I Became the Keeper of a Suspicious Forest - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 22

“Come out.”

The discord began early in the morning when Ponia started trying to stop Sionel, who was once again holding a hammer.

Seeing Sionel grab a hammer and try to go outside as soon as he opened his eyes, she thought she was dreaming.

Ponia blocked the door with her entire body.

“Why are you suddenly acting like this again!”

“That bastard isn’t a repairman.”

“Who? Chad?”

“I saw that guy go into the forest with a saw at dawn. He didn’t come back until 2 hours later.”

“…”

“Do you think it’s possible for a mere repairman to return safely from that forest?”

Doubt also appeared in Ponia’s eyes.

‘He deliberately went into the forest alone at dawn? Why?’

Sionel didn’t know it yet, but she had already confirmed Chad’s combat abilities.

She could have realized long ago that Chad wasn’t just a simple village repairman.

She also knew that Chad was hiding something from her and acting suspiciously.

But before finding out the reason, she had to stop Sionel’s actions first.

Of course, even if Sionel’s physical condition were normal right now, it would be impossible for him to kill Chad.

However, she absolutely couldn’t allow their relationship to become irreparably distant because of this incident.

For Sionel’s future.

‘A right-hand man who remains loyal to the male lead who tries to kill him?’

Even saving him wouldn’t be enough, and this was an unprecedented, groundless development she’d never heard of.

Ponia urgently spoke up.

“He is a repairman. I can guarantee that.”

“Guarantee? How long have you known him to be so confident?”

“Well, how I know is…”

She couldn’t possibly say she’d seen him in a book. Or that Chad would become his right-hand man in the future.

“Jerome introduced him in the first place. He must have found someone from a village near here, and a repairman from a small village couldn’t possibly be an assassin.”

She knew these words weren’t very helpful in this situation.

His eyes, which were rapidly growing cold, proved exactly that.

“Don’t you think even being a repairman might be a lie?”

“Both having a map of the forest and knowing the details of the cabin repair request – these are things he couldn’t know without hearing directly from Jerome.”

“That’s your only reason?”

“It’s a perfectly reasonable reason. This forest is managed by the Imperial Court, and Jerome is a guide dispatched from the Imperial Court. They screen everyone they let in here.”

“You call that evidence? If someone was determined to infiltrate, there are plenty of assassins who could pass such screening.”

Ponia fell silent.

He was right.

Just looking at Ponia herself, she had lied about her identity and other information, but Jerome hadn’t known.

What screening when there weren’t even any forest keeper applicants? Clearly, he wouldn’t have cared whether they were criminals or assassins.

‘Since they’d all obviously die to the monsters anyway.’

“Come to think of it, you defended him in front of me.”

At his cold voice, Ponia looked at him. Sionel continued with a chilly expression.

“Ever since you came back from the forest with him, you’ve been treating him like someone you’ve known for a long time.”

His perception was so sharp that Sionel had noticed the subtle changes in her attitude toward Chad.

“We got closer because we ran away from monsters together that day.”

Ponia tried to make her expression look natural.

“If he were an assassin, why would he have run away with me? He could have just left me to die alone.”

“He might have been trying to extract information. He came to the forest to find me, but I was nowhere to be seen.”

“Then that makes even less sense, doesn’t it? If it was to find your whereabouts, it would be easier to ask directly or search this cabin where you’d most likely be.”

“…”

“Rather than doing repair work.”

For something hastily thought up, it was quite persuasive. Sionel showed no signs of taking other action.

Ponia seized the momentum and subtly tried to persuade him.

“So, let me go down and meet with Chad…”

“Deceiving you would be the method with the least complications.”

Sionel cut off her words and gave his answer.

“Even blood relatives deceive each other perfectly for over ten years, then betray and stab at unexpected moments.”

“…”

“Deceiving someone is quite troublesome and bothersome. But thinking of what comes after, it’s the cleanest way to get off the suspect list.”

“You still don’t know much about people.”

Ponia knew that Sionel was speaking with a specific person in mind.

Right, she didn’t know. Even if Ponia died and came back to life, she might never fully understand the emotions he was feeling right now.

Ponia took a step back.

“Fine. Then, let’s confirm the facts first and…”

“My patience ends here. Move aside.”

Sionel refused to back down any further.

“There’s a limit to being naive. Just because your head is filled with flower fields doesn’t mean you should drag me into it too.”

“I’m not being naive, it’s all for your…”

“You don’t know how the world works, and you live in the delusion that everyone will act as foolishly as you do.”

For a moment, Ponia’s eyes widened as she bit her lip and lowered her head. She couldn’t hide her frustrated expression.

“I’m not a fool like you. I have no intention of living foolishly because of you.”

Sionel finished with an expressionless face. Ponia said nothing.

‘If I’ve gone this far, she should understand.’

Those were words meant to hurt her on purpose. If he didn’t do this, that forest keeper would keep trusting people until the very end and get stabbed in the back.

‘By then it would be far too late.’

After looking down at her for a moment, Sionel grabbed the door handle.

“If you block me any further, I’ll think you’re in cahoots with that bastard too.”

“Haha… Foolish?”

It was then that he heard the muttering.

