The One Who Won't Be Abandoned - Chapter 16

I let out an exaggerated laugh, one that sounded awkward even to me. It must have looked suspicious, but thankfully, Andre didn’t seem to pay it any mind.

Calm down, heart. A dream is just a dream. It’s not real.

I scrambled to continue the conversation, pointing toward the broken parts of the fence around the yard. “I think we need to fix the fence. The holes in it are big enough for foxes or weasels to get in easily.”

Following the direction of my finger, Andre scanned the fence and nodded in agreement.

“I’ll patch it up with wooden planks.”

“What about wire mesh?”

“We didn’t bring enough back from the village. It wasn’t even enough when we built the shed for Black Cloud.”

Since all the supplies from the village had to be carried on foot, it always felt like we were short on materials. No matter how sufficient things seemed when buying them in town, they always turned out to be just barely enough—or not enough at all—once we got back to the cabin.

The image of Andre dressed as a woman flashed through my mind—his arms full of wire mesh for Black Cloud’s pen and a heavy pack stuffed with food strapped to his back. The dress he’d worn that day was still neatly folded inside the cabin.

He’d looked unexpectedly cute in that outfit, and the thought of seeing him dressed like that again made me chuckle. If we went down to the village again, I decided, I’d make him dress up like that once more. With that amusing thought, the lingering awkwardness from earlier began to fade.

It was then that my gaze fell on Andre’s hands as he walked toward the shed in search of planks to repair the fence.

“Why are your hands so red?”

I quickly grabbed his hand, startled by how icy cold it was—like it had been plunged into freezing water. His sleeves were soaked as well.

“What were you doing to make your hands this cold?”

I clasped his frigid hands in mine, rubbing them to warm him up. The day was warm, yet his hands were like ice. He must’ve kept them submerged in the cold stream for a long time.

“It’s fine,” Andre said, pulling his hands free from mine as if shaking off my concern. His face had flushed red.

“Are you running a fever? You might be catching a cold.”

“I’m not.”

“Then what were you doing at the stream? Were you bathing?”

“No.”

Andre’s curt reply was followed by him retreating into the shed, almost as if he were fleeing the conversation.

“Take care of yourself! What are you going to do if you get sick?”

I called after him, worry laced in my voice. We didn’t even have basic medicine, not even salve for minor wounds. If he fell ill, we’d have to endure it without treatment. Even a simple cold could spiral into pneumonia under such circumstances.

A while later, Andre emerged from the shed with a few planks of wood, a hammer, and some nails in hand.

“I’ll do it. You should rest inside,” I said.

“No.”

“Don’t get sick and make me suffer by having to nurse you. Just go inside!”

Ignoring my protests, Andre wordlessly headed for the most damaged part of the fence and began to work. His complete disregard for my concern irked me, and I found myself trailing after him, much like he used to follow me around not too long ago.

“I know how to use a hammer, you know. I used to help my father repair the stable all the time,” I said, trying to justify my presence.

“Don’t get in the way. Go somewhere else,” Andre replied coldly, brushing me off.

His dismissive tone only fueled my determination. Honestly, someone watching might think I couldn’t live without Andre or something. That wasn’t it—I just didn’t want him to catch a cold and make me deal with the consequences.

“Give it to me,” I said, stepping forward as he held up a wide plank to cover the decayed section of the fence.

Before he could secure it, I snatched the plank from him, shoved him aside, and took his place.

Andre tried to wrest the plank back, but I held on stubbornly, using all my strength to keep it from him.

He sighed deeply. “Ha.”

Andre let out a long sigh and took a step back.

“Take a break, even for a moment,” I said.

“…This is a man’s job,” he muttered.

“What?”

I blinked in surprise at his words, but the shock quickly gave way to uncontrollable laughter. How adorable! When had he grown up enough to start declaring what a man should do? Time sure flies.

My laughter erupted uncontrollably, and Andre’s expression darkened as he scowled, making his irritation plain.

Even as I tried to stifle my amusement, it wouldn’t stop. Tears welled up in my eyes as I struggled to suppress the laughter, but strangled chuckles kept slipping through my tightly closed lips.

“Pffft… hmph, hmmph… kuhuh.”

Andre shot me a sharp glare before abruptly turning away. He stomped off, his footsteps loud and exasperated.

“W-where are you going?” I managed to ask through trembling, laughter-laden breaths.

Andre didn’t respond or even glance back. He simply marched off toward the forest, leaving me standing there.

In the past, I might have grumbled about his bad temper, but now, his behavior just seemed endearing. A man, he says! The word sounded so absurd coming from someone who had only recently outgrown his boyish clumsiness.

“…Ah.”

Just then, a fleeting memory of that ridiculous dream crossed my mind again. The image of Andre calling my name so earnestly, leaning closer as if to kiss me… The vision of that rippling silhouette reappeared vividly in my thoughts. Startled, I dropped the wooden plank I’d been holding and slapped myself hard across the cheek.

“Get a grip, Jeanne! What are you thinking? It was just a dream. A dream!”

Normally, dreams faded like mist the moment I woke up. But this ridiculous dream refused to vanish, its impact seared into my brain.

“Forget it already. Please, just forget it…”

For your honor’s sake, forget it. Frustrated by my inability to let go of the memory, I pouted as I bent down to pick up the discarded plank.

