🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 3
Of course, effort alone wasn’t enough. Skill and knowledge were required, too.
“Pretty crops need an enormous amount of fertilizer. You have to bag them so insects don’t get to them, and raise them like your own children.”
Just bearing a lot of fruit doesn’t make it good. To grow beautiful, high-quality apples, you have to be bold and leave only the ones that have real potential.
“So… I’m sorry! Sacrifice yourselves for the greater good!”
With tears in my eyes, I cut away the small apples.
After all that hard work, the apples that grew at our house were bright red, glossy, and perfectly round. More than anything, they were unbelievably large—so big they couldn’t be compared to what other people were selling.
Those were my apples.
“Ah… I’m nervous.”
I harvested one apple as a test and rubbed its surface with my sleeve. It shone, revealing a vivid red color—just like my hair.
“Color: pass. Aroma: pass.”
So what about the taste?
My hands trembled as I brought the apple closer. There were only a few apples, after all; it was impossible not to be tense.
After hesitating for a moment, I slowly opened my lips and took a bite.
Crunch!
A sound anyone could hear—the juice bursting out!
The instant it filled my mouth, a delicate harmony of refreshing tartness and sweetness surged in.
Truly delicious.
“Sniff… I did it.”
As the juice lingered in my mouth, it felt as though all the effort I’d poured in over the past year to bring this beautiful child into the world was being repaid in full.
I was moved, but for the villagers—who had only ever seen small, misshapen apples—it was nothing short of a revolution. They cried out in shock.
“I’ve never seen apples this big and beautiful!”
“This is the biggest apple I’ve seen in my life!”
“This should be offered to the lord!”
At that, my face scrunched up.
“The lord? Why is the lord coming up now?”
I wouldn’t say I had anarchist tendencies, but irritation surged the moment I heard it.
“What has that so-called lord ever done for me that I should offer him anything?”
While I was being dumped by my fiancé, coming out to this countryside with nothing, hoeing sweet potatoes and growing apples, what was the lord who ruled this land doing?
“Absolutely not. These are my apples!”
But even though I never said I’d offer them, the villagers took it upon themselves to drag me before the lord.
“Ugh, the meddling. This is when it kicks in.”
Honestly, the villagers were practically accomplices, so I shot them annoyed looks.
I only went along to see what kind of person the lord was, but I had no idea it would end up changing my life.
Contrary to my expectations, the lord was an elderly woman. When she saw the apple in my arms, her eyes widened in surprise.
“This enormous thing is an apple? What on earth did you do? It’s as if you used magic.”
Seeing how amazed she was made me feel proud, and my twisted mood melted away. I shrugged and replied,
“I’m a farming genius.”
For a first harvest, it was an excellent result. I was positively puffed up.
“Look at my apples. Aren’t they pretty? Amazing, right? Makes you want to call me a genius, doesn’t it?”
Then the old lady lord’s face scrunched up.
“A farming genius? Aren’t you the young lady of the Pond Ducal House?”
“…You knew who I was?”
“Of course. How could I not? I’ve always received reports that you were doing well. I assumed they were lies.”
“Haha.”
If I were in her position, I’d assume the same—reports that a ducal lady who suddenly retired to the countryside was farming would sound fake.
“She probably thought I was just hiring people with money.”
Well, surprise! I really did farm with my own hands.
Since she already knew I was once a ducal lady, there was no need to be humble anymore. I said boldly,
“One gold.”
“…One gold? You’re asking for money?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
After all the hardship I went through to grow these, why would I just give them away?
I had truly done my best, and that was why I could stand proudly now.
“These are apples I raised like my own children, so I should be paid. There are only twenty this year, which makes them even more valuable.”
“There are twenty more apples like this?!”
The lord, who had been startled by my demand for money, nearly fainted and sprang to her feet at the mention of twenty apples.
Then she narrowed her eyes and asked,
“Have you never considered that if you gave this to me as a gift, you might receive a reward greater than one gold?”
“I’m not into gambling.”
My life philosophy was simple: even if you might gain ten, if there’s a chance you’ll gain nothing, I don’t like it.
“Ho ho ho, what a bold young lady.”
