As My Husband Said, I Brought in a Lover Chapter 62

Splatter. With a sharp sound slicing through something, a thick and hot liquid splattered over his head. At first, Maxion thought it was the saliva of the beast drooling over him, but then a massive presence swiftly moved away from them.

 

Gray eyelashes reminiscent of thick clouds lifted, revealing black eyes that found the figure standing before him. The near-white silver hair shone brilliantly in the dark forest like divine grace. Even the slightest light from afar was enough to illuminate her figure.

 

The girl, with black bloodstains on her sword, casually shook it off before sheathing it and turned to look at Maxion. Her mystical purple eyes pierced his heart. It was clear his prayers had reached the heavens. His heart pounded. She could be a forest fairy, a messenger of the gods, or even a divine incarnation herself. He had never seen someone shine with such mystical light.

 

The girl approached him. “You’re alive. Thank god. Are you hurt anywhere?” She extended her hand, smiling brightly, mixing noble pronunciation with a commoner’s light tone of voice. Even that seemed impressive to him.

 

Maxion, in a daze, took her hand and got up from under the corpse. “No.”

 

“That’s good. Then, could you give me a piggyback ride?” Her innocent purple eyes blinked with each flutter. “I sprained my ankle saving you just now.”

 

That was the first meeting between Maxion and Luize.

 

“…Yes?”

 

“I sprained my ankle chasing that thing away. Ouch. It’s starting to swell. Quick, we need to call my mom so she can save the others too. You’re all teary. Wipe your face, Crybaby.”

 

“Ah, okay.”

 

Maxion wiped away his tears with the back of his hand and hurriedly carried Luize. They were of similar height, but Maxion was bulkier due to being well-fed and worked hard from a young age for the mercenary group. Carrying her, he ran along the path Luize directed.

 

“Huff, huff…”

 

By the time Maxion was about to collapse from exhaustion, a cabin appeared before them. A man reading a book with glasses and a woman with silver hair like Luize’s came towards them upon noticing them. It was Allen and Lensia. Lensia spoke first.

 

“Luize. Did you go into the forest again without telling anyone?”

 

“I was picking raspberries on the hill earlier and saw people entering the forest. Blackie has been going out there often, so I couldn’t just leave it be.”

 

Maxion, drenched in sweat and catching his breath, wondered what ‘Blackie’ was. Could it be that the monstrous creature resembling a bear was called ‘Blackie’?

 

As Maxion puzzled over this, Allen looked at Luize with concern. “Our daughter, you’re going to get into trouble. Are you hurt?”

 

“I sprained my ankle.”

 

“Cough, let’s see. Child, can you put Luize down here? But who is this boy?”

 

The man’s tone was so noble it was hard to believe he lived there. He had chick-yellow blond hair and purple eyes, the same color as the girl called Luize. The round glasses framing his face could have detracted from his looks, but even with glasses, he was quite handsome.

 

In front of the family, casually discussing the terrible tragedy, Maxion carefully sets Luize down. Luize responded nonchalantly.

 

“I picked him up among the fallen people.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Picked up…” Maxion mulled over her words.

 

As Allen approached to examine her ankle, Luize pointed towards the forest. “There are many injured people. Near the entrance in the direction of Puron Village. By the twisted silver fir trees in the bear territory.”

 

“Cough, cough. Looks like we have some work to do. You were getting bored, weren’t you?”

 

“Bothersome.”

 

Allen coughed and laughed. Watching him with a stern face, Lensia sighed deeply and headed towards the forest.

 

By the time Lensia returned to the cabin in the evening, Luize’s ankle had been treated. Seeing her ankle wrapped in bandages, Luize’s lips puckered. After closing the medicine box, Allen looked at Maxion.

 

“So, what’s your name?”

 

“Maxion.”

 

“You’re quite calm for a child who witnessed such horror. You could’ve peed yourself. Seems you’re accustomed to death.”

 

Maxion nodded. Initially, he too had nights of trembling and sleeplessness after witnessing death. But that was only a few times.

 

Useless ones die or get abandoned. That was the life of a mercenary. Maxion adapted to his environment to prove his usefulness.

 

“Your appearance and speech suggest you’re from the North. Despite your group being attacked, you seem unfazed, so I guess you weren’t with your parents.”

 

“I did odd jobs for a mercenary group.”

 

“What about your guardian?” “

 

“…He just died.” Maxion looked down as he responded.

