Chapter 5

Even while I spent my days busy raising Aksion, I tried to think of a way to keep him from becoming assimilated with the Evil Dragon.

‘Oh? Come to think of it…’

I suddenly remembered something from the original novel.

‘Didn’t Vanilla eventually get a necklace that weakens the Evil Dragon’s power?’

Around the time when Aksion—who tormented Vanilla under the guise of “love”—finally began to truly care for her after a certain incident, Vanilla also began to love him.

‘And that’s when the necklace temporarily cuts off the Evil Dragon’s power.’

But because the original novel was peak-despair, the two of them inevitably fell into another misunderstanding, and the necklace shattered.

‘Which means… Vanilla is the key to severing the Evil Dragon’s power.’

And one of the reasons she became romantically interested in Aksion was his vast knowledge—the survival knowledge he gained from crawling through filth and hardship since childhood.

She’d grown up sheltered and realized she’d been a frog in a well, and that curiosity led her toward him.

‘But right now…’

There was no reason for my Aksion to crawl through mud. I was planning to raise him like the most precious jewel to avoid the bad ending!

‘No, this won’t do. This won’t do at all…’

Even if he avoided the murder route at age seven, if the Evil Dragon issue wasn’t solved, Aksion’s life would still be on a ticking clock.

‘Aksion, who carries the Dragon Heart, may look like an ordinary baby, but he grows up with all his current memories intact.’

Meaning—if he starts learning now, he’ll accumulate far more knowledge than Vanilla.

‘Alright. I should at least try.’

The next morning, after returning from my usual mom-café gathering, I headed to Aksion’s playroom.

While I played with Aksion, Carl sat beside me doing his hobby—needlework.

I casually spoke.

“Carl. Let’s look for a private tutor.”

“…A tutor, my lady? Are you finally thinking about getting proper education yourself?”

“Huh?”

Carl set aside his needlework and stared at me with teary eyes.

According to my memories, Cillia was a farming maniac, yes—but also a top graduate of the Academy.

So what was he talking about?

“Me? What education?”

“Etiquette lessons! We once hired Angela, a very famous etiquette teacher, but she ran away screaming because of you, my lady. And every teacher the master brought afterward also fled in tears. Surely you haven’t forgotten?”

“……”

Now that he mentioned it… something like that did happen.

Why was this body so… extraordinary?

I sighed deeply and shook my head.

“I remember. But I’m not talking about my education. Aksion’s! Aksion’s!”

“…Young Master Aksion?”

Carl tilted his head and glanced at Aksion in my arms.

A moment ago he was grabbing handfuls of my hair and giggling, but now he was fast asleep.

“Young Master Aksion is already perfect. Why would he need a tutor? Hahaha. My lady, such jokes…”

That was clearly a compliment toward Aksion, yet somehow I felt insulted.

I pouted, shoulders slumping.

“Other kids are already getting tutors. What if our Aksion ends up falling behind?”

Behind Vanilla, to be exact!

Carl must have taken my sigh seriously, because he made a troubled sound.

“Hmmm…”

“If he gets looked down on by another kid later… my heart will crumble into pieces.”

“Looked down on?! Who would dare look down on adorable Young Master Aksion?!”

Carl clutched his fabric like he was ready to fight.

I clicked my tongue dramatically.

“You don’t know how harsh kids are these days. Didn’t you see the newspaper about those brats who stole their parents’ carriage and crashed it, and they weren’t even Academy students yet?”

“Good heavens. Really?”

Total lie.

“Yes, really! Kids nowadays are terrifying. Imagine how vicious they must be with kids their own age. It’s a jungle out there.”

“…The Kingdom of Jungle? Which country is that, my lady?”

Ah… Grandpa Carl was way too gullible.

“Anyway, that’s not the point. The tutor. That’s what matters.”

“Hmmm… Now that you say it, perhaps so…”

Carl finally nodded.

Good. Hooked.

“Yes. So let’s hire a tutor.”

Although I was technically the acting head since my brother, Viscount Evanroir, was away, Carl was the one actually running the estate.

Probably because no one trusted the farming-obsessed younger sibling with management.

Even so, I held the authority. One command from me would do it.

But Cillia had grown up with Carl, practically like family. And I, too, didn’t want to order around someone old enough to be my grandfather.

“…Right, my lady. However… there is a problem.”

Carl looked at me with a rather dark expression.

“A problem? What problem?”

He hesitated, then sighed.

“We have no money.”

“…Huh?”

“We don’t have enough funds to hire a tutor. After supporting all the servants of the estate, there’s nothing left.”

What—
WHAT?