The old lord let out a hearty laugh.
“You’re nothing like the rumors! I thought you’d come crying to the castle gates within a week.”
“Hahaha.”
But I survived on my own—three whole years!
I smiled brightly. The sharp corners of the old lord’s eyes softened.
She sat back down and asked in a relaxed tone,
“Can you grow other fruits as well?”
“Of course. The peaches I grow are very sweet and soft—the flesh just pops in your mouth.”
At my words, I saw her swallow. I hadn’t mentioned peaches carelessly. Even elders with bad teeth can enjoy peaches!
“How about it? Soft, tender peaches. Tempting, right? Want some?”
After a brief struggle, the old lord took the bait. In a solemn voice, she said,
“I will employ you as my castle’s gardener. Grow fruit trees there.”
An ordinary person might have prostrated themselves in honor, but I shook my head.
“I don’t take subcontract work.”
“What?”
Subcontracting is always the problem—someone ends up sitting back and raking in money.
I looked her straight in the eye and said,
“Wouldn’t it be more profitable to grow and sell directly than to take a salary? Why would I choose that?”
At my clear, confident answer, the old lord rested her chin on her hand, intrigued.
“Then how do you plan to do it? I know the Pond Ducal House has completely cut you off—you have no one to rely on.”
That much was obvious just from looking at my worn, dirt-streaked appearance. But I was confident in my abilities. I answered cheerfully,
“Invest in me.”
“Bold indeed.”
The old lord smiled, her wrinkled eyes curving. Sensing that my proposal had more than halfway succeeded, I pushed further.
“And I’d like you to protect me. When someone without backing suddenly has money, bad things tend to happen.”
“Very well.”
She nodded readily, then gave orders to her aide.
“Give the young lady everything she asks for. And go to her house and bring back all the apples—not a single one left behind.”
I sold all the apples and received twenty gold coins from the old lord. The following year, I grew incredibly sweet peaches, and she bought those too at a high price.
She boasted about the huge apples and peaches to neighboring lords, and soon offers of sponsorship and purchase came flooding in.
I evolved from an ordinary farmer into a large-scale one. I bought land at proper prices, hired people, and raised chickens and pigs.
“Ah… no wonder someone would reincarnate into this.”
By any measure, it was a successful life.
Of course, from time to time, the mischievous old lord would toss questions at me.
“They say Crown Prince David—the one you kicked to the curb—got married. Aren’t you curious about what happened afterward?”
“No, not at all.”
“…If he hadn’t changed his mind, you’d be queen now. Are you really not curious?”
“No.”
I wasn’t being polite; I genuinely wasn’t curious. Even in Princess Maker, if you max out physical strength, you become a farmer. Not everyone needs to be a princess or queen.
“People should live doing what they’re good at.”
My mother hated that I farmed, but I liked it. No special reason—farming doesn’t betray your effort.
“The more care I put in, the trees and soil give back beautiful results.”
And now the proof of that effort—a vast farm—lay right before my eyes.
“I’m satisfied. This is the best.”
I thought my second life would end peacefully as a wealthy farmer—but dark clouds appeared just as I finished harvesting this year’s apples.
After that, I became close friends with the old lord, and no one in the village dared to mess with me under her favor.
“Mess with me and what? Everyone works on my farm.”
I was the land’s new power holder.
“What should I grow next?”
Thinking that, I walked the boundary of my land with my hands clasped behind my back when something caught my eye.
Covered in yellow-brown rust and in terrible shape, it was badly worn—but enough to make my eyes light up.
An L-shaped form, a long, sleek straight line, and a curve.
It was a hoe.
“My goodness! How could something this precious be here?!”
Since coming to this world, the thing I missed most had been a hoe. These people farmed using flower trowels instead. But hoes are so much better!
“You’re mine now!”
Reunited with a long-missed farming tool, I hugged the hoe with a beaming smile.
The hoe spoke at that very moment.
—Are you my new master?
I wasn’t particularly surprised, for two reasons.
First, the hoe was too precious and welcome.
Second, this was a world where magic wouldn’t be strange.
“Though I haven’t actually seen any magic in four years…”
Anyway, people said magic existed.