Ponia continued talking to herself. Then one word caught his ear.

“Fuck…”

Sionel doubted his own ears.

Before he could ask again, Ponia slowly raised her head. There was no expression on Ponia’s face.

Sionel didn’t know.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.”

He had just touched her sore spot.

Many people who watched Ponia clean up after her family’s messes would look at her pitifully, yet always had something to say.

‘You really live so foolishly.’

Whether it was a noble lady shamelessly demanding money payment by payment, or not buying even a single party dress because every penny mattered.

Did not living foolishly fill the lacking money, or did it put food on the table?

Ponia hated most those who gave unsolicited advice while knowing nothing.

Therefore, it was only natural that her lid would blow off at Sionel, who had mentioned the word she hated most while giving advice-like remarks.

“Ah really, you fucking bastaaaaaaaard!”

Startled by the roar, Sionel momentarily let go of the door. Ponia roughly swept back her hair and stood in front of him.

“Stop cutting me off! Just stop!”

“…”

“You think only you can cut people off? I can cut you off too! Just because I show you respect as nobility, you think you’re the boss and don’t know your limits?”

Once her emotions exploded, they poured out raw without any chance to control them. Ponia pointed accusingly at him.

“You attack the benefactor who saved your life without even saying thank you once? Haha! Even monsters wouldn’t repay kindness this way!”

Ponia pointed below herself.

“And this is my house, got it? I’m the homeowner! You’re a freeloader!”

“…”

“Whether I call people for repairs! Whether I lend out the warehouse! It’s all my business! I’ll do whatever I want! Ah, fuck! Shit! Damn it all!”

Sionel couldn’t say a single word until then. She pushed him aside as he blocked the door.

“Don’t argue back, I won’t accept it!”

Bang!

There was no chance to stop her.

Faced with her eyes filled with the determination that she wouldn’t let it slide if he interfered, Sionel couldn’t take a single step and only stared at the closed door.

It was the first time in his life he’d been cursed at.

Though the time he’d spent with Ponia was short, he thought he had completely figured her out.

A meddlesome and guileless forest keeper.

But he had just retracted every judgment he’d made about her.

Perhaps what he had seen was only a very small part of the forest keeper’s character.

* * *

“XXXXXXX!”

Ponia just kicked innocent stones with her feet.

Even after letting out a string of curses, her anger hadn’t subsided.

“Whoa, quite fierce from the morning.”

A voice heard nearby without any sign of approach.

“Good morning, Nia!”

When she turned around, sure enough, Chad was standing in front of her holding an axe.

‘How long has he been behind me.’

Being startled was only a thing once or twice; she quickly got used to it.

Ponia tried to treat him as usual, but her voice came out gruff.

“Hello.”

“Is something wrong? Your expression is…”

“What?”

“You look like you’re about to kill someone.”

I just came out after fighting about your situation.

“Not really.”

She wasn’t in the mood to meet anyone and have a conversation right now. She gave a half-hearted answer and was about to go on patrol when Chad followed her.

“Going on patrol?”

“Yes. Ah, don’t think about following me. I’m planning to go quite far today.”

If she stayed in the forest to clear her head as well, this mood would probably improve somewhat.

“Where are you going?”

Chad kept talking to her in a friendly manner. The timidity he had shown at their first meeting was nowhere to be found.

Ponia looked at him suspiciously but answered diligently.

“I’m thinking of going somewhere I haven’t been before.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Even knowing his identity, she still couldn’t figure Chad out. Ponia was glancing at him when she discovered something and approached him.

“On your cheek…”

“Cheek?”

“You have a wound on your cheek.”

Chad had a thin, long wound on his right cheek. It wasn’t a deep wound, but it looked like he’d been scratched by something sharp.

Chad touched the wound and said “Ah” while frowning slightly.

“A wood chip must have flown into my face while I was chopping with the axe.”

Chad playfully swung his axe. The axe passed dangerously close to his leg.

“It was quite a resistant tree. But I almost finished it.”

Hearing those words, Ponia tilted her head.

‘Trees are all just trees, are there trees that are particularly resistant?’

“…Is that so?”

“I usually make a lot of mistakes, so my master is always worried about me… Ack!”

No sooner had he spoken than Chad dropped the axe from his hand. The blunt side struck down on his foot.

If the axe had rotated just half a turn more, his foot would have been severed.

‘If he’s deliberately acting, I’ll pretend not to notice, so I wish he’d stop.’

Thinking of the original work while looking at Chad in front of her, they didn’t match at all.

They naturally came together to the entrance of the path. Chad stopped Ponia as she was about to enter immediately.

“How about going back to the cave area?”

“Why?”

“I think I heard someone crying around there, but I just came back because I was scared. What if there’s an injured person?”

Chad trembling his shoulders was suspicious, but Ponia nodded.

“If an emergency situation comes, stab the opponent’s eyes. You should be able to escape most of the time.”

Ponia, who had been mulling over Chad’s advice, asked a different question.

“Have you ever entered the forest at dawn?”

Chad, who had been waving his hand, stopped for a moment.

However, the pause was brief.

With a deep smile, Chad answered concisely.

“No.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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