Chapter 14  

I fell into deep thought.

Was there any reason to drag that trash heap of men to work on my rice field?

The answer was obvious: No. Absolutely not.

‘I’ll just find other workers.’

With that thought, I began quietly backing away, keeping a perfectly frozen expression.

And then—

“Huh?”

Leon spotted me.

His silver hair and red eyes narrowed as he pointed his finger at me.

A pang stabbed my heart.

Those silver hair and red eyes were the exact reason he had been my favorite.

Was… was my favorite character actually this kind of guy?

Had I misunderstood him all along?

How humiliating.

“Am I drunk? I’m seeing a woman.”

“What? A woman? WHERE? WHERE?!”

The bald knight popped up and dramatically clasped his hands at me.

“Oh my gosh—finally! A woman has joined our gourmet club!”

Wrong. Completely wrong.

As the crowd turned into a marketplace, Leon staggered toward me, lamb skewer in hand, reeking of alcohol.

I subtly hid Aksion behind me.

“Who are youuu?”

Leon picked his ear and stared at me. I answered flatly:

“Nobody.”

He tilted his head.

“So I’m seeing things?”

“Yes.”

“Heh, funny joke.”

He shoved the lamb skewer toward me.

“Want to join our club?”

“No.”

I refused instantly.

Leon’s face fell like a kicked puppy.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

His shoulders drooped.
The skewer drooped with him.

“Aww… we were saving up membership fees to buy a magic oven…”

While he mumbled pathetically, a tiny hand suddenly reached toward the lamb skewer.

Aksion’s hand.

“A-boo! Uwaa!”

“Huh? You want to eat?”

“Uuung!”

“Okay!”

“NOPE.”

I smacked his hand away before that drunk madman could feed my baby meat.

The skewer fell to the ground.

“My lamb skewer!”

“He’s one year old! You can’t give a one-year-old lamb!”

Watching silver hair and red eyes move in front of me was enchanting for about 0.1 seconds.

The smell of alcohol wiped out the charm instantly.

“I just remembered, His Grace said to help some young lady or something.”

A bronze-skinned knight—yes, the one who’d been salt-flogged earlier—spoke while secretly inhaling another skewer.

The bald guy blinked stupidly.

“Ohhh, yeah… I think so?”

“What the hell? Why am I not aware of this?” Leon complained, brushing dirt off the fallen skewer.

“Because you became captain for your grilling skills. Hihihihihihi!”

A knight rolling on the ground giggled.

“Ah, right.”

Leon said mindlessly and bit into the dirty skewer.

I covered Aksion’s eyes.

If I had two more hands, I would’ve covered his ears too.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Eh…?”

Yup. I was done. Absolutely done with them.

I needed to erase this entire experience before it corrupted my memories of the original novel.

These were not the Black Hawks.

These were trash, just like Dazhar said.

‘There will be trash there. Pick out whatever can be recycled.’

Recycled?
I scanned the group again.

The bronze knight who stole the skewers was now getting beaten by the others.

Apparently, getting caught stealing triggered their “brotherly discipline.”

“Is this bastard doing this on purpose?”

“Die. Just die, you bastard.”

Nope. Nothing recyclable here.

“Hate to say this, miss, but we’re busy.”

I had already said goodbye and turned to leave, but Leon—late, drunk, and unwanted—stopped me.

He tossed the empty skewer aside and scratched his head.

“See that sign? Gourmet Club. Our motto is slacking off, you know? So, we can’t help you.”

He grinned like an idiot.

They were truly beyond salvage.

“Ah. Okay. Thanks.”

Thanks for nothing.

***

I escaped the trash pile and sprinted with Aksion in my arms.

The moment I reached our assigned annex, I yelled:

“Grandpa! Watch Aksion for a second!”

“Huh?!”

Carl, mid-sip of his carp juice, almost dropped the baby.
His juice splattered onto the window, but I had no time to care.

I clenched my fists, braced my toes, and took off running again.

Toward that insane father-in-law wannabe who had pointed me straight into that garbage dump.

According to the attendants—whose collars I grabbed—he was in his office.

“HEY!”

“What now?”

He was sitting on a wide windowsill with his long legs stretched out, a pipe lazily hanging from his lips.

He looked annoyingly relaxed.

The pipe slipped a little from surprise.

“What? Did the sky fall?”

He snatched the pipe before it dropped and glanced at the sky.

The white curtains fluttered gently in the winter breeze—an oddly beautiful sight that didn’t match the barbarian sitting there.

But I had no time to appreciate aesthetics.

I was out of breath from running nonstop.

My chest rose and fell as I gasped.

“The sky—huff—didn’t fall…”

My favorite character did, though, I grumbled internally, wiping sweat from my forehead.

He hopped down from the window and walked toward me.

As I noticed earlier, there were barely any attendants around him.

A duke should have servants everywhere, but he was practically alone.

Even when I barged in loudly, no one came.

He tilted his head and looked down at me.

“If the sky didn’t fall, did the ground collapse?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

“Know what? ”

“Those TRASH people! How am I supposed to find workers among that mess?! Give me other people!”

“Ah.”

He finally seemed to realize what I meant—then wore an exaggeratedly troubled look.

Completely fake.

“What should I do…”

“?”

I felt uneasy.

He lifted one long finger and spun it around his temple.

“At the Siastor estate, we don’t keep many servants. Just the minimum number.”

“And?”

“And because of the nature of our family, we don’t hire people from outside.”

“…”

“So the only labor you can use is… those guys.”

“…”

“Good luck.”

He grinned widely.

I suddenly had the primal urge to grab a fistful of that salt the bald knight threw earlier and fling it in this jerk’s face.

It might make me feel a little better.

“You expect me to build a rice field with people who drink all day and roll in the dirt?!”

“If you don’t like it, do it alone.”

“How can I build a rice field ALONE?! Then at least give me the imperial workers you said would come for training!”

He responded kindly—too kindly.

“They’re not from the Siastor family. Want to treat imperial personnel like your own servants?”

“Ugh.”

Even the commoners in his duchy couldn’t be used.
Transcendent households didn’t keep residents like normal nobles.

Because they guarded dimensional rifts, they had no capacity to manage citizens on top of that.

‘Ughhhh…’

Did this madman become my in-law in a past life?
Does he hold a personal grudge against me?

This was a direct attack on my sanity.

Images of those drunken idiots rolling on the training grounds flashed before my eyes.

My face twisted in despair.

His lips curled into a wicked smirk.