Chapter 122

Joseph knew he shouldn't have helped the woman. He just felt it would reflect poorly in the image he had created for close to two months. After all, he had promised Isabelle to leave a good impression on his superiors. 

So far, he was known for being hard-working, approachable, a great helper and sympathetic with others. Better yet, he was a loyal man who did not lust after any woman there. His record was impeccable.

If he had ignored the woman being harassed and almost assaulted by a group of men, then he would get a stain in that record. He didn't expect anything in return. He truly only did it to follow his Wife's words, to not disappoint her and his brothers.

Saving her had created a big problem for him.

He wasn't being targeted by that group of men who he ruined their fun. He would have preferred that, to be honest. Instead, he was targeted by the woman, by her supposed affections.

"She came again." One of his peers excitedly elbowed him. 

Joseph ignored him. He really wanted to run and hide away, but it was lunch time, and he was starving. Because they were going to finish planting soon, the foremen no longer allowed them to rest even if they were done with their daily quota.

Apparently, the Mayor from Lane Town wanted for the planting to be done as soon as possible. With the other rice completely packed and sent to town, the urge to have everything ready for the next harvest grew.

"Come on, man. Don't be so harsh on 'er." The guy who elbowed him tried to persuade. Even when he was persuading, he was eyeing the woman from head to toe. She was not a great beauty, but she had some nice curves.

"I ain't being harsh. I just want nothin' to do with her." Joseph said. He thanked the lady who gave him his ration and went to look for a place to eat, not once looking in that woman's direction.

"Why are you like this? Why ye helped her then?" The guy accused. He had gotten a few flings with some women working there in hopes of finding a wife, yet they all dumped him after the one-night stand, claiming they were just looking for some fun. 

"Because I'm not a bad person." Joseph rolled his eyes. He accepted that if it was before getting married, he would have helped her out with some ulterior motive. But he was married, so he helped because it was the correct thing to do.

The man lowly scoffed. The sound went unnoticed by Joseph due to the noise of the chattering around. "Then, can I go after her?" 

"Do whatever you want." Joseph waved. If the woman accepted the man, then she wasn't serious with her feelings. Which was perfect for Joseph. He didn't want for rumors of him leaving some lover behind to reach Isabelle.

The man excitedly stood and headed to where the woman stood, staring at Joseph. Joseph saw them talk, and then ignored them. He wanted to see if he could see the foreman in charge of the brown rice fields. 

After acquiring lots of knowledge about rice, he decided that it was best to plant brown rice behind the house. He was told the taste was better and that it was more nutritious. For his family that had lacked a lot while growing, it was best to supplement while they still could.

That's why he thought it would be best if he knew every single detail about that specific grain. 

"We've got Edris, guys!" Some man also assigned to the brown rice patch cheered.

"Finally, we gonna get the bonus!"

"Good timing! I needed the money."

More and more cheerful and thankful voices spoke up. To not feel as if they were overworked, the Mayor had implemented a bonus system for the three fastest groups that finished their planting. Of course, if it was rushed and badly done, no one would get the bonus. 

"He's going to end early. You, snails, are going to end tomorrow." The foreman joked.

"Yes, yes. We're old, foreman!" Someone countered.

"Let's get to work then." The foreman clapped, making the group get into the paddy after grabbing the saplings. 

Despite claiming they were old and slow, when they worked for a goal, they were quick and did things well. A couple of men and a woman kept up with Joseph's pace. They were also roommates, so they easily started making conversation.

"Has that Lindis girl tried anything, Edris?" The woman casually asked.

"No. Why?" The way she posed the question was curious, so Joseph slowed down a bit and started conversing.

"Heard she was a whore where she came from and that she's looking for a man to buy her." The woman gossiped.

That man one of the men pipe up. "I heard she was sold for cheap work in these fields."

"I can buy 'er if she wants to." Another man wickedly laughed. "But she thinks she's a princess or something, claiming she was waiting for the right man." He scoffed.

"And casually, the right man is the best worker?" The woman rhetorically asked. "Don't fall for whatever she says, Edris. Who knows if that thing with the men was a plan she came up with."

