Please Forget Me - Chapter 170

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

Before we left, Johann had said he would chop the firewood for the principal, who couldn’t do it due to back pain. Since there was no time during the day, he must have grabbed the axe as soon as he woke up in the morning.

I leaned out of the window and listened to the sound of the axe chopping wood, then let out a deep sigh and stepped out of the bedroom.

I truly am a ridiculous person. I hate Johann to the point of wanting him gone, but when the man I want to hate is out of sight, I feel like I could die from missing him.

‘I should prepare breakfast.’

No one asked, but I came up with the excuse of gathering eggs for breakfast as I grabbed a basket from the kitchen and headed to the backyard. The first thing my eyes found was not the chicken coop, but Johann.

He was chopping firewood in front of the pile in the backyard. Perhaps hearing the sound of the back door opening, the man, who had been stacking a new log on the ground, looked up.

As soon as our eyes met, Johann smiled, lifting the corner of his mouth, and then shifted his gaze to the axe he had tossed aside.

With both hands gripping the axe handle firmly, he swung it back and struck down in one swift motion.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Each swing of his axe left a deep mark. The marks lined up in a straight line, cutting through the center of the thick log. He was hitting his target with precision, never missing once. After only six swings, the thick log—larger than his torso—split with a loud crack, breaking neatly in two.

He moved one half to the side, his shirt drenched in sweat, revealing the sun-kissed bronze of his skin. His muscles, thick and defined, stood out clearly, and his body, following the movement, showed the bulging shapes that were at odds with his delicate face.

The scars on his back were visible too. They might not be noticeable to someone who had never seen them, but I noticed.

Johann never told me what kind of scars they were. That’s not the only thing he’s kept from me.

My first memory of Johann didn’t show him with that sun-kissed skin, and he couldn’t chop firewood that well either. It’s clear he’s lived a life very different from this one, but he never tells me what that past was like.

He has his reasons for not telling me, but even when he expects me to trust him, he doesn’t share those reasons.

A strange man.

And I’m the wife of that strange man. I should be the one who knows him best, but in reality, I know him less than anyone.

When I ask him, he won’t tell me, but when others ask, he shares. It seems Johann finds it easier to open up to others than to me.

Even while receiving Johann’s love and care, I felt that a large part of why I felt like I was treated not as his wife but as a substitute for another woman, a doll who only had to smile prettily and stay silent, was due to his behavior.

After spending the whole night thinking, such thoughts even crossed my mind.

“Sigh…”

The man, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his rolled-up sleeve, noticed my gaze and turned his eyes from the firewood to me. I hadn’t gone to the chicken coop, and I must have been standing there silently watching him, but only now did he realize.

“Do you have something to say?”

I do have a lot to say. But there won’t be an answer, will there? Even if I ask, Johann won’t answer me. And what would change if I knew? It’s pointless.

Despite knowing all that, I couldn’t stop myself from enduring the curiosity that kept me awake all night. Finally, I stepped away from where I had been standing, approached him, and asked.

“About the man who wanted to die in a noble way but ended up dying miserably—”

At that moment, Johann, who had been looking down at me with soft eyes, suddenly stiffened.

“Why bring that up?”

“I don’t know… I just thought of it.”

“Ah…”

I had been mulling over it all night, and then it occurred to me.

Come to think of it, Johann never actually said that the woman was dead. Maybe I misunderstood. Whether I know or not, it doesn’t really matter. Nothing is going to change, after all. Why was I so curious about something so insignificant?

“You’ll get hurt if you stay too close.”

Even though I hadn’t fully asked yet, Johann picked up the axe again and gestured for me to step back. I asked outright in my impatience.

“Did that man’s wife die too?”

Johann stared at me in surprise, and I thought he would avoid answering, but unexpectedly, he answered readily.

“No, she’s alive.”

Dana is alive?

“Then… what happened to her?”

He wiped his face with his sleeve, where the sweat had dried.

“She probably went back home.”

It seemed that Johann did not want to talk about that woman, like me. When he had asked why I was asking about that man, he didn’t ask why I was asking about her; he just tried to avoid the conversation.

“I’m already soaked in sweat. I should wash up.”

He stood the axe up in the half-chopped log and went inside. I stood there, staring at his retreating back, feeling like I’d been struck in the back of the head.

‘Then why, if she’s alive, didn’t you go to her instead of leaving me behind? She doesn’t have a husband anymore. You even said you loved her in your dreams… You still haven’t forgotten her… I don’t get it.’

Johann is still a strange man.