The One Who Won't Be Abandoned - Chapter 10

“Oh… you’re… here…”

I trailed off in surprise. I had assumed Andre was, as always, wandering around the forest, but there he was, sitting calmly on a chair inside the cabin. It seemed he’d been waiting for me to wake up.

I gave him a once-over, and my words caught in my throat.

“Andre… what in the world are you wearing?”

Andre hesitated, looking sheepish, before slowly rising from the chair and approaching me. I sat perched awkwardly on the edge of the bed, staring at him with an expression of pure disbelief.

He was wearing one of the dresses I had bought for myself during our last trip to the village—a dull brown dress that now almost dragged on the ground.

The dress was just slightly too long for him, but it fit well enough in the upper body, making it look surprisingly natural. In fact, with his sharp features and delicate face, Andre resembled a very pretty girl. The short haircut only added to the illusion, giving him the appearance of a mischievous tomboy. With just a change of clothes, his entire demeanor seemed to shift, almost as if he were an entirely different person.

“Why are you wearing my dress?” I asked, baffled.

“The soldiers are looking for a boy. So I’ll just pretend to be a girl,” Andre replied matter-of-factly.

“You… really want to go to the village that badly?”

“Yes.”

His unwavering response left me no room to argue further. Once again, as I had the night before, I found myself conceding to him.

Mother, just look at your precious boy now. I sighed inwardly. Why have you given me such trials? If you’re watching from above, please shield Madam’s eyes. I’m sure she’d be horrified to see her son wearing a dress without the slightest bit of shame.

“Alright, fine. Let’s go together,” I relented with a sigh.

“Thanks, Jeanne,” Andre said, breaking into a radiant smile. His happiness was so genuine, so bright, that it was impossible not to feel some of my frustration melt away. He looked every bit like a cheerful girl with that smile, his white teeth peeking out perfectly.

I cut up an old, worn-out blanket from the cabin to make a headscarf. I carefully tied it around Andre’s head, securing it with a dainty ribbon under his chin.

“You look… pretty,” I said, half-teasing but also a little impressed.

“Thanks,” he replied sincerely.

Andre really did look lovely. Looking at him now, I could even catch glimpses of his late mother’s face in his features. When he wore his usual boyish clothes, he looked like the spitting image of his father, the master of the house. But dressed like this, his slightly upturned eyes reminded me unmistakably of Madam’s graceful, confident gaze.

The longer I stared, the redder Andre’s cheeks became. He might have been determined to go down to the village, but it was clear that dressing up like a girl embarrassed him to some degree.

Before leaving the cabin, I grabbed a large, sturdy leather bag that had been tucked away in storage. As I slung the empty bag over my back, Andre tugged at the end of it.

“Give me the bag.”

“No, no. This is something the older sister should carry, don’t you think, Lena?” I teased, using a girlish name to mock Andre.

Andre’s lips jutted out in a small pout, clearly offended. The expression only made him look even more like a prim and proper little girl.

“Did you really want to go to the village that badly?” I asked.

“…Yeah,” he admitted.

“Alright, then. Let’s go quickly and buy lots of tasty things,” I said, patting his shoulder a couple of times since the headscarf covering his hair prevented me from ruffling it.

We stepped out of the cabin, ready to leave, but only managed a few steps into the yard before we had to stop. A gray, furry little creature darted across the yard as if it owned the place.

“Why is that rabbit here again…?”

It was the same baby rabbit I’d released into the wild the day before. The rabbit, hopping freely around the yard, seemed to notice our presence. To my surprise, it trotted straight up to me without a hint of fear.

“Why did you come back, huh?”

I crouched down and gently stroked its tiny back. The rabbit didn’t run away—in fact, it leaned into my hand, rubbing its small body against my palm as if asking for more attention.

“It thinks this is its home now,” Andre murmured softly, watching the rabbit.

His quiet observation tugged at my heart, and I let out a small sigh.

The poor thing must’ve lost its family after being caught in my trap. It probably wandered the forest all night with no place to go, no family to return to. The thought of it running into a predator in the dark made my chest ache with guilt.

“Poor thing. What do we do?” I muttered.

Andre, thoughtful for a moment, walked off toward the storage shed. I heard the sound of him rummaging around before he returned.

“We’ve got enough wood for the frame. If you buy some wire mesh from the village, we can build a safe space for it here.”

“Wire mesh? Why?”

“To make a proper enclosure. If it thinks this is home, we might as well give it a safe place to stay.”

“To… raise it for food?” I asked hesitantly.

“If you want to,” he replied with a small shrug.

“No! Absolutely not. If that’s your plan, chase it away right now!”

“Are you sure you want to chase it off?” Andre asked, glancing between me and the rabbit. Then he fixed his gaze on me and spoke.

“Jeanne. You’ve grown attached to it, haven’t you? I don’t mind keeping it as a pet. We can always dig new traps to catch food.”

“Really? Not as emergency rations, but as an actual pet?”

“Yeah. I promise I won’t see it as food anymore.”

“Really? I can keep it? It’s not for food?”

“Yes, really.”

Overjoyed, I scooped up the baby rabbit and hopped around the yard, mimicking its bouncy movements.

“What should I name it? What do you think?” I twirled around with the rabbit in my arms, setting it back on the ground once I realized it might get dizzy. Then I ran to Andre and hugged him tightly.

“Thank you so much! I thought for sure you’d insist on eating it.”

“J-Jeanne… your headscarf’s coming undone. Could you… ease up a bit…?”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I exclaimed, hugging him even tighter.

Despite his grumbling about the loosened headscarf, Andre made no attempt to pull away from my embrace. I think I held onto him for quite a while, overcome with gratitude and joy.

