I Became the Keeper of a Suspicious Forest - Chapter 32

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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 32

 

-Sionel!

 

Sionel quickly raised his head.

 

“….”

 

However, where the sound had come from was nothing but empty air. He stared for a moment at the chandelier hanging in the direction his gaze had turned.

 

It’s a voice I’ve heard many times before.

 

“Sionel, what’s wrong?”

 

His gaze turned back to the front.

 

Before his eyes, his uncle, Gideon, was looking at him strangely.

 

His behavior must have seemed quite odd, as even the knife cutting the meat had stopped.

 

“It’s nothing.”

 

“Brother, have you lost your appetite?”

 

Sionel turned to look beside him.

 

Aren was also examining his complexion and sending him a questioning look.

 

Right, he had been continuing his meal with his family in the Dining Hall.

 

“I was just lost in thought for a moment. You don’t need to worry.”

 

Only after hearing his family’s concerned words could Sionel continue his meal.

 

Lately, preparing to inherit the ducal title had been keeping him busy, it seemed.

 

But even that would be finished today. Because.

 

“To think you’ve grown up so much that you’re receiving the ducal title, I’m filled with emotion.”

 

Gideon’s face was full of joy. His eyes reddened.

 

“If your late brother could see this, he would be so proud.”

 

“If it weren’t for you, Uncle, I wouldn’t have been able to inherit the ducal title.”

 

Thanks to Gideon becoming their guardian in place of his deceased parents, they had been able to protect the family from other branch families who had tried to become the real masters of the Ducal House.

 

Above all, because Gideon had played the role of their parents, Sionel had acquired the capabilities of a noble heir.

 

To Aren, who had lost his parents at an even younger age than him, Gideon was like a real father.

 

“When we finish eating, let’s go to the Imperial Palace together. We must pay our respects to His Majesty.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Now the dream he had longed for was right before his eyes.

 

To become a perfect duke and meet his uncle’s expectations.

 

And he would make it so that no one could covet the Ducal House.

 

Gideon called for the butler.

 

“Now bring out the dessert….”

 

-Don’t eat the lemon tart.

 

A clear voice slipped between their conversation.

 

That voice again.

 

“Lemon tart?”

 

Everyone in the Dining Hall turned their attention to him.

 

“Brother? What’s wrong?”

 

“Didn’t you just hear that sound?”

 

“Sound? What sound?”

 

No one except him had heard this voice.

 

“Lemon tart? Do you want to eat lemon tart?”

 

Gideon, who happened to hear his muttering, brightened up.

 

“As it happens, today’s dessert is lemon tart. Bring it quickly.”

 

Shortly after, a lemon tart was placed in front of him.

 

On the well-baked thin tart crust, yellow lemon cream had set smoothly, making the surface glisten. The lemon slices and mint leaves placed on top as garnish made it look appetizing.

 

“Since today is a momentous day, the chef put in extra effort. Try it.”

 

Sionel picked up a small knife and cut the tart.

 

-Don’t eat the lemon tart.

 

Then, once again the voice was heard. At the urgent and desperate voice, Sionel stopped his knife.

 

He had definitely heard this voice before. And these words too.

 

But where had he heard them?

 

“Come on, eat up quickly. Lemon tart is your favorite, isn’t it.”

 

Uncle urged him, which was unlike him.

 

“After you finish the dessert, we need to go to the Imperial Palace.”

 

“Imperial Palace….”

 

‘I like it!’

 

At the memory that suddenly flashed through his mind, Sionel dropped the knife he was holding to the floor.

 

A servant brought him a new knife, but he didn’t pick it up.

 

Now he remembered.

 

“It was that person from that day.”

 

The strange woman who had suddenly appeared, confessed to him out of nowhere, said nonsensical things, and also begged him not to eat the lemon tart.

 

It was a strange request, but the desperate way she spoke was odd, so he had been paying attention.

 

Shortly after, a small amount of poison was found in the lemon tart that had been prepared for him.

 

They found out when Aren, who ate it in his place, threw up.

 

And after that, he….

 

“Brother?”

 

Aren looked at him with a voice full of concern.

 

“Sionel, what’s wrong.”

 

Sionel quietly looked at his uncle and sibling.

