Chapter : 30
When I turned my head, I saw the Crown Prince standing a pepper plant upright. The moment our eyes met, he flinched in surprise and pressed down hard on the stake for no reason.
Startled, I shouted.
“You’ll hurt the peppers!”
“S-sorry!”
The Crown Prince quickly covered the hole he’d dug, adjusted the pepper plant back into place, and fixed it firmly. When I approached him, he cleared his throat and looked away.
“What was that about?”
“…Nothing.”
“Why did you press the pepper stake so hard just now? Peppers are very sensitive crops.”
“…That is—”
“Yes?”
“Everyone is working together to build the school diligently.”
He pulled his straw hat down low and gripped his hoe again. Scratching the bridge of his freckled nose, he deliberately avoided my gaze. It looked like he had no intention of telling me what that was all about, so I let out a sigh.
“Fine.”
“Vanessa.”
“Yes, I’m listening, so go ahead.”
He always called my name as if he’d dipped it in honey first. Tucking his honey-blond hair behind his ear, he spoke.
“I remember what you said before. You mentioned wanting to farm a crop from the Eastern Continent—‘rice,’ wasn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“It turns out Matt has experience growing rice. He said his former lord liked all crops from the Eastern Continent and demanded them as tribute every time.”
That explained it. No wonder Matt hadn’t looked all that surprised when I mentioned ‘rice’ and ‘paddy.’ Apparently, the lord of the territory Matt once lived in was an Eastern Continent enthusiast who collected their food and ceramics.
‘There was an Eastern Continent craze for a while.’
That was how I’d been able to obtain seeds of various Eastern crops so easily.
“Then shall we start reclaiming the land from over there to here today?”
“Sounds good. We can ask Matt to handle the irrigation channel.”
“I’ll go talk to him.”
I found Matt watering the tomatoes in the tomato field.
“Matt!”
When he spotted me, he beamed.
“Well, if it isn’t our lord.”
“I told you not to call me that. It’s embarrassing.”
“Haha, if the lord says so, I suppose I should listen. It’s scary when you get serious.”
“I’m scary?”
When I perked up at the word scary, Matt waved his hands hurriedly.
“I’m joking, joking.”
“By the way, Matt. You said you’ve grown rice before, right?”
“That’s right. Our former lord—well, very former lord—loved rice. Said it tasted good mixed into tomato stew…”
“We’re thinking of trying rice farming ourselves. We’d like to bring water from there to here. Do you think it’s possible?”
“Let’s see…”
Matt scanned the area from the lake to where I was pointing, then nodded.
“It should be more than possible.”
“Thank you. Then please start the work today.”
“Understood. I’ll gather everyone and get started right away.”
“Matt, you’re the best!”
After giving him two enthusiastic thumbs-up, I headed to the storage shed to fetch shovels and plows.
“Eric!”
“You called, Lady Vanessa!”
“What were you doing?”
“I was watering the pepper field. Do you need me to do something?”
These days, whenever I called him, Eric naturally asked what task I had for him. To be fair, I always did have something for him to do.
“We need to build the paddy ridges.”
“Paddy ridges? Where are we making them?”
“Over there. See the people digging near the lake? That’ll be the drainage channel. And the wide area where His Highness is standing—we’re turning all of that into rice paddies. So first—”
I placed a shovel into Eric’s hands.
“We need to start digging.”
Thus began a day of labor that lasted from morning until evening. We kept digging. Rice needs to be submerged in water, which meant the land had to be lower than the surrounding ground.
Everyone was mobilized to build paddy ridges and drainage channels. But the land was vast, so it looked like we’d be repeating this work for at least a couple more days.
By evening, everyone gathered wearily in the yard. People lay sprawled on mats, groaning as they rubbed their arms and legs.
“Oof, the lord’s going to kill us.”
“My joints are crying.”
Children clung to my arms, chattering away.
“Lady Vanessa, I’m hungry.”
“I watered fields all day today.”
“Me too!”
“Just wait a little longer. Dinner will be ready soon.”
Tonight’s cooking duty belonged to Amanda. As she served plates of grilled fish seasoned simply with salt, she said,
“You must all be hungry. Please, eat.”
Layla collapsed beside me, plopping down heavily.
‘Oh right—the cake!’
Seeing her reminded me of the cake I’d left in the storage shed. I quickly washed my hands and ran off. Holding the cake in front of me, I approached her while singing.
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, dear Layla—”
“Oh my!”
Layla’s eyes widened in surprise. The others, realizing it was her birthday, joined in the song.
