Dark Wind Icy Snow Ryutar Yinyuan - Volume 1 Chapter 333

Raising his head to look up at him, MaoHan frowned, his black eyes filled with guarded suspicion.

“Do you need anything?” he asked, his tone curt and harsh. They could have accepted that Snow would rather be with ZaiWin than travel with them, but that didn’t mean that they saw his apparently abnormal preference with good eyes.

“That. It doesn’t belong to you,” Snow declared in the first words out of his mouth since they’d left Seven Waters, pointing the small pouch hanging from MaoHan’s waist.

Following his accusatory finger, MaoHan lowered his gaze to see what he meant.

“It does now,” he quickly replied, covering it with his hand, as if that would be enough to declare his ownership over the small thing.

Snow did his best to keep his anger under control.

“I need the purifying crystals inside it,” he simply declared, which was the honest truth. They would come in handy for what he had in mind.

MaoHan raised a confused eyebrow at that.

“Purifying crystals?”

As if he couldn’t believe Snow’s words, MaoHan untied the pouch and opened it, carelessly spilling its contents on the gray dirt. As expected, approximately two hands full of shiny crystals fell on the ground, glowing like precious stones under the gray, pale light of the day.

As Snow had expected, VinWei had tried her best to make sure they traveled with as many different crystals as she could come up with. Besides the purifying crystals Snow had requested, there were also healing ones, cleansing ones, fire ones, even a couple Snow thought were probably water, as well as a few others he hadn’t the slightest idea of what they could do.

MaoHan looked genuinely surprised at the shiny contents of the small pouch, which meant that he hadn’t even gone to the trouble of checking what he was carrying. He’d simply taken it from ZaiWin and happily hung it from his belt.

And yet, the small pouch didn’t contain only crystals, Snow quickly concluded, his gaze immediately fixed on the blue hairpin lost amongst all those shiny crystals. He couldn’t believe his own eyes, his heart suddenly beating faster inside his chest.

“What do you need them for?”

Blinking, Snow forced himself to focus on his main objective.

“Purify water,” he simply replied, to which MaoHan frowned, a strange expression on his face.

“What for?”

Although his question was borderline ridiculous, by now Snow didn’t find it the slightest bit surprising. After all, they were all happily drinking from the water they gathered, and they were all doing just fine.

“I can’t drink it otherwise.”

MaoHan raised a surprised expression at that.

“Really? You’re really like some frail doll made of glass, aren’t you?”

Snow didn’t reply. If he refused to give him the crystals he would simply stop drinking water altogether until he gave in. As simple as that. He knew they wanted to deliver him alive and in good health to that InnArg-person. So he was pretty sure that they wouldn’t allow him to go too long without water.

Taking a deep, annoyed sigh, MaoHan waved his hand, granted him permission.

“Take them, then. But only the purifying ones!” he warned, and Snow quickly squatted down, gathering every purple crystal he could find. Lastly he couldn’t help himself, and grabbed the blue hairpin as well.

MaoHan immediately grabbed his wrist, squeezing it so hard that Snow instinctively opened his hand.

“What’s this?” he asked, taking the hairpin from him, holding it between his fingers with a disinterested expression on his face. And it was all Snow could do not to snatch it back again.

“That’s mine!”

“Yours?!” MaoHan repeated doubtfully. Well, Snow couldn’t blame him. Although much longer than it used to be, his hair was still not nearly long enough to wear such a beautiful thing.

MaoHan frowned, turning the small hairpin in his hand, analyzing it with a critical expression.

“This insignificant trinket?” he asked again, this time clearly criticizing its small worth.

Snow simply stretched out his hand.

“Give it back!” And he meant it. He would freeze that hand solid if MaoHan refused to return it to him. No matter how insignificant or worthless it might be for everyone else around him. That hairpin was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever given to him. Right now he was so happy that he hadn’t lost it, that somehow ZaiWin had apparently found it and kept it, that all he could think of was of getting it back.

Shrugging, clearly unable to comprehend Snow’s open insistence, MaoHan placed the small blue feather back on his hand. And Snow almost sighed from relief.

Having fulfilled what he’d come to do, he simply turned around and made his way back to the cart, followed by RyuXin’s clearly confused expression.

The little girl was still standing by the cart, watching ZaiWin with guarded apprehension like she always did. In fact, both children clearly avoided getting too close to him, even though they all slept and traveled inside the small cart. Not that Snow could blame them, he thought, looking at him. All dressed in black like he usually did, his long dark hair knotted in a messy bun at the back of his head, his jawline covered in short dark hair, somehow he looked too big, stuck inside that confined space, even though he always sat quietly at a corner. Like a huge caged animal, Snow thought when those bright eyes landed on him. A dangerous caged animal, just buying its time, waiting for the right moment to attack.

Trying his best to climb into the cart without dropping any of his precious crystals, Snow had to embarrassingly drag his bottom across its entire wooden floor, since he would never be able to crawl on his hands and knees, not with all those people surrounding him. He’d tried to do so, the previous day but, as always, his knees had simply refused to bend.

The warm arms that slipped beneath his arms pulled him back, helping him get to his place, sitting between ZaiWin’s legs.

Taking a deep breath, Snow finally relaxed, leaning against ZaiWin’s chest. It almost felt as if he had finally reached home after a long day of hard labor.