 

The way they looked at him, their actions, their words—everything was exactly like the affectionate uncle and devoted sibling he remembered.

 

This was a memory from the happiest time of his life, and the dream he had wished would last forever.

 

Sionel, who had been slowly looking back and forth between them, let out a bitter laugh.

 

“Really, how tiresome.”

 

Even after being betrayed like that, he still couldn’t escape from them and was playing along with this charade.

 

“I really couldn’t be more foolish.”

 

At this rate, he had no right to criticize that Unnamed Man.

 

“How about eating the tart first? The chef put special care into it, didn’t he.”

 

“Why.”

 

Sionel, who had been strictly observing etiquette, unbuttoned his shirt. He sat crookedly and gestured toward his uncle.

 

“Do you want to poison your nephew that badly, Uncle?”

 

“What are you talking about. You’re saying incomprehensible things.”

 

“Brother, why are you suddenly acting like this.”

 

He knew. These weren’t real.

 

Just moments ago, he had been in the middle of a forest surrounded by fog.

 

‘Being suddenly in a place like this must also be the influence of that deer’s antler.’

 

“Stop saying strange things and just try eating it.”

 

“….”

 

“Hurry up….”

 

Gideon, who had been continuously urging him to eat the tart, soon stopped speaking. And in an instant, his expression hardened.

 

“You won’t eat it?”

 

Now he finally resembled the expression of his uncle that he had seen last.

 

“Why do you keep ruining things. Why do you keep spilling the water that was carefully carried.”

 

“….”

 

“Because of you, your sibling will cry again.”

 

The something that resembled his uncle freely brought up the guilt-ridden questions he had buried deep in his heart.

 

What if I was the one who ruined everything.

 

It was a question he had refused to think about all this time, but strangely, his heart was calm.

 

‘Why bother looking for reasons. The most important thing is that none of their wrongdoing is your fault. It’s just… it was simply their choice.’

 

Instead, was it because the Unnamed Man had found the answer for him?

 

“The world I’ve been living in all this time was nothing but an illusion.”

 

“….”

 

“I’ve been living while seeing a dream that was never meant to come true from the beginning.”

 

There was no spilled water to begin with. From the moment Gideon killed his parents, the water had already been spilled.

 

The scene before his eyes began to waver. Gradually, only the chair Sionel was sitting on moved away from them.

 

He quietly gazed at the scene he would never be able to return to.

 

This was the last time.

 

When they left this forest and met again, they wouldn’t look at him so warmly.

 

And when we meet again.

 

“I’ll kill you.”

 

Then, darkness fell.

 

How much time had passed? When his vision became clear again.

 

He was wearing formal attire and standing on some party venue’s terrace.

 

Beyond the terrace, he could hear people’s laughter.

 

“It’s the Imperial Palace.”

 

That monster was trying to make him fall deeper based on his memories.

 

He didn’t want to stay in this ridiculous illusion any longer.

 

He headed toward the door to leave the terrace, but before he could, someone entered.

 

Click.

 

His murky blue eyes, which hadn’t fully regained their light, widened.

 

Crimson red hair, and.

 

‘I can’t see her face.’

 

Everything else was clearly visible, but only the woman’s face couldn’t be properly perceived.

 

Instead of leaving the terrace, he took a step closer to the woman.

 

He instinctively realized this woman was the person he had come to find.

 

During this time, a young lady who had finished her debutante at the Imperial Palace ball had come to find him.

 

And.

 

“I like you!”

 

The young woman with flushed cheeks confessed to him.

 

Whether from embarrassment, she clasped her hands tightly and bowed her head deeply. Her well-maintained crimson hair caught his eye particularly.

 

Naturally, the forest keeper he knew came to mind.

 

He felt like he was missing something very important.

 

He played along.

 

“Do you know me?”

 

“You’re the Duke of Devonham’s son.”

 

The young lady quickly raised her head and answered, but the woman’s face appeared hazy.

 

“I don’t know you, young lady.”

 

The more they conversed, the clearer his memory became. He waited for her next response.

 

He needed to understand why this voice, this situation kept coming to mind.

 

The young lady was startled by his words and hurriedly opened her mouth.

 

“–! I’m …!”

 

At that moment, he opened his eyes again in the forest.

 

“Sionel!”

 

In front of the forest keeper with crimson hair.

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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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