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Chapter 18
The man, all dressed in black, laid like an abandoned corpse on the forest floor. His eyes were tightly shut, making it hard to tell whether he was sleeping or dead. Yuria pondered this for a moment as she gazed down at the man. He clearly looked like he was dead, but his chest was still rising and falling with his breath. There didn’t seem to be any major trauma, nor did he look seriously injured. However, this man didn’t have the aura of a living person; it was easy to believe he was dead from the atmosphere that encompassed him. His aura chilled the air and it felt as though he could freeze any foe with a single glance. The space surrounding the man felt exceptionally heterogeneous, as if they existed in different worlds.
He was an exceptionally stunning man. His appearance could not simply be described as ‘handsome’, his features were so other-wordly that it was practically unbelievable that the same man was emitting such a chilling aura.
“What should I do?” Yuria muttered, while looking at the man.
He was alive for now, but she didn’t know how long it would take for him to freeze to death in this weather yet, she could not easily approach the man. She knew not his identity, nor whether he was a good person or a bad person. After what occurred a few days ago, she was more anxious and reluctant to approach strangers. Yuria couldn’t easily make a decision, and only fidgeted with her fingers in her hesitation. Soon after, she cautiously approached the man, wondering if it was a bad person faking their condition so she might help them.
Looking at the situation, wouldn’t it be okay to swing the blunt end of the axe to confirm he’s knocked out?
Fortunately, unlike the last time, there was only one man and she had an invincible weapon called an ax in her hand. An axe and the power to cut down a giant tree with one swing.
“…Um, if you keep sleeping here, you’ll freeze to death.”
Yuria pondered for a moment, not knowing how to go about waking him up, she then poked him lightly with her finger as if he was some sort of forgin object. Contrary to her idea that he wouldn’t wake up from such a subtle touch, the man obliquely opened his eyes immediately upon regaining consciousness, and turned his head, assessing his surroundings. Yuria’s face was reflected in that man’s eyes. The moment he saw her, his eyes widened. For a second, she wondered if his eyeballs would pop out of his face. The man stared at Yuria blankly for a while; he couldn’t believe there was such a woman in front of his eyes.
Oh my gosh, you are such a lovely being.
Yuria’s hair was a dull and boring brown color seen everywhere, but it shone under the sunlight like polished enstatite. That wasn’t all, when he looked into those watery, transparent eyes he felt he could create ripples on those crystal clear lakes, with a single touch. From her fragile-looking body, to her smooth, pale skin– there was no part of her that wasn’t lovely. Her gently lowered eyes looked weak and innocent like a newly born foal.
The man knew instinctively that Yuria’s existence itself was extremely lovely, as if she was made out of, and shone in loveliness.
It was utterly unrealistic.
The fact that she was the first thing he saw as soon as he opened his eyes.
The fact that he was reflected in those gorgeous eyes.
All of it was unbelievable no matter how much he thought about it, causing him to tilt his head in bewilderment.
Glitter.
With the sunlight glimmering behind Yuria, she was shining. Suddenly, an urge to touch her overcame him and the man raised himself in his feet, reaching out as he took a step closer to her. Yuria instantly took a step back in response to the man’s approach.
Why? The man questioned, unable to understand Yuria’s behavior he took another step closer. He couldn’t figure out where this place was or the situation he was in, but all his senses were concentrated on Yuria. It was the first time in his life that he had seen a being so small, so cute, and so adorable. The place he lived was far from any such existences, and the things he encountered there were always trembling in fear and struggling at his sight.
The man liked lovely things; he adored all cute, small things. Thus he tried to bring them into his life and cherish them, but they couldn’t handle the man’s frigid aura and collapsed. Hence why he couldn’t care about cautiousness even in an unexpected place; the presence of the loveliest being he met by chance wiped any such concerns from his mind. If he didn’t catch it now, he thought he would miss it and never see it again.
What would those cute little cheeks feel like? If you poke it, wouldn’t it go in softly and wrap around your finger? Why are your surprised, round eyes so pretty?
It was as if Yuria was a complete set of the man’s wishes. However, Yuria, who wasn’t aware of the heart of such a man, was just bewildered by his sudden actions and kept retreating backwards. The man approached her, and she retreated. All of a sudden, Yuria’s back was touching a large tree. As there was no place to escape anymore, she nervously looked at the man, clenching the axe in front of her with both hands as if threatening him. The man’s somewhat dazed gaze turned towards the axe. He frowned in dislike, just looking at her it was obvious that the axe didn’t fit her, and the fact that it was now blocking his sight was dissatisfying; the man wanted to see her lovely appearance.
“…Is it a toy?” The man muttered softly. At those words, Yuria became confused, the word ‘toy’ did not make sense to her ears-there were no toys here.
Perhaps…. He wasn’t talking about my axe, right?
The axe Yuria was holding was larger than normal axes and several times stronger. She kept the blade exceptionally sharp, seen by the sunlight glinting off it. No matter how you looked at it, it couldn’t look like a toy.
Nevertheless, the man’s gaze was fixed on the axe.