Looking down at the food he’d brought, he closed his eyes and focused on cleansing it and purifying it from any kind of contamination it might have suffered just from being exposed to that foul air. Then he carefully wrapped it on his cloak, together with the crystals, and set it to one side. He would get back to them once he was properly rested, his energy levels restored again. The precious hairpin, he carefully tucked inside his tunic. And then he reached out for one of the water-skins he’d brought, opening it and turning back to ZaiWin. Spilling some water on his hand, he took it to ZaiWin’s face.

It was kind of strange, feeling those rough, short hairs against his palm, instead of his warm smooth skin. Now that Snow thought about that, even though he had never seen ZaiWin shave, it was more than obvious that he had to, just like any other man. No educated man of respectable origins would ever allow his beard and mustache to grow like this, much less a noble born. Keeping one’s face clean was a widely recognized indicator of a civilized, honest man.

Not that the dark shade now covering his face looked bad on him, Snow thought, lightly rubbing his hand against ZaiWin’s jawline. In fact, it looked rather good, making him look more mature, his bright blue eyes standing out even more. It was just that this was yet another reminder that ZaiWin was undeniably a prisoner, unable to take care of his own basic needs. Needs that Snow had never had to worry about, he suddenly realized, since no hair had ever grown on his face. Was that because he was still young? Only sixteen years of age? On the other hand, even though he had seen MenTar and ZenTar shave their clean faces on a daily basis, to the point where he’d wondered if there was really a need to go that far, he had never seen any of the other males in their present group having to worry about that. Not even MaoHan, who was clearly the oldest of the group. So, either they were taking care of that in secret, which made no sense at all, or, like Snow, they simply didn’t have to shave. Was that another Tien’Elhar thing?!

ZaiWin grabbed his wrist, successfully interrupting his train of thought, and Snow looked up at him, easily reading his concern in his eyes. The water! Don’t waste it!

Smiling, he pulled his hand free and it was easily released. Find authorized novels in , faster updates, better experience, Please click <a href=”#%5Bbl%5D_15632381105425305/rtyy-330—a-silent-comfort_50837338607113165″>#%5Bbl%5D_15632381105425305/rtyy-330—a-silent-comfort_50837338607113165</a> for visiting.

It was fine. He could always get more water if needed. If they ever ran out of water so would the others, so Snow was confident that that wouldn’t happen. All he had to do was purify some more.

Releasing a silent sigh, ZaiWin closed his eyes and allowed him to wash his face, down his neck, even part of his chest. From the soft, relaxed expression that took over ZaiWin’s face, Snow could tell that he was actually enjoying it a lot. A shame he couldn’t wash the rest of his chest and back as well. Snow would have liked to undress him, so he could easily reach his shoulders, even his arms. But he knew ZaiWin would never willingly allow another person to see his dark markings. And so this would have to do, Snow thought, with a sigh of resignation.

Once he finished his task, he closed the water-skin again and set it to one side, together with his provisions. Shifting in his place, Snow pulled both his legs over one of ZaiWin’s and leaned comfortably against him, his ear pressed against his chest. Warm arms immediately surrounded him, holding him in place, allowing him to relax his body.

Reaching inside his tunic, he took out the small hairpin. It was really beautiful. His only treasure. He could hardly believe it, when he’d found it exactly where he’d buried it, all those years ago. But after all that had happened, after he’d almost died in that cavern, he’d thought he’d completely lost it. Apparently, all this time, ZaiWin had kept it in his pouch, he smiled, caressing its cold surface, tracing the details of the blue feather with his finger.

Sand would really have liked it, he thought, feeling suddenly sad. Sad that she had never had the chance to even see it, much less wear it in her beautiful black hair. Even though he’d been really hungry back then, selling that beautiful hairpin had never even crossed his mind. He had wanted to keep it. He had wanted to, for the first time in his life, do something to repay Sand’s care and kindness, show her how much he really loved her and appreciated all she had done for him. In the end, he had never even seen her again. Tears filled his eyes. The same girl who had fearlessly picked him up from that sea of blood, even though he had just murdered his entire family. Even though he had just killed his own mother. Apparently ignoring all that, she had picked him up and taken him away, ignoring the dark warnings and premonitions of those who obviously knew more than her, from those who had called him a cursed child. And she had cared for him, and, Snow knew, loved him.

He wished he could turn back time. He wished that, back then, he had known all he knew now, that he had known how to use his daitai. He could have protected her, then. Keep her alive …

The large warm hand that covered his head made him close his eyes, two silent tears escaping from between his eyelashes and sliding down his face. A warm kiss heated the top of his head, and Snow allowed himself to take a deep breath.

Now he needed to rest, he knew. So that he wouldn’t completely exhaust his energy, which would only make it all the harder to recover from. That inevitably meant that he would have to deactivate the purifying shield he kept around them. Of course, ZaiWin wouldn’t resent its absence too much, as long as it wasn’t for a very long period of time. But Snow Snow would get sick, his energy immediately tainted, his daitai getting slowly corrupted. And so, for the next few hours, ZaiWin would have to constantly absorb any dark energy that found its way into his body.

The way ZaiWin wrapped his arms around him left a soft smile on Snow’s lips. Once more he could easily understand what he wanted to say. Don’t worry. Just close your eyes and rest.

Holding the small hairpin against his chest, Snow took a deep breath and closed his eyes, obeying his silent command.

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Author’s Note: I know ZaiWin is probably still very mad at him and that there’s a lot he wants to get off his chest. But I just love this silent dynamic they have between them

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