IYWHM Chapter 150

Kisa had listened to Mana’s complaints with one ear and let them go out the other, but within a few days she found herself in a situation where she had to experience it firsthand.

“I warned him until my mouth was sore, but that village chief fellow won’t budge an inch – isn’t this dereliction of duty? Really, all the people in this village are so laid-back that they can’t feel any sense of crisis.”

“……Ah, yes, I see.”

“It’s not that I dislike that aspect of them, but at times like this, it really makes me burst with frustration. What if that thief steals all the village’s property while we’re just sitting here like this? Besides, it might not just be a simple burglary. What if he’s an even more vicious criminal – if he escaped from Matera and fled all the way here, it would be a disaster!”

In front of the old woman who was trembling with passion as she delivered her fervent speech, Kisa could only keep her mouth shut.

She swallowed the consoling words that if a vicious criminal had escaped from Matera, it would surely have been in the newspapers, but she hadn’t seen any such article, so there was no need to worry about that part.

Because she had already tried saying that once and knew well that it was useless.

Neighbor Sara wouldn’t stop until she had spilled out everything she wanted to say.

This was the lesson Kisa had learned after being forcibly made to participate in her chatter several times.

Say something that could be seen as opposing or contradicting her opinion?

‘It would only make the conversation endlessly longer, not solve anything at all.’

But even so, she couldn’t say that pushing her away and running off would be a good path either.

Since coming to this place, Kisa had learned that relationships with neighbors were important in such a small community.

Even Mana, despite her complaints, would properly engage with Sara whenever they met, wouldn’t she?

To live smoothly here without being ostracized, there were things one had to endure.

Moreover…….

“Anyway! There’s no one in this village who takes my words to heart. At times like this, I should at least have my one daughter by my side, but that girl won’t even come when her mother calls. How ungrateful! It’s not like she lives far away – she lives just over that mountain.”

Listening to the complaint-filled grumbling, somehow one corner of her heart felt touched.

In Sara’s appearance of missing her married daughter while pretending otherwise, the face of someone she knew well flashed by.

‘Nanny, I wonder if she’s doing well.’

Since she couldn’t receive any news, she was both worried and missed her.

When they were together, there were many things she disliked, and their relationship was rather distant, but now that they were apart, the good times stood out most in her memory.

Kisa only hoped that her nanny would spend a peaceful old age without suffering any harm just because she had failed to prevent Kisa’s escape.

She who had devoted her entire life to Count Vansfelt’s family had the right to that.

Anyway, perhaps because they were of similar age and Sara reminded her of her nanny in some ways, Kisa found it difficult to treat Sara coldly.

‘She doesn’t seem to be a bad person by nature.’

It was Sara who frequently came to Mana’s house with vegetables from her own garden, saying that since they were too ugly to sell, she was sharing them.

When Daisy visited houses on errands, Sara would always put sweets in the child’s hands, and among the village neighbors, she was the first to strike up a conversation with Kisa.

When Kisa first appeared in this village, people had spent some time observing the new resident.

Thanks to her status as Mana’s relative, she wasn’t openly ostracized, but since it was basically a place with little population influx, it was unavoidable.

‘Still, Mr. Gale said that being geographically close to the capital, it was much better compared to remote mountain villages…….’

Naturally, having recently come to a foreign land after leaving her homeland, Kisa couldn’t help but be conscious of others’ reactions.

However, she couldn’t show her difficulties in front of Mana and Daisy, the mother and daughter who had welcomed her, and while she was keeping it to herself, one day Sara suddenly started talking to her.

Passionately complaining about the hardships of tending a vegetable garden.

Back then, she hadn’t yet learned the knack of appropriately letting Sara’s words flow in one ear and out the other, so she was mentally exhausted, but that incident unexpectedly helped Kisa.

Because other villagers who saw Kisa together with Sara in the middle of the road approached her with a more comfortable attitude than before.

Everyone had been caught and tormented by the old woman at least once, so they felt solidarity, and they seemed to judge that Kisa wasn’t such a difficult person.

She hadn’t known, but apparently in people’s eyes, she had appeared quite mysterious and aloof.

She didn’t seem like someone from a nearby village, but she also felt somehow different from Matera people – this was what a woman of her age who had become somewhat close to Kisa later told her.

‘Well, I am a foreigner after all…….’

In addition to this, she wasn’t particularly affectionate, and she probably still retained attitudes from her days of living as a noble, so it was natural for others to misunderstand her that way.

“Hey, Bella. Are you listening to me?”

At that moment, Sara’s suspicious gaze brought Kisa’s mind back to reality.

Kisa hurriedly nodded and replied.

“Yes, of course. I’m listening. You were talking about the suspicious appearance of the person you saw in the forest.”

When she brought up the words that vaguely remained in her ears, Sara answered with a somewhat dissatisfied face that yes, that was right.

While Kisa had been lost in other thoughts, the topic had returned to the original subject of the problematic individual.

“He was dressed like a traveler and acted like a traveler, but he can’t fool my eyes. He definitely has other ulterior motives.”

She thought he might just be a traveler who looked like a traveler, but Kisa remained quiet without making unnecessary comments.

“Ah, how frustrating! That village chief always ignores what I say! Actually, I’ve been dissatisfied with him for a long time because he always handles things carelessly.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“Bella, what do you think? Don’t you also find the village chief disagreeable?”

“Well, I’m not sure. I haven’t been in this village for long, so I don’t really know.”

Even as she said this, Kisa inwardly agreed that the village chief wasn’t particularly meticulous.

Thanks to that, hadn’t she been able to enter this village without having to endure detailed questioning about her past history?

‘He’s someone I’m grateful to.’

However, it was unreasonable to say that the village chief’s attitude of not listening to Sara’s words was entirely problematic.

Sara basically belonged to the category of those with strong wariness toward outsiders, especially men.

She had heard that in the past, Sara had accused travelers or merchants staying in the village of being thieves several times without much basis.

Because of this, the village chief, Mana, and most other villagers didn’t take her words seriously.

To tell the truth, Kisa also thought it was highly likely that Sara had misunderstood something.

No matter how small a village, it had its own security system including a vigilante group.

If truly suspicious individuals were appearing around the village, it didn’t seem like only Sara would be making such a fuss.

But at that moment, words from Sara’s mouth caught her attention.

“Well, it’s not the first time I’ve seen that guy. I saw him last week when I was going to the next village to see my daughter. In the forest then too!”

“What? Is that really true?”

“Why? Would I lie about it?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…….”

“Just wait and see. He’ll appear again. If not in this village, then in the village next to the next one. That guy is definitely scouting all the villages in this area.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Why indeed. Obviously he’s looking for prey. He probably couldn’t find suitable prey in my daughter’s village and changed his target to this village.”

Sara continued to vent her anger like this for a while before returning home, saying it was time to prepare dinner.

Kisa went home with a somewhat uneasy feeling.

For some reason Sara’s words bothered her, but it also seemed like needless worry, which troubled her.

But when Mana saw Kisa entering the house, she spoke with a delighted voice.

“Bella, listen to this. Mr. Gale is coming next week!”

“Oh, already?”

“Yes! Something must have come up!”

It was a moment when the uneasiness in her heart disappeared at the unexpected news.