Heart-warming Meals with Mother Fenrir - Chapter 51

Lynetta, the granddaughter of the village chief, was a girl with a strong sense of responsibility.

The reason Lynetta came to this country was because she was captured by humans while inspecting the village's farmland.

She had received a report from the villagers about some strange occurrences in the village.

The problem was that the fields where root vegetables were grown were being vandalized repeatedly.

Since there were no other villages nearby, it could only be assumed that wild animals were causing the damage.

However, because everyone had worked so hard to grow the crops, she couldn’t just leave them unattended.

She was inspecting the area by herself.

The mistake was thinking lightly, believing that even if it were just an animal, she could chase it away.

Lynetta could never have guessed that the farm raids were part of a trap set by human traffickers.

Lynetta ended up falling for the cunning trap of the kidnappers and was abducted.

　▼

When Lynetta awoke, she found herself in a grand mansion.

She was wearing a sinister collar, and the only thing she could understand was that she had been given some kind of command.

She was brought to a certain room by a fat human.

Lynetta, unable to speak any human language and only able to communicate in beast speech, was given commands.

Yet for some reason, she understood the command, "Take care of this half-dead thing."

She couldn’t understand the human language, but for some reason, she could comprehend those words.

Was it because of the collar around her neck?

There must have been other beastfolk, like Lynetta, who had been abducted near that mansion.

She could smell their scent, but she wasn’t allowed to leave the mansion, so she couldn’t meet them.

They were probably in a different building.

The man she took care of seemed to be ill.

He was human, and when Lynetta first saw him, she thought he was an old man because he was so emaciated.

Looking at him, it was clear that his eyes lacked strength.

Since they couldn't communicate with words, they could only rely on gestures to understand each other.

Lynetta was quite a positive person by nature.

She thought to herself that this man might die if she wasn’t there.

With that thought, she decided to take care of him.

The man would give her a faint smile whenever Lynetta appeared before him.

Lynetta had nothing to do but take care of him.

The smile he forced himself to make moved Lynetta’s heart.

That’s why she was able to stay with him all the time.

She decided to learn the language to understand what he wanted.

He seemed to understand that Lynetta intended to learn and began teaching her with care.

He appeared to be a very kind person in Lynetta's eyes.

He always had words of comfort for her.

That’s why the first word she learned was "thank you."

It was probably because that was the word he said every time he saw her face.

He pointed to himself and said.

"Evans."

"...Evansu?"

Yes, that's right. 'E-va-n-s.'"

"E-va-n-s?"

"Yes. That’s my name."

Lynetta pointed to herself and answered

"'Ly Net-Ta'"

"I see, your name is Lynetta, right?"

Lynetta smiled.

"Thank you."

"Arigato?"

"No, no. Lynetta should reply with 'You're welcome.'"

"Dou itashimashite?"

Gathering his remaining strength, he clasped Lynetta's right hand with both of his.

Evans gave her a weak smile.

　▼

Evans patiently taught her individual words such as "eye," "mouth," and "hand."

Thanks to Lynetta's earnest personality, eager to learn, she was able to communicate, though in broken speech, after just a few days.

"Good morning."

"Good morning. I will wipe your body." [Note: She only uses katakana in her speech instead of Hiragana or Kanji. I don't know how to properly convey the difference in English, sorry.]

"Yes, thank you. I’m sorry for always being a burden."

"No problem. You’re welcome."

After wiping his body and feeding him, she would rest for a moment and then be taught words.

Was Evans's appetite small, or was his body simply too weak?

The food that was prepared used higher-quality ingredients than she had anticipated.

However, she didn’t think it was prepared in a way that would be easy to digest.

So, Lynetta decided to put in a little extra work to make it easier to eat.

She cut the hard bread into small pieces and lightly simmered it in the soup to soften it.

She tried different methods and ingredients, hoping to stimulate his appetite.

Even so, the amount he ate decreased day by day.

She was worried, but it was still difficult to have a proper conversation as she had hoped.

Lynetta began to feel a little frustrated.

