006 The Rabbit-like Bride and the Mongoose-like Cute Daughter

The human heart is truly fickle. The village chief’s wife’s words shook her heart, and for a moment, she felt like she was part of this village.

But she soon realized that wasn’t the case when she heard the following words. The village chief’s wife held her hand and spoke kindly.

“When you hunt, bring the meat to the village. We’ll exchange it for flour or bread. It would be such a hassle to go to other places. You don’t know how to separate the meat and skin yet, do you?”

The village chief’s wife went on about how there was someone who would handle the skinning, how someone in the village sold bows and arrows cheaply, and so on.

What the village chief’s wife really wanted to say was probably this.

She had spun a plausible story, but in the end, the village chief and his wife just wanted to get the meat and skins, which could be sold for a higher price in neighboring villages or cities, at a low price.

They probably planned to exchange them for daily necessities and goods instead of money.

“Your name was Lizzy, right? Look, Lizzy, marriage is about growing attached to each other as you live together and have children. It’s all about how you think about it. Don’t think too hard. If you have any difficulties in the future, talk to me. Whether it’s about married life, buying goods, anything.”

The village chief’s wife said with a friendly smile.

—

‘The mountain keeper who is to become my husband is pitiful. If things had gone as they should, he could have had a better woman as his wife.’

The only person allowed to hunt animals in the lord’s mountain is the mountain keeper. If anyone else is caught hunting, they receive severe punishment. I’ve heard that some people were caught hunting secretly and were killed on the spot.

Originally, experienced professional hunters became mountain keepers, but recently, due to the war, there are fewer men, making it difficult to find hunters.

Therefore, in some areas, it has been allowed to use unqualified people as mountain keepers. It seems this village has received such permission.

However, the job of a mountain keeper is dangerous. There are beasts and monsters in the mountains. Many die or get injured.

Moreover, although I’m not sure, I’ve heard someone say that if the mountain keeper doesn’t do his job properly, he gets punished by the lord.

No one in the village would have wanted to do such a dangerous job. But the mountain cannot be left unattended. The village chief was also responsible for finding a mountain keeper to properly manage the forest.

The man who appeared just in time when a new mountain keeper was needed must have been a stroke of luck for the village chief and the villagers.

But you can’t force an innocent person to stay. To make him work as a mountain keeper, certain conditions must be met.

In such cases, the best way to keep a man in the village is to give him a village woman and make him start a family. Many villages have done this since ancient times.

‘It’s a simple story.’

No one would have wanted to give their daughter to a man they knew nothing about. So, Lizzy, who wouldn’t be a loss even if she was beaten or killed by the mountain keeper, became the target.

‘If this mountain keeper dies, I will be given to another mountain keeper again.’

Even a child could understand this story.

Lizzy stared blankly at the village chief’s wife’s face. For a very brief moment, she wondered why she had thought this woman’s expression was kind. She was so full of greed.

‘I really am a fool.’

Thump, thump, someone knocked on the door. The door opened immediately, and a village man poked his face in and said,

“The mountain keeper has arrived.”

At those words, Lizzy’s body jolted as if she had come to her senses. She swallowed hard. Unconsciously, she tensed her stomach and shoulders.

The village chief’s wife hugged her shoulders tightly, as if she were her own daughter.

“You and your future husband don’t know anything about being a mountain keeper yet, so you must be worried, but it’s okay, we’ll help you as much as we can. When you catch a beast, come to the village immediately. If you don’t process it quickly, the quality will drop. Got it?”

The village chief’s wife whispered in her ear. A musty smell wafted from her mouth.

With her greasy face, the village chief’s wife looked into her face and smiled.

Come to think of it, her father was also smiling the day they parted.

“….”

Don’t cry. Don’t cry, Lizzy. You mustn’t cry.

Lizzy repeated the words she had been telling herself over and over again.

Just as her father had sold her to the mountain keeper, the villagers had sold her to the new mountain keeper. This time, the hut and the child were sold along with her. There was nothing new. There was no need to lament why her life was like this.

‘…’

She didn’t ask for much. She just hoped that her new husband wouldn’t be too violent. She hoped he would just leave her and the child quietly in a corner of the house.

—

I wasn’t fully prepared yet, but the door swung wide open.

Lizzie looked up nervously. Her eyes widened. A man much larger than anyone else stood at the door.

“….”

He was enormous. She had never seen anyone so big. His clothes were strange too. He wore layers of small garments, making his muscles bulge out. It was like a bear wearing human clothes.

The man was so tall that his head seemed to be in the distant sky. Lizzie craned her neck to look up at him.

She could understand why people wanted this man to be the village guardian.

There was no one as big and strong as him in the entire village. Surely, he could do the work of two or three ordinary men.

“….”

But he was terrifying. If he struck her with those huge hands, a woman like her would have her bones broken in an instant. She might even die. Unconsciously, she felt her strength leave her body.

*

Kim Joo-hwan was led by the village chief and the men to the outskirts of the village. The chief took him to a place quite far from the village center.

The place they arrived at was an old house that looked like it could collapse at any moment.

‘What is this? Can this even be called a house?’

Part of the roof was crumbling, and mold was growing all over the place. It felt like if he touched it, it would turn to sand.

There were traces of vines that had grown up the walls. Even in the middle of winter, the vine marks hadn’t disappeared, so by the time spring came, the whole house would be covered in weeds and vines.

