I Became the Keeper of a Suspicious Forest - Chapter 58

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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 58

 

‘When should I pull away?’

 

Ponia moved her hands awkwardly while being held in his broad embrace. Though they had ended up hugging each other in the spur of the moment, she couldn’t figure out the right timing to pull away.

 

Ponia tried to pull away by lifting her fingers one by one from Sionel’s back, but it became futile as he placed his face on top of her head again and held her tighter.

 

“Just a little longer.”

 

A little longer my foot, I want to pull away right now.

 

Thump. Thump. Thump.

 

A loud pounding had been echoing in her ears since earlier. Because their bodies were pressed together without any gap, she couldn’t tell whose it was.

 

It couldn’t be Sionel’s, who was cold as stone, so it must be hers.

 

Even if she didn’t like Sionel now, she was still hugging someone she once had a one-sided crush on, so what could she do? Therefore, this was an unavoidable reaction.

 

Making excuses to herself, Ponia tried to calm her flushed cheeks.

 

What she couldn’t understand was his behavior right now.

 

The reason Sionel was hugging her was probably just light skinship between close friends, but if it had been another young lady who didn’t know him, she would have definitely misunderstood.

 

If it had been three years ago, she would have thought that Sionel, who maintained proper distance with the opposite sex, would never do such a thing… but the current Sionel was different from back then.

 

Thinking that way, her heart felt much more at ease. Her tense body was about to relax a little too.

 

“Nia!”

 

At Chad’s voice calling her from afar, Ponia pushed Sionel away. However, he didn’t budge at all and instead wrapped his arms around her even tighter.

 

Even though he must have heard the voice too, he had no intention of moving. In the end, Ponia stepped hard on his foot.

 

“Ah!”

 

While the strength left his hands, Ponia quickly slipped away.

 

Soon after, Chad approached.

 

“Oh? Sio came too? But why are you hanging your head?”

 

“…Mind your own business.”

 

“It feels like it’s been a while since we met, but you haven’t changed. A guest came, so where did you go?”

 

Sionel, who had been hanging his head due to the pain lasting longer than expected, looked up at Chad.

 

At the question Chad asked while obviously knowing the answer, Sionel gave him a look that said ‘are you kidding me?’, but Chad acted like an innocent repairman again.

 

“Nia, Sio seems too prickly. I want to get along well with him, but why does he always act so scary?”

 

And then he casually went behind Ponia’s back. Not only that, but Ponia raised her hand to prevent Sionel from approaching Chad.

 

Chad Moreau must have stirred up Ponia while he was away.

 

Should he just reveal Chad’s true identity?

 

While he was struggling with the impulse, Ponia turned toward Chad.

 

“I was waiting just for Chad to come.”

 

“That’s really nice to hear.”

 

As if responding to Chad who was filled with strange anticipation, Ponia smiled brightly.

 

“Of course, Chad is a precious repairman after all.”

 

When Ponia put particularly strong emphasis on the word ‘repairman’, Chad felt a strange sense of unease rising.

 

What allowed him to survive his life as an assassin was not only his excellent skills, but also his instinct for sensing danger approaching him. Chad stepped back.

 

“But wait, I think I left something in the forest, so I’ll go get it.”

 

However, Ponia also had experience monitoring family members who tried to cause trouble while avoiding her. Ponia grabbed his arm and stopped him.

 

Her smiling face disappeared, leaving no expression whatsoever.

 

“The guest is gone, so we need to do the work that’s piled up.”

 

Ponia pointed to her nest that had become a ruin.

 

“Fix my cabin.”

 

* * *

 

“I didn’t know Nia was this kind of person.”

 

Chad, who had worked all day and could finally set foot on the ground only when night came, looked clearly fed up.

 

“Blame yourself for starting the repair work on a rainy day.”

 

One week since resuming the repair work.

 

The cabin, which had only its frame left and couldn’t even be called a house, now looked roughly like a house as it took shape.

 

Ponia looked up at the cabin from below with a satisfied face.

 

The walls were made of well-finished cedar wood. The faint reddish tint created a warm atmosphere, and the roof work was also progressing smoothly.

 

It would have been impossible without Ponia’s sufficient pressure.