“No, it’s dangerous, it’ll hurt.” He said with a stern expression as if scolding a child. He didn’t like that the axe was covering her, and he worried she would get hurt holding such a dangerous toy.
What if that small and fragile body gets hurt? The lovely being looked weak, so even with a toy axe, she could quickly collapse and die.
Yuria, unable to understand the man’s words, gripped the axe tighter feeling that it was the only way to protect her.
Is the toy yours? The man vaguely thought so. Apparently, Lovely being (what he now chose to call her) was really attached to that item.
If so, what can I do? The man swung his hand and pulled out a sword from somewhere. Yuria tensed up upon seeing the unknown man grab a sword from thin air. The man’s atmosphere alone did not tell whether he was a good person or a bad person; however, the action of the man pulling out the sword was enough to light up Yuria’s anxiety.
If he’s going to cut me with that sword… Yuria’s gaze turned to the axe, if it was her axe, she should be able to chop that sword in two.
“I’ll give you this instead. Play with this.”
[tl/n: okay. I’m done. Will all men in this novel be so freaking cute?!]
As if to soothe Yuria, the man attempted to speak in a calm voice while trying to gesture for her to take the sword. “This…?”
Wondering what exactly he could be alluding to, Yuria trepidly gazed at him with an odd expression.
“So, I’ll confiscate that.”
As the man snapped his finger, the axe from Yuria’s hand suddenly disappeared, and reappeared lodged in a nearby tree. Instead, there was a sword in Yuria’s hands.
“Ah…” Yuria looked at the axe stuck in the tree with a blank expression on her face. She couldn’t comprehend the current situation, but one thing was certain; she had lost the axe, and without the axe, she couldn’t cut down a tree.
If the axe had just been normally lodged in a tree as one would when chopping one down, she could have easily pulled it out. However, the position of the axe was too high, even if she tiptoed, she wouldn’t reach it. No matter how strong she was, she could not cut down a tree for firewood without an axe. That axe, in particular, was very hard for Yuria to find. This was because the common axes’ handles repeatedly broke from her strength. Additionally, there was still a long way to go before winter was over, in the meantime, it was essential for Yuria to heat the stove, but the most necessary thing to get firewood was…
She started to feel emotional, thinking that if she couldn’t find firewood Fren would have to spend his days shivering in the freezing winter weather. Yuria’s eyes began to well up from her despairing thoughts. She had been wary of the man, but due to her emotions, she threw the sword that she was holding back at the man.
I don’t know about much else, but when it comes to Fren, I could never stay still. It didn’t matter what the man in front of her was thinking or his identity. What was important was that the unknown man in front of her had lost her axe.
“This damn jerk!”
It was her first time swearing in her whole life. If she had lived alone it wouldn’t have been that bad, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t stand the cold. But her precious Fren…? Because of that bastard, her precious Fren will have to stay in a cold house, since she won’t be able to light the stove without firewood. A great wave of anger rose inside Yuria’s previously calm heart.
Although the man could avoid Yuria’s sword, he didn’t dodge it, even without dodging, he could have spread a barrier to block it, but he didn’t. In the man’s eyes, Yuria was endlessly lovely. If it was thrown by such a lovely being, even that sword would be lovely. Anyway, regardless of how hard that little creature threw something, it couldn’t even be considered a scratch to the man.
“You don’t like it?” The man asked Yuria, thinking that Yuria’s anger was simply a complaint about the toy.
Yuri, who blatantly ignored the man’s words, shouted fiercely, “Give me my axe!”
“As expected, you’re lovely.” The man quietly muttered.
As expected, you have to take care of yourself. No matter how small, you still have to know how to protect yourself. With that mindset, the man liked Yuria’s determination, because it is so small, he had wondered if such a fragile being could be possessive of their things. Liking her attitude, he gently sent the axe stuck in the tree to Yuria’s hand again. From Yuria’s perspective, the axe unlodged itself from the tree, and landed in front of her. Thus, she was very startled. She couldn’t understand the man’s attitude, and she couldn’t understand what was going on.
The man looked at Yuria’s expressions, finding them interesting. It was the first time that something or someone had remained standing before him. Besides, the woman was making expressions he’d never seen before. He really liked her twinkling eyes, small red lips, and the bewildered look she had on her adorable little face. He also liked the small, compact frame that came out from her bosom.
The man inadvertently raised his hand and tried to poke Yuria’s cheek, but before he could touch her, Yuria raised her hand, and grabbed the man’s hand, successfully blocking his actions. His eyes widened, obviously very surprised at what had just happened to him. Then he raised his hand again and tried to poke Yuria’s cheek once again, this time with more strength behind his action, thus Yuria couldn’t stop him with only one hand.
The man poked Yuria’s cheek with his finger several times as if it was something marvelous. It was a very careful touch despite the tremendous strength he had to have used to counter Yuria’s. Yuria felt relieved by the fact that was all he did, and yet, she couldn’t help but be nervous due to the embarrassing situation that was now occurring.
“…Small, and cute… but…”
Unbroken.
The man muttered in a hushed voice that Yuria couldn’t hear.
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