Mr. Kadan in the Deep Forest - Chapter 9
That afternoon, Kadan went to the nearby village to do a quick shopping trip. The villagers, who had been watching from a distance, began to gossip.
“Doesn’t that monster come to our village a lot these days?”
“Yeah. I heard he’s buying more food than usual.”
“And earlier, he even went to the tailor and bought a women’s dress? A white one, I think.”
“Really? Did he secretly kidnap a woman or something?”
“Ugh, that’s creepy! I’m telling you, this monster hunter is scarier than the beasts that roam the forest. Look at the size of him. He’s definitely a monster.”
As the villagers shuddered, Kadan, who was passing by, suddenly stopped in his tracks. He stared intently at them, then tapped his chest a couple of times.
“Not a monster. Kadan.”
“Did… did that monster just talk to me?”
The villager, his face drained of color, poked his companion in the side. The terrified companion could only stare with mouth open. Kadan nodded at them, repeating his name once more.
“Kadan. My name.”
“A monster hunts beasts alone! How is that human?”
The villager shuddered again, calling him a monster as he quickly walked away. Kadan watched him calmly. While being called a ‘monster’ didn’t upset him, he did feel a little disappointed that they hadn’t used the name a woman had given him.
‘Now that I think about it, she must have a name too.’
Suddenly, Kadan was curious about her name. He realized he had never asked her. As he thought about her golden-yellow eyes and her bright, sunlit smile, Kadan hurried back to the cabin.
When he arrived, she would probably greet him with “Hello, Mr. Kadan.” Then, he would ask for her name. He imagined it would be as bright and sparkling as her smile.
＊ ＊ ＊
“You can call me Luna.”
Luna blushed as she said her name. Kadan, about to touch her cheek, hesitated, his finger almost grazing her soft skin before he pulled his hand away. Every time he touched her, he felt heat gathering in his lower abdomen, which made things awkward for him.
Kadan forced himself to look away from Luna and examined the items behind her. While he had been out, she had been busy fixing his worn clothes, and the floor was scattered with needles and fabric.
“You’ve been making meals for me every day and doing the cleaning and laundry on your own. I didn’t have anything else to do, so I thought I might as well take care of this… I’m sorry if it’s been bothersome.”
Luna picked up the clothes she had left lying around and began to tidy up. Kadan silently watched her for a moment before rummaging through the large sack of items he had brought from the village.
He pulled out a piece of clothing and silently handed it to her.
“What’s this?”
Luna unfolded the clothes Kadan had handed her. A simple white linen dress made specifically for Luna.
“Put on.”
Kadan said briefly before leaving the cabin, carrying two large buckets of water. It seemed he was going to fetch water from a nearby stream.
“Th-thank you, Kadan!”
Luna quickly grabbed the door just before it closed and called out to his back. He didn’t turn around, but his hurried, wide steps as he walked away somehow looked cute, and Luna smiled warmly.
‘The dress is pretty, but…’
It fits well, clean and neat. But the person wearing it didn’t do it justice. Luna frowned as she looked at her reflection in the dented tin can, her lips turning downward.
‘What’s the point of a nice dress? I look so shabby.’
Come to think of it, since coming to the cabin and until the bandages were removed, she hadn’t bathed once. In the slave trader’s house, that would have been normal. In the winter, when water was even scarcer, they were lucky if they bathed once a month.
Of course, the trader had treated Luna a little differently, so she was cleaner than the other slaves, but she wasn’t exactly spotless.
‘But now, I’m with Kadan.’
Kadan was a tidy man. Even his worn clothes were kept clean, likely because he hand-washed them every day. And on nights when he came back from hunting beasts covered in blood, he always washed himself outside before returning to the cabin.
As for the chores inside, his neat personality was evident. Dried fruits and jerky hung in a row on the wall, the shelves were well-organized, and the shining floor reflected his meticulous nature.
‘I should wash up. Now that the bandages are off, I need to keep myself clean.’
Luna poured the water Kadan had brought into the large tin and dipped herself into it. She crouched down, and the water rose to her chest. She grabbed a dry cloth and began scrubbing herself.
‘Ugh, it’s cold.’
Even though she started her bath next to the warm hearth, the cold water made her body temperature drop quickly.
‘I need to hurry and wash before I catch a cold.’
Worried she might give him a cold, Luna quickly moved her hands.
At that moment, the cabin door suddenly flung open. A gust of cold winter wind rushed in, and Luna wrapped her arms around herself, shivering.
‘Has Kadan come back already? He’s never opened the door so roughly.’
It was a good thing she had her back to the door. Luna turned her head slightly to face the door and greeted the newcomer.
“You’re back, Kad…!”
She couldn’t finish her sentence as she was startled. Instead of Kadan, a man she had never seen before stood in the doorway.
