The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

027 But It Has Horns

Lizzy looked at the rabbit trembling with its head half-hidden in the cloth bag.

She had some memories of raising a rabbit. When she was very young, probably a little older than Dorothy. She thought rabbits were really, incredibly big.

But the one she was looking at now, well, it wasn’t that small, but it wasn’t as big as she remembered. When she was a child, she thought rabbits were as big as herself.

‘Is it because I’ve grown up?’

Thinking about it, there’s no way a rabbit could be as big as a child. Memories are really strange. Maybe she thought so because she had only seen a rabbit once.

In the village where she used to live, there were hardly any people who raised rabbits. Probably because there was no place near the village where wild rabbits could live.

She heard that in other big villages, there were places where many rabbits were raised. But in the small village where she lived, rabbits were really rare.

The only reason there was a rabbit at her house was because her father had picked up an injured one that couldn’t move when he returned from a neighboring village.

The rabbit that Lizzy and her siblings fed with grass disappeared soon after. It wasn’t eaten by the family, but probably sold to a merchant or someone else.

‘Ah, that’s right!’

This might be an opportunity.

Juhwan is not used to this kind of life. She realized this while living together. He was probably a noble, as he seemed clumsy with the life of a commoner.

Thinking about how he didn’t even know how to use a flint, it seemed like someone had always done everything for him. Being a great wizard, it was only natural. Even if he had become a criminal somehow, he was originally a person of high status.

He probably doesn’t know how to raise a rabbit either. This is a chance to show that she is a useful wife. It’s an opportunity to finally break away from being a woman who only receives help and can’t do anything properly.

She wanted to appear reliable, to look like a good wife, a wonderful woman, and this thought made her anxious.

‘First, I need to take this rabbit out of the pocket.’

But there was no place to put it right away. Usually, livestock are kept indoors during winter, but this rabbit was just caught from the wild. If left alone, it might escape when the door is opened.

“….”

Rabbit, rabbit, where should I put it? She was flustered and fumbling, when suddenly she heard laughter. Dorothy, in Juhwan’s arms, was covering her mouth with both hands and laughing.

—

—

“Lizzy, you’re such a fool.”

A giggling voice echoed from beyond the small child’s hand.

Juhwan didn’t make a sound, but he was also laughing. His eyes, which looked fierce when still, were now curved into crescent moons as he gazed at her.

The child’s laughter and her husband’s gaze made her feel somehow embarrassed.

It felt as if her husband had seen through her heart, which wasn’t pure, but rather trying to show her usefulness and gain his affection through this opportunity.

“Hahaha. Lizzy’s face turned red.”

Dorothy laughed loudly, still covering her mouth with both hands. Following her, Juhwan hugged Lizzy and laughed softly.

“Lizzy, you’re cute.”

“Dorothy too!”

The child shouted loudly from her husband’s other arm.

“Dorothy, you’re cute.”

Juhwan laughed and hugged both Dorothy and himself together.

At that moment, something suddenly jumped.

Startled, all three of them turned their eyes to the pocket where the rabbit had been. The rabbit leaped out of the pocket and started running around the house at a furious speed.

“Kyahhh!”

Dorothy jumped out of Juhwan’s arms, making a sound that was a mix of a scream and laughter.

Dorothy ran after the rabbit.

The small rabbit darted around, knocking over things, and Dorothy chased after it. Items on the table fell to the floor with a loud noise.

“Oh my gosh! Dorothy, stop! No! Ah, that’s the flour!”

It wasn’t just the falling items that were a problem. If Dorothy accidentally fell into the stove, it would be a disaster. The house was made of wood. The rabbit, Dorothy, the house, everything was in danger in many ways.

Ignoring the shouts, Lizzy also started running around the house, chasing the child.

The sound of things falling, the rabbit running, and the child tumbling to the floor echoed loudly.

Just as Lizzy was turning pale, Juhwan seemed worried too. His large body moved to chase Dorothy, and then the rabbit again.

The house was in complete chaos, with the whole family running to catch the rabbit or the child.

Then, suddenly, they all started laughing, as if on cue. Dorothy lay on the floor, giggling, and Juhwan laughed beside her.