*

Andre, who had stomped off into the forest earlier in annoyance, returned later with a bundle of pine cones filled with pine nuts.

Delighted, I eagerly twisted the cones apart, carefully extracting the nuts.

“How did you know these had pine nuts in them? They just look like big pine cones to me. This is my first time seeing a cone like this.”

“My father taught me,” Andre replied.

“Oh…”

His face remained neutral as he mentioned his father, but I suddenly felt awkward for having brought it up. I glanced at him nervously, worried I might’ve upset him.

“The pine nuts from the Kaiman territory are distributed all across the Empire,” Andre added, seemingly unbothered.

“Ah, I see,” I said, nodding. Then, lowering my gaze, I pretended to focus on extracting more nuts from the cones, hoping to avoid any further awkwardness.

But patience wasn’t my strong suit. Unable to endure the silence for long, I spoke again.

“It’s strange that no one from the village comes up here, considering how much food there is in this forest.”

“The Kayan Mountain has been off-limits ever since the first head of the Kaiman family banned entry,” Andre explained.

“Why would they do that?”

“Back when the Empire was still a kingdom, there were so many wars that they ran out of burial ground near the villages. They started burying bodies in the forests around the mountain instead.”

Andre’s calm demeanor as he began his horrifying tale made it all the more chilling for me.

“…No way,” I murmured nervously.

“So, people started secretly dumping corpses here one by one,” he said matter-of-factly.

The breeze that had felt refreshing moments ago now seemed cold and sinister, chilling me to the bone. My hands, which had been twisting apart pine cones, froze at the very word corpses spilling from Andre’s lips.

“At first, they hid the bodies in crevices or the lake,” Andre continued, “but later, people began dumping them all over the mountain indiscriminately. Some even dug up the bodies of their family members, buried on farmland out of necessity, and brought them here to dispose of them.”

“Lies,” I whispered.

“It’s true,” he said, unfazed. “I read about it in one of the historical records in my father’s study.”

Even if Andre wasn’t lying, I desperately wanted to believe it wasn’t true.

Though the sun still shone brightly in the sky, the dense forest surrounding the cabin suddenly felt oppressive and shadowy. The lively greenery from earlier now seemed eerie, its beauty veiled by an ominous gloom. Even the rustling of the leaves sounded ghostly, like mournful whispers carried on the wind.

“Maybe that cabin was built to keep an eye on people dumping bodies,” Andre added, as if to twist the knife further.

“Please, stop,” I begged.

“Are you scared?”

“Yes, I’m terrified,” I admitted, hoping my honesty would make him stop.

But Andre, clearly oblivious to my plea, smiled faintly as he continued, “It all happened so long ago. The bodies dumped back then have long since decomposed, turning into rich fertilizer. Look at how lush this forest is—thanks to those bodies, the soil is so fertile. Even these pine nuts are big and healthy because—”

“Enough!”

Panicking, I threw the pine cone in my hand with all my strength. It hit Andre square in the forehead with a loud thunk, effectively silencing him.

“Ah!”

I gasped, clasping my hands over my mouth in horror. The pine cone had struck him so directly that his head tilted backward from the impact. For a moment, Andre just stood there, stunned, his head not quite returning to its original position. He seemed too surprised to fully grasp what had just happened.

“I-I’m sorry!”

My muffled apology didn’t reach him, so I lowered my hands, squeezed my eyes shut, and yelled, “I’m really sorry!”

Then, without another word, I bolted into the cabin, slamming the door shut behind me. Leaning against the door, I took deep breaths, trying to calm my racing heart.

Knock, knock.

Andre rapped on the door.

“Open up, Jeanne, while I’m still asking nicely,” he said.

“I’m sorry! I’m really, really sorry!”

“This is insubordination! You won’t get away with this!”

“T-technically, it’s not insubordination,” I muttered under my breath, though I wisely refrained from saying it out loud. His family’s fall from power wasn’t exactly a sensitive topic to bring up. However, Andre seemed to catch the unspoken words, as his pounding on the door grew louder and more forceful.

“Jeanne!”

His voice rang out, laced with both frustration and anger.

As I pressed my back firmly against the door, the image of Andre’s stunned face replayed in my mind—his forehead turning red where the pine cone had struck, his wide-eyed expression frozen in disbelief. It was so ridiculous and endearing that I couldn’t help but laugh again, my shoulders shaking with mirth.

“Pfft… Haha! Hahaha!”

“Jeanne!”

Hearing my laughter, Andre yelled in what sounded like a mix of embarrassment and indignation.

That day, despite the absurd nightmare I’d had, Andre managed to make me laugh harder than I had in years. Ever since the tragedy of my mother’s death, I’d felt like even my smiles were weighed down by the heaviness in my heart. But today, in this moment, I laughed freely and wholeheartedly, forgetting the burdens of life entirely.

“Young master, are you sure you trained to be a knight? With reflexes that bad, how could you ever become one?”

My teasing stopped Andre’s relentless pounding on the door. A moment later, I heard him let out a stifled groan—a sound that was equal parts anger and embarrassment.

Pressing my ear to the door, I caught every bit of the adorable, flustered noise he made. I laughed even harder, the sound ringing out joyfully.

* * *