Towards the Winter Cabin of Serenity and Madness, Cinderella Runs - Chapter 12
Roel meticulously arranged the scattered items and tools, cleaned the sticky table surface, and restacked the fallen firewood, making the once chaotic cabin appear somewhat tidier. She wanted to clean the musty carpet, torn and holed clothes, and the unmade bed but held back, worrying it might upset the man.
She decided to wait for his permission to wash and mend the clothes.
‘Wonder when he’ll return?’
Even in his absence, Roel couldn’t rest and waited for him. She re-cleaned the already cleaned spots with a mop in her hand, anxious about being seen sitting idly upon his return.
She was squatting and wiping the floor.
Clack-!
Suddenly, the door burst open, letting in a cold draft. Roel, still holding the mop, looked up to see the man enter with a filled leather pouch.
Noticing the changed interior, he blinked in surprise. Roel quickly explained, “I did a bit of cleaning. Didn’t really touch your stuff…”
She carefully chose her words, trying not to annoy him. The man, without much reaction, dropped the leather pouch on the table with a thud and glanced at Roel holding the mop.
“Caught a deer in the trap.”
“Oh? Ah, yes.”
“I’ve cleaned it, you can cook it.”
He had prepared the deer caught in the trap and brought back only the meat; left the bones and innards, and stored the hide in the shed.
The deer was large, so he buried the remaining meat in the ground. He was preserving it by freezing, a method chosen for its longevity.
Roel’s face lit up at his mention of cooking. It seemed her cooking was acceptable if he was asking her to prepare a meal right after hunting.
“Please rest. I’ll get right on it.”
Roel moved towards the table where the large pouch filled with deer meat awaited. The sight of such an abundance of meat was a luxury. Roel widened her eyes in astonishment.
As she prepared the meat, soaking it in water to drain the blood and then marinated it. She also handled the few remaining potatoes. The man then surveyed the now-clean cabin, finding the tidiness unfamiliar. It seemed it was the first time the cabin had been this clean.
Watching Roel bustling about the kitchen, the man’s expression softened.
He watched Roel for a while, running his hand down his neck to compose himself before starting to undress. He tossed his blood-stained outer garment onto a shelf and spread his sweat-drenched shirt over a chair. Even in the cold winter, climbing rough mountains and carrying heavy loads inevitably led to sweating.
Roel accidentally turned around and almost screamed out loud upon seeing his muscular upper body.
She had never seen such a physique before. His body seemed even larger without clothes. He had pronounced, fat-free muscles, and his forearms were as thick as two of Roel’s thighs combined. There was a reason he could easily carry heavy weapons around.
Roel quickly turned her head away and focused her gaze on the floor, doing her best not to look at him.
“I’ll, uh, throw of the water.”
She said, separating the blood-drained meat into a different container before lifting the heavy pot filled with water. A grunt escaped her as she awkwardly carried the pot. The still shirtless man approached.
“Give it here.”
He took the pot from Roel, lifting it with one hand, whereas Roel had struggled to carry it. She bowed her head, unable to look at him directly.
It wasn’t her place to comment on his appearance in his own home, yet the embarrassment was unavoidable.
The man went outside half-naked to dispose of the water, and steam rose off his body, seemingly unaffected by the cold. Roel, shivering even inside the house, couldn’t dare to look at him. When he returned, her face was burning with heat.
She prepared a stew packed with meat, a first for her to have more meat than vegetables. Just seasoning it right would make it delicious due to the abundance of meat.
She filled a bowl to the brim with meat and soaked the hard bread in the broth.
“Please eat.”
She called the man to the table and stood by until he sat down. It was a habit ingrained from waiting for relatives to sit first at meals.
The man sitting in the chair looked at her strangely.
“What are you doing?”
“What?”
Confused by his question, Roel responded as if she didn’t quite understand what was happening. The man furrowed his brow, sensing a lack of communication.
“Sit down.”
“Ah, yes.”
Only then did Roel take a seat at the corner of the table, far from the food. As the man began to eat, he looked over at her again. Roel sat quietly, hands on her lap.
Did he need to spell out every single action? The man spoke up once more.
