Chapter 21: Hunting With Lisa
"So? How was your night in your new house?" Lisa asked as we made our way through the dense undergrowth of Greenwood Forest. The morning mist clung to the ancient oaks around us, and our footsteps were muffled by a carpet of damp leaves that had survived the recent rains.
I adjusted the leather strap of my hunting pack, feeling the familiar weight of my bow against my shoulder. "Well, really nice, more comfortable. I finally have a room for myself after all," I replied, unable to suppress the smile that tugged at my lips.
But even as I spoke those words, my mind wandered back to the events of the previous evening. Things had nearly spiraled into catastrophe when Rosaluna caught me in mom’s room busy licking her cunt.
That was too close, I thought, remembering the suspicion in Rosaluna’s pink eyes. Her questions had been innocent but sharp ones.
But I’d managed to salvage the situation, thankfully.
The incident had shaken me more than it should have. I think I’d grown too comfortable in Harold’s life, too accustomed to this peaceful existence that I’d started panicking over things I would have once considered trivial obstacles. In my previous life, I’d navigated far more treacherous waters. Situations where discovery meant death or imprisonment for lifetimes, yet I’d escaped each time—not through luck alone, but through careful planning and ruthless execution.
The irony wasn’t lost on me that in the end, it had been an alliance of the very women I’d deceived that brought about my downfall. They’d been more resilient than I’d anticipated, more stubborn in their pursuit of what they believed was justice. Their obsession had run deeper than I’d calculated—deep enough that they couldn’t forget either the kindnesses I’d shown them or the betrayals that followed.
In this life, I won’t be so careless, I promised myself, stepping over a fallen log that blocked our path. I underestimated them, women before. I won’t make that mistake again.
"I still can’t believe you really built a house on your own..." Lisa’s voice broke through my brooding thoughts. She shook her head.
I chuckled, though the sound felt forced even to my own ears. "Well, it was hard and exhausting, but with the right knowledge, anyone can do it." The words came out more dismissively than I’d intended, but I caught myself. In this world, such skills were apparently far rarer than I’d assumed.
Lisa stopped walking entirely, turning to face me with an expression I couldn’t quite decipher. Her blue eyes seemed to pierce right through me.
"I don’t think so at all," she said slowly. "You should be boasting about yourself more. I’ve watched you, Harold. You have an extraordinary capability of absorbing knowledge like a sponge absorbs water, and then applying it to near perfection in practice."