CLWE 02

Chapter 2

Of all times, why did my memories have to come back now? Knowing the original story and still getting blindsided by it made me feel even worse.

“Suddenly becoming a commoner… getting kicked out with nothing like this. How am I supposed to live from now on?”

Should I cling to the door and beg them not to do this?

As I was turning these thoughts over in my head, a small voice called out to me from a corner.

“Miss, come this way.”

“Nanny!”

The nanny who had raised me until now was calling me. When I followed her, a carriage that had already been prepared was waiting with its door open.

“Where are we going? Did Father prepare a place for me?”

Had my tears finally softened his heart?

“No…”

…No, that wasn’t it.

Seeing my dazed expression, the nanny lowered her head as she answered.

“The master ordered that you be driven out. But how could I send you away like that? For now, we’ll go to my hometown. The local lord there is a good man, so the area is safe.”

“Nanny…”

I knew she had done her best. Still, I couldn’t help feeling lost. As I climbed into the carriage and let out a sigh, she spoke with a troubled expression.

“Please don’t lose heart. The master knows this isn’t your fault. He probably means for you to endure things quietly until public opinion settles down.”

I don’t think so.

As she tried to comfort me, I thought to myself:

In the later parts of the novel I read, Riena Pond never appears again. This is the end.

Maybe she just got sick and died on the streets. Like I’d said before, in this world, only the strong survive if you don’t have money.

Inside the carriage, I grabbed at my hair.

“Ugh, if only my memories had come back a little sooner. Why now of all times? If I’d known earlier, I could’ve changed something—anything.”

Changed things.

In other words, I wouldn’t have been discarded like a worn-out shoe by Crown Prince David.

But that guy is the very embodiment of selfishness—only caring about himself.

Crown Prince David couldn’t consider others, was arrogant, and completely self-righteous.

That was exactly why he fell deeply in love with Kang Sena, the otherworldly girl who talked about equality. It was basically the cliché of “You’re the first woman who ever hit me.”

Even if I hadn’t been abandoned by him, would my life really have been happy?

Men like that are only good in novels. Live with one in real life and you’d go bald from stress.

The memories I shared with Riena weren’t particularly happy either, even if others might have seen her life as glamorous and wealthy.

Fine. Let’s think of it as gaining freedom. I’ll finally live my own life.

With that thought, I crossed my arms and closed my eyes. Maybe because the tension had eased, sleep came easily. I must have dozed off for a moment, leaning against the carriage door.

When I opened my eyes again, the carriage had stopped in a quiet rural village. The nanny hugged me tightly, tears streaming down her face.

“This is as far as I can take you. I’m so sorry, miss.”

What sin did she commit? If anyone was at fault, it was Crown Prince David, who dumped his fiancée because he saw an otherworldly woman and decided he liked something new.

I patted the nanny on the shoulder.

“No, nanny. This must have been a huge risk for you too. Just bringing me here meant you were prepared to face Father’s anger.”

“Miss…”

“Go back safely. If we ever meet again, I’ll repay this kindness.”

“Don’t worry, miss. We’ll definitely meet again.”

She added, in a somewhat uneasy tone,

“When you become ‘useful,’ the duke will come looking for you again.”

“…”

The word useful felt strangely sad. I frowned.

They’re not keeping me somewhere they can keep track of me, just in case… right?

No—this was the nanny we were talking about. She wouldn’t do that.

I must have been overly sensitive because of the broken engagement. I shook my head, saw the nanny off, and opened the door to the old house.

The long-abandoned house smelled of damp earth. The same was true of the bed, made of straw that had soaked up moisture.

Normally, I shouldn’t have been able to sleep—but maybe I was just too tired. Sleep kept pulling me under.

Well, at least I’m not sleeping on bare ground.

Thinking that, I closed my eyes.

The next day.

When I woke up, the sense of hopelessness was overwhelming.

I look like a total beggar.

I’d finally been born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and yet I’d been pushed out just like that.

Now this is a dirt-spoon life if there ever was one.

I knew the nanny had helped me at great personal cost, but honestly, this house wasn’t good.

The roof leaked rain, the walls let in drafts, and they weren’t even made of brick—just roughly propped-up, rotting wood.

Empty jars that looked like they once stored grain were lined up against the wall, and the only thing to drink was rainwater.

Ah… so this is real life.

What do I mean? Life isn’t theory—it’s practice.

Judging by the condition of the house, the nanny must have left here long ago.

