Don’T Get Caught By Your Husband! [EN]: Chapter 119

#119. The Last Conversation (1)

2024.06.06.

Escalion, who had been bowing his head for a while, raised his upper body. His low, sunken golden eyes were full of ferocity.

He raised his hand and grabbed the longsword at his waist.

“I’ll go check around.”

“Now?”

“If it’s nearby, I need to get rid of it. I can’t let it come down to the lower part of the forest and cause trouble. It might even be the one you encountered last time.”

“W-Wait a minute!”

Belladonna hurriedly grabbed him as he was about to turn around and leave. She held onto Escalion’s thick forearms with both hands.

“It didn’t do anything to me. It might have just been passing by!”

“Either way, it could be a threat to you in the future.”

“It wasn’t this time! Let’s just go back.”

She was worried about the baby bear she had seen earlier. It was so young, and she couldn’t bear to let it lose its parents.

At her plea, Escalion frowned as if in thought.

“We can just go down carefully, okay? We’re not here to hunt, and I don’t want to hurt it just for passing by.”

Eventually, he nodded.

“Alright, I’ll just go down this time.”

Escalion, who spoke briefly, hugged Belladonna, lowered her from the rock, and led the way.

“I should rethink coming up here every day. I didn’t realize there was a new danger. It’s quite far from the bear’s habitat.”

“That’s a little disappointing.”

*Yeah right!*

With feelings completely opposite to what she said, Belladonna cheered inwardly.

Anyway, just thinking that she wouldn’t have to do this difficult physical training anymore made her feel grateful to the bear.

Belladonna grabbed Escalion’s hand and carefully went down the path they had come up.

At that moment, Escalion, who was a step ahead, leaned forward and listened. Belladonna looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“I heard a sound.”

Escalion, with a serious face, looked around and quickly parted the bushes on the side. He muttered a curse as he found something there.

“…Damn it.”

*Why? What’s there?*

Curious, Belladonna peeked out and looked at what he was looking at.

“That’s…”

A bear footprint…?

A large footprint left a deep mark on the ground.

It was huge at a glance, almost the size of Belladonna’s face. *If I got hit by a paw that big, I’d be done for.*

Escalion frowned and opened his mouth.

“This doesn’t make sense. Why would a bear come down here this season?”

“Oh? Escalion, over there!”

At that moment, a little further away across the lush trees, the baby bear they had met earlier was rolling around.

Belladonna held onto Escalion’s sleeve and lowered her voice.

“Isn’t it cute? It’s the bear we saw earlier!”

“What is this…”

Unlike Belladonna, who thought it was just cute, perhaps because of her vague trust in her husband, Escalion quickly became serious and looked for an escape route.

To escape without harming the bear, he had to find a route of retreat quickly.

“Lower your voice and hide.”

As Escalion lifted her up and hid behind a tree, Belladonna prayed in her heart.

*Baby bear, don’t come down here anymore and go back up where you used to live!*

There wouldn’t be any traps in this forest, would there? Strangely, a thought similar to the one she had a while ago kept lingering in her mind.

At that moment, a loud rustling sound was heard, and a large mother bear appeared from between the trees on the opposite side.

Grrr…

At the slow-moving, threatening figure, Belladonna widened her eyes and held her breath. Escalion also tensed up and stiffened his whole body.

*There really was a mother bear nearby? But that bear… Isn’t that the bear we encountered last time?*

The dark fur color, the scar on a specific spot near the paw, and the subtly familiar features were not unfamiliar.

Seeing that figure, she felt strangely happy rather than scared.

*What is it? Why do I feel happy towards a bear I don’t even know…?*

“…”

Escalion, who was holding Belladonna’s shoulder, quietly exhaled.

Belladonna held his waist tightly, worried that he might jump out and harm the bear at any moment.

The mother bear, who had slowly approached the baby bear, picked up the baby bear’s neck and lifted it.

The baby bear, who had been deprived of its freedom in an instant, was seen struggling with its two front paws.

Belladonna swallowed hard. *Just go back…! Then we’ll all be safe!*

As if listening to her words, the mother bear turned her back to them.

*Phew! It looks like she’s going back…* Belladonna brushed her heart and relaxed.

At that moment, the mother bear, just before turning back between the trees, turned her head and looked directly at where Belladonna was.

‘Huh?’

Seeing her act as if she knew she was hiding not far away, Belladonna widened her eyes.

*Oh, that’s like…*

The mother bear, who turned her body for a moment, slowly moved her head up and down as if to show Belladonna the baby bear, and then completely turned her body and disappeared between the trees.

“…”

As the mother bear and baby bear disappeared, Escalion relaxed. He chuckled and looked down at Belladonna.

“Is she really a bear you know? I thought she was going to say hello at the end.”

