The Story of Becoming a Married Man in Another World

009 First Kiss

The hero with black hair who is said to be in the enemy country.

The husband who is now smiling softly in front of me is the same. He has black hair and black eyes. Maybe this person too… Thinking that, I was startled and shook my head.

‘That can’t be.’

If this person were the hero, he would surely be in the splendid palace in the capital with the high-ranking people. He wouldn’t have been brought to this village with the criminals. I haven’t heard that this country performed a hero summoning ritual.

Liz glanced at her husband’s face. Noticing her gaze, her husband lowered his face a little. She could see his face directly. The light came into the house and shone on her husband’s hair and face.

‘Ah…!’

This person is not the hero.

Liz looked at her husband’s hair and eyes under the sparkling light. His eyes and hair were not the color of the hero.

The very center of his eyes is black, but the surrounding area is brown. I don’t know because I’ve never seen the hero, but it must be completely different. The legendary hero was said to have black eyes, so it must be entirely black, not brown.

If you look closely, her husband’s hair color is not completely black either. It looks black at a glance, but it’s actually dark brown. When you look at it in the sunlight, you can clearly see that it’s not black.

‘Thank goodness.’

Black hair and black eyes, wouldn’t that be very strange? I thought the hero would look like a monster. At least he would look different from an ordinary human.

Thinking that way, I felt relieved. My husband is not the hero. He is just an ordinary person with a large build. The high-ranking people of the country won’t take him away.

‘Oh, but why did I think I would hate it if this person left?’

It’s strange, even though we just met today.

Originally, it didn’t matter who my husband would be. I couldn’t choose anyway, and I just thought it would be fine as long as he didn’t use violence. Additionally, I thought it would be good if he could provide a little more food.

‘….That’s probably why.’

I’ve never seen such a kind man. No one in the village treated me like this. No one is kind to a useless woman who is small, can’t work, and only eats.

Maybe that’s why, because he is kind and not violent. I thought it was fortunate that this man was my husband, so I thought it would be troublesome if he disappeared. Yes, that’s probably it.

Her husband patted her head again. It seems that this person thinks of me as a child. Is that why he is being kind?

‘But it’s still nice.’

—

—

Lizzie closed her eyes. She wished he would touch her more, more, more, and keep stroking her.

She felt like she had gone back to her childhood, even though she had become an adult a long time ago. It was as if she had become the girl who longed for someone to stroke her.

‘Stay strong.’

The wife of a mountain keeper has a much harder and busier life than most. From what the women in the village sometimes said offhandedly, it seemed she had to do things like processing leather and even draining animal blood during busy times. Of course, she still didn’t know how to do any of that.

This man didn’t know how to hunt yet either, but would the two of them eventually manage this small cabin together?

The man hunts and chops wood.

Everything else is the woman’s responsibility.

‘Can I do it?’

Fetching water, cooking, growing vegetables, taking care of children, making clothes, maintaining the house, selling goods at the market—anything that didn’t require great strength was the woman’s job.

That was the norm. It was the same when she was a daughter and when she was a wife.

Now that the number of men had decreased, women often took on communal labor in the village. So the amount of work women had to do increased even more.

Lizzie was slow and weak, unable to do even half of what other women did.

Everyone in her hometown knew she was useless. That’s why she never got married. No one wanted her.

Even though she didn’t know for sure, her father must have lied to the merchant when he sold her, saying she was very good at work.

The merchant might have known the truth from rumors, but he probably chose her because he could buy her for less than what he received in return.

If that hadn’t been the case, she wouldn’t have even been sold to a place like this.

“….”

She didn’t want to let the man beside her know about such things. She wanted to be a useful woman to her current husband.

‘I will try.’

So please, don’t hit me. Don’t hate me. Don’t abandon me. Let me feel these kind hands from time to time. Please, I beg you.

*

He spent some time stroking Lizzie and Dorothy’s heads. But they couldn’t just play around forever. They had to move if they didn’t want to freeze to death tonight.

Ah, but first, they needed to secure drinking water. Fortunately, there was a drum-sized container and a slightly smaller wooden barrel in the house. They looked like water containers.

The villagers must have left them, thinking they couldn’t survive without them. Well, they probably didn’t want him to die either.

He wondered if Lizzie knew where there was running water, so he mimicked the sound of water flowing. It was a bit pathetic. Not knowing how to express it, he said “gurgle” with his mouth while moving his hand like a wave. It was foolish.

If there was any gain, it was that Lizzie and Dorothy smiled a little at his antics. But thinking it was rude to laugh, they quickly hid their expressions.

When he mimicked drinking water, Lizzie understood immediately. He should have done that from the beginning. What a fool.

Lizzie tilted her head as if she found it strange. She didn’t seem to understand why he was asking about running water.

But without saying anything, she took his hand and led him outside.

She said something to the child and closed the door. It was probably a warning not to come out alone.

—

—

After that, Lizzie pulled his hand again.

The two walked along the narrow forest path for a long time.

This mountain was different from the dense forests of Korea. Unlike the Korean mountains, where dry branches are tangled and densely packed even in midwinter, this world had sparse trees even in the mountains.

The trees were also very tall. Looking at the tree trunks rising high into the sky, it felt like being Gulliver in the land of giants.

Even the large Juhwan felt that way. Naturally, Lizzie’s body was as small as a squirrel in this forest. Somehow, it was cute to see her walking hard with that small body.

At that moment, Lizzie’s body tilted forward. It seemed she had stepped on ice mixed with the ground.

His hand moved before he thought. As he wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted her up, her startled eyes looked at him, catching the sunlight filtering through the trees.

