novelI want to live next door to her house (4)
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Chapter 66: Chapter 66 I want to live next door to her house (4)
As she didn't understand Lard's real intention, Wendy narrowed her eyes, watching Benfork running away. There was the sound of a dog barking again in the distance, but this time she couldn't pretend to care about it because his ambiguous question to Benfork made her nervous.
"Are you interested in buying his house?"
She suddenly asked the question unconsciously, looking at him furtively. As he ignored her sullen look with a gentle smile, she became all the more nervous. In fact, he spoke to Benfork too calmly for her to suspect he cared about the kid's concerns at all. As he usually spoke dryly, she could give it a pass, but this time she examined his expression as if she was observing him.
Lights were leaking out of the houses around her house. The glimmering light in the dark cast a deep shadow as if to hide his handsome face. Conscious of her sharp gaze, he sighed a little.
Although the lights and his sigh were not a big deal, she shut her mouth tightly. Just like the dry leaves fluttering in the autumn breeze, she felt something ticklish in the pit of her stomach. She quietly scratched its surface unconsciously.
She thought to herself, 'Let me tell him to go home. '
She felt she might be in trouble if she kept looking at his ominous face any longer.
She was very anxious now.
She hurriedly quickened her pace and stopped in front of her house. After grabbing the key in her pocket and putting it in the keyhole, she heard a clear clicking sound. Very nervous and impatient, she looked back at him without pulling out the key.
"Thanks for escorting me. Please take care!"
"Have a good rest. I will stop by again soon."
Although she wanted to respond to his last words, she didn't. Instead she simply nodded since she didn't want to keep him standing before her door, and he felt tired. Above all, she didn't want to feel uneasy anymore with him around.
"Please go in first."
He was standing there as if he would leave only after she went inside and closed the door.
At first she flinched at his tenacity, but turned coldly, thinking that was the way he typically escorted noble ladies back home.
Even in that short moment, she still felt tickled in the pit of her stomach.
'Was I lazy in taking a shower these days?'
She briefly thought so, knitting her brows. Feeling she might have been contaminated with something strange in the Burgonu forest, she decided to soak herself in warm water and bathe.
The moment she was about to open the door, she cast a glance at the key ring dangling from the doorknob. She quickly turned it back to pull it out, but it didn't work smoothly.
She shook the key from side to side hard enough that veins rose on the back of her hand, but somehow the key was stuck.
"Excuse me, let me take a look."
Watching her from behind, he placed his hand over the key in her hand.
Startled, she pulled her hand away quickly. He tried to pull out the key by turning it in both directions.
Wendy couldn't do anything. Her expression hardened when she felt his warmth behind her because that reminded her of his warm touch when he held her hands in the Burgonu forest.
She momentarily thought of pushing him or bending down quickly to get away from him but did nothing.
She smelled a familiar scent. At first, she thought it might be the scent of the Retusa fringe tree in the front yard, but the scent grew thicker and softer as the man moved. The nervous, ticklish feeling in the pit of her stomach became stronger and weaker, tormenting her.
When she gently swung her body, she felt his solid chest behind her, so she had to curl her shoulders slightly. Now, he was more focused on removing the key by getting closer to her from behind. She crouched down like a roly-poly.
Unfortunately, her strategy didn't work very well.
There was no indifference in his grey eyes. Rather, an intense fragment of emotion filled his eyes. He felt deeply frustrated and annoyed whenever she showed extreme reluctance to touch him, but he controlled his emotions, as always.
Lard turned his eyes away from her and focused on pulling out the key, but he didn't move away from her, though she was now almost wrapped in his arms.
He knew that as a knight, it was not courteous for him to stay close to her, but he couldn't help it.
While struggling to remove the key for a while, he opened his mouth only when she shrugged her shoulders three or four times.
"It looks like the key was bent from the inside, " he said conclusively after turning the key once again and looking closely at the position of the key. She was astonished.
She immediately stiffened. Obviously, she was dissatisfied with his announcement, but he had mixed feelings about the stuck key.
There was a smile on his face before he knew it. Fortunately, she did not notice that smile on his face. With a straight face, she quickly turned to him and said, "It can't be bent inside!"
She then hurriedly twisted the key. Although his warmth embarrassed her when she put her hand on his, she relentlessly twisted and turned the key from side to side.
Right at the moment, she heard the sound of the key being broken while she was forcibly turning it with all her might. What a disaster!
She was aghast, holding the clover-shaped, silver key head.
"Oh, it's broken... I have to get a locksmith tomorrow..."
He spoke with a hoarse voice, "What are you going to do all night? The door is closed but not locked."
Like he said, the door was closed but not locked with the broken key inside.
She hardened her expression and said, "Don't worry. I can hang the latch here."
She pointed to a small latch hanging on the door frame. But it seemed to be no more than a useless piece of iron. If any adult kicked the door, it would most likely be taken out at once.
After agonizing for a moment, he told her in a polite tone, "... I can't feel at ease with that. If anyone with wicked intention wanted to, he could easily get inside. Let me stay here tonight if you don't mind."
She felt shocked, as if a stone fell from the top of a stone mountain and rolled into the middle of his forehead.
'What the hell is this guy talking about now?'
Her face turned white with anxiety.
"I'm not asking for your approval with a foolish heart."
Wisely enough, Lard quickly sensed she was feeling uncomfortable, and tried to persuade her. His tone was even more serious, as if he had no intention of forcing her to agree.
"Well, the reason I came to see you urgently today was not just because I wanted to inform you about the investigation results. Actually, I could not help but worry that the Scholters family would attempt to harm you. Of course, as this accident involved the crown prince, they would not be reckless enough to harm you, but I still kept worrying about you."
Right at the moment she recalled Lard's actions today, coming to her shop in a hurry, startled at her absence at her house.
'Oh, that's why he came to my shop so urgently?"
Reflecting on his hesitant explanation, she shut her mouth. The reason she kept silent was not because of his concern about her safety. It was true that she felt uncomfortable about his frankness, but she was on edge because of her potential threat, Altarin.
Obviously Earl Scholters might be raging with anger after discovering that his precious daughter had been sentenced to jail and mandatory "confession" sessions about her crime by the crown prince. Wendy thought she had better watch out for the time being, but once they found her location, they might try to get even with her.
If they did a background check and found her address, that would be a terrible thing. Besides, if it was ever revealed that she was a former noblewoman, though an illegitimate child, and that she purchased a commoner's status and disguised herself as a commoner, she would receive a much more cruel punishment incomparable to Altarin.
"... Don't you think your coming here might have drawn their attention?" she asked with a rather annoying voice.
"There was nobody following me."
He narrowed his eyebrows a bit as if he was displeased with her question.
But she didn't care at all and continued, "It's easy to find out who I am if they intend to gather information about me. If you keep coming here, they could more easily and find me."
She spoke with a gloomy expression, looking down. He shut his mouth this time.
After a while, he opened his mouth in a dark voice, "If you're so worried, l will refrain from visiting your house."
His voice was grim, but it was like a man's instinct, not vain stubbornness, that he did not promise that he would never come back.
"Please don't come to my flower shop, either."
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