“I guess so…”

Still lost in thought, Belladonna replied. The scar near the paw kept lingering in her mind.

*I’m sure I’ve seen it somewhere…*

At that moment, a forgotten memory flowed into her mind. Belladonna blinked her eyes and recalled an old memory.

“Escalion, wait a minute. I think I really know that bear…”

“What?”

“A long time ago… When that bear was about the size of a baby bear, I helped it when it was caught in a trap!”

Belladonna exclaimed. As she spoke, the memory became clearer.

When she was Astanya, the farmer’s daughter from her previous life, she went up the back mountain to chop firewood and met a baby bear caught in a trap and helped it.

It looked so pitiful with its front paw stuck and squeaking, so she worked hard to help it…

“I’m sure I was Astanya back then, but how did it get all the way up to Gribalta?”

“That can’t be…”

Escalion, who was about to say that to Belladonna, who was muttering seriously, stopped.

It was unbelievable that she would meet a bear she had seen as a child and recognize it, especially in Gribalta, which was far away from Astanya, but he remembered the bear that had stayed by her side as strangely as possible when he set out to find Belladonna, who had been kidnapped.

It kept circling around her without harming her, as if protecting her while she was unconscious, and then running away when Escalion approached.

It was an irrational story, but that irrational story often happened to his wife.

Eventually, Escalion shook his head and changed his words.

“…There’s a mountain range that crosses the empire, so it’s not impossible. It seems my wife is now friends with a bear.”

He soon shrugged his shoulders, laughing as if he was absurd himself.

“Tell your friend not to come down here again. I don’t know what will happen if we meet again next time.”

“I told her in my heart, but I don’t know if my friend understood.”

Belladonna grabbed Escalion’s outstretched hand and turned around as if she was sorry.

“Are we going down now?”

“We have to. I’ll have to do your physical training in a safer place.”

*That’s a relief…* Belladonna felt relieved that she didn’t have to do this difficult walk again and followed him.

*Let’s go down quickly!* She put strength into her legs as she stepped on the ground.

“Bella, be careful. The road is a bit slippery.”

“Yes!”

But at the same time as she answered cheerfully, her shoe, which had stepped on a dirty branch mixed with melted snow, slipped.

At the same time, her knee buckled, and she lost her balance in an instant.

*Huh…?* The scenery in front of her went straight up, and for a moment she saw the bright sky before it disappeared.

Belladonna, who fell backward as it was, lost consciousness.

*Thud!*

* * *

Tick. Tick. Tick.

A regular and unique sound of water was heard.

It was a place she didn’t know. No, it could be a place she knew.

Belladonna, who opened her eyes, felt a familiar feeling that she had been here someday and looked around the empty blue space with nothing.

*Where is this?*

{Hello.}

As she looked around with wary eyes, an unknown voice flowed into her head. Belladonna was startled and turned around.

“…!”

Not far from her, there was a person who looked exactly like her. Belladonna slowly approached her as if looking in a full-length mirror.

*That figure is… Me?*

{It seems like today is the last day, right? For you and for me.}

“The last day?”

Belladonna looked at herself, who was saying incomprehensible words. Clearly, the appearance was the same, but the atmosphere and tone were slightly different.

*Looking closely, this isn’t me…*

{I wanted to say a last greeting, so I brought you here, though it’s a bit forced. Instead, your husband must have been very surprised, so please comfort him when you get back.}

“Are you the Saintess? What does the last greeting mean?”

Belladonna spat out with a confused face. The Saintess, who was looking at her, sighed and raised her hand to her chin.

{Hmm, let’s see… Where should I start? It’s always troublesome because I lose my memory every time I come back.}

*Every time I come back? So this isn’t my first time here?*

Belladonna looked around the blue space again, which didn’t feel unfamiliar for some reason. *What the heck is this place…*

{Ah! Should I do this first? First of all, this child was happy to say hello to you.}

“Huh?”

She thought she had only turned her gaze for a moment, but when she looked back, the Saintess was holding a baby bear in both hands.

The Saintess lifted the baby bear’s front paw and shook it to the right and left as if to say hello. On the paw that was being shaken by her, a familiar scar was visible.

“That bear is…!”

{Do you remember now? This child said he was very happy to see you again.}

“Is that the bear I saved when I was young? In Astanya!”

{Ding dong daeng [sound effect for correct answer]! Last time, you completely forgot and said things that this child didn’t want to hear, but it seems like you remember now?}

The Saintess smiled brightly and replied.

*Again, last time? How many times have I been here?* Belladonna took a frustrating breath.

She felt a complicated feeling, as if she was about to remember.

{Eucha [Belladonna’s original name in her past life as the Saintess].}

The Saintess, who bent down and put the baby bear on the floor, took a step closer to her. Belladonna looked at her as she came closer to her. The blue eyes, containing a slightly transparent light, were clearly directed at her.