“Happy birthday! Happy birthday, Layla!”
I thrust the cake toward her, and she spoke with tears shimmering in her eyes.
“Vanessa! When did you even prepare this? You’re so busy!”
“Hehe, I wasn’t that busy.”
“Liar!”
“I couldn’t prepare candles, but can you blow anyway?”
Layla smiled brightly and nodded.
“Yeah!”
When she blew over the cake, everyone clapped.
“Happy birthday, Lady Layla!”
“These are the strawberries we grew!”
Seeing the children drooling beside her, Layla chuckled softly and went to fetch a knife from the kitchen.
“I’ll share it with everyone.”
There wasn’t much cake—only enough for each person to get a bite—but Layla still licked the cream from her lips happily and said to me,
“Vanessa, you’re the best.”
“Really? I think so too. Our Layla is the best.”
I hugged Layla back as she embraced me. She smelled of soil, herbs, and faintly… fertilizer. She had once been a socialite famous for her elegance, and now she carried the scent of everyday life. It made me feel a little sorry.
“Ugh, Layla. We really need to wash your clothes.”
At that, Layla made a troubled face.
“Really? Do I smell that bad? But Vanessa… I don’t have any clothes left to wear. They’re all full of holes.”
After distributing all the clothes we had to the people, we were left without much ourselves. There was only so much mending could do.
‘Even Killian’s clothes are wearing out.’
When I stared at the Crown Prince’s clothes, he noticed my gaze and walked over.
“What is it?”
“Oh, it’s just… the clothes you’re wearing.”
“What about them?”
“They’re very worn.”
“It’s fine. That’s only natural when working.”
Just then, Eric cut in.
“About clothes.”
“Hm?”
“If we go into the forest ahead and bring back a single silk moth, that should solve it.”
“There are silk moths in that forest?”
“I think I glimpsed one while camping before. It’s also called the Forest of Magical Beasts, so shouldn’t it have most kinds of beasts? If we go deeper in, I think we’ll find one…”
The Crown Prince, who had been listening closely, nodded in agreement.
“That’s right. We stuck to the outer edge of the forest before. If we go deeper, there should be silk moths.”
“But what kind of magical beast is a silk moth?”
“Exactly what it sounds like—a moth that produces silk. Lords in the south raise them in farms and sell the silk. I don’t know how it’s made, only the name.”
We could have stolen clothes from the village, but the risk of zombies was too high. I didn’t want to encounter those groaning, gut-spilling monsters again.
People sitting nearby, tearing into their grilled fish, joined in.
“Even one silk moth would be wonderful. With silk, I could make clothes.”
“There’s also a flock of sheep nearby. They probably escaped from a nearby ranch.”
‘Good. Then we’ll survive summer and fall with silk, and winter with wool.’
I should also make more blankets. Right now, each family only had about two, which definitely wouldn’t be enough in winter.
The Crown Prince stood up.
“I’ll go make a net to catch the silk moth.”
“Oh—Your Highness! I’ll go too.”
Eric and the Crown Prince headed to the storage shed, saying they’d try to improvise something with the fishing nets we had.
“Beep?”
“Donggeul, did you eat something?”
“Beep! Beep!”
I smiled as I rubbed Donggeul’s now-plump belly.
“What did you eat so much of, huh?”
“Beep! Beep!”
“You didn’t eat that much? Then why is your belly so big?”
“Beep! Beep!”
The way it puffed up its wings and denied everything so earnestly was adorable, and I laughed softly.
“I’m just saying because you’re cute, Donggeul.”
“Beep.”
“By the way, Donggeul, we’re going to the forest tomorrow. Want to come?”
“Beep?”
“Why go to the forest again? To catch a silk moth. Look—there’s a hole in my sleeve.”
“Pip! Pi!”
Donggeul tilted its head for a moment, then flew ahead as if telling me to follow.
“Donggeul, where are you going?”
“Beep!”
It alternated between fluttering slowly and toddling along in front of me. Following it, I soon arrived at the greenhouse door.
Donggeul tapped my hand with its beak, as if asking me to open it.
“Alright, I’ll open it.”
The moment the door opened, Donggeul pecked at a strawberry.
“Donggeul, you can’t peck that!”
“Beep., Beep!”
It darted around the strawberry plants, as if trying to explain something. After pecking at the stem, it dragged a bright red strawberry all the way to me.
“Beep”
“You want me to take this?”
“Beep!”
Donggeul nodded vigorously, eyes sparkling.
‘…Do silk moths like strawberries, by any chance?’
End Of Chapter : 30
