The woodcutter fell silent.
The woman finished speaking.
She looked at the woodcutter with some unease.
"Husband, everything I said is true."
When the woodcutter didn't respond, the woman couldn't help stressing her point.
"I really didn't..."
"I just..."
The woodcutter came back to himself.
He raised a hand, interrupting the woman's explanation.
"I believe you."
The woman's explanation made sense.
He was just thrown into disarray by what she'd told him.
"You..."
"You really saw my younger brother..."
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the woman nodded. "I did."
"Otherwise, I wouldn't have snuck back to take another look that night."
And she'd happened to run into the woodcutter.
She'd nearly caused a disaster.
If the woodcutter hadn't believed her...
She didn't know what she would have done...
Fortunately, the worst-case scenario hadn't come to pass.
The woman was happy.
After hearing her explanation, the woodcutter had believed her.
He'd even asked about his younger brother.
Since he'd asked about his younger brother, that meant the misunderstanding about her had truly passed.
The woodcutter wasn't holding it against her.
The woman felt a weight lift from her heart.
Suddenly, her younger brother's situation didn't seem so difficult to deal with.
The woodcutter furrowed his brow.
What his aunt had said...
He could disregard.
His aunt was related to him by blood, but to him, she was almost no different from a stranger.
But his wife was different.
She was his wife.
He'd been able to move on so early from the death of his parents partly because his younger brother needed him to take care of him, and partly because his wife had been there for him.
He knew he had to be strong.
His family needed him to hold it together.