　▼

Within less than half a year, Lynetta was able to speak enough of the human language to handle daily conversations.

Their daily conversations started with trivial topics, and he would tell her stories that her knew.

To Lynetta, he was like a teacher and the only person she could talk to.

"Good morning."

"Ah, sorry as always... But never mind that. I can wipe it myself, it's fine."

"No, it's not okay. Evans-sama, please stay still... Um... Sorry."

Lynetta's face turned bright red as she looked down.

"That's why I said it..."

"No, it's just that... um..."

"It's fine. You don’t need to force yourself to compliment me. Well, it’s okay. I don’t have a wife anyway. No one will scold me, right? Even if I showed you such an embarrassing thing."

Lynetta was somewhat surprised by the words Evans said, accompanied by his powerless smile.

"Wife...? Could it be that you don't have a wife?"

"Yeah. I was busy, and with this body of mine, I didn’t have the luxury for that."

"I see. You don’t have a wife, then..."

Lynetta’s lips slightly curled into a smile, but Evans probably didn’t notice.

As the days passed, the two of them grew more comfortable with each other.

Every day, Lynetta diligently took care of him.

He entrusted himself over to Lynetta with an apologetic look.

How many days had this life continued?

It was one day after several seasons had passed.

He had become even thinner than when they first met.

His body looked so frail, it seemed much older than his actual age.

She dipped a hand towel into the basin of water, wrung it out, and gently wiped his back, which he could only lift with her strength.

Just wiping his back like that made her heart ache, and Lynetta became sad.

"Ah, this feels nice. I can’t take a bath by myself anymore, so I’m grateful..."

"I’m sorry. This is the only thing I can do for you."

"I feel bad too. I... I can’t remove the collar, and I’m sorry for that. Truly, I’m sorry..."

Both of them felt embarrassed, and when they noticed, they couldn’t help but laugh.

"Maybe it's better for a king as pathetic as me to retire."

"Huh? K—"

"K?"

"W-Were you the king?"

At that moment, Lynetta discovered for the first time that he was the king.

This frail man who had so kindly and gently taught her words and knowledge.

Lynetta felt shocked, but somehow, it started to make sense.

"You didn’t know, huh? Well, technically, I am the king of this country."

"The Evans-sama who tells such interesting stories and is so kind... was the king of such a country..."

"Such a country, huh. I suppose so. It probably looks like a pathetic country. I apologize for not saying anything. I thought you were already aware. ...But still, who could do such a cruel thing?"

"A cruel thing?"

With trembling hands, he touched the collar around Lynetta's neck, looking sorrowful.

"Ah... the fact that Lynetta is wearing this collar means you were brought here from somewhere, right? I'm sorry... If only I were a little healthier, I wouldn't have let this happen..."

Lynetta realized.

She realized that this country, as a nation, wasn't kidnapping people like her.

She realized that a king like him would never let something like that happen.

"Um..."

"What is it?"

"I thought this country was doing things like this to people like me..."

"Absolutely not! I’ve never commanded anything like that."

"I knew it. I could tell after spending so much time with you..."

"Thank you. But you see, there are hardly any left in this castle who will listen to what I say... My body is like this. I may not have much longer... Only a kind woman like you would listen to the tale of a king on the edge."

Evans, even though he is the king, is extremely lonely.

Because Lynetta was placed in a similar situation, she could understand that.

Lynetta has no power to change her current situation.

Evans, too, can only live his days like this.

"Please don't say that. If you were to disappear, Evans-sama, I wouldn't know what to do..."

"I'm sorry. I let my weaknesses show, and it made you worry."

"I’m the one who’s sorry."

In the end, they were similar in many ways.

Neither of them could overcome this situation on their own.

However, in the dead of night, Rude and Ilys entered the room.

In the end, there was a boy who would change this stagnant, negative situation.

Evans would rise again, and strive for the country, the people, and his new friends.

Lynetta, too, must have had unfinished business.

Instead of returning to the village, she came back to Evans, and it seems she smiled when she saw his surprise.

Chapter length 4089 characters.

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