The Black-haired Noblewoman, Who Disguised Herself, Seems To Have Been Doted On While Serving As The Caretaker For The Duke Who Dislikes Women - Episode 8

How far have I walked? I can no longer feel my legs. I don’t even feel like I’m moving my legs forward. It feels as if my legs are moving on their own, independent of my consciousness. Exhausted, I kept repeating my breaths in a blurred vision.

Should I sit down? It might be better to rest a bit…… No, but if I sit down now, I feel like I won’t be able to stand up again…

Before I knew it, the surroundings had gradually become darker. What time is it now? Could it be around evening already? The sun might set soon. If it gets completely dark, I might lose my sense of direction.

While vaguely thinking about such things, I occasionally placed my hands on the trees to support my swaying body and continued to move forward.

Suddenly, my vision jolted. It seemed I had caught my toe on a tree root.

Ah…!

I staggered a few steps as I was, then stumbled onto the road ahead and fell, putting my hands on the ground.

It was at that moment.

“Watch out!! Lord Lloyd, forward!!”

Suddenly, a loud voice was heard nearby, and my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my mouth. Reflexively, I turned towards the direction of the voice and widened my eyes.

Right in front of me, a large horse’s body and hooves were closing in.

I’m going to be crushed…!

I didn’t even notice the sound of the horse approaching. Paralyzed by fear, I couldn’t move, and then suddenly the horse, raising its front legs high, turned around. At that moment, I saw a person riding on the horse’s back, holding the reins, and I gasped.

The man with blue eyes and silver hair, who was looking down at me with a surprised expression from atop his horse, was a sight to behold.

Pulling the reins of the neighing horse, he looks down at me with a beautifully composed face.

───What a beautiful gentleman…

For just a moment, such words crossed my mind.

However.

“Ugh……!”

“Lord Lloyd!”

The horse was equally surprised.

The rider, startled by the obstacle that suddenly appeared in front of them, was forced to make a sudden turn.

The silver-haired young man was thrown off the back of the wildly rampaging horse and slammed into a nearby large tree.

Th…this is bad…!!

I hurriedly sat up and tried to approach the man. Then,

“Wait a minute! Don’t come over here right now, miss! Stay still!”

To my surprise, another man appeared riding a horse from behind the rampaging horse. It seems that this man was the one who had been shouting earlier.

The young man lightly jumped off his horse and went to calm the large horse that had just thrown off the silver-haired man. This one had a vibrant orange hair color reminiscent of marigold flowers.

“Easy now… there, there. Good boy.”

Somehow, once the horse calmed down, the young man with orange hair quickly moved to the silver-haired man. He’s quite nimble. I was startled and hurriedly followed, slipping past the horse.

I’m sorry, horse…

As I quietly walked past the horse that was snorting, trying not to startle it, I approached the two men. …Ah, what should I do, my head is spinning…

The silver-haired man sitting by the large tree was frowning with displeasure. The young man with orange hair crouching beside him seemed to be examining the man’s injury.

“Ouch. This is really bad. What a predicament. For now, we have no choice but to head back to the mansion. Can you ride a horse, Lord Lloyd?”

“Ah. I guess I’ll have to manage with my left hand. …Seriously.”

Apparently, it seems that I have sustained quite a serious injury. While feeling like I was about to cry, I called out to the two men.

“Um… um… I’m really, really sorry…”

The two who turned around looked at me with startled expressions. The young man with orange hair opened his mouth.

“Wow, a beggar. What were you doing in this forest? Were you looking for nuts or something? Let me tell you, this area isn’t very safe, you know. Didn’t you know? You could get attacked by beasts.”

“Uh… n-no… um…”

“The sun will set soon, so hurry up and get out of here. Otherwise, you’ll become food for the beasts at night.”

“Um, um…”

Even if I’m told to get out of here, I want to leave as soon as possible too, but I just can’t yet. Besides, I want to properly apologize to the silver-haired man.

Upon closer inspection, the man is dressed very elegantly. He is probably of noble descent. Standing before such a noble man with such a beautiful face, I suddenly felt embarrassed about my shabby appearance. But this isn’t the time to be thinking about such things.