Lizzy, panting, looked around the messy house. When would she ever clean this up? No, before that, when would that rabbit stop running? It was still running.

Standing there in a daze, she suddenly thought, Ah, I’m happy. A smile broke out on Lizzy’s face.

*

There is a place with a lot of bamboo, a bit far from the house.

Gus had shown her the place, and although she didn’t know it at the time, it seemed they chose the bamboo used for arrows from there.

—

—

Later, Juhwan would also choose wood from this place to make arrows. That’s probably why he was told.

Juhwan cut down a thick bamboo there and placed it on the carrier he made a few days ago.

The bamboo piled up high, far exceeding the height of the carrier.

When he tied it well with a rope to prevent it from spilling, the load became so large that it was hard to tell if it was a carrier or a bamboo monster.

Indeed, even someone confident in their strength would wonder if they could carry this and walk.

‘There’s no choice. There’s no time for a round trip.’

There was still some time before the sun would set.

But in the mountains, the concept of getting dark doesn’t exist. If you think the day has shortened a bit, it suddenly just becomes night.

In a moment of carelessness, it becomes pitch dark, so you always have to check the time the sun is up and return home accordingly.

Once, he made a mistake because he wasn’t used to gauging the time, but that doesn’t happen anymore.

Back then, he walked the mountain path, relying on the small flame of his finger, unable to see ahead or behind.

It was a small flame, but he was really grateful.

It must have been a stroke of luck that he didn’t encounter a beast. He genuinely thought at the time that maybe Santa had helped him.

Juhwan bent his body and aligned his back with the wooden carrier, then exerted strength in his waist and hips.

Using the wood that supported the carrier as a cane, he lifted his body, and the pile of bamboo shook slightly as it rose.

The rope on his shoulder was heavy. If he hadn’t placed leather in advance, the rope would have dug in and hurt.

After maintaining the posture for a moment to balance, Juhwan started walking.

It wasn’t as uncomfortable to walk as he thought. He had made it while recalling the traditional carrier he saw at his grandfather’s house, and it turned out surprisingly well.

He didn’t use a single nail while making the carrier. He shaped a Y-shaped green wood and set it on both sides, and the horizontally placed wood was fitted by making holes. Maybe he had a knack for woodworking. It was an unexpected discovery of talent.

‘Maybe I could live as a carpenter when I come down from the mountain.’

That might not be bad. He didn’t know how much a carpenter could earn in this era, but if he went to the city, there would be more jobs for a carpenter than a hunter.

He didn’t know what the future held, but considering Dorothy’s education and future, he would have to go to the city someday.

If he could use magic to work, that would be fine too, but he hesitated because he didn’t know how it would be received. Healing magic might be useful, but at least fire magic would be useless.

While walking with these thoughts, something caught Juhwan’s eye. There was a bloodstain on the snow slightly off the forest path. Near the blood-soaked snow, drops of blood had fallen, making it look like red dots. But there were no footprints.

“….”

Juhwan stopped walking and listened carefully in all directions. There might be a beast roaming around. He heard a bird’s cry from somewhere far away.

It was a place far from home, but if there was a fierce beast nearby, he had to check.

Juhwan put down the carrier and took the axe he had tucked in his waist. Paying attention to the sound, he went to the place with the bloodstain, and there were traces of a fight a little further away.

Juhwan’s eyes widened slightly.

“What, is that?”

—

—

Unexpectedly, a very small baby rabbit lay collapsed as if dead in the disturbed snow. It was much smaller than Juhwan’s palm. Judging by the lack of animal footprints around, it might have been a bird that failed to snatch it.

‘Is it dead?’

Seeing the red blood, it couldn’t have been dead for long. It’s midwinter, so it wouldn’t have spoiled quickly, and everything is precious in this mountain. It’s pitiful, but let’s use it for meat soup.

Juhwan approached and touched the baby rabbit.

“Oh.”

It wasn’t dead yet. It had torn wounds here and there, but it was warm. When he gently placed his palm on the rabbit’s body, he could feel a faint pulse.

Juhwan held the rabbit in his palm and thought of sending his magic into it for a moment.

