🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 27
I was so dumbfounded that my lips parted uselessly before I finally pushed myself up into a sitting position on the bed and asked the girl,
“Um… who are you?”
“That’s what I want to ask.”
“…?”
What was with this confidence?
Could she be the owner of this room or something? Otherwise, it’s hard to explain just how confident she is.
As I stood there flustered, the girl reached out her hand toward me. Her fingers were each a joint longer than mine.
“Hello. I’m Susan. So, who are you?”
“I’m Riena.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
I took her hand without really thinking, and my own hand slipped right into hers as if it were a baby’s. I blinked.
This feels strangely familiar.
It felt like I’d seen a hand this big somewhere before.
Anyway, introductions were fine—but the problem came after that.
“……”
“……”
In the end, we were complete strangers who knew nothing beyond each other’s names, so there was nothing left to say.
She could at least let go of my hand.
Why was she gripping it so tightly? I looked at Susan with a stiff expression.
And where did Luilui run off to at a time like this?
This was awkward. Painfully awkward. Awkward enough that I almost wanted a sword that could at least buzz around to fill the silence.
After exchanging glances with Susan for a moment, I forced an awkward smile and spoke.
“Just in case—this is my room. The lord told me to stay here.”
So if you came into the wrong room, please leave.
That was what I meant, roundabout as it was. I expected her to immediately say, Oh, I’m sorry, and head out—but instead, Susan’s eyes sparkled as she replied,
“I know. I came to the right place.”
“You came to the right place?”
“I came to see you.”
“Me?”
When I pointed at myself to confirm she really meant me, Susan nodded. I tilted my head.
“Why on earth would you come to see me?”
Instead of answering, Susan simply gave me a meaningful smile.
What a strange person.
That was the conclusion I finally reached as I stood up.
When someone makes you uncomfortable, common sense says you change locations, right?
I’ll go down to the garden.
And maybe I’d find Kamin there.
I slipped off the bed, threw a shawl over my light clothes, and stepped outside. Susan followed right behind me, her footsteps steady.
She’s following me?
Wasn’t she really strange?
Or… could she be a ghost only I can see?!
The thought startled me. A chill ran through me as I hugged my arms and cautiously glanced back, checking whether Susan had feet—whether there was a shadow beneath her.
Meeting my gaze, Susan tilted her head and asked,
“Where are you going?”
“For a walk.”
“Oh, a walk. Walks are nice. You like moving your body—pass.”
“…?”
What kind of thought process led to passing or failing someone over that?
Fortunately, a long shadow stretched beneath Susan’s feet. The maids we passed in the corridor bowed politely to her as well.
Thank goodness. She must be someone they know.
At least she wasn’t something only I could see. Just knowing she wasn’t suspicious in that way made me feel much lighter.
As we walked into the garden, the crisp freshness of the morning air rushed over me. Walking along the neatly laid stone path, Susan—who’d been following me like a ghost—rested both hands on the back of her head and asked,
“Do you like Fostin?”
“I love Fostin. The people here are generous, and the lady lord is very straightforward.”
If the lady lord hadn’t been that kind of person, I probably wouldn’t have been able to succeed in farming in the first place.
When I praised Fostin sincerely, Susan pursed her lips in a strange way and replied,
“But the Empire is much better.”
“…?”
The Empire, out of nowhere?
I was born in the Kingdom. I’d never even been to the Empire that bordered it—nor had I ever met anyone from there.
As I tilted my head in confusion, her next question was even stranger.
“Then what do you think of His Majesty the Emperor?”
“Pardon?”
Why was the Emperor suddenly coming up now? Startled, I turned around.
Walking beneath the sunlight, Susan looked like a mischievous child. I tilted my head and said,
“You’ve been really strange since earlier. I can’t follow the flow of your questions.”
For the first time, a look of confusion crossed Susan’s face. I tilted my head again.
Is there some rumor going around that I’m going to the Empire?
Or do they want my crops in the Empire?
Ah, if that’s it, that’d be amazing.
Riena Farm’s produce exported worldwide! Honestly, the quality could stand up to anything.
