condition.
Blood had soaked his entire body; even the black shirt he was wearing had turned half red.
“Damn it! What on earth happened to this bastard?” Zinnia shuddered at the sight of the blood covering the man’s body.
Zinnia immediately checked on the man; she slapped his cheek to rouse him, but it was all in vain.
His body was ice-cold; Zinnia even thought he might have frozen solid.
“Get me some warm water!”
Anna immediately ran out to carry out Zinnia’s order.
While Anna was gone, Zinnia began to undress the man.
Instantly, Zinnia held her breath.
There were numerous wounds from claw marks and slashes from a weapon—no wonder the man was bleeding so heavily.
However, the most striking wound was the stab wound in his abdomen.
Zinnia immediately grabbed a piece of cloth nearby to press against the wound and stop the bleeding.
“This man… Who on earth did he fight with to get injured this badly?” Zinnia muttered in disbelief.
“Miss—” Anna’s steps halted at the door when she saw Zinnia holding the man’s body.
“Oh, hurry over here! Do we have any medicine to treat this man? His injuries are really serious.” Zinnia’s face had already taken on a slightly panicked expression by now.
Anna quietly breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Zinnia was actually tending to the man’s wounds rather than doing something inappropriate to him.
Given Zinnia’s temperament, it wouldn’t be surprising if she’d done something terrible to the mysterious man.
The thing was, Anna was already used to Zinnia’s mood swings, so she’d been a little taken aback earlier.
“We only have herbs; there are no potions or other strong medicines in this village,” Anna replied, thinking it over.
“Right… Can you make something from the herbs we bought yesterday?” Zinnia immediately thought on her feet; otherwise, this mysterious man might die in their home.
“I’m sorry, Miss!” Anna bowed her head in regret.
Having expected this, Zinnia grew even more panicked, but she tried to stay calm.
Feeling that she had to give it a try, Zinnia told Anna to take over what she was doing.
Then, she hurried to her room to check the Guide that the System had given her.
“I’m sure there must be a way…” Frowning, Zinnia flipped through all her guidebooks in search of clues.
Ding!
[Quest has appeared!]
[Quest: Save the Mysterious Intruder! Reward: Unlock a New Skill + Random Prize Penalty: The intruder dies!]
Zinnia’s hands quickly flipped through every page of the books until she finally found what she needed.
“I knew it, it had to be here!” Zinnia hugged the book, then hurried back to the guest room.
“Anna, I need your help. Get all the herbs listed in this book ready!” This time, Zinnia’s eyes sparkled with optimism.
.
.
.
“Why hasn’t he woken up yet? Did my herbal potion fail?” Zinnia was lost in thought, deep in her own mind.
Two days had passed since Zinnia tried to save the mysterious, injured man, yet he still hadn’t regained consciousness.
Zinnia’s only concern was that there might be something wrong with the herbal potion she’d made.
Since this was Zinnia’s first attempt at making a potion based solely on a tutorial from the System’s Guidebook, she wasn’t entirely confident.
“He couldn’t possibly have died because of my potion, right?” Zinnia shrugged, trying to shake off her negative thoughts.
That’s when Zinnia felt a chill in her hand, snapping her out of her reverie.
“Stop worrying about that; the quest hasn’t failed yet, so he can’t possibly be dead.” Zinnia slapped her cheek hard enough to snap herself back to reality.
“Besides, I have something more important to take care of,” Zinnia continued, looking at the seeds in front of her.
Earlier, she’d made a serious mistake; she’d forgotten a crucial step before planting the seeds.
“How could I have forgotten to pre-germinate them? Even without that guy, those seeds won’t be able to grow,” Zinnia said listlessly.
So now Zinnia was pre-germinating those low-quality seeds, hoping that doing so would improve their quality.
Zinnia’s schedule remained packed that day; she still had to clear the remaining weeds from the manor’s front yard.
The problem was that Zinnia couldn’t stop thinking about that mysterious man; she was a little suspicious of him because of his unusual injuries.
“Miss! He… has woken up!” Anna looked out of breath as she shouted from the front of the manor.
“What?!” Zinnia’s eyes widened in disbelief, then she hurriedly ran inside the manor.
Without wasting any more time, Zinnia headed straight for the guest room where the mysterious man was staying.
She saw him sitting on the bed, leaning back with his body completely covered in bandages.
His face was still pale, and even his lips looked dry and ashen.
“Finally, you’re awake.” Zinnia’s voice sounded cold as she spoke to him.
The man, who had been sitting calmly, slowly turned his head to look at Zinnia.
Zinnia pulled a chair from the room and placed it near the bed.
She sat down, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Do you know that because you trespassed onto my property, my farmland was destroyed?” Zinnia said sarcastically.
“I know.
“I’m sorry about that. Let me thank you for still being willing to save my life.” The man sincerely thanked Zinnia.
“It’s good that you still have some sense of decency. Well then, now is the time to pay for all the favors I’ve done for you, as well as compensation for the damage you caused.” Zinnia, with her chin held high, glanced at the man.
Silently, Zinnia tried to gauge the man’s reaction to her cold demeanor.
For a moment, the man looked stunned, but it didn’t take him long to regain his composure.
“Right now, I don’t have the money to pay you, Miss.”
Zinnia smirked silently upon hearing this; she already knew that because she had searched the man earlier.
“Then pay me with your body!” Zinnia smirked with a malicious glare.
“Miss!” Anna stared at Zinnia in disbelief at what she had just said.