Looking down, he saw the floor and corners were crumbling, creating small holes here and there.

‘This doesn’t seem like a place fit for living.’

Would he be living here from now on? Maybe he would be treated like a servant while living with the old hunter. Kim Joo-hwan sighed secretly.

The village chief gestured for him to go inside.

Another man opened the door wide.

There was no choice. Even living in a place like this in the middle of winter was better than nothing. The men in chains would probably end up living as slaves. He thought he should be grateful that he wasn’t in such a situation.

“….”

As Kim Joo-hwan was about to enter, he hesitated. He thought no one would be inside, but there were women in the house.

There were three of them: a woman who looked slightly past middle age, a woman who seemed to be her daughter, and a very small girl.

The small girl hiding behind her also gaped as if a fly could enter her mouth. She seemed quite startled by him.

‘I’ve always had a hard time getting along with children.’

It was the same with any child. They would cry when they saw him. With his large build, Kim Joo-hwan probably looked like a scary giant from a fairy tale to small children. Not the good kind, but the bad giant who chased the protagonist and caused trouble.

Kim Joo-hwan stood at the door with an awkward expression. Thinking that the little girl might cry, he found it hard to step inside.

As he stood there wondering what to do, the middle-aged woman awkwardly smiled and gestured for him to come in. Her smile seemed very forced.

—

“#####.”

The middle-aged woman gestured once more for him to come inside.

Seeing the looks from those around, the men nodded and motioned with their hands for him to hurry inside.

As Kim Joo-hwan took a few steps inside, the village chief and a few men followed him into the house as if chasing him.

The men with weapons and the old hunter did not come in and stood outside.

The middle-aged woman exchanged glances with the village chief and nodded slightly. She gently pulled the hand of a woman who looked like her daughter and stood her in front of Kim Joo-hwan.

“## ####.”

She kept saying something and laughing. Is it just his imagination, or does it feel like a matchmaking atmosphere?

Turning his gaze to the men around him, the man who had moved his waist back and forth earlier was grinning. It seems that the atmosphere is indeed like that.

He felt despondent. Kim Joo-hwan was twenty-nine this year. It might be the new year by now. If so, he would be thirty, still young. But… Kim Joo-hwan looked at the middle-aged woman in front of him with a devastated heart.

It might be better to marry this woman than to become a slave or be treated as a servant. No, it would definitely be better.

But as someone who is still unmarried, he had his own dreams. The wish he told Santa was not a lie. He genuinely dreamed of a future with a lovely bride like a rabbit and a cute daughter like a mongoose. For a very long time. Even now.

“….”

She doesn’t need to be exceptionally beautiful. He thought any woman would look cute if he loved her.

‘But this…’

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t imagine finding this middle-aged woman lovable. Honestly, it seemed hopeless. It would never happen in his lifetime.

‘If only she were closer to my age, I might be able to try.’

It felt like sighs were piling up on top of each other. Seeing his expression looking quite unsatisfactory, the middle-aged woman said something, slightly flustered.

Then, as if frustrated, she grabbed her daughter’s hand and pulled her closer to Kim Joo-hwan. She took their hands and connected them.

“….”

Suddenly holding the hand of the older daughter, Kim Joo-hwan realized he had been mistaken. It wasn’t the middle-aged woman, but her daughter who was his match.

Realizing this, he looked at the young woman again.

At first, he hadn’t noticed because he was focused on the middle-aged woman, but now he wondered if she might not even be her daughter.

He had thought she was simply scared of him, but now it seemed the young woman was intimidated by everyone around her.

‘To be marrying someone like me, she must be in a pretty bad situation here.’

If her circumstances were better, she wouldn’t be marrying a man who appeared out of nowhere. Though it wasn’t intentional, he felt sorry for her.

“## ####.”

The middle-aged woman said something in a low voice, as if blaming her, and she visibly showed an anxious expression. With large eyes, she glanced at him, looking slightly scared.

Maybe the middle-aged woman said something because it seemed like he didn’t like her. But that wasn’t the case.

—

Kim Joo-hwan had a troubled look on his face, and the girl who had been hiding behind him clung to the woman’s waist with a tearful expression.

Come to think of it, who is that child? The woman is too young to be her daughter, and the age gap is too large to be her sister.

Kim Joo-hwan quietly stared at the short child. Her eyes and nose were slightly close together. Unlike the woman with skin as white as a snow rabbit, the child had slightly tanned skin, resembling a mongoose for some reason.

Suddenly, he remembered what Santa had said to him after he revealed his wish.

[I will find you a wife with a heart as white as snow and a beautiful daughter who truly respects and follows her father.]

‘No way.’

Kim Joo-hwan looked at the young woman’s face once more.

The first time he saw her, he thought she looked like a rabbit. Even now, her round eyes and slightly frightened face looked like a cute rabbit.

A rabbit-like bride and a mongoose-like cute daughter.

‘That Santa… was he real? Did the real Santa try to grant my wish?’

It was certainly a wish he had longed for a very long time. But he never wanted it so badly that he would go to another world for it. It felt like receiving a gift while simultaneously being hit on the head with a hammer.

The days when he feared dying naked in a dirty carriage came to mind.

“….”

If he ever meets that Santa again, he will definitely kill him.