I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 128: Pain Covering Pain

Chapter 128: Pain Covering Pain

Kara kept a cloth resting on her lap because, every so often, blood mixed with ink would drip down the girl’s arm and it was hard to tell where she was supposed to poke next.

The old woman started with the outline of the three interconnected triangle tattoos before filling in the rest.

The outline was hard enough as it was for Irene. Even when they filled it in, Irene asked for a couple of breaks just so she could move around a bit and stretch out her shoulder. Merely moving and air passing against the freshly poked skin felt like she had an open wound exposed to the world. The desire to touch it was hard to resist.

However, even when Kara was done filling in the tattoo, there was still much to go over just in case there were blank patches that would make the prayer and the symbol not protect her. It was meant to be a flawless, unbroken shape to ensure that it worked.

This is where the true pain struck the girl. It wasn’t only fresh skin being poked anymore but skin already stinging being stabbed with bone.

They had to use three different bones so that they would remain sharp. When the needle seemed to take a while to poke through the skin, that’s when a new bone was used to ensure it wouldn’t drag so much.

Rochelle eventually traded Arthur places because Irene was squeezing her mother’s hand so hard that she needed a bit of a break. In the meantime, Rochelle had brought the restorative tea meant to replenish Irene’s blood and keep up her body temperature so she decided to brew a bit for the girl and hopefully comfort her.

Arne was bored of sitting around so he eventually went back outside to play with the horses and ride them through the hills as long as he didn’t get into trouble and go to the rocky points of the mountains where avalanches were more prevalent.

By the time Kara got to the final poke, the sun was already headed toward the shorter mountains in the west.

She wiped down Irene’s tattoo one last time and was satisfied with the sharp lines and how equally sized the triangles were. There wasn’t a bit of skin poking through the triangles and where they interconnected was bold and precise.

"I believe we are finally done," the grandmother admitted. "My back is sore and my hands are tired, but I’m sure you’re in more pain than I am."

The last words were said with a light chuckle and Irene slumped into her father’s arm after squeezing his hand for the past hour.

"How very cruel," Irene uttered. "At least I only have to do this once."

"Unless, of course, you get married and have a Sünsto wedding where you will be tattooed then as well," Kara reminded her.

There was a moment of internal debate as Irene decided whether or not she should tell her grandmother she would never marry because she disliked all the men who would be options for her.

"You’re right," Irene relented but her father already knew her thoughts about marriage as a whole.

However, even after Kara had put away all the things to give her granddaughter a tattoo, it didn’t seem like she was finished because she returned to Irene’s side with a wooden box full of things. The girl dreaded what was next.

Kara pulled out what looked to be brown bits of wood and animal fat. She started crushing it all together in a bowl.

"What is this for?" Irene asked as she leaned towards her grandmother and tried to get a view of what other concoction she was making.

After the day she experienced so far, Irene was worried it was something else to test her pain tolerance. She had been warned that it would hurt but she didn’t realize. It even made her forget the dull pain she still had in her lower back and stomach.

The more she thought about it, it was as if all of her nerves were spent on her shoulder rather than anywhere else in her body. It was interesting.

"Cloves and tallow," Kara explained. "It will help numb the tattoo a bit and hydrate it until it heals. If it was summer I would say let it go and not wear a sleeve, but it’s an unrealistic expectation in the middle of winter."

Irene was relieved at this and she readily offered her arm up.

While the roughness of the ground cloves struck her at first, their numbing properties soon soaked into the freshly torn-up skin and she was happy to have some relief.

Kara wrapped the tattoo with bandages so that the mixture wouldn’t get onto Irene’s clothing.

"Don’t take the bandage off for two days and then I will give you more numbing to hydrate and numb the skin," she explained. "Since I ought to send you off now because I have evening prayers, will I see you again before you return to the knights?"

"I don’t think so," Irene admitted a bit sadly. "I have shirked on my duties enough the past couple of days as it is."

"I see," the old woman responded. "While you’re with the knights, remember where you came from, dear. Don’t let them walk all over you."

"I would never do that," Irene assured her. "Thank you for spending all day with me. I will cherish this tattoo for as long as I live."

"Anything for my granddaughter," Kara responded and kissed the girl on her cheek. "Be safe."

Arthur made sure that his mother had food to eat before he left. They had brought a bit of bread made that morning but, if he didn’t make sure she had something else cooking, that was all she would likely eat that day. The older she got, the more she seemed like one of his children.

At least now that he was no longer in the knighthood, he would be able to look after her more since she had a habit of neglecting herself on the path of spirituality.

The family departed on their horses, much colder than when they left that morning to the sun shining over them. However, the cloudless sky gave them a wonderful view of the stars which lit their path until they were all the way back to the Litharion’s manor.

Arthur and Arne put the horses away for their family.

However, as Irene and Rochelle walked to the front door and eventually were let in after a knock, they were met with the unexpected sight of their maid uncomfortably trying to make a knight comfortable in one of the front sitting rooms.

Irene gasped at the sight of the man, but she realized she shouldn’t have been so surprised that he would follow her all the way there.