SWS CH 04

Chapter 04

“Halara!”

The middle-aged woman frowned the moment she spotted Halara. Her voice sounded irritated.

“What is this? You even prepared my snack again today?”

A snack?

“Food tastes better when you don’t eat alone. Come on in.”

“Thanks. But seriously, isn’t something going on with you? How can a person change so suddenly?”

At that, Halara’s expression stiffened for a moment.

As if she’d been hit right on the mark.

Carlos held his breath in the bushes.

Changed?
What had changed?

“You’re not pregnant or anything, are you? They say women change completely once they become mothers.”

Pregnant?!

“A baby?”

Watching the woman already seated comfortably at the table, I let out a small laugh.

This was Aunt Michelle, the neighbor who lived right next door.

At first, she’d constantly clicked her tongue at me, but after I treated her gently and shared homemade food, she quickly let her guard down.

“Go ahead. You can be honest with me.”

A baby.

It wasn’t an unreasonable guess.

“Is it because of the man who came by yesterday?”

Just last night, one of Halara’s admirers had come knocking.

Not one, but two of them.

“Just yesterday? Men lined up here every day.”

She wasn’t wrong.

Ever since I possessed this body, unfamiliar men had been knocking constantly.

Turning them away had been exhausting.

“They won’t come anymore. I even made a sign.”

The wooden sign I’d made.

NO MEN ALLOWED
Thank you for loving me all this time.

In case they couldn’t read, I even added drawings.

And the lock the vegetable shop owner made for me helped a lot too.

Michelle tilted her head as she alternated her gaze between the sign and the lock.

“But why all of a sudden? Didn’t you like it? You changed men practically every day.”

“I won’t do that anymore.”

“Then why? I’m dying of curiosity. You really act like a different person these days.”

Michelle asked, clearly frustrated.

She wasn’t wrong.

I really was a different person.

I had zero interest in men.

Living with the man I once loved most.

Every moment of it had been hell.

“You hit your head.”

“What? Your head?”

I offered the most convenient excuse.

“Yes. I tripped over a rock a while ago and hit my head hard. Ever since then, everything suddenly felt clear.”

“So that’s why you were gone for a while?”

Michelle seemed to know a lot about me.

More than I did, even.

“I was gone?”

“Ah. Looks like your memory went with it.”

What had happened before I possessed this body?

“Yes… I hit my head and lost my memory.”

That part wasn’t a lie.

I really had no memories from before I possessed Halara.

Usually, when someone transmigrates, they get bits of the original body’s memories.

But all I knew was Halara’s role in the original novel and her future. I had no idea how she actually lived before I arrived.

“Well, I only noticed because I go back and forth from the fields, but you didn’t show your face for over half a month.”

“Over half a month?”

“Maybe even longer. Anyway, I thought something had happened. I figured you finally left with some man you planned to settle down with.”

Michelle flared her nostrils, then slumped her shoulders.

“But if you hit your head, guess not.”

She looked almost disappointed.

Gone for over half a month…

She’d probably been scheming to pretend she was pregnant and go to Bloodymary.

Lucky for me.
It gave me a perfect excuse.

“I was bedridden for a while. So I had a lot of time to think. About how I want to live from now on.”

“Sounds like growing pains. Anyway, I like the new you. Seeing such a young girl walking around in heavy makeup always felt strange. Look at you now. You’re much prettier.”

Michelle chuckled warmly.

“I don’t have money for makeup anymore. I have to save every coin now.”

“That’s right. You suffer while you’re young so you suffer a bit less when you’re old. I’ll share some sewing work with you. Let’s do it together.”

“Thank you.”

It was a good thing I’d gotten close to her.

I filled her teacup gratefully.

“But still, do you think a sign like that will really stop the men who used to chase you?”

Michelle glanced at my crude sign.

I’d even written it in bold letters.

“Is there a better way?”

I couldn’t think of one.

Michelle smiled knowingly.

“Why don’t you leave it to me?”

She sounded like she had a sure solution.

***

Long after Halara and Michelle went inside, Head Butler Carlos remained frozen in the bushes.

He wanted to believe he’d misheard.

But Carlos had inherited his father’s sharp senses.

