The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

008 Hero

There was nothing in the shed, but it seemed that shelves had once been installed. Part of the wall was a different color.

On the floor were scattered crumbs, seemingly dropped while stealing. Bits of dried plants like medicinal herbs, pieces of jerky that looked like they had been gnawed by rats, broken metal fragments that seemed to be parts of tools like hoes, straw, and small pieces of fur…

Kim Joo-hwan squatted next to the woman.

He thought the woman and child had been given to him. But it seemed the opposite was true. He had been given to the woman and child. Perhaps this house had once belonged to the woman’s parents or husband.

‘When the head of the family dies, is this what happens to the remaining family?’

I will never die. I will never leave my family like this. Even if I die, I will crawl back from hell to return to my family.

Thinking this, Kim Joo-hwan carefully lifted the woman so as not to startle her. She shouldn’t be sitting on such a cold floor. He had heard that sitting on a cold place was not good for a woman’s health.

“It’s okay. I’m here. From now on, I’ll do whatever it takes to support you.”

As he walked, holding her, he patted her back. Even if they couldn’t understand each other, the comforting atmosphere would be conveyed.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he kept saying, and eventually, the woman, who had initially been stiff, began to lean her face against his chest and sob again.

How sorrowful she must be. Even after entering the house, the woman cried for a long time, almost unbelievably. There were no chairs. Kim Joo-hwan sat on the wooden floor and continued to stroke the woman’s back.

The child, who had quietly come over, clung to the woman’s hem and began to cry as well. The child crouched as if hiding from Kim Joo-hwan’s gaze, holding onto the woman’s clothes and crying with an open mouth.

At first, he thought it was just because they were family, but it seemed a bit different. The child seemed to be holding onto the woman’s clothes as if to prevent her from escaping.

—

With the house filled with the sound of crying, Kim Joo-hwan could only sit quietly with a troubled expression.

Kim Joo-hwan, who had been stroking the woman’s back, finally pulled the child, who had plopped down on the floor, onto his lap, as squatting had become too tiring.

The cabin, devoid of any warmth, was as cold inside as it was outside.

“If you sit on this floor, you’ll catch a cold.”

He said this, but of course, the words didn’t get through, so the meaning wasn’t conveyed.

The child, who seemed frightened, kept glancing at Kim Joo-hwan while still clinging to the woman’s clothes.

When the child sat on Kim Joo-hwan’s lap, the woman’s clothes were pulled to one side, revealing her slender neck and collarbone.

“….”

Kim Joo-hwan averted his gaze slightly.

—

After the woman had calmed down to some extent, Kim Joo-hwan placed his finger on his face and said, “Kim Joo-hwan.” If we’re going to live together, you need to know my name.

Then he pointed his finger at the faces of the woman and the child in turn. And then, placing his finger back on his face, he said, “Kim Joo-hwan,” and pointed at the woman and the child again.

After repeating this several times, the woman hesitated and opened her mouth.

“## Lizzy####.”

The woman pointed to herself and said “Lizzy” once more, then pointed her finger at the child and shook her head. It seemed to mean that the child had no name.

The child’s face, still clutching the woman’s clothes, slowly turned toward the floor.

I don’t know why the child doesn’t have a name. But I can tell it’s a very sad thing, and it has hurt the child.

Kim Joo-hwan placed his large hand on the child’s head and said,

“Then from now on, your name will be Dorothy.”

It’s the name of the cute girl from The Wizard of Oz. Let’s give the child a name that meets friends, goes on adventures, and finds happiness on her own.

After mentioning his and the woman’s names in turn, Kim Joo-hwan pointed his finger at the child’s face and said, “Dorothy.” The child’s eyes widened.

“Dorothy?”

The child asked Kim Joo-hwan as if hesitating.

“Yes, it’s a name that brings happiness. It’s a name that will allow you to meet many good friends and loved ones in the future.”

Even if the meaning didn’t get across, he wanted to say it. That it’s a very lovely girl’s name, and that she will definitely be happy.

The child slightly lowered her head and murmured.

“Dorothy.”

For the first time since meeting him, the child smiled slightly. It was a very small smile, but it made his heart swell.

*

He’s a strange person. He has a much bigger body and hands than my late husband, but he never tried to hit me.

He doesn’t act rough either. Somehow, he seems polite. It’s hard to describe, but his behavior is completely different from the villagers. He’s a completely different kind of person.

His voice is softer than anyone I’ve ever heard. And the resonance of his words is strange.

I’ve never met any nobles, but I’m sure the way he speaks is the way high-status people do, very sophisticated. Just listening to him, even if I don’t understand the meaning, gives me that feeling.

‘He doesn’t seem like someone who would live in a village like this.’

