If You Wish to Have Me - Chapter 153

Kisa licked her lips from an inexplicable thirst and avoided Gale’s gaze.

“You say we must leave. Why?”

Though she didn’t want to hear what Gale was about to say, he delivered the cold reality to her ear.

“Because there’s a possibility that this place has been discovered by those who are pursuing you, Miss.”

Kisa looked up at him in surprise.

“Did you perhaps see something in the forest?”

Gale hesitated for a moment before answering.

“I did see something.”

“Was it that suspicious traveler that Mrs. Sara mentioned seeing?”

“I didn’t see a person directly. What I saw were traces left behind by someone presumed to be that person.”

“What kind of traces…?”

“Things like a place where a fire had been lit and human footprints.”

“Couldn’t they have been left by just some passing wanderer or traveler?”

“That’s possible. No, objectively speaking, that would be more likely. But I have a bad feeling about it.”

The man’s eyes flashed with conviction.

“I have quite good instincts. Usually when I have a bad feeling like this, there’s been good reason for it.”

To Kisa’s eyes, his very life – having risen to an important position in a major trading company at such a young age – seemed like proof of that conviction.

After moving her lips several times, she finally asked in a weak voice:

“If we leave this place, where should we go?”

“First, let’s go to the capital, Matera. There’s a saying about hiding a tree in a forest. In a situation where the next dwelling isn’t properly prepared, it would be much better to stay somewhere with many people rather than recklessly going to a sparsely populated place.”

Gale added, “Of course,” and continued:

“I don’t mean you should stay there permanently. I’ll look for the next dwelling as quickly as possible. In any case, the most urgent priority is getting away from here. You should hurry inside and start preparing to leave right now. Due to the carriage situation, it might be difficult today, but we should depart tomorrow morning…”

Suddenly his words cut off. He seemed to have noticed Kisa, who was silent with her head down.

“Is it because of Mana and Daisy?”

“…If we leave, I won’t be able to see them for a long time, will I?”

If Kisa’s current location had really been discovered by those pursuing her, they would have to do this to prevent any trouble from spilling over to those two people.

‘Just when we had become close.’

It was only a few days ago that Kisa had been moved by Mana, who worried about Kisa’s pregnancy as if it were her own concern, and just yesterday Kisa had felt her heart warm watching Daisy curiously place her hand on Kisa’s belly.

For a moment, those two people felt more like family than the real family she had left behind in her homeland.

‘But now we have to leave after not even a few months.’

Just as melancholy was washing over her like waves, Gale spoke up.

“Miss, I understand how you must feel. But it’s not as if you’ll never be able to meet again. Someday, when time passes and the pursuit becomes less intense, then you can again—”

“It’s alright, Mr. Gale.”

Kisa lifted her head and cut off the words of the person trying to comfort her.

“I fully understand what you mean. It’s terribly sad, but I suppose I must accept it.”

Even if her heart was now submerged in a sea of melancholy, it was time to move her body.

Just like when she had been planning her escape while etching the sleeping Seyard into her memory from the seat beside her.

“We’re leaving tomorrow, right? I understand. I’ll need to say goodbye to those two people during dinner this evening. It’s fine, so please leave it to me.”

Gazing at the burning sunset, Kisa forced the corners of her mouth upward, though they felt heavy.

“At the very least, I’ll say it with my own mouth.”

Afterward, the two of them returned indoors together.

Kisa headed to her room thinking to pack her belongings until it was time to prepare dinner, but soon stopped as another thought occurred to her.

“Um, Mr. Gale.”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry, but could you possibly accompany me to the lake nearby? It’s only about a 15-minute walk from here.”

“Ah, I know where that is. But why there all of a sudden?”

“Actually, that’s where Daisy goes to play with her friend every day. She’s probably there today too.”

“You want to go pick up Daisy?”

“Yes, I made a promise with that child before. That sometime when the general store wasn’t busy, the three of us would go there for a picnic.”

