Sharti didn’t know the kind of look he was giving her.
Their eyes met suddenly.
“Will you bring me clothes before that?”
He smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth, and Sharti’s face flushed instantly.
Heat spread to her head.
She had no clothes for him at the moment, but there was a long robe.
She planned to go home immediately to fetch something for him to wear.
Sharti fidgeted with embarrassment.
She pressed her finger into his palm, and he let out a hearty laugh.
“I guess I was just comfortable with you without realizing it.”
“…….”
“Should I promise not to use informal speech if it bothers you?”
His demeanor was unabashed and smooth, contrary to his appearance.
Taken aback, Sharti quickly turned her head away.
She drew a clear line.
For her, it was a natural response.
‘I’m only providing a hiding place until his body and mind fully recover. I don’t want anything more than that.’
“…….”
The man carefully read the words pressed into his palm.
He chose not to fortify her defensive walls further and shrugged slightly.
“Alright. …I will.”
He didn’t insist on his way. He respected the boundary she had set.
His intuition told him something.
One more misstep and he might lose her goodwill completely.
<And from now on.>
As Sharti began to write again with a stern expression, a sound interrupted them.
Gurgle.
“…….”
“…….”
<To me.>
Grrrrrrrrrr.
“…….”
His gaze slowly moved downward and stopped at Sharti’s stomach, hidden beneath the robe.
Her face, hidden in the hood, turned beet red.
“……Um…….”
He too was embarrassed. As much as he wanted to pretend not to notice, her stomach kept growling.
With her face red as a tomato, Sharti closed her eyes tightly.
“……So.”
The man tried to hide his awkwardness and speak, but Sharti abruptly stood up. She briskly walked over and returned with the basket.
She placed the basket in front of the man, quickly showing him the bread and jam inside.
“So, the smell lingering in the cave was this,” the man changed the subject graciously.
“Did you bring this? …you? With such a smell, it’s no wonder there was a reaction. …you.”
“…….”
He wasn’t very good at consoling her.
‘I would’ve appreciated it if he had just kept quiet.’
It seemed he had lost his tact along with his memory. Sharti inwardly grumbled.
Seeing Sharti’s mood not improving, the man rubbed his neck, looking uneasy.
“Ah. I also heard a noise from my stomach just now…”
“…….”
“No, …you.”
He belatedly shut his mouth.
Sharti, ignoring him, focused on the jam jar lid.
‘Hmm… tight!’
Despite her efforts, the lid wouldn’t budge.
“Let me try. …you.”
Watching her tapping the lid with her fist, the man took the jar with one hand.
Pop. The lid opened easily with a crisp sound.
“Here. …you.”
He handed her the jar and lid.
Sharti gazed at his large hand.
‘Men’s strength really is something.’
She thought about the various uses of those large hands.
‘He was tall, wasn’t he?’
She recalled the pile of herbs at home and the household chores she couldn’t handle alone.
‘He’s a patient, but as long as he doesn’t move too much, right?’
She had already decided to live together with him.
Positively thinking, it was like gaining a valuable helper.
Sharti took out a piece of bread from the basket and offered it to the man first.
“Are you not going to feed me now? …you?”
As Sharti reached to take the bread back, the man quickly accepted it.
“No, no. I’ll eat it well, …I will.”
After giving him a brief look of warning, Sharti used a fork to spread jam on the bread.
‘Looks like apple jam.’
The combination of its sweetness with the bread’s nuttiness was appetizing.
She immediately took a big bite of the bread.
She had to quiet her growling stomach first.
“…….”
The man watched her eat and followed suit, spreading jam on his bread too.
Though he seemed to match her pace, his piece disappeared in no time.
‘…Food will be the biggest issue.’
His size suddenly had a different meaning to her.
A piece of bread that would be several bites for her was just one bite for him.
Maintaining his large, solid muscles would require how much food?
‘We can manage with garden vegetables for now, but what about winter?’
Naturally, food prices double in winter, especially in mountain villages where quantity is the main concern.
‘There’s a lot to think about.’
Facing the implications of sheltering another person, Sharti pushed a sigh down with a bite of bread.
The man, observing her expression, pushed the basket towards her.
“….I’m full.”
Surprised, Sharti offered him another piece, but he declined, turning his gaze away from the basket after just one piece of bread.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve been lying down so much, I get full quickly. …you.”
It was a plausible excuse.
Sharti, cheeks puffed out like a squirrel, nodded.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
