The Peaceful Life Of A Maid Who Hides Her Power And Enjoys It - Chapter 73

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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 73

They say life is a series of unexpected events, don’t they?

From that day on, the man very naturally latched onto my house.

When the sun rose, we went to the beach together, and when the sun set, we returned home together.

And the man was.

“There was wind and rain at dawn yesterday, so there’s a hole in the left roof. I’ll give you a ladder, so go up and fix it.”

“I don’t know how.”

“You don’t know?”

“I haven’t done it. No, um. To be precise, I should say I did it so long ago that I don’t remember?”

He was just brazen and shameless, but much more completely useless than I thought.

How ridiculous. A giant over 190cm tall acting like a delicately raised princess?

“…Why do you keep changing the rainwater bucket to these small, cute cans? The water overflows and makes the room dirty.”

“Because it’s pretty.”

I do the housework and cleaning.

“You’re sleeping on the floor today, mister.”

“My body aches from getting older. You go down there, miss.”

He stubbornly tries to sleep in someone else’s bed!

“Stop sleeping and get up. I told you to look for military boots or dog tags, didn’t I? Did you look?”

“Yeah. In my dreams.”

He doesn’t even help with beach exploration!

“Remove that fish head for me.”

“Remove the head? Isn’t that too barbaric? I don’t know how to remove such things.”

I even have to cook? I have to feed an outsider man with these terrible cooking skills?

While cutting the fish’s neck, I couldn’t suppress the rising sense of injustice and confronted the man.

“Just how long are you going to follow me around?”

Lu, who was putting wildflowers of unknown origin in a tomato stew can, smiled brightly.

“Don’t know.”

“Why are you following me around?”

“Because I like it?”

“Why do you like it?”

“You’re just kind of cute.”

Everything this person says sounds like a joke and fake.

Suddenly getting very annoyed, I slowly waved the kitchen knife I was holding.

“Don’t like me. If you don’t want to get hurt.”

He answered brazenly, trembling his shoulders as if afraid.

“Too bad. I thought you’d open your heart more since it’s been three days since we slept in the same house.”

“Don’t express it that way either.”

Still, there’s one good thing about having a friend.

When the wind stopped blowing and quiet nights came, we would lie side by side on the narrow bed and have trivial conversations.

Though the conversations had no substance, when I talked with the man, the tediously long nights would pass in an instant, which was nice.

“Mister.”

“Yeah.”

“You said you had something to find on Quin Island. What are you looking for?”

No answer comes. Maybe he doesn’t want to talk about it. I had no intention of forcing him to tell me.

Actually, living so closely with another person was something I hadn’t done in a very long time.

‘That’s probably why I can’t easily kick out this suspicious and useless man whose name I don’t even know.’

Had I been a little lonely without realizing it?

I had been alone on Quin Island for well over two weeks.

After black flames fell from the sky like bombardment. The residents who were lucky enough to survive without dying became refugees overnight and went up to the mainland.

All that remained on Quin Island was burned land, sparsely grown weeds, ruined villages, and the stone-covered graves of residents.

And me.

“I’m looking for my sibling.”

The man’s body moved very slightly.

“My sibling’s warship sank somewhere around here. Since this Quin Island is the closest island, I should be able to find them if I search around here and there.”

“Ah. So that’s why you were wandering around the beach like that? What a caring sister. Even if your cooking is a little lacking.”

“Cooking was originally my sibling’s job. The deficiency can’t be helped.”

“Ah, of course. I’ll believe you. Nothing to worry about.”

“Today, while wandering around the coastline, I’ll also look for what you’re searching for, mister.”

The man laughed quietly, as if mocking my words.

“You really are kind. …Alright, I can’t keep my mouth shut to such a caring miss. What I’m about to tell you is a secret, so you can’t carelessly reveal it anywhere.”

Then he plucked off one of the earrings dangling from his ears and held it out to me.

“This is the kind of thing I’m looking for.”

A small bead of pale cream color. Fine quality.

It was a pearl.

“Unfortunately, our island doesn’t produce pearls or anything like that. We don’t have many large shells either.”

“Does it look like a pearl? It’s different. It’s just a crystal stone with a similar color and shape.”

