(Risking My Life) Proposing to Miss Hazel - Chapter 79
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 79
“Good morning!”
“Hazel! Since it’s a good morning, come here and try some freshly baked bread.”
“Eat some bread, and if your mouth gets bored, chew on some herbs too. It’s precious medicinal material that I found on the mountain yesterday and set aside just for you, Hazel.”
“Here’s some hot soup and sandwiches that our queen made. She never packed me a lunch box in her life, but she’s been rolling up her sleeves since last night saying she’d make something for you.”
“These are fresh potatoes I dug up from our backyard. You like potatoes, don’t you, Hazel?”
“How clueless. Hazel likes bacon more. Uncle just released new bacon that’s been smoked with oak and marinated in spotted honey mushroom syrup – Hazel, you should taste it first.”
A short commute of less than 20 minutes.
Five village elders stopped me one by one and loaded my arms with all kinds of food and ingredients.
“Th-thank you. I’ll eat well.”
Though I gratefully accepted the adults’ kindness, I couldn’t hide my bewildered expression.
Our village people are always warm and generous, but today it’s excessive.
‘Why? Uncle Paul made a lot of money this time, so I understand Laura packing lunch out of joy, but…’
Why are the others acting like this?
Is it because thieves broke into our shop yesterday? Ah, they said they heard about what happened on the mountain.
Then they must be taking care of me to cheer me up.
The adults didn’t mention those incidents even once, but thinking about it, that was the only reason.
Tears welled up sourly. Instead of prying into what might be difficult for me, taking care of me with delicious food was so typical of our village people. I’m always grateful.
“Hazel, take this.”
“Albert, I didn’t order any books…”
“Give it to that young man. I found there were 2 copies.”
“Ah… I will. Thank you.”
Finally placing the book Albert gave me on top of the lunch boxes, I opened the shop door.
“Hazel’s here?”
Felix’s voice came from way above my head.
Felix had come to work early to repair the shop damaged by the thieves.
By the way, the thieves were dragged to Franz’s secret cabin deep in the mountains.
There’s a rumor that many people have entered that place, but only Uncle Franz has come out alive. I’ll omit the rest of the explanation.
“The village people stopped me on the way, so I’m a bit late. But I’m not late for work, right?”
“I told you it’s fine to be late. The adults are too much. They just hit my back telling me to be good to Hazel.”
“So are you upset? Jealous?”
“Not upset or jealous at all. I’m just grateful they adore my little sister.”
That was a statement worthy of Unicorn Felix.
Just a month ago, Felix suddenly becoming nice felt a bit awkward, but now it just feels wonderful.
Felix is definitely best when he’s affectionate, and humans are creatures of adaptation.
Crack, Felix snapped a half-broken tree branch with his hand.
He threw the branch as far away as possible so it wouldn’t fall on my head. My lips curved into an arc at his routine overprotectiveness.
“Is there a lot to repair?”
“No, not much. The roof repair is done, just need to trim some branches.”
“The money is all in place for sure, right?”
“Mmm…”
“Why are you hesitating anxiously?”
“Well, you see… The thieves didn’t steal it, but…”
Felix suspiciously drew out his words.
When I narrowed my eyes, he hurriedly avoided my gaze. The whites of his eyes showed blankly like a dog that had caused trouble.
‘What has this brother done, unable to break his bad habits.’
Cancel Unicorn Felix. That’s Scoundrel Felix’s habit.
I put down my things at the shop entrance and picked up a tree branch from the ground.
Moderately long and solid inside – perfect to use as a tool. Even if the branch is inadequate against monsters, it could (probably) break Felix’s index finger.
By the way, the index finger is the most important finger for gambling. I heard you can’t use hand tricks without an index finger.
Frightened by my menacing aura, Felix hugged the tree trunk tightly. His legs that had been dangling below the branch shot up.
“Hazel, c-can’t we talk after you put that down?”
“Felix, did you do something wrong? Why are you so scared?”
“I-I didn’t do anything wrong… but there is something I need to confess…”
“Don’t stall and tell me. It’s better to get beaten quickly anyway, right?”
“Hazel, d-do you trust Felix?”
“Of course I don’t trust you.”
“Ah, why! I’ve been acting trustworthy lately!”
“Oh my. So pretending to be sensible until now was groundwork for pulling off something big?”
“Hey! Why are you saying such hurtful things!”
“Felix acted suspicious first!”
I raised the branch high like a spear and poked Felix’s waist.
He didn’t avoid my attack and took it while crying out pitifully.
“Ugh, damn it. I acted that way because I didn’t know if you’d trust me or not!”
“I’ll listen for now, so tell me quickly. What did you do with my money? I have to pay taxes soon – you didn’t blow away even the tax money, did you?”
“I didn’t blow away a single silver coin, and I stored it in a safe place!”
“Where!”
“W-well, you see…”
Felix fidgeted with his lips. I waited patiently for his answer.
Honestly, I didn’t think Felix had really blown the money. I was just being forceful because he wouldn’t answer honestly otherwise.
…
…
He wouldn’t have, right? He couldn’t have.
Felix does have quite a colorful history of betraying me, but usually his troubles happen quietly and are discovered later. He’s never voluntarily confessed his sins like today.
The longer the silence, the greater my anxiety grew. He kept glancing around with the whites of his eyes showing, then continued in a crawling voice.
“I-I can’t tell you right now. But it’s real.”
“Tell me honestly. You came to work early today to embezzle money, didn’t you?”
“I embezzled the money yesterday…”
“You scoundrel!!”
Thwack-!
The blunt branch struck his side directly.
Felix squeezed out tears saying it was unfair. I was so dumbfounded my head rang.
***
“Thank you! Have a safe trip!”
In the late afternoon, after all the reservation customers had left, I flipped the ‘Open’ sign to ‘Closed’ before more customers could pour in.
Just because I rested one day yesterday, today had 1.5 times more customers than the day before.
I didn’t have time to eat bread and sandwiches, barely managing to drink some soup, and now my stomach felt stuck to my back.
When serving the last customer, my stomach growled so loudly I thought I’d die of embarrassment.
“Ugh… I’m hungry.”
“Eat the sandwich first. Felix will warm up the remaining soup for you.”
“Mmm…”
Though I answered obediently, my gaze toward Felix wasn’t kind.
Because Felix still wouldn’t tell me where he put the money. Even when I asked surprise questions during busy moments with no customers, he wouldn’t give in. That made him even more infuriating.
‘Felix, we’re out of 50% Purification Water. We need to fill more.’
‘Got it. Should I fill the big bottle?’
‘Yeah. But where did you put the 500 silver coins?’
‘The 500 silver coins are… I put them in a safe place and buried them. They’re sleeping soundly, so don’t worry.’
‘Felix, do you know where those five bags of insoles we got ordered are?’
‘Ah, I think I left them by the yard?’
‘Really? But where did you put the five bags of silver coins?’
‘…I put those in a place only I know, not Hazel.’
‘You know Madam Serbia’s perfume? Some distributors deliberately set aside stock and release it slowly. To charge higher prices.’
‘Oh…, so they do that too.’
‘But I don’t know why Felix sets aside silver coins when hoarding them doesn’t even increase their value.’
‘I really didn’t embezzle any money. I’ll show you again tomorrow if you want.’
‘And then you’ll take it back and hide it in a place only you know, right?’
‘…That’s true.’
‘Go clean some glass bottles.’
‘…Okay.’
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