And he had heard it clearly.

“She changed so suddenly. Could she be pregnant?”

Just those words made his heart drop.

Halara had no parents.

That neighbor woman was the closest thing she had to family.

If even she suspected pregnancy, didn’t that lend the idea some credibility?

If someone suddenly changes, you’d ask if they were sick. You wouldn’t immediately ask if they were pregnant.

The fact that Michelle specifically mentioned pregnancy meant she likely had some reason to suspect it.

“Could she really be pregnant?”

If so, would it truly be Young Master Docep’s child?

Carlos recalled the moment Halara had come to the family estate.

“I have something to tell the highest-ranking person here.”

It still felt vivid, though it had only been days ago.

“What is your business?”
“I’ll tell you once I meet them.”
“Do you think you can meet a member of this historic ducal house just because you want to?”

The woman had been drenched in sweat, or perhaps water. She looked dangerously unstable.

“…I’m carrying a child.”

And then she dropped that bombshell.

Carlos hadn’t believed her.

He thought it was a sly trick.

If only I hadn’t turned a blind eye to the young master staying out that night.

And if only her voice hadn’t been trembling.

She’d been terrified.

That could’ve been because she was lying.

But to Carlos, her desperate expression hadn’t looked fake.

“No. Calm down, Carlos. As Her Grace said, maintain your dignity.”

Inhale.
Exhale.

He steadied his racing heart.

If she truly were carrying the young master’s child, she wouldn’t have left the estate so easily.

Let’s keep watching for now. It could be another man’s child.

But the calm he’d regained shattered when Halara and Michelle came outside holding a sign.

NO MEN ALLOWED

What was that?

Halara placed the sign in front of the door and locked it.

“I’ll head to the market for a bit.”

“Alright. Be careful. I’ll go find some sewing work.”

“Yes. Let’s eat dinner together.”

“Sounds good.”

Michelle waved as Halara left the yard with her basket.

No men allowed?

A woman like her would struggle to survive without taking advantage of men.

Carlos’s thoughts spiraled into confusion.

“She’s trying to live earnestly. It almost makes my heart ache.”

But Carlos had no time for sympathy.

Michelle sighed while watching Halara walk away, then turned to head back inside.

Carlos sprang out of the bushes.

Now was his chance.

“Excuse me!”

A chance to find out whether Halara was really pregnant.

***

Clink, clink—

I headed to the market carrying all my money.

“First, I need to figure out what sells here.”

Since I didn’t know the locals’ tastes, I planned to test things on Aunt Michelle first.

And share a meal while I was at it.

I already had a rough idea of ingredient prices.

But with the money I had, my options were limited.

“I was already short on cash, and that man cut my budget even more.”

The mercenary who’d crushed the apple at the vegetable stall a few days ago.

“A mercenary did that?”
“Yes. He had a sword at his waist. His clothes looked like a mercenary’s.”
“Ugh. Those mercenaries. Thugs, every last one.”

The shop owner shook his head like this was nothing new.

Once he confirmed that I didn’t know the mercenary, he even comforted me, saying I must’ve been scared getting dragged into something like that.

I handed him two silver coins.

“This is for the apple.”

“What’s this for?”

“The apple.”

“Why are you paying for it?”

Because I felt guilty.

If I hadn’t pointed out the apple’s condition, that mercenary wouldn’t have crushed it.

“Apples are expensive. You wouldn’t have made any profit otherwise…”

It was guilt and meddling.

“I thought you were just a pretty face, but your heart’s kind too!”

Of course, I planned to make the mercenary pay me back if I ever saw him again.

Even though I’d been coming to the market every day for several days, I hadn’t seen him since.

I shook off thoughts of the mercenary and examined the ingredients laid out on the stalls.

Potatoes were cheap today.

“I’ll try making potato pancakes for dinner.”

I put ten potatoes into my basket.

“The problem is the grater.”

I’d need to grate them, but there was no way a grater would be sold at the market.

I could julienne them, but the only knife in Halara’s house was a dull paring knife.

“Even basic living costs money.”

I checked my coin purse and changed direction.

My destination was the blacksmith’s shop at the edge of the market.