Everything felt so perfect in that moment. The sky was clear, the mountain air was crisp, and Andre, clutching his untied scarf, leaned quietly into my arms. Behind me, the rabbit was hopping happily across the yard, and I was about to head down to the village to stock up on food. For once, everything felt utterly peaceful.

* * *

The village was livelier than I had ever seen it. Overheard snippets of conversation revealed that today was market day—the first one held since the fall of the Kaiman estate had disrupted village life. Merchants filled every corner between the shops, displaying and selling an array of goods and food on their stalls.

Overwhelmed by the sheer number of people bustling around, I froze momentarily. Andre, sensing my hesitation, clasped my hand tightly. His golden hair remained safely hidden beneath the scarf I had tied for him earlier.

Snapping back to my senses, I stepped ahead and positioned myself slightly in front of Andre to shield him from curious eyes.

“Don’t let go of my hand, and make sure to follow closely. Keep your head down—someone might recognize you,” I whispered.

“Okay,” he murmured.

Andre clung to my arm, almost hugging it, and stuck close to me as we moved. Fortunately, the villagers were too absorbed in the excitement of the reopened market to pay us any attention.

Instead, it was the merchants who took notice, especially those eager to lure in what they assumed were impressionable young girls.

“Look at this hairpin,” one vendor called out, holding up an ornament adorned with a sparkling blue stone. “Isn’t it beautiful? How much money do you have? I’ll give it to you for a good price, sweetheart.”

The glittering blue caught my eye, and I couldn’t help but stop to admire it for a moment. But when the merchant reached out, as if to grab my arm, I flinched in alarm and quickly pulled back.

Barely avoiding the vendor’s grasp, I hurried away, Andre still holding onto me. I heard him mutter softly as we walked.

“It’s fake.”

“What?” I asked, glancing at him.

“The stone on the hairpin. It’s fake,” he replied nonchalantly.

“Of course it is. Who’d sell real gemstones on the street like that?” I said with a shrug. Probably just some cheap glass painted blue.

“Let’s hurry. We still have a lot to buy,” I added, steering us toward the next stall.

Even with my best efforts to move quickly, it took a long time to make our way through the market. Unlike our usual trips to the village, where we simply paid the shopkeepers’ fixed prices, today I had to hunt for the best deals. Even for the same food items, prices varied from stall to stall.

Once I realized that, I darted from one vendor to another, determined to find the cheapest options. I negotiated fiercely, unwilling to waste even a single coin of the money my mother had left me.

“This is great,” I said, thoroughly pleased with myself after buying a sack of potatoes for much less than I’d paid on our previous trip. As I stuffed the sack into Andre’s already-heavy leather bag, I asked, “It’s not too heavy, is it?”

Andre had insisted on carrying the bag and wrestling it from me earlier. The bag, already holding half a sack of flour, now also bore the weight of the potatoes. It had to be getting quite heavy.

“I’m fine,” Andre said with a reassuring smile.

With Andre’s help, I’d been able to buy much more than usual. He was proving to be a reliable companion, and I couldn’t help but feel grateful.

Before I knew it, both of my hands were full of the goods we’d purchased. We had even managed to buy some lightweight, affordable wire mesh to build a proper enclosure for the rabbit.

“I think we’re good now. This should last us at least a month,” I said, satisfied.

Between the food we’d bought and the fruits and game we could gather from the mountain, we’d have more than enough to get by. My heart felt as full as my arms—secure and content.

Walking through the market with newfound confidence, I suddenly stopped in my tracks, my eyes catching on something ahead.

“W-wait, what’s that?”

Drawn like a moth to a flame, I approached the stall laden with flintstones. The merchant’s face lit up with a wide smile as he spotted me, clearly eager to make a sale.

“Take your time and have a look! These flintstones are crafted by a master blacksmith with years of experience. With these, lighting your fireplace will be as easy as snapping your fingers!”

The flintstones on display came in pairs: a broad piece of metal and a long rod. Each one bore unique designs—some were adorned with intricate carvings that seemed far too fancy for something as utilitarian as flintstones, while others were plain and unadorned. Naturally, I picked up the simplest-looking one, assuming it would be the cheapest.

If I bought one, I could save our precious matches, which were already half gone. A flintstone was an investment—it could last for years and save money in the long run.

“How much is this?” I asked, holding up the plain flint.

The merchant held up one hand, all five fingers extended.

“Five copper coins?” I asked, my voice tinged with hope. It seemed absurdly cheap, almost too good to be true.

The merchant shook his head.

“Five silver coins,” he said, grinning.

“What?!” I exclaimed, practically shouting in disbelief.

The force of my outburst drew stares from nearby shoppers, all of them turning to look at me at once.

“What?!” Jeanne’s sharp protest echoed through the bustling market, drawing the attention of passersby. Andre, who had been trailing closely behind her like a shadow, shrank slightly under the weight of so many eyes.

Jeanne, however, seemed oblivious to the attention, completely absorbed in her haggling.

“Five silver coins just to light a fire? Do you know how many boxes of matches I could buy with that?!”

The merchant, with a cheerful and patient demeanor, responded as if addressing an ignorant child. “Ah, you must not know, young lady. A proper flintstone isn’t just any old rock lying by the roadside. It takes a skilled blacksmith to forge one that works properly.”

“But isn’t that still way too expensive? You’re not raising the price because I look young, are you?” Jeanne accused, narrowing her eyes.

“Of course not!” the merchant retorted, clutching his chest as if offended. “My flintstones are flawless, certified quality! Five silver coins is a bargain for what you’re getting. Just look at this!”