Chapter 7
(T/N: I remember this chapter took me a while to translate, but I’m not sure if it’s because it was hard or I got distracted lol)
* * *
She was speechless.
While Karina was dazed, wondering how to answer, Roland poured out questions.
“If you’re gonna be our mother, won’t Karina be in trouble? It’s gonna be hard for Karina to feed us.”
Karina bit her lips and cursed Lord Lenque quietly in her heart. He stressed how hard it is to teach and feed two children to the point where Roland and Melissa’s ears bleed.
How long will it take for the scars to heal?
Karina doesn’t dare to answer that question.
“It will be hard.”
“…”
“But it’s going to be much harder without you guys.”
“R-really?”
Karina nodded her head.
It wasn’t much of a lie.
Of course, if she leaves the children in an orphanage and lives alone, her body will be less tired. But as long as Karina makes enough money for herself, she can do it.
Well, she could get married, Karina will be able to live the life of an ordinary village maiden she has dreamed of.
But would she be happy to live like that?
“You don’t have to be worried about us living properly.”
Then it hit Karina that she was only talking about the safety of the children, she had almost forgotten that the world would end if Roland doesn’t become an archwizard.
‘Yeah, there’s that problem but…’
Karina shook her head slightly.
If she had been Karina in the past, she would have lost her chance to escape after thinking for days to no end.
But now Karina knows.
Ordinary people can’t even imagine the abuse that Roland the archwizard, the male lead of the novel went through. No child should be subjected to such abuse.
‘Roland is only eight years old.’
Is it necessary for her to put the burden on a boy just that age to save the world already?
Just as the salvation of the world is not a burden on Karina, it is not on Roland for now.
“Is Karina… worried about us?”
“I am. Why? You can’t believe it?”
“Yes…”
Roland spoke frankly and immediately shut up. Karina smiled.
“I’m telling the truth.”
“Well… It’s fine. Karina will be our mom. I think it’s going to be great.”
“What about Melissa?”
Melissa, like Roland, did not immediately reply with excitement. She just stared up at Karina, and her lips twitched a little.
“…Mom.”
“Yes, Melissa.”
Instead of saying anything, Melissa is hugged by Karina. The same was done with Roland.
Karina thought in the warmth of the children that she’ll protect these two no matter what happens in the future.
* * *
The week-long trip was difficult but not necessarily painful.
Both the horseman and the merchants were kind to the young widow who suddenly had to take care of her late husband’s children.
Every night in the transit village, they will pay with their own money to reserve a separate room. It was included in the fare or something along those lines.
But Karina wasn’t unaware of their sheer goodwill.
Karina and the children continued to worry about Lord Lenque’s pursuit, but the gatekeeper seemed to have kept his promise.
They haven’t seen any of Lord Lenque’s hair in a while.
Then they arrived in Tors. As soon as they got off the carriage, the warm southern spring grazed their skin.
It was early spring when they just ran away, and now it’s spring when they smell the scent of flowers everywhere and saw the light green leaves shaking.
The children also looked around once every few seconds after being amazed by the South, a place where they had never been to before.
Karina was no exception, either.
Compared to the small rural village where Karina fled from, Tors is like a different world.
Countless people, carriages, and horses were tangled and pushed around, and the buildings were larger than the largest radish rose that was around in the forest.
And what about that smell? There were smells of delicious food everywhere.
Even more surprising, it wasn’t the smell of lunch boxes or homemade food, but it was the smell of the food that was sold on the stalls.
As she looked around with the children in awe, Karina came to her senses.
She can watch as much as she wants later, but now she has a lot of work to do.
‘I’m gonna have to find an inn that we’ll be staying in for a while.’
Karina was able to talk to the horsemen and get a rough overview of the price in Tors.
Tors was a city rich in supplies, so you could eat a meal with just one kibrin if you wanted.
However, labor costs were high, so restaurants and clothing stores were expensive.
‘I think 10 kibrin a day would be enough for the inn.’
Karina headed to the street told by the horsemen where cheap inns are located.
Many inns had their prices written down on the outside to see whether they competed with each other.
She recalled the information the horsemen had given her
They thought it would be good to avoid overly cheap inns and to stay at an inn that reduces the cost for long-term stays even though the price is high.
Finally, Karina stopped in front of an inn.
It was a fairly large inn with a large poster attached to the wall.
[10 kibrin a day. We offer discounts for long-term stays. Group guests welcome]
Karina entered the inn carefully.
Perhaps because it’s not summer yet when tourists and merchants flock to Tors, only a few people are hanging around the lobby.
Karina approached the counter holding the children’s hands tightly.
The counter is watched by a young employee who is not much older than Karina and is dozing off as if the work was boring.
‘I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay for a long time right now.’
Even if Karina lost a little money, she opened her mouth intending to stay for a long time if the room was okay once she stayed for a few days.
“Do you have a triple room?”
The horsemen advised that the two children should sleep in the same bed to save money, but Karina wanted the children to live in a better environment if the money difference wasn’t too big.
“I’m not sure… Wait a minute.”
The staff glanced at Karina and the two children and disappeared into the room behind the counter.
Karina waited for the staff, patting the children who looked frightened because of the unfamiliar environment.
After a while, the half-bald innkeeper grumbled out.
“There are no triple rooms. It’s a little expensive, but you’d better use the family room if you want the kids to sleep comfortably.”
The innkeeper who saw Karina and the children stopped talking. In an instant, his face turned red, and he soon heated up to the top of his head.
‘…?’
Karina looked back, bewildered. Something seemed to have happened behind the back to upset the innkeeper.
But when she turned around, she could only see a few spectators sitting on the sofa in the lobby looking at them with curious faces.
The innkeeper stepped out of the counter and strode towards Karina.
Surprised, Karina had no choice but to step back while holding the children’s hands tightly.
“No room!”
“No room?”
Karina asked back, confused. She was sure nothing happened until a while ago because of the family room. The innkeeper continued to push Karina back, waving his hands without explanation or excuse.
“Yes, why is the young lady so talkative? Go back right now.”
Karina could hear the owner yelling loudly at the staff just before the inn’s front door slammed shut right in front of her.
“How dare you let a woman here who doesn’t even know where she landed herself into!”
Karina looked up at the door, she couldn’t even open it anymore.
‘Why…?’
Their identity is unclear. But that wasn’t enough to kick them out of the inn. After all, there is no way that people with high status and money would come to such a cheap inn street.
All of the inns on this street, including one that just kicked Karina out, their main customers would likely be people who are no different from Karina or in a slightly better position.
But Karina was too tired and embarrassed to think further about the reason. Surely the children reacted the same.
‘
They must have been surprised.’
With that thought in mind, she wanted to soothe the children first, so Karina patted their stiff backs.
“It’s all right, we can find another inn. There are other inns, aren’t they?”
Roland pulled Karina’s skirt with a gloomy face. In the next moment, words came out of the boy’s mouth that Karina had never dared to imagine.
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“It’s because of us.”
“…?”
Karina stared blankly at Roland, doubting her ears.
She wanted to answer something, but her mind turned blank and she couldn’t think of anything. Roland repeated the words slowly, thinking that maybe she didn’t hear him properly.
“It’s all because of us.”