Joseph nodded, thanking her for the advice. Was he so unlucky to always get the attention of crazy women? First, Milly, then that Lindis woman. He was relieved that Isabelle was reasonable and could be talked to if angry.

Thinking about Isabelle made him miss her, her smile, her softness, her warmth, even her food, and her lessons, heck he even missed her writing. He didn't like learning how to write and read, but he low-key loved the way she wrote. Her letters were pretty, just like her.

He missed her so much that he even dreamed of her. He dreamed of that time he napped with her when she felt uncomfortable due to her bleeding days. He had woken up with her complete weight over him.

Although he had woken numb, he still enjoyed her softness – a hip bone dug on his leg – and her tangy fragrance, of her usual sweetness mixed with the soft smell of blood – the smell of sweat and dust attacked his nose.

He had looked down at her waking face and marveled at her groggy and lazy smile when she realized who she had slept with. 

"Slept well?" He had asked. She hummed. "Don't I deserve a reward for being a good pillow?" She hummed again and crawled up to his face to kiss him. However, right when she closed up, her face changed to that of the Lindis woman.

Joseph instinctively pushed her and woke up startled. He was greeted by the darkness of the barn where he was sleeping and the yelp of a woman right beside him. 

"Joseph..." Said woman pitifully called his name, making him shiver out of revulsion. 

"Who the fuck are you?" He loudly asked, waking up the people around who immediately asked what was going on.

"I… you told me to come..." Seeing more and more people wake up, she nervously said. Wanting to know what the ruckus was about, some people even lit up the oil lamps hanging from the beams. Only then they were able to see that the Lindis woman was sitting on the floor beside Edris' bed.

They looked between the two, their hearts making wild guesses.

"I said no such thing. More like, who let you in?" Joseph questioned. 

There were around five barns where a certain number of people slept in. Once the barns closed for the night, nobody could enter. That was to prevent robberies in the middle of night. And, if there were, it was easier to look for the culprit among the same roommates. 

If, someone was really able to get in a different barn, then that meant they were helped from the inside. 

"...It was you..." She softly replied, lowering her head.

"What's wrong, Edris? You called 'er for some fun, and now you're rejecting her?" The man who had elbowed him at noon asked confused.

"What bullshit! I'm married to a gorgeous woman, why would I want her?!" He disdainfully countered. The woman paled and started crying.

"That's what you claim, but she's here. We all know she's after you." The man continued to push.

"Except that you wanted to fuck her." If Joseph couldn't see it was a lame scheme, then he deserved to be schemed on. "What? She rejected you, and now you want to throw her to me? You should've thrown her out. Could've let us rest."

Angry, sleepy and woken up from a nice dream, Joseph did not hold back, even going so far as to be rude to the woman who cried even harder. 

He ignored her and laid back down, covering himself with the sheet he brought from home. After washing it a few times in his stay there, the smell of home and Isabelle had disappeared. 

"Take 'er out, Boris. We wanna sleep." Contrary to Boris' expectations, nobody supported him in his scheme. Not even the people who came from the same village as him.

He had talked with her and made his intentions towards her clear. She rejected him, claiming she liked Edris. That enraged him, but instead of taking it out on her, he planned for her to get into the barn and do the deed with Joseph. 

With the beauty presented to him, Boris doubted Joseph would push her away. He was a man after all. It turned out Joseph did reject her, and quite mercilessly at that. She could not even undress him so Boris could call out on Joseph being a liar and discredit him.

Instead, he was the one being weirdly looked at by the others. 

So, he could only grab the crying woman by her arm and haul her out. It teaches her not to be so useless! Can't even seduce a man! He angrily thought as he threw her out of the barn.

Thanks to that event, Boris got a bad reputation of scheming on his coworkers. The woman surnamed Lindis was sent back to her village. And Joseph was no longer approached by another woman.

Even those who held a bit of hope back down after knowing the way he treated a woman who wasn't his Wife. 

Those women envied whoever his Wife was.