I Became A Married Man in Another World
Chapter 29
#029 Dorothy's Great Mission
Dad made a fence around the house. There’s only a little bit for now, but the fence will grow bigger soon. We’re getting a home just like the rabbits!
"...."
Uh, that’s strange. We already have a house. Why is he making a fence?
Dorothy tilted her head. Something was weird. She didn't know why Dad was making a fence. She’d have to ask him when he came back later.
But that wasn't the important part. Dorothy had a very, very important job now. She had to feed the rabbits, clean up the poop, feed them again, play with them, clean up the poop, oh, and give them water too. Anyway, she had to give the rabbits all those things.
Dad had told Dorothy, stumbling over his words. The rabbits would have babies, and those babies would have babies, and those babies would have babies too.
And then the fence would be full, full of rabbits.
If Dorothy worked hard at feeding them, the rabbits would multiply like that. Then we’d be riiiich. We’d be so riiiich and have tons and tons of meat. We’d be rabbit meat rich.
Dorothy had never tried it, but Lizzie said so. She said rabbit meat was incredibly delicious. Lizzie hadn't tried it either, but she said she heard it was. It might even be tastier than wolf.
She quietly watched the baby rabbit sleeping. The baby rabbit still did nothing but sleep. It opened its eyes sometimes, but then it went back to sleep. It couldn't move yet.
Dad said it would be a little longer before the baby rabbit could move. He said it couldn't move because it was too hurt. Poor thing. It must be bored. Sleeping all day long—that’s super boring.
Before, she could see its bones, but now she couldn't. Lizzie’s mom said new flesh had come out. Is it magic? For flesh to just come out like that, it’s really amazing. It must be a magic rabbit.
"Rabbit, wake up quick. Aren't you bored? Dorothy will play with you."
She spoke in a small voice, but the baby rabbit didn't wake up.
I'm bored. Should I wake it up?
Just as she was thinking that, Lizzie, who was busy getting ready to go out, suddenly spoke from behind her.
"Dorothy, that's not something to eat."
Huh? Is Mom a dummy? Baby rabbits aren't for eating, so why would she say that? Her eyes went wide, and Lizzie came closer to wipe her mouth. Drool had been running down to her chin.
Seeing Lizzie's face reminded her of something she had forgotten.
"Ah! Rabbit food!"
This was no time to be sitting around. She had to give the rabbits food. Today was the peddler?
Peddler? Anyway, they had to go there. The Village Chief's wife came yesterday and said such a thing had arrived. So we were going to the village too. We had to go to the peddler.
"Mom, Dorothy's gonna go give the rabbits food!"
She jumped up and ran outside. She had to feed them so the rabbits wouldn't be hungry while they were away from home.
Dorothy gathered the leaves that had fallen while Dad was cutting bamboo and went to the rabbit hutch.
When she opened the bamboo door and went inside, the rabbit was sitting quietly in the corner. Its ears and nose kept twitching.
"Rabbit! Eat! Dorothy is busy today, so you have to eat by yourself and be a good girl. Okay?"
She told the rabbit and gathered the bamboo leaves neatly into one spot. When she gathered the scattered leaves together, there was more rabbit food. The rabbit would be happy too. Having more food is a good thing.
"Wait, is it magic! The food got bigger."
She was surprised a moment later. It seemed Dorothy could use magic too.
She’d have to brag to Dad when he came. Dad, Dorothy can use magic too.
Maybe I can use magic on the wolf meat too....
"Yay!"
***
In small villages, a peddler's wagon comes once every month or two, or sometimes at intervals of several months. In the village where Lizzie used to live, the peddler came about once a month.
In a village far from the city where it wasn't easy to get supplies, the day the peddler arrived was very important.
If you couldn't get the items you needed while the peddler was there, you had to make do with what you lacked until the next opportunity came.
It was fine if it was something you could live without, but if it was a day you failed to buy something essential like salt, it would be a disaster.