 

It was natural that Chad, who had finished the wall construction in just a week, showed signs of fatigue, while Ponia’s face glowed with vitality.

 

“After finishing the roof work, you’ll have to make furniture too.”

 

At the breathtaking sound, Chad almost spat out the water he was drinking.

 

Sionel, who had taken away the heavy materials Ponia was trying to lift, laughed at him.

 

Judging by Ponia’s momentum, it seemed she intended to complete the cabin within the next week.

 

Chad, who had been uncharacteristically avoiding Ponia’s sparkling eyes, suddenly brightened up after a moment.

 

“Then, Nia. I’ll complete the entire cabin within the next week.”

 

“Really?”

 

Her green eyes, which were already shining, sparkled like glowing jewels in the darkness.

 

“But there’s a condition.”

 

“Just tell me. Do you need materials?”

 

“Go on a date with me.”

 

For the past week, he had looked gloomy even through his glasses, but now he had regained his energy.

 

“How about it?”

 

Sionel, who was listening from the side, was about to leave in disbelief, but stopped. He figured Ponia would reject it on her own anyway.

 

“Sounds good!”

 

She should be rejecting… shouldn’t she?

 

Sionel immediately looked at Ponia, but she was so excited about the grand dream of completing the cabin being right in front of her that she couldn’t see anything else.

 

A date? Why not do such a trivial thing!

 

“No.”

 

Just when both parties had reached a satisfactory negotiation, Sionel wedged himself between them.

 

Facing two questioning faces, Sionel emphasized again. Especially to Ponia.

 

“Don’t do it.”

 

“Why?”

 

Instead of Ponia, Chad asked.

 

“What business is it of yours?”

 

“Well…”

 

Sionel, who had opened his mouth immediately, closed it again.

 

“I have a duty to protect Nia.”

 

“Because you’re cousins?”

 

“…”

 

“But even if she’s precious, isn’t a cousin’s interference a bit too excessive?”

 

Chad, slowly curling up the corners of his mouth provocatively, was clearly drawing a line.

 

“Is there perhaps another reason?”

 

Even Sionel felt that the relationship he thought allowed them to care for each other from the closest distance now felt the most distant.

 

Even though he himself had thought such a relationship suited them best.

 

He also knew. That the feelings he harbored for her didn’t stem from the instinct to protect family.

 

That this emotion could be considered romantic attraction. And even further, love.

 

Sionel looked back at her.

 

Ponia Harbel is lovely. He wants to keep her by his side. He hopes she would want to stay by his side too. So much so that if she would just keep accepting him, nothing else would be needed.

 

But he doesn’t want to attach the name “love” to this emotion.

 

‘I love you, Sionel.’

 

‘Brother, please kill me!’

 

Because the only love he knows is very dirty, cruel, and merely a means to force other sacrifices.

 

“No, there’s no other reason.”

 

So he denied it.

 

“…Is that so?”

 

Chad’s tense expression relaxed. Seeming relieved by his answer, he spoke to Ponia much more lightly.

 

“Then, I’ll assume we’re going on a date.”

 

Chad entered the warehouse first, leaving only Ponia and Sionel. Ponia, who hadn’t noticed the strange tension between Sionel and Chad, spoke to him as usual.

 

“Shall we go in too?”

 

When she waved her hand at Sionel, who seemed somewhat dazed, light returned to his eyes. And as the light flickered, he bit his lips.

 

“You’re not hurt anywhere again, are you?”

 

“…I’m not hurt.”

 

He gazed intently at Ponia, who knew nothing. Then, he parted his lips.

 

“Love is meaningless to me.”

 

“…Is that so?”

 

Though it was a sudden topic of conversation, Ponia obediently went along with it.

 

“The love that the nobility yearns for is all just an illusion anyway. Romantic love, they say. How can you achieve something that doesn’t exist in the first place.”

 

“I didn’t see it that way, but you’re quite pessimistic.”

 

The Unnamed Man who responded playfully probably had no idea what he was talking about. Even he himself didn’t know what he wanted to say right now.

 

However, there was one thing he clearly wanted.

 

“Still, if I could ever love.”

 

“….”

 

“I’d want to share that love with you.”

 

He hoped the Unnamed Man before his eyes would never disappear from his sight again.

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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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