"I—"
The woman's voice abruptly stopped.
She finally understood...
She understood the strange feeling she'd had ever since she saw the woodcutter...
So that was what it meant.
The woman suddenly saw the light.
Then she couldn't help feeling both amused and exasperated.
So that was it...
The woman raised a hand and rubbed her forehead.
Most of her agitation subsided at once.
"...You misunderstood."
The woman smiled wryly.
So that was it...
No wonder the woodcutter had misunderstood.
Thinking about it now, her behavior just now really had been easy to misinterpret.
She simply hadn't noticed.
So it had never occurred to her to think of it that way.
She'd only felt embarrassed that someone had caught her sneaking around...
"I misunderstood?"
The woodcutter's expression barely changed.
It was impossible to tell whether he believed her or not.
Now that she understood the reason for the woodcutter's behavior, the woman no longer felt angry with him.
She was very sorry.
Because only now did she realize that, to an outsider, what she'd just done...
really was easy to misinterpret.
"Mm."
The woman nodded.
"It was my fault."
"No wonder you misunderstood my behavior just now."
"But it wasn't what you thought."
The woman decided not to hide anything.
If she didn't lay everything out and explain it clearly to the woodcutter today...
their relationship as husband and wife...
would probably be over.
The woman looked at the woodcutter earnestly.
"Do you remember what I told you a few days ago?"
"The thing about your younger brother..."
This time, it was the woodcutter's turn to be stunned.
What she'd told him a few days ago...
The thing about his younger brother...
"...Those rumors you heard at the market..."
Those ridiculous things people had said...