"...."
Lizzie was lost in thought, picking up and putting down the wolf fur several times already.
Peddlers didn't just sell goods; they bought them too. More often than not, they bartered for goods rather than cash, but either way, having something decent to trade increased what you could get from the peddler.
Though she had never sold one before, furs and hides were items peddlers particularly liked. They were always popular, regardless of whether the quality was good or bad.
Lizzie quietly stroked the wolf hide with her hand.
She had made some mistakes at first, but after learning how to process hides from Guss, she had treated it properly again. Though she didn't know much, wasn't this quite good quality? It felt like a waste to sell it to a peddler who came to a village like this.
Besides, this was the first thing Joo-hwan had hunted. If possible, she wanted to keep it without selling it. Joo-hwan told her to sell it, but she still didn't feel right about it.
'But there are so many things we need to buy.'
She wanted to buy a few more clothes for Joo-hwan, and he needed shoes too. Shoes would be especially important when moving around in the mountains.
She wanted to buy a pot and a water canteen as well.
On top of that, she wanted ingredients, and another knife or axe for Joo-hwan to use.
She also had to buy things in advance. A child's body grows in the blink of an eye.
For some reason, the Village Chief had given them more fabric and goods, but receiving things from that person or the village felt ominous for some reason. She could see the intention to tie Joo-hwan down, and she hated it.
Her husband seemed to think it was fine for the sake of their livelihood, but he wasn't the kind of person to live tied down to a small village like this. Lizzie herself didn't know much, being an ignorant village woman, but that man could probably fly much higher.
'They're trying to tie such a man down to these empty mountains.'
Of course, the biggest chain holding him back was likely herself. Lizzie breathed a gloomy sigh and slapped her cheeks with both hands. Regardless, she didn't want to receive anything from the village if possible. She didn't want to add any more burdens to her husband.
Lizzie sighed softly and turned her gaze to the rabbit skin lying beside her. In any case, one rabbit skin wouldn't be enough. She had tried to maximize the quality of the fur, but there were simply too many things to buy.
Lizzie agonized for a moment, then sighed once more and took out the scissors. She gathered her hair and tied it together with a scrap of fabric.
A woman's hair sold for a fairly good price. She had heard it was used to make wigs or hair ornaments for the nobility.
Lizzie's golden hair was particularly well-regarded. Even in the past, she had been urged several times by peddlers to sell her hair. Since she started living with Joo-hwan, the texture of her hair had improved even more, so it would sell for a decent price.
As strength entered the hand holding the scissors, tears welled up just a little bit.
Joo-hwan often stroked her hair quietly. Though he didn't say it, her husband liked her hair. Probably quite a lot.
"...."
One of the reasons he liked her was disappearing.
Snip. The moment her hair was cut, a few tears escaped. It's okay. This is hair she had grown for a time like this. Besides, hair grows back. She thought that way, but her heart felt sad for some reason.
She tidied up the hair, put the rabbit skin into a cloth bag, and prepared to head out.
After that, she checked the necessary items once more. From the things they absolutely had to buy to the things that would be nice to have but didn't matter if they didn't, she went over them meticulously in her head.
"Dad!"
A voice came from outside. It seemed Joo-hwan, who had gone out hunting since early dawn, had returned. She heard Dorothy's excited shouting.
"Rabbits! Dorothy got more rabbits!"
She sounded extremely happy. When Lizzie went outside, Joo-hwan was putting two rabbits into the cage.
Dorothy was wandering around gathering bamboo leaves again. She would fill both hands and always spill more than half, but she was still working hard.
"You're back."
When Lizzie spoke, Joo-hwan's movements suddenly froze as he turned around.
His eyes widened.
Dorothy, who was picking up bamboo leaves a little distance away, dropped all the leaves in her hands and screamed.
"Mom! Your hair is gone!"
