(Risking My Life) Proposing to Miss Hazel - Chapter 74

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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 74

The grandmother was a refugee from down the mountain who had come to meet her son who had settled in Luden first.

However, no matter how much she wandered around the village, she couldn’t find her son. She had told the villagers her son’s name and description, but only got responses saying they didn’t know such a person.

“There are many new people who’ve come to the village lately, so the longtime villagers probably wouldn’t know. I don’t know him either.”

“Oh my, what should I do. Could you perhaps help me find him, miss?”

I don’t work in finding people either, but seeing the grandmother wiping tears on her worn sleeves made my heart ache.

Besides, I understood better than anyone the desire to reunite with family separated during war.

If I left the grandmother and went home from work, I’d probably feel uncomfortable even after returning home.

“Grandmother, do you know where your son might be living?”

“He can’t live in the village, so he said he lives in a big house in the forest…”

“Ah! He must be renting at the noble’s summer villa.”

If you walk about an hour from Ruden Village toward Cromwell Castle, there are nobles’ villas built near a beautiful lake.

Most are essentially abandoned villas without owners from during the civil war, but you need Lord Cromwell’s permission to live in the villas. He even collects the monthly rent.

People who can’t afford rent for the luxury houses in Ruden Village center, or don’t have the means to build houses, gather to live in the villas. I heard thirty people live together in the biggest villa.

The grandmother’s eyes sparkled. They were eyes that had found hope.

“Really? Where is that place?”

“It’s quite far from here…”

I roughly know the location, but it’s a place I’ve never been to either.

In childhood, I didn’t dare go because it was in the direction of Cromwell Castle, and as an adult, I had no particular reason to go.

“Since it’s my first time going there too, let me ask the Herb Gatherers if they can escort you there, Grandmother. Please wait here for a moment.”

I was reassuring the grandmother and turning around when she urgently grabbed my sleeve.

“I’m scared of strange men. I’d like you to come with me, miss. Couldn’t you somehow?”

“Ah…”

She must have experienced many frightening things down the mountain. What should I do…

I looked up at the sky with a troubled smile. It was still bright, but the sun would set soon.

“Grandmother, I’ll escort you tomorrow morning. The mountain gets dark quickly, so it’s dangerous now.”

However, the grandmother wouldn’t easily follow my suggestion.

“I want to meet my son as soon as possible… couldn’t you just come with me a little? You could return before it gets dark…”

The hand holding me tightened with force. It seemed she wouldn’t let me go easily.

I couldn’t easily break her stubbornness either. Because I understood the fearful and desperate feelings of being alone in an unfamiliar area.

“Then, let’s just go partway together.”

‘It’s darker than I thought…’

The forest where tree branches hung so densely that the sky wasn’t visible was dim even though the sun hadn’t set.

Perhaps because it was an unfamiliar forest, my heart stirred uneasily. It was even more so because Felix wasn’t in the village today.

I held the grandmother’s hand and moved my feet busily. But the grandmother, perhaps tired from her long journey, walked slower as time passed.

Still, I didn’t feel like leaving the grandmother in the mountains and returning alone.

It was because I suddenly remembered the article I saw during the day about bandits running rampant. There probably weren’t any bandits who would come into Ruden Village, but I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

‘Nothing will happen. Let’s quickly escort her and return.’

I tried to calm my heart and bit my rolled lips.

Still, remembering that this area was where hunters were active – where Baron might pass by – finally put my mind at ease.

Even if something happened, it seemed like Baron would appear from somewhere and save me. I couldn’t give a reasonable explanation, but my intuition said so.

‘…How strange.’

When I first met him, I thought he was a dangerous person who didn’t fit with our peaceful village.

Who would have thought I’d come to consider him the safest person.

‘Shall we go on a date.’

His voice that flowed in with the sound of wind through the leaves tickled my ears.

Even though it was shade without a ray of sunlight, my face grew hot as if I were under the blazing sun.

Eyes that wavered unlike his usual composed self, lips that moved restlessly with anxiety, fists clenched so tight that veins showed on the back of his hands.

These were things I found myself constantly remembering without realizing it.

‘He’s really not my type… He’s as big as a mountain…’

However, even though he looked like a pearl buried in mud rather than a dirt potato even when covered in soil, I couldn’t deny that he looked cute in that moment.

Lost in random thoughts, I soon saw the lakeside at the end of my vision. A large villa also seemed faintly visible through the trees.

“Grandmother, we’ve arrived. You can see the lake over there, right? Let’s hurry.”

“W-wait a moment. My legs hurt.”

However, the grandmother suddenly plopped down in the grass with the lake right in front of us.

Startled, I raised my voice.

“Grandmother, are you hurt somewhere?”

“It’s not that… but I can’t walk anyway.”

The grandmother was stubborn. Even when I persuaded her that the forest could be dangerous and that she could rest more comfortably at the villa, she wouldn’t listen.

She just massaged her legs and looked around.

As if waiting for someone.

‘This is strange…’

An ominous intuition crept up the back of my neck. Prickly goosebumps rose on my scalp.

Usually this kind of feeling turns out to be remarkably accurate. It was like this when I caught that scoundrel Felix’s first gambling scene too.

I smiled brightly and quickly pulled my hand from the grandmother’s grasp. The grandmother’s eyes widened as she lost hold of me.

Even if I look weak, I’m someone who trained physically for 15 years in the mountains, and above all, I’m Felix’s sister. My natural physique is different.

That means I can protect myself with just tree branches and stones. It’s a survival skill that any country girl in a war-torn nation must cultivate.

I calmly stepped backward and spoke composedly. There was nothing good about being caught being wary of her, and the grandmother might not be a bad person after all.

“Grandmother, I’ll go to the villa over there and find someone to carry you. I’ll be right back, so please wait a little.”

The grandmother looked me up and down intently, then raised one corner of her mouth in a smirk.

“…That won’t be necessary.”

Goosebumps rose from head to toe. Just as I grabbed my skirt hem and was about to start running in earnest-.

Thud.

Something that wasn’t a tree touched the back of my head. A large palm approached as if to cover my face.

‘Oh no…’

I thought I’d be helplessly caught like this.

“Kueeeeek!”

A black shadow that shot up from the ground let out a strange cry and bit the large hand.

“Aaaaah!”

The man behind me screamed even louder and moved away from me. When I immediately turned around, I saw a man whose entire arm was swallowed by the monster.

The monster looked at me and blinked its pretty eyes. As if asking for praise.

“Kuku!”

Kuku, not Kokko.

It’s the name I gave to the monster that had been following me around.

I was secretly disappointed not seeing it lately, but who knew it would appear to help me, somehow knowing I was in danger.

However, it was still too early to feel relieved.

“Ah, there she is.”

“Let’s finish quickly and go back.”

Along with the men’s voices, I felt the presence of people surrounding me from all sides.

I don’t know the reason, but it seems several people were mobilized just to catch me.

However, the ruffians who heard their companion’s scream couldn’t rashly rush at me.

“What is that…? Isn’t that a monster?”

“Why would a monster be in the forest. Don’t mind it and just catch her.”

“Good point. You, you go then.”

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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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