The wounds didn’t heal instantly like when Lizzy’s bruises disappeared. But the ragged parts became a bit more solid. Light injuries like bruises heal quickly, but more severe ones like tears or fractures seem to take time.

‘I don’t know if it will survive.’

Juhwan carefully placed the baby rabbit inside his shirt, close to his chest. He tightened his waistband to prevent the rabbit from falling out and shouldered his load again.

The baby rabbit didn’t wake up the entire way home.

*

Dad brought an enormous amount of bamboo. He hammered the bamboo into the ground.

When several long bamboos were stuck in the ground and Dad straightened up, Dorothy quickly ran with the water Lizzy had given her and handed it to him.

Then she brought a towel. After Dad drank all the water, it was Dorothy’s job to take the cup back to Lizzy, or rather, Mom.

While Dad hammered, Dorothy quickly ran around collecting bamboo leaves. She gathered the fallen leaves in her hands and ran back home.

As she reached out to open the door, the bamboo leaves she had gathered fell to the ground. She opened the door and diligently picked them up again.

After picking them all up and trudging inside, she saw Lizzy looking at the baby rabbit in a small basket.

“Mom! I brought food!”

Dorothy ran over, and Lizzy smiled.

“Good job.”

“Yes! Dorothy is very busy! Ah, busy.”

Dorothy ran over to take a look at the baby rabbit’s face. The rabbit in the small basket was very tiny. It hadn’t opened its eyes yet.

“When will the baby wake up?”

“I don’t know.”

Lizzy said softly and quietly looked at the baby rabbit. Dorothy placed one of the bamboo leaves she was holding next to the baby rabbit.

“When it wakes up, it will eat. It needs to eat a lot to grow big. It has to become a big rabbit.”

As she said that, she looked down and saw that all the bamboo leaves had fallen. Lizzy smiled softly and picked up the leaves, placing them back in Dorothy’s hands.

“Thank you!”

Dorothy said loudly and ran to the wooden tub in the corner. The big rabbit was there. For now, it had no house, so the wooden tub was its home.

—

—

She opened the lid and put the bamboo leaves inside. Ah, it fell on the floor again. Dorothy sighed and picked up the fallen leaves, placing them back into the wooden container.

Without Dorothy, the rabbit would starve, so she couldn’t rest even for a moment. Besides, she had to bring water to her father and help her mother with her work. Without Dorothy, both her mother and father would struggle, so she was extremely busy.

Liz, who had been watching the baby rabbit, stood up.

“Dorothy, can you take care of the baby rabbit? Watch it for a while and let me know when it wakes up. Can you do that?”

Ha, Dorothy was really busy. She had so much to do. Dorothy thought so to herself, but there was no choice. Dorothy was the only one who could help her mother and father.

Dorothy nodded her head vigorously and answered.

“Yes, I’ll do it.”

Liz thanked her and went to the hearth to scoop water from the large pot.

Originally, Dorothy would also help by bringing flour or moving dishes, but now she had to take care of the baby rabbit.

Dorothy sat quietly next to the basket and watched the baby rabbit. The baby rabbit didn’t wake up. She stared at it again. Still, it didn’t wake up. When will it wake up?

‘Hmm.’

Dorothy thought for a moment and then gently stroked the baby rabbit’s head. Soft. Cute. Liz said not to touch it too much, but waking it up should be fine. Since she had to wait until it woke up, maybe waking it up a little…

Dorothy rubbed the baby rabbit’s head. Soft.

‘Hmm, but, that’s strange.’

Why? The baby rabbit had horns.

Dorothy tilted her head and touched the baby rabbit’s head again. Hidden in the fur, but slightly pointed.

“Mom! Why does the baby rabbit have horns?”

When Dorothy asked, Liz chuckled as if she found it amusing.

“Well, rabbits don’t have horns, do they?”

“But.”

They do, she was about to say, but instead, Dorothy looked at the baby rabbit’s face. Its eyes were round. Oh, its eyes were open.

“Mom! The baby rabbit’s eyes are open!”

In her excitement, Dorothy completely forgot about the horns on the baby rabbit’s head.

—