Chapter 13

“Say what you will! Of course you think the lady would be warm and cozy! Isn’t that right, my lady!”

I still had no idea what they were talking about.

Unable to answer, I just smiled faintly. The two men who had been arguing followed suit and laughed along with me.

I don’t know, you idiots.

I’m not the weather bureau. How am I supposed to know what the weather will be?

It’s not like this is the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty—why would it even record the weather in detail?

Normally, I just lived with it. If it rained, it rained. If it snowed, it snowed. If it was cold, it was cold. If it was hot, it was hot.

But now that I had to farm, nothing was more important than the weather.

Now I finally understood why ancient kings were so obsessed with it.

“Why don’t we just plant the badam tree?”

At my question, the bear-like man who had been insisting on the “relong flower” spoke.

He had been claiming all year that this winter would be cold.

“No, my lady. The badam tree doesn’t grow well unless the weather is warm. If the temperature is right, it’s profitable—but that’s gambling.”

“Hm… then is there anything that doesn’t depend on the weather? Wheat, maybe…”

This time, the thin man who had been arguing for the badam tree spoke.

“Wheat is dangerous. We tried it last year for that reason, but it all died because it didn’t rain at all.”

“Ugh…”

So in the end, it all came down to the weather.

If only I could build a greenhouse or create artificial rain… but that wasn’t possible right now.

“First of all…”

The two men stared at me with sparkling eyes, which felt oddly suffocating.

Their gazes, each begging me to side with them, made my mouth shut tightly.

“…I think I need some time to think about it.”

Dragging things out, I escaped with Naol back to the office.

As soon as I got there, I slumped into a chair and sighed.

“Oh, my head. Naol, what do you think?”

“You don’t need to feel pressured. You can choose anything.”

“Still…”

“They’ve been fighting like this for days. No matter what you pick, they won’t blame you.”

Naol tried to comfort me, but it didn’t help at all.

“No, what if I choose wrong and ruin the harvest? That’s the problem. If the harvest fails, expenses will skyrocket. We don’t even have a proper source of income yet.”

Only then did I remember I hadn’t even brought up my original reason for going there.

“If I don’t give them an answer, won’t they just decide on their own? They’re both experts anyway. They’d probably do better than me guessing.”

Then I remembered what they had said while arguing—how they had ruined the harvest two years ago.

Ugh, I should’ve just called them instead of going myself.

Why do useless memories stick so well?

Now my head hurt even more.

After a long moment of thinking while holding my head, I gave Naol an order.

“Naol, go get any weather records this estate has. If we look at those, it might help.”

Honestly, this damn estate.

I think I cursed the Grand Duke ten times today alone.

After sending Naol out, I was left alone again and sighed.

“Haa… If I knew this would happen, I should’ve learned how people used constellations to predict the weather in my past life. I don’t even need exact temperatures… just whether it’ll be cold or hot would be enough.”

“You can know that.”

I froze.

I looked around quickly, but there was no one in the room.

“…What?”

I forced a laugh, uneasy.

“Haha… I must’ve misheard. I really must be tired. Now I’m hearing things…”

“It’s not an illusion.”

The voice came again.

I froze completely.

In front of me—someone appeared.

A man I had once seen in a dream.

Dark skin. White hair braided into one. Blue eyes.

When I first came to this castle, I had fainted after seeing the crest of a great family.

Back then, I dreamed of a strange man and a massive dragon.

I thought it was just a dream because he never appeared again…

But now, the man in front of me was exactly the same as the one in my dream.

At my words, he tilted his head slightly.

“A dream? No. This is reality.”

He was not as overwhelmingly perfect as the male lead, Ruth, but objectively, he was extremely handsome.

He looked faint and unreal, like he might dissolve in sunlight, but when his blue eyes met mine, there was a heavy presence—like staring into the deep ocean—and I couldn’t easily look away.

“How… what… wait. Where do I even start asking?”

After a moment of hesitation, I finally asked,

“What are you?”

“I am a divine beast.”

He answered without hesitation.

I understood what that meant.

I had read about them in the original story.