 

“Do you have somewhere to return to?”

 

“No.”

 

The one who had cared for him the most was dead. The leader of the group was among the first to lose his head. Returning would mean being abandoned again by the mercenary group, which had suffered significant losses.

 

It was then that Maxion truly realized he had survived the tragedy. As the tension eased, his body trembled again. Though not his first encounter with death, the fear lingered. It wasn’t just death that scared him. For a nine-year-old child, surviving without relatives or guardians was as daunting as the vastness of the rest of his life.

 

Luize, moving her injured leg in the air, turned to Maxion. “Father, am I not allowed outside for a while again?”

 

“Of course not. Not until your ankle heals.”

 

“I don’t like it because it’s frustrating.”

 

Listening to their conversation with his gaze on the floor, Maxion quickly looked up. “I can be your ride.”

 

Surprised, Luize and Allen blinked their matching purple eyes before bursting into laughter.

 

“Aha, cough, haha. An interesting friend you’ve brought in, Luize.”

 

“Hehe. Yes.”

 

Lensia, who had disappeared into the forest, returned to the cabin by evening. Allen introduced Maxion as Luize’s volunteer ride.

 

“How old are you?”

 

“Nine years old.”

 

“We don’t have many rooms. You two will have to share. If you do anything foolish, Luize might accidentally kill you, so be careful.”

 

“Yes.”  Maxion promptly responded to Lensia’s threatening yet joking words.

 

“Luize, are you okay with this?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Luize seemed pleased to have a peer to stay with for the first time. Lensia smirked and replied. “Alright, then. Take good care of Luize while you’re here.”

 

Fortunately, Maxion found a place to stay for a while. He sighed with relief.

 

* * *

Maxion quickly blended into Luize’s family. Allen, Lensia, and Luize treated Maxion’s arrival as if he had always been a part of their neighborhood, making him feel comfortable. Maxion, too, quickly found his place, having learned to adapt from living with the mercenary group. He took care of Luize with his small, nimble hands as if he were a tender fern. At the same time, he began to suffer from his first love.

 

 “…So beautiful.”

 

“What is?”

 

“Your eyes.”

 

Since being saved by Luize, he followed her like a chick imprinting on the first person it sees as its parent. For him, the cabin where Luize’s family lived was like a temple in a dark forest, and her family seemed like gods who had come down to amuse themselves in the human world.

 

Maxion’s first love started more as adoration than romantic affection. He rapidly accumulated a history of embarrassing moments.

 

“Ew, gross.”

 

“Your hands, hair, breath, everything.”

 

“Why is he like that?” Allen and Lensia watched him with amusement.

 

When a mud puddle appeared in front of Luize,

 

“Please step on me to cross,” he would willingly lie down.

 

If Luize looked longingly at the sausage in his meal,

 

“This is a humble human’s offering,” he would gladly give his sausage to her.

 

Unable to bear it, Allen was about to correct him when Lensia, finding it too amusing, persuaded him to watch a little longer. Eventually, after a month, Lensia told Maxion the truth.

 

“You mean you’re not a fairy or a deity?” “Right. We’re just an ordinary person.” Lensia shrugged.

 

“That’s impossible.”

 

“Ahaha!” She laughed, holding her belly button.  

 

Maxion pondered in confusion. Were they just ordinary people? How could ordinary people live so peacefully in such a place?

 

The location of their cabin was ambiguous; it was situated right at the edge of Perils’s forest, neither entirely inside nor outside. Precisely, it was somewhere at the border of a small, ordinary forest next to Perils. Depending on how one saw it, it was the outskirts of Perils or a place one could still call Perils.

 

The forest was distinct from Perils, where trees grew bizarrely large and twisted, dark even during the day. In contrast, the forest next to it was bright, with ordinary trees scattered sparsely, making it clear they were completely different spaces. Though there were a few villages nearby, there seemed to be little interaction.

 

Maxion couldn’t imagine people building a home and living in such a dangerous area. Moreover, there was something extraordinary about this family. Not only were they uncommonly beautiful, but Allen seemed to be a highly skilled healer, earning a decent income whenever he went to the village. Luize and Lensia had incredible swordsmanship skills, unbelievably so.

 

“…So it was true. You’re just ordinary people.”

 

“Seems you’re finally coming to your senses. So, now that you know she’s not some mystical being, do you still like Luize? You like her, don’t you?”