‘The number of people meddling has increased quite a bit.’

Just the other day, some elderly people came knocking, telling her to clear the weeds. She couldn’t understand why they were concerned about someone else’s yard, or why they kept peering inside her house while talking about weeds.

Veronica placed the stone on the table and turned her head. Those who had broken the window had already fled. She would need to clean up the scattered glass shards and fix the broken window, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. All she wanted was to lie down and try to sleep again.

The decision was quick. Veronica pretended not to see the broken window and went back to her room. The faded bedding had strands of fallen hair stuck to it. It was only natural since she hadn’t washed it once since coming here.

She lay down on the bed without concern and closed her eyes. The mild headache persisted, but sleep came quickly as always. In truth, there wasn’t much else to do anyway. But the peace didn’t last long.

Bang bang!

Veronica’s brow furrowed at the dull sound. She curled up under the blanket, but the knocking continued.

“Ms. Veronica, are you in there? Come out for a moment.”

Annoyed by the bothersome noise, Veronica pressed her throbbing forehead and got up. Were they going to tell her to pull weeds again? She had clearly told them she wasn’t feeling well due to a cold.

But when she opened the door, she found children standing with their hands folded neatly. Beside them stood a large middle-aged man, looking triumphant.

“Who…”

“Haha, you’re Ms. Veronica, right? I saw these kids doing something bad earlier.”

The man smiled kindly and turned to the children with a deliberately stern expression.

“You rascals, hurry up and apologize! Where did you learn such mischief?”

“We’re sorry…”

“We did wrong…”

The children’s noses and eyes were already red, suggesting they had already been scolded. Veronica gave a slight bow to the man and looked at the sniffling children.

“Don’t do it again.”

“Yes…”

“Is the window okay? I heard something breaking.”

The man glanced through the half-open door. Veronica was about to say it was fine, but he spotted the broken window first.

“What? It’s really broken! Hey, you kids…”

The man glared at the children and abruptly pushed the door wide open. Veronica, who had been holding the doorknob, staggered weakly before barely regaining her balance. Regardless, the man strode into the house without permission.

“Hey, hey, hey, all of you come here. Look what happened because of you! What are you going to do about this?”

As the man raised his voice while pointing at the glass fragments and broken window, the children started sniffling again.

“I was just throwing around the area…”

“That’s right, he’s the one who hit it…”

“No, they were the ones who suggested we…”

“You brats, can’t you keep your mouths shut?”

The man scolded the children severely as they tried to blame each other. It seemed like he might even hit them if left alone, so Veronica, unable to watch anymore, spoke up.

“It’s okay now. The children promised they won’t do it again.”

“Ahem, if that’s the case.”

As if he had been waiting for those words, the man quickly cleared his throat and softened his voice.

“Kids, if you do this again, you’ll really get it from me. Understand?”

“Yes…”

“Alright, alright, now hurry along.”

At the man’s words, the children awkwardly went outside. However, the man himself didn’t leave. He just hummed a tune while looking around the messy house.

“Excuse me.”

Veronica spoke up, trying to hide her unease. Even if it came from goodwill, he was still a stranger. Though she had been lucky so far with no incidents, a woman living alone couldn’t be pleased about letting a strange man into her home.

“Why so nervous? Afraid I’ll eat you up?”

Her shoulders stiffened involuntarily at his joking remark. But the man shrugged as if it were just a joke and moved closer to the window. Then he calmly put on gloves and began removing the remaining glass pieces.

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll clean it up.”

“It’s fine, just rest. You don’t look well. This is men’s work anyway.”

The man showed off his thick forearms and continued removing the glass without giving Veronica another glance, taking out tools to finish the job.

“…Must be inconvenient without a man in the house?”

The man spoke up not long after. For some reason, his tone felt subtly suggestive. Was this typical small-town nosiness, or was he testing a woman living alone? She wanted to believe it was the former since he was old enough to be her father, but knowing there were plenty of men who shamelessly flirted with women young enough to be their daughters, she couldn’t completely relax.

“I suppose.”

Veronica answered, trying to appear calm. Though her body still felt heavy, she made an effort to stay alert.

“Sancho.”

“Pardon?”

“My name, it’s Sancho. There’s a cabin near the logging site? If something like this happens again, you can come there. If you can’t find it, ask anyone at the market where Sancho’s house is, and they’ll tell you.”

“Ah…”

“I’m saying this because I’m concerned about a young woman like a daughter living alone.”

Sancho turned his head and smiled kindly like before. Had she been suspicious for nothing? Veronica felt a bit regretful and slowly raised the corners of her mouth. Having not genuinely smiled since her husband’s death, her own smile felt terribly awkward.

“Anything else that needs fixing? Since you’ve got a man in the house, might as well check everything.”

“Ah… that’s okay.”

Veronica quickly replied when she noticed Sancho’s gaze turning toward the bedroom. Even if his kindness was genuinely the pure neighborliness of a country person, she couldn’t casually let a strange man into her bedroom. Besides, she kept her husband’s life insurance money in there.

“Come on. Looking at the state of the house, I can imagine what the room looks like.”

“Really, it’s fine. I already feel bad for taking up so much of your time.”

At that, Sancho looked at her with the same smiling face. His narrowed gaze scanned her pale face. After staring for a while, he finally smirked as if letting her off the hook.

“You’re really uncomfortable, aren’t you?”

“…”

“Fine, I’m going. Geez.”

He jokingly sighed and pointed at the empty window.

“If you’re not going to replace the window now, at least cover it with cloth. That way strange men won’t get ideas. Of course, if you get lonely at night, you could just leave it as is.”

With that boisterous remark, Sancho waved once and left the house. Only then did Veronica let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

Veronica was bedridden again for several days. It was because she had repaired the window by herself after Sancho left. She had dismantled a shelf and used the wooden boards to cover the window, so it was hardly a proper repair, but her inexpert hammering had given her another cold.

It was a full four days before she got out of bed. Even then, she wasn’t completely recovered, but she had no choice as her food supplies had run out. Even after losing the person she loved most, she still needed to eat. She had to live to keep her promise.

But what greeted Veronica when she finally ventured outside was an unfamiliar atmosphere. Glancing eyes, people whispering about her. Some people pretended not to see her when their eyes met, while others looked her up and down with disapproval. She had never experienced this, even when she first arrived in the village. Though they hadn’t been close, they had never ignored her greetings before.

“…”

Veronica hurried along, hiding her bewilderment. She wouldn’t be living here after next year anyway, so she could simply ignore it. But when she reached the market to buy groceries, she realized she had been naive.

“We don’t have any.”

At the firm response, Veronica looked up. Contrary to the vendor’s words, sacks of dried beans and oatmeal were clearly displayed on the counter.

“…What about these here?”

“I said we don’t have any! They’re all reserved for someone else, so go somewhere else!”

When the momentarily frozen Veronica pointed at the counter, the vendor shouted at her. Giggles could be heard from somewhere, but when she turned her head, everyone pretended to be minding their own business. Veronica looked expressionlessly at the glaring vendor, then silently turned away.

However, other vendors didn’t react much differently. Some refused to make eye contact and claimed they had no goods, while others shouted as soon as she approached. Some even ignored her completely, as if she didn’t exist, no matter what she said.