The heroine had a divine beast—a green deer that could tear monsters apart like paper.

Other divine beasts appeared occasionally in the story too, each with extraordinary abilities.

And naturally, forming a contract with one was extremely difficult.

“Why did you appear in front of me?”

“I don’t know either. I’m the one who wants to ask how you woke me, and how you formed a contract with me.”

“A contract? What contract?”

“A master-servant contract, of course.”

“…How?”

“I told you, I don’t know. I want to ask you the same thing. How did you find the place where I was sealed?”

He seemed just as confused as I was.

Was this related to the Balfruga family crest I saw before fainting?

For now, it was only a guess.

Expressionless, he continued.

“I was sealed here a thousand years ago. You broke that seal.”

“I didn’t do anything like that.”

“I know. But you still broke it, and we formed a contract.”

Then I realized something.

He was handsome, but his expression didn’t change at all.

It felt like a perfectly made doll moving on its own—uncanny.

Still… having a divine beast wasn’t a bad thing.

“Alright. So you’re saying I’m your master?”

“Yes.”

Well, so what if he was stiff.

He was a divine beast!

“Then what should I call you?”

For the first time, his expression shifted slightly.

“…You already named me.”

“When did I—ah. Don’t tell me… Blackie?”

“…Yes.”

Yeah. That’s on me.

I really thought it was a dream.

If I had known I’d actually form a contract with him, I would’ve given him a much cooler name.

Like White Dragon.

Or Hope.

Or something like Jackpot, since it meant good fortune.

I glanced at him carefully.

“…Should I rename you now?”

“It’s too late. Once a divine beast forms a contract, the name cannot be changed—unless you discover my true name.”

“True name? How do I find that?”

“I’ll tell you when the time comes. Right now, you are too weak.”

“…Yeah, fair.”

I couldn’t deny that.

“I will formally greet you, Master.”

He knelt before me, placing a hand over his chest.

“I am the one who received the First Crown, and the one who closes the seasons.”

The air in the office—just a normal afternoon a moment ago—suddenly trembled.

An indescribable sacred force filled the space.

“I am the one who governs water, the one who glimpses the cracks of time, and the one who protects eternally.”

He bent forward and kissed the top of my foot.

“As long as the Master allows it, I swear to live for the Master.”

“…I permit it.”

I said it almost dazedly.

His body began to scatter like white snow.

Then he shrank—smaller and smaller—until a tiny white dragon the size of my palm remained.

“…Huh?”

[Your human form is too much for your current power.]

The voice now came from the small dragon.

He had a long tail and tiny wings on his back.

He walked toward me with short steps.

[Even this form is too much for you right now. But it’s good that you have something nice.]

“What do you mean, something nice?”

[You smell delicious.]

“You have a sense of smell?”

[I’m not a lizard. I’m a dragon. Don’t compare me to one. Look, I even have wings.]

He flapped his wings proudly and tried to fly—

but his round little body barely lifted off the ground.

Even though I knew his real form was an adult man, seeing him like this made him look a little pitiful.

I picked him up and placed him on my lap.

“So what exactly are your abilities?”

[Hard to explain. But I can make it rain wherever you want, or protect you from any weapon.]

Rain? Artificial rain?

My heart nearly stopped.

Did I just contract something incredible?

This was beyond jackpot—this was ultra-mega jackpot.

My luck had finally turned!

Saving this estate was only a matter of time now!

But Blackie immediately crushed my excitement.

[However, my power is currently sealed, so I can’t use it.]

“What? Then how do we unseal it?”

I’m in a hurry.

Tell me quickly.

Do I train? Meditate?

I’m ready for anything.

[Money.]

“…Huh?”

[More specifically, a certain gemstone. The reason I awakened was because of a gem you obtained.]

“A gem? What kind?”

[It smells nice on your desk.]

Blackie wriggled on my lap, then burrowed into the desk drawer and sniffed around.

When I opened it for him, a small jewelry box appeared.

It was filled with expensive gems I had received from Marquis Reholas.

He dug through them and pulled out a blood-red ruby from the bottom.

[I want to eat this.]