Dorothy seemed panicked. She ran to Lizzie and circled around her, checking the ground here and there. It seemed she was looking for the hair. Lizzie had never cut it for her, but Dorothy must have had her hair cut before, so why was she reacting like this?
"I cut my hair."
"...Why!"
Dorothy seemed angry. In the child's eyes, Lizzie's sparkling hair must have been very beautiful. In the end, she even started sniffling and crying. She said she felt sorry for the hair.
Joo-hwan seemed to have guessed the reason. After being frozen for a moment, he approached and stroked her now-exposed nape.
"I'm sorry," Joo-hwan said in a low voice.
He was a strange man. Why was he sorry for something like this? To her, this was a normal occurrence. It happened all the time. Many women grew their hair just to sell it. It was simply a means to make a living, not something for a man to feel sorry about.
But her husband's words were so kind that tears filled her eyes for some reason. Not because she was sad, but because she was happy, glad, and her heart felt warm.
She needed to say it was okay, but her throat was tight for a moment and she couldn't speak. Her husband pulled her into an embrace and stroked her shortened hair several times.
Children move on quickly. Dorothy, who had been crying out of pity for the hair just a moment ago, suddenly spoke up.
"Dorothy's gonna give the rabbits food."
The child picked up the leaves she had dropped and headed toward the rabbit hutch again. With every running step, bamboo leaves fell, leaving a trail.
Looking at the leaves scattered outside, one could tell exactly where the child had wandered. It made her laugh for some reason.
After that, they hurriedly prepared to go to the village.
Lizzie put on the old coat she had worn when she first came to this village, and she dressed the child in a double-quilted outer garment.
The outer garment, made large with the future in mind, was much bigger than the child's body.
Dorothy seemed happy with the coat, which had its long sleeves rolled up several times; she spun around in place while wearing it to show it off to Joo-hwan.
The outside of the child's coat was new fabric, but the inside was quilted with scraps of old clothes. When the worn-out fabric showed through the rolled-up sleeves, Lizzie's heart ached a little.
It would be warm if she lined the inside with rabbit fur, but they couldn't afford that right now. When the rabbits had babies and their numbers increased, would she be able to do that later?
Joo-hwan shouldered a wooden A-frame carrier in preparation for bringing back goods.
Dorothy went to the rabbit hutch and reported to the rabbits that she was going to the village for a bit. she was explaining earnestly to the rabbits who couldn't understand a word.
However, she must have misheard the word for peddler, because she kept calling it a 'piddler'. When Lizzie corrected her pronunciation, Joo-hwan, who was standing nearby, quietly followed suit. Perhaps her husband had also mistakenly known it as 'piddler'.
As they descended the mountain, Dorothy kept showing interest in the carrier.
Joo-hwan lowered his body and placed her on top of it. Dorothy was thrilled. Wasn't she afraid of falling? Lizzie's heart was in her mouth.
She walked the mountain path holding hands with her husband, while the child was constantly noisy atop the carrier. Occasionally, birds chirped and made a racket as if telling her to be quiet.
"Mom! Mom! Mom, you get on too!"
Perhaps because Dorothy pestered her so much, Joo-hwan also encouraged her. He stopped walking altogether and held the carrier out toward her.
She was scared, but Dorothy was being too loud. And just a little bit, she was curious about what the view from the carrier would be like.
Pretending to give in, she placed her bottom on the carrier, and Joo-hwan straightened his body.
As the carrier rose up, her field of vision suddenly became much higher.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
A scream escaped her lips before she knew it. Dorothy cackled. She could hear a bit of Joo-hwan's laughter too.
In the end, Lizzie got off the carrier and walked beside Joo-hwan again.
As the pleasant mountain path drew closer to the village, Lizzie's heart began to sink bit by bit. She wondered if she would hear something about the fight Joo-hwan had with the village men the other day. She was anxious. Her heart felt heavy, as if a stone had been placed upon it.
