I’m Here to Repay You for the Sweets - Chapter 11

IHRYS is out now on ko-fi for only £9.99

Chapter 11

But she could assert that she absolutely could not imagine her past self having said it with a lewd meaning.

When Candice put strength into her eyes and insisted, Luke’s face, which had been full of force, turned stupid.

“Ah, aah! So that’s what it was. And here I was…”

Luke realized he had greatly misunderstood and crumbled down in a stream. He crouched down, hung his head deeply, and let out a deep sigh.

“Ugh, got all excited for nothing. What was standing up just shriveled right back down.”

“Wh, Wha, Wh-What?”

At the expression that sounded full of anticipation, Candice’s face went bright red and she stepped three more steps back. She even crossed both arms over her chest and took a defensive posture.

To think he suddenly tried to kiss her. Candice suddenly recalled the existence of a certain impudent little kid.

“I remembered who you are! You’re that brat who I kindly took all the way to the village and then suddenly kissed me and ran off!”

“Wow, you finally remembered? I thought noona had completely forgotten about me.”

Luke, who had been sighing deeply, raised his head. Had he been a guy with such a faint presence? He had been inwardly hurt, but he beamed brightly, saying he was glad.

“Back then too you suddenly k-kissed me and everything. Did you come to do strange things to me again?”

“Strange things. I just slightly misunderstood what noona said.”

Unfortunately.

Luke muttered. He rested one elbow on his knee, propped his chin, and looked at Candice.

“So, besides s*x, what is it that noona wants?”

“Se…!”

Candice bit her tongue as if just hearing the word dealt damage.

What an innocent reaction. Even though she should have lived a long time since she’s an elf. So Luke thought as he smiled gently.

“Tell me anything. I’ll do it all. If you tell me to help make sweets, I’ll help. If you need firewood, I’ll chop it for you. If you say your bed is empty and cold, I can even sleep next to you.”

“What was that about the bed?”

“Hm? What about it?”

Luke tilted his head as if he had no idea what she meant.

Candice was dumbfounded. She had clearly heard him say something about a bed with her own ears. But here he was playing dumb. Setting aside how composed he was, it was a shameless attitude.

The thought swarmed in her head that it would be dangerous to have this man help with something. She had trusted him because he said he came to repay a favor, but hadn’t he suddenly tried to kiss her!

There was no guarantee he wouldn’t do it again. He already had a record of kissing her and running off even when he was much younger than now.

What a sly little brat.

“I-It’s fine. You don’t have to help. I’ll just accept the thought.”

When she hinted at him to go back, Luke’s eyes narrowed.

“But I came to repay a favor. I don’t know when I’ll be able to find this place again, so I can’t just go back. Not until I repay the full cost of the sweets.”

“But I really don’t need, h-heuk…!”

Luke shot up and strode toward Candice. Candice tried to stumble backward in a fluster, but Luke’s unhesitating action was fast. He grabbed Candice’s hand and put on a pitiful expression.

“Actually, noona, I have nowhere else to go in the village anymore.”

“Nowhere?”

Candice, who had been struggling to pull her hand away, stopped short.

“After my father passed away too, the villagers… they don’t like me being in the village.”

“You’re saying you were chased out of the village?”

Candice asked in surprise. Luke seized the moment, held onto his emotions, and let a single tear drop fall.

His father had said that tears were something only weak bastards shed, but those were wrong words. Tears, when used well, became a great weapon, was the realization Luke had reached as a young man.

Luke continued acting sad and gradually closed the distance with Candice.

“The truth is, there’s a reason I came into the Black Forest…”

That people disliked it when he was in the village was true. Since he was a person who had become a lord after all, they couldn’t act as friendly as in the old days and seemed to think it was tiring, walking on eggshells around him.

Because he knew the villagers’ lives too well. How they deceived the lord’s eyes to obtain firewood. How they falsified the grain harvest. He knew it all.

They were proud that the hero who defeated the monsters came from their village, but they must have worried that he would take issue with the things they had been doing.

Luke also vaguely sensed those feelings, so he didn’t go to the village often. So in a way, the statement that he was chased out wasn’t wrong.

“They shouted at me to leave the village immediately. I was so scared that I had no choice but to come into this forest.”

This was a very shameless lie. Even though people walked on eggshells around him, they didn’t dare shout at the lord to leave. But still, Luke let another tear drop fall and continued his act.

“When I was in despair not knowing how to live going forward, I remembered how noona helped me when I was young.”

“I-Is that so…”

Before he knew it, Luke’s sorrow had spread to Candice. She deeply sympathized with Luke’s feelings, said it must have been hard, and placed her hand over the back of the hand she had been trying to push away.

“I’m sorry for not listening to noona properly and suddenly trying to kiss you. I was too desperate. I didn’t mean to make things difficult for noona.”

“Mm…”

“I was wrong. Please just give me one chance. I’ll do everything noona tells me to, and I won’t do anything noona would hate. Can’t you just let me stay here?”

I’ll do anything.

Luke kept attempting to persuade her, saying he was very strong so there would be plenty of things for him to do.

Candice frowned as she saw his amber eyes gleaming exceptionally with the moisture in them. The witch knew the sorrow of one being chased out better than anyone. She felt somewhat uneasy, but the words to refuse simply wouldn’t come out.

“Alright. It can’t be helped…”

“Thank you, noona. Noona truly is the savior of my life!”

Luke hugged her tightly. The startled Candice froze for a moment, but she couldn’t coldly push away the man who was saying he was truly grateful in a trembling voice.

He had gotten much bigger, but he still seemed like a child. In the end, instead of pushing him away, Candice patted his back and comforted him, saying it was alright now.

That the man, whose tears squeezed out by acting had all dried up before she knew it, was secretly making a lecherous smile. That he was deeply breathing in her scent while pretending to be overcome with emotion. She didn’t know it in her dreams.