“Then is it an imitation?”

A small voice whispered in my ear.

“No. A heart.”

…A heart?

This small, fine bead that looks like a pearl?

‘Well, maybe he means it’s important and precious like a heart.’

Feeling sorry for having it, I quickly returned it.

“You can’t lose your heart. I hope we can find it as quickly as possible.”

The man put the pearl, no, the heart back on his ear with thanks.

The next day was the first day the man helped with the search.

“Mister! Look at this!”

We had our first harvest in several days.

We found one tattered military boot that had been soaked in seawater at the north coastline. The man, who had been walking leisurely along the coast as if enjoying a vacation, asked me.

“It just looks like an ordinary military boot. Is there some special marking?”

“An ordinary military boot? Have you seen military boots this big? I told you, my sibling is incredibly tall like you, mister. Feet would never fit unless it’s boots this size. They might be catching their breath somewhere around here.”

My sibling is a soldier. The warship that child boarded burned and sank along with Quin Island.

We siblings, who lost our parents early, were each other’s only family. That’s why I didn’t even make a grave for Andert.

Because I knew better than anyone that the child would return someday.

The man, who had been staring at the military boot, gazed somewhere at the horizon and spoke.

“Do you think your sibling is alive?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Ah, right. Of course it’s obvious. I can see you’re excited, but let’s go back for today.”

“Why?”

“It looks like it’s going to rain heavily.”

As soon as he said that, thunder struck from the clear sky.

“The wind is…”

As he said, it looked like it would rain heavily. I reluctantly went home, holding the military boot to my chest.

The next day, it rained heavily from morning.

‘This won’t do. Andert must be somewhere around that coastline.’

Their body must be weakened to the extreme, so I have to find them as quickly as possible.

“Mister! I’m going out for a bit.”

I rushed out of the house, leaving behind the man who was busy stuffing dry firewood into the fireplace.

At the coastline I reached after a long while, there were things floating that hadn’t been visible until yesterday.

Military boots.

I hurriedly ran over and checked the military boot scattered on the beach. It was the exact same size as the left boot I had found yesterday, and it was even the right boot.

‘He really is somewhere around here.’

Andert is somewhere in this area.

Alive, surely waiting for me.

Filled with excitement, I explored the coastline and even climbed up to the top of the cliff. From high places, you can see below much better.

Through the gaps between waves crashing against the cliff, I saw something glinting.

It was a necklace.

That might be…

‘A military dog tag?’

The moment I was certain of its shape, I jumped into the sea without hesitation.

Splash!

Sharp waves became like prison bars, stabbing at my skin. Between them, even higher waves violently churned and poured down together.

After swimming across the current for a while, the dog tag I finally grasped in my hand had a familiar name neatly engraved on it.

While I stared blankly at the dog tag, something caught on my toes.

I dove down instinctively. Something was stuck in the rocky crevice coming down from the cliff.

My heart sank with a thud.

‘…No, that can’t be. I’m just worrying for nothing.’

Even while thinking that, I pulled at the rope swaying like seaweed as if entranced.

Something was firmly attached to it, heavy and immovable. I gave up trying to pull out the rope and diligently cleared away the pile of rocks.

Beyond my vision blurred by sand, the object hidden between the rocks revealed itself.

The headless corpse of a soldier.

‘Ah.’

No.

‘This… this isn’t Andert.’

Andert didn’t die. He must be drifting somewhere in the archipelago.

He lost his dog tag… and someone else’s corpse happened to be buried underneath…

‘Ugh.’

I’m running out of breath.

I had to grip the cliff to catch my breath, then slowly move back toward the beach.

But the crashing waves were so violent that I could barely control my body.

“Puha! Haa, haa… Ugh!”

But is there really a reason I must live?

Strength began to slowly drain from my body. I fell endlessly down, further down.

My sibling is dead.

My only family is dead.

He’ll never come back.

‘Do I have a reason to live?’

As I was consumed by grief, my heart paradoxically became peaceful.

I let go of everything.

If someone hadn’t grabbed my hand and pulled me up, I probably would have fallen to an even deeper bottom.

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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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