I almost jumped up, clutching Aksion tightly.

“Wait, why don’t we have money? We have huge fields and tons of land!”

“That was purchased with the late master’s inheritance. But since you, my lady, have no economic activity, there’s no income. We survive solely on taxes from the territory.”

“What about Silbestine? He must’ve saved money. Being a professor at the Imperial Academy must pay well!”

Silbestine was this body’s older brother.

I couldn’t remember his subject, but he was a professor—a respectable job in a scholar family.

He was currently away for research.

Carl sighed again.

“That money is off-limits.”

“…Why?”

“Because before he left, Master Silbestine strictly ordered me not to let you touch anything except your personal allowance.”

“…What?”

Carl averted his eyes.

“You used the family’s money to buy massive amounts of crop seeds in the past. Apparently the financial damage was catastrophic.”

…
Oh.

“Therefore, if we hire a tutor using your allowance, the household budget will go into the negative. Baby formula and diapers for Young Master Aksion are already expensive enough.”

He gazed into the distance with the weary eyes of a man who has lived through too much.

Then I looked at his needlework again.

Wait… when did he pick up needlework as a hobby?

“I didn’t want to burden you, my lady, but… I suppose I must reveal it now. Sigh.”

“Ugh…”

Seeing the fatigue on Carl’s face, my heart prickled with guilt.

“What about the rice we harvested earlier? That didn’t earn us anything?”

“Rice? You mean that mysterious yellow plant growing in the field?”

“… You didn’t know?”

“Of course not. Two years ago, you said you were ‘researching a new seed.’ I thought you were still trying to understand how to use it.”

Huh?

“But… didn’t you grow it really well last year, my lady? After failing miserably the first year, suddenly you cultivated it perfectly the next?”

“……”

That was the year I possessed this body.

Which meant—before I arrived, Cillia had no idea how to grow rice.

“So I’m the one who grew it well?”

“Pardon?”

“I—I mean, never mind.”

All this shock must’ve messed up my posture.

“Iiiing…”

Aksion squirmed in my arms, about to fuss.

“Let’s talk later.”

“Yes, my lady.”

After soothing Aksion to sleep in the bedroom, I collapsed onto the bed beside him.

Carl said he would finish his needlework and returned to his room.

Blinking slowly on the bed, I muttered:

“So…”

Cillia had gained knowledge of rice farming through books, while I grew up in a country where rice was the staple food and had helped my grandmother grow it.

“Together… we produced results.”

But the harvested rice was still sitting in storage.

Cillia must not have known what to do with it afterward.

“…Then we just sell it.”

I murmured while staring at the ceiling.

If I could sell it, we could hire a tutor. Then Aksion wouldn’t be looked down on by Vanilla.

And that meant no bad ending.

And according to the original timeline, this was exactly the period when this opportunity should appear.

Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

***

But reality slapped me immediately.

Finding someone to buy the rice was far harder than expected.

“This is excellent food, I’m telling you!”

“And why would anyone eat something we’ve never seen before? What if something happens after we eat it?”

Elstern, who had been watching Aksion toddle around like an angel, answered me with a bored expression.

“Ugh…”

Even the Magic Tower wouldn’t buy it.

Everyone reacted the same way:
Why would we risk money on some unknown grain? Who are you that we should trust you?

No one was even willing to consider it.

‘But wasn’t there a past food crisis in—?’

The staple food of this world was something called miar, which looked and behaved like wheat. It grew easily no matter where you planted it.

Thanks to that, the Empire had always enjoyed abundant food.

Until one day—
Suddenly, Miar crops started failing.

That was the beginning of the famine.

In the original story, Aksion was very young when it happened, and the harsh environment shaped much of his early life.

‘Is it not time yet?’

I deflated.

Elstern glanced at me and then casually added:

“Oh right, I visited the Siastor Duchy recently.”

Ah.
He was supposed to look into Vanilla’s studies and tutors.

Not that it mattered—we couldn’t hire one anyway. Sob.

Seeing my shoulders droop and my face darken, Elstern flinched.

He hurriedly added:

“Duke Dazhar mentioned a problem. They need food. A new kind of food.”

“…What?”

“He asked if the Magic Tower could develop a new crop. I told him I’d consider it…”

YES!

I knew it!
This was exactly the timing!

“Elstern!”

I rushed toward him with sparkling eyes, like he was my savior.

Then I grabbed both of his thin, bony hands.

“Introduce me to the Duke!”

“Gah—L-Lady, it hurts! It hurts!!”

His voice shrank, then faded as he slumped to the floor.

Like a fragile little sunfish…