Luckily, in my previous life I’d done volunteer housing repairs, so even a place shared with stink bugs and termites didn’t shock me too much.

I can fix this. Not as well as back then, but still.

I was an amateur, and I didn’t have proper tools—but if I didn’t want bugs crawling into my mouth while I slept, I had to do something.

More importantly, if I just sit around doing nothing, I’ll starve to death.

The house only had enough dry bread to last about a week—the nanny had left it behind. Once that was gone, there’d be nothing to eat.

Dying in a gas explosion at work during overtime was bad enough—was I really going to starve to death in my next life?

I couldn’t live like this.

I got up with determination. Fortunately, the empire Riena lived in had a climate similar to South Korea.

That meant the kinds of plants growing here were similar too!

When I climbed the hill behind the house, edible plants were growing everywhere. It seemed like land that had once been farmed and then abandoned, so the roots had remained.

This one’s edible, this one isn’t… not sure about rice, though. Koreans live on rice.

I gathered only what I could eat, and it was enough to fill my stomach.

After escaping the immediate threat of starvation, I began putting my knowledge to use.

First, I need to plant staple crops. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, barley—things like that.

Luckily, land was plentiful around here. Empty plots were everywhere.

If this were Korea, there’s no way. Any empty land would already be full of lettuce.

For me, that was good news.

Like someone from the Neolithic Age, I made a stone hoe, tilled the soil, and planted sweet potatoes using vines I’d happened to find.

The house was terrible, but the rainwater cistern was so huge that five people could fit inside it, so water wasn’t a problem.

By the time I’d gotten used to a Bear Grylls–style life, villagers came to visit. They’d heard from the nanny that someone had started living here, but since they hadn’t seen anyone, they’d gotten curious.

In other words, they came to see whether I was alive or dead.

“Whoa! Mom! There’s a person over there!!”

“Is that really a young lady? She looks so shabby.”

“She’s even raising a hen?”

“Hey—wait, isn’t that our chicken?”

Your chicken? Anything that wanders onto my land is mine.

I’d caught a chicken that had been clucking around in the bushes and started raising it—it must have escaped from the village.

Absolutely not giving it back. It’s my only source of protein.

Without even eggs, I’d basically be living like a monk on a vegetarian diet. That was non-negotiable.

If they ask for the chicken, I’ll chase them off.

Thinking that, I greeted the villagers. I’d just finished roasting sweet potatoes, so I held some out to them.

“Care for a sweet potato?”

Ah—maybe my way of speaking got a bit strange since it’d been so long since I’d talked to people.

Anyway, the sweet potatoes were delicious, and the villagers—who had never known such a tasty famine food existed—begged me for more with tears in their eyes.

“How much is an apple here?”

“Three apples for one copper coin.”

So that was the price of fruit.

“In that case, six sweet potatoes for one copper.”

There’s no such thing as a free lunch. I sold the sweet potatoes for money.

When the villagers saw my neatly tilled fields, they quickly forgot that I was the “duke’s daughter who suddenly became a commoner” the nanny had described.

Well, even I wouldn’t believe it was the same person.

Instead, they called me “Riena of the Red Roof,” teasing me about my bright red hair.

I didn’t dislike the nickname. So when I bought the house I now live in, I painted the roof red.

That’s quite an achievement, isn’t it?

That’s right—don’t underestimate me. I own my own house now. I’m a homeowner!

Sniff… even snails have their own houses, and I didn’t for so long. But now I do!

The door under the red roof was painted green.

A farmer’s color.

And it wasn’t just a house. I now had vast fields, an orchard, and workers who labored there.

All of that had taken just three years to build.

No matter how I think about it, that was some incredible adaptability.

I praised myself as I looked back on the years gone by.

That said, it hadn’t been easy at all.

It all started with sweet potatoes, but I couldn’t rely on a single product forever.

More importantly, sweet potatoes were common enough in this area that people could easily get vines themselves. After some time, instead of buying from me, villagers started growing their own.

Of course, until they managed that, I’d made enough money.

So this time, I need a new crop.

And the next target I chose was apples.

With the money I’d saved from selling sweet potatoes, I bought a modest house that came with a single apple tree.

Watching closely, I noticed that everyone in this village sold their apples as soon as they grew.

But anyone who knows even a little about farming understands how much effort it takes to produce beautiful apples without insect damage.

And only by putting in that effort can you sell them at a higher price than everyone else.