The plan was to bring lots of delicious food to share and then play card games afterward.

The child had laughed cheerfully, saying it would definitely be fun.

“Various things kept getting in the way, so I ended up not being able to keep the promise, but since this is the last time…”

Would it be too much to ask to at least see the lake scenery that Daisy loves so much from the child’s perspective?

Kisa looked at Gale’s expression with a rather cautious face.

If his guess was correct that a suspicious person was lurking around the village, then even if it was a place where even children often came to play, it could be dangerous for Kisa to go to the lakeside alone.

‘That’s why I asked if he could go together, but I suppose it was burdensome after all.’

If they were leaving tomorrow morning, Gale would have his own preparations to make.

“No, please don’t worry about what I just said. I was making an unnecessary request—”

“That’s fine. Let’s go together.”

He nodded more readily than expected.

“Daisy will probably be leaving from there soon, so it would be good to go now.”

“Ah, yes!”

And so Kisa ended up leaving the house with a somewhat bewildered feeling, despite having suggested it herself.

Since it was also a regular resting place for the villagers, the path leading to the lakeside was relatively well-maintained.

“Fortunately, I don’t sense any presence of people. There, there’s a protruding stone, so be careful.”

The man walking one step ahead of Kisa carefully observed their surroundings while also not forgetting to watch out so she wouldn’t trip.

Thanks to this, she remembered something she had forgotten.

‘This person… does he really have romantic feelings for me?’

For the past two days, Gale had been going around the village with such a serious expression that her worry about that had come first, but until then, Kisa had been troubled by a possibility that Mana had raised.

That Gale might like her. Those words weighed heavily on Kisa.

Needless to say, he was a good person.

Kisa also felt favorable emotions toward him, who helped and looked after her so much.

However, it was only human goodwill, nothing more than that.

Her situation wasn’t conducive to harboring romantic feelings for someone, and she didn’t want to be swayed by such things again.

‘Besides, I still have that person…’

Before that guilty thought could continue, the two of them arrived at their destination.

“We’ve arrived. I can see Daisy over there.”

Daisy must have spotted the two of them as well, as she was running toward them, leaving her friends behind.

“Oh! Sister Bella! Mister Gale!”

So quick was she that Daisy arrived in front of the two of them before long, jumping up and down with a delighted expression.

“What brings you two here? A date? Or did you come to see me?”

At the word “date,” Kisa’s heart skipped a beat for no reason, and she smiled awkwardly as she satisfied the child’s curiosity.

“We came to see you, Daisy. It was also time for dinner, so Mister and I came to pick you up together. Did you have fun playing with your friends?”

Daisy answered energetically with a “Yes!” and chattered for a while about what she had been doing at the lakeside.

Then she stopped talking and took Kisa and Gale’s hands, one each, and led them toward the lake.

“Come to think of it, neither of you has ever properly looked around this place, have you? Well, since we’re here, let’s look around before we go! It’s one of the few prides of our village!”

“Oh? Are your friends okay?”

“It’s fine, Sister. I said goodbye to them earlier, and I’ll see them again at school tomorrow anyway.”

As Daisy said, the children who had been far away walked away from the lakeside, laughing and chatting among themselves.

So this is what ordinary friendship is like. Kisa thought this and obediently let herself be led by Daisy’s hand.

The lake water, tinted red, sparkled like jewels, and the tranquil atmosphere naturally brought peace to mind and body.

“Isn’t it pretty?”

“Yes, it’s really beautiful.”

Kisa held the child’s warm warmth in her hand and took in the tranquil scenery for a long time.

So that even after leaving this place, she would remember it for a long, long time.

And because she was so absorbed in gazing at the lake, she didn’t notice at all. The fact that there were reddish-brown eyes staring straight at her from dozens of steps away.

“Kisa.”

The man behind the tree murmured quietly.

“I’ve finally found you.”