Their faces were close. His heart pounded loudly.

“….”

The child was at home, and now it was just the two of them. The woman tended to value the atmosphere and always said love came first, but they were already married. A little taste wouldn’t hurt.

“Lizzie.”

Juhwan called her name and lightly touched her lips. Lizzie did not refuse. But she didn’t accept it either. She stood still. Judging by her open eyes, it might have been her first kiss.

Tilting his face slightly, he touched her lips again, and this time her eyes widened. She seemed surprised by the feel of his tongue.

Ah, this woman really hasn’t kissed before. Maybe the concept of kissing didn’t exist in the Middle Ages. Or perhaps the dead man was not her husband but her father. Then Dorothy might be a much younger sister.

In the cold wind of the mountain, Juhwan held the woman who had just become his wife tightly and tasted beyond her sweet lips for a while.

Their noses slightly touched.

As their body temperatures overlapped and shared, a surge of affection arose.

[Living together creates affection. After overlapping skin several times and spending nights together, what was once nothing becomes family.]

He had heard someone say that once. He couldn’t remember who it was. A senior at work, or maybe a boss. He had passed it by without thinking at the time, but it seemed to be true.

Surely, more affection and love would grow in the future. Now, they were simply within the boundaries of family, but soon she would become his one and only.

The one and only beloved woman, the one and only beloved daughter or sister-in-law.

No, let’s just say daughter. Even if the two were sisters in reality, to him, she was like a daughter. That was what he had wished for from Santa, so it was okay to think of her as a daughter.

By next Christmas, he hoped to be in a position to leave something by their bedside on Christmas Eve. Even if it was something very small, he wanted to give a gift.

‘Let’s work hard and earn money.’

Thinking that, he reluctantly pulled his lips away. A sticky liquid stretched between them. The eyes of the woman, who had been only surprised at first, now looked like half-melted candy.

Cute. My wife. Wife.

The meaning of that word resonating in his mind felt really good. They had started from a humble life, but coming here was really good. Meeting Santa was really good.

The gray memories of the past thirty years finally had meaning and became vivid. He genuinely thought it was good to be alive.

Ah, but there was something else the person who said living together creates affection had added.

[A woman just becomes a wife. When that happens, my flesh becomes your flesh and your flesh becomes my flesh. This year is our thirtieth wedding anniversary. How can I not drink?]

—

—

I think that’s what he said….

Thirty years of marriage. Now that I think about it, it was probably the manager who said that. He was a strict and difficult person to deal with.

His phone’s standby screen sometimes changed, but it was always a picture of his wife or children. They were always in strange poses, like sleeping with their mouths open, having cucumbers all over their faces, or just waking up with messy hair.

He would sometimes show that screen to his subordinates, grumbling, “You guys should get married too. Later, you’ll end up living with a woman who looks like this and kids who only take your money.”

At that time, I wondered why he showed such pictures and grumbled, thinking that everyone gets ugly when they get old, and that he was complaining about having a family that I could never have, no matter how much I wanted. But now that I think about it, maybe he was bragging.

“….”

Someday, I too want to be like that. I want to be the kind of person who carries a small necklace with pictures of my wife and children.

Manager, I’m sorry for always cursing you in my mind.

*

The place Lizzie showed me was a small spring a little distance away from the cabin.

It was so small that it would be full if two people lay down in it.

Several round stones surrounded the water, and there were traces of withered grass and small trees standing around as if protecting the spring.

It wasn’t very far from the house, but it was quite a walk. Why did they build the house away from the water? It would have been more convenient if it was right next to it. Strange.

‘Anyway, it’s a bit inconvenient. There’s no running water, but it’s still easier to live if the water is close by.’

We can always be together now, but sometimes I might not be at home. Then the woman would have to come all the way here alone to fetch water. Who knows what might be in these mountains.

Even on Earth, there are wild animals like boars and deer in the mountains. Long ago, there were wolves and tigers too, so in this less developed world, there might be even more dangerous animals.

It’s fortunate that this is a shallow forest. If it were a deeper place, even I, a man, might be in danger alone. Who knows what else might exist in a world with magic.

Juhwan took Lizzie back to the house and lifted the large wooden water container.

There were wooden handles on both sides of the container, and it was tied with a rope so it could be carried on the back.

As he slung the container over his back, Lizzie’s eyes widened in surprise, which was a bit amusing.

Then, Lizzie, looking a bit flustered, tried to take the container away. She probably wanted to express that fetching water was her job.

But that was nonsense. To fill this large container with water, you would have to go back and forth several times with a small container. Moreover, the mountain path is dangerous.

Juhwan pointed to the container and shook his head several times, indicating that she should never do such a thing in the future. Understanding his intention, Lizzie’s face turned red for some reason. He had no idea why that was embarrassing.

Dorothy seemed very curious about Juhwan carrying the container. Even as he walked out with the container, she still had her mouth open. Her mouth was so wide open that it wouldn’t close. If it were summer, a fly would have flown in. It’s a good thing it’s winter.

“….”

As he headed towards the spring with the container, he felt a bit proud. He didn’t want to boast about his strength, but seeing the two of them so surprised made him feel a bit taller.

When he arrived at the spring, he heard the sound of birds chirping.

Looking up at the sky, he saw several birds flying away with flapping wings.

It seemed they had been startled by something and flew up from the trees.

‘Did a wild animal appear?’

—

While thinking that I should be careful, I put the water bottle into the spring and filled it up.

And just as I was about to lift the water bottle.

Suddenly, all the hair on my body stood on end. I felt a chill.

Instinctively, I dropped the water bottle and quickly turned around.

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