Lizzy watched the man as he checked every corner of the house. Thinking that this man would become her husband made her feel strange. He’s completely different from what I thought. There’s a tickling feeling in a corner of my heart.

The man taught me his name, but it was too difficult to pronounce. Gingjuhan? When I tried to say it all together, it always came out weird. In the end, he made me call him ‘Joo-hwan.’

‘Joo-hwan.’

Unlike me, who couldn’t pronounce his name well, Joo-hwan pronounced my name clearly.

That’s also strange, the way he pronounces my name is somehow different from how the villagers do. Even though it’s the same name, it sounds more sophisticated when Joo-hwan says it.

Really, I don’t know why. It just resonates cleanly in my ears. My name, casually thrown out, sounds like it belongs to someone noble.

—

—

Juhwan seems to be mainly looking for places where there are gaps. As he walked around the house, he occasionally bent down to check the walls or corners. He inspected more carefully places that looked rotten or had holes. Maybe he was thinking of repairing the house.

Thinking that brought another wave of sadness.

There was nothing left in the house. Not only food and leather, which could be sold for money, but also wooden items like chairs, shelves, and tables, and even the tent leather that was kept under the bed were all gone.

Even the bow and arrows, knife, hoe and hammer, and extra axe were all taken away.

The only thing left was a single axe with a broken blade.

Without tools, one can do nothing in this mountain. Neither hunting nor planting vegetables is possible. Repairing the house is out of the question, and even preparing to fend off beasts would be impossible.

What should I do from now on? How should I live? Everything went dark before my eyes.

“####?”

Suddenly, a voice was heard right in front of her. Startled, she came to her senses and saw Juhwan looking down at her with a worried expression.

She didn’t know what he was saying, but he was probably worried about her. Juhwan started to pat her head with his large hand.

‘….’

Maybe this man thinks of her as a child. Maybe he doesn’t know that she is his wife because they don’t speak the same language.

Rizi turned 21 this year, but she had been small since she was young because she hadn’t eaten properly. She often looked younger than her age.

If a man as big as him saw her, he might think of her as a child. Thinking that way, it seemed to make sense. That’s why he keeps hugging her. Because he thinks she’s a child.

She felt strange. Her heart had been tickling since earlier. She felt restless. She wanted to say she wasn’t a child, but at the same time, she wanted to be a child.

Juhwan quietly looked into her eyes and then smiled. It seemed like there were some tears in her eyes. He gently touched under her eyes with his large, thick fingers and wiped them away.

The soft fingertips touched her skin and then fell away.

Looking at his hand, she suddenly thought that this person might really be of high status.

As the village chief’s wife said, his hands weren’t soft, but they definitely weren’t the hands of a farmer. They weren’t the hands of a commoner either.

The people in Rizi’s village had almost the same hands, regardless of size. They had calluses in the same places, and in winter, their hands cracked without exception, making the backs of their hands rough like toad skin. The tips of their fingers were all rough. Rizi’s hands were the same.

Suddenly feeling ashamed of her hands, she hid them behind her back, and Juhwan tilted his head in confusion.

Maybe this person was a noble from another country, or a subordinate of a lord. Or maybe a knight. Anyway, he wasn’t someone who rolled in the dirt like her.

“###?”

Juhwan said something while gently grabbing her wrist. His large hand wrapped around her wrist once and still had space left, even though he was holding it.

He loosely grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward. It didn’t seem like he used any strength, but her hand was easily led forward by the man.

It seemed like he was checking if she had any injuries, as he carefully inspected her hand back and forth. She felt embarrassed. It was strange. She had never felt so ashamed under someone’s gaze. She wiggled her toes and clenched her fist to hide her hand, and Juhwan smiled.

Once again, Juhwan patted her head. He muttered something, and it seemed like he was saying it was a relief that she wasn’t hurt.

‘It’s strange.’

She had never received such kindness before. Not from her mother, not from her father, never.

Her heart, which had been quiet until a moment ago, suddenly became noisy.

—

—

‘Strange. This is really strange.’

A strange feeling that I’ve never felt before arises at the tips of my toes, fingertips, and face. It’s embarrassing, somewhat pitiful, and I don’t really know. I don’t know what it is, but it tickles deep in my heart. It tickles deep in my heart where I can’t reach to scratch. My body was restless.

Suddenly, I remembered a rumor I heard a few days ago. The village women were saying that a hero had appeared.

They said that the high-ranking people of the enemy country, which is at war, succeeded in the hero summoning ritual. They said it was a hero with black hair and black eyes.

The enemy country, which had only remained a legend, succeeded in summoning a hero and is currently in a festive mood. Could they be so happy that the rumor has spread to even a small village in another country?

‘Black hair and black eyes.’

Liz suddenly looked up at the face of the man who had become her husband.

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