If the meal-kit business I’m starting could expand into the Empire, that’d be great.
After all, Fostin was within the Kingdom but close to the Empire.
“Uh, um, well…”
Susan kept opening and closing her lips, as if unsure what to say. As I waited absentmindedly, my gaze caught on some tiny red berries, no bigger than my pinky nail.
“Oh—wait a moment.”
I quickly slipped the shawl from my shoulders and spread it wide in both hands like a cloth. Then I plucked one of the red berries. Clusters of tiny beads formed a single fruit, red as blood—
“Wild raspberries were growing here?”
“Wild raspberries?”
They weren’t mock strawberries—they were real, edible wild raspberries! And there were tons of them. Overjoyed, I squatted down and eagerly picked them, tossing each one into my shawl.
Watching me, Susan tilted her head and stepped closer.
“That’s a wild raspberry?”
“Want to try one?”
I held one out to her. Susan narrowed her eyes and stared at it as though it were extremely suspicious.
“Do you not need to wash it?”
At that, I burst out laughing. In a world where people brushed dirt off fallen food and ate it anyway, worrying about washing wild raspberries was funny.
“It’s not like we’re burning oil and coal everywhere. No need to fuss over fruit washing—just eat it.”
“Oil? Coal?”
She probably wouldn’t understand even if I explained. I placed the raspberry into Susan’s hand.
“Go on, try it. I’ll pick the rest.”
Was this a Korean trait? When I couldn’t find wild raspberries, I’d been perfectly relaxed—but the moment I saw them, I felt like I had to pick every last one as fast as possible.
As I hurriedly plucked them, Susan—still eyeing the berry suspiciously—carefully brought it to her mouth. She chewed a little, then tilted her head.
“It tastes strange. It looks really sour, but when you eat it, it’s bland.”
“But it turns sour when you make jam.”
“You make jam? Yourself?”
“Of course. Why would I make someone else prepare what I’m going to eat?”
Susan looked utterly unconvinced. For some reason, she reminded me of Kamin when we first met, and I smiled. I beckoned her over.
“Come help me pick them, and I’ll make you some delicious wild raspberry iced tea. Sweet and tart—it’s really good. Drinking it after a morning walk will make you feel even better.”
“Alright.”
Susan sat down beside me. Carefully gripping one berry, she asked,
“Like this?”
“You’re doing well.”
“My fingertips are getting stained red.”
“That’s why you need to hold it gently so it doesn’t burst.”
“Hm.”
Susan looked down at her fingers, then stuck out her tongue and licked the red juice. She frowned and complained,
“This really doesn’t taste like anything.”
“Just trust me and keep picking.”
Once she drank my special wild raspberry iced tea, her eyes would light right up.
I could already taste that sweet yet slightly bitter flavor on my tongue.
While Riena was having her future sister-in-law pick wild raspberries…
Louis Garbon Bontoir the Third was with Kamin.
Kamin wasn’t one to sleep much. He rose early, trained, and then handled his duties. If something truly urgent came up, he’d even dash to the Empire via a teleport zone. But today wasn’t one of those days.
Floating along to find Kamin, Louis secretly observed him as he swung his sword earnestly in the training grounds.
As I thought. He may look gentle, but he’s of the Maréchal bloodline.
The force behind the sword was no joke—even though it was just a worn wooden practice blade.
Well, that’s why I chose a Maréchal as my master in the first place.
As Louis’s thoughts grew hazy, he recalled an adventure from hundreds of years ago: a young man with washed-out, pale golden hair who had come seeking him, claiming he would slay a dragon while leading his companions.
“The strongest needs the strongest sword. One like you. Will you join my adventure?”
Captivated by his confidence, Louis had chosen him as his master. That young man went on to become not just a great hero, but the emperor of a vast empire. He freed all the slaves within his realm and abolished countless evils.
He was undeniably a great emperor—someone worthy of respect. Yet Louis gradually grew lonely. More often than not, he was simply hung on display rather than wielded.
Even so, I stayed by him out of affection.
After Louis became a symbol of the emperor, countless successors treated him as nothing more than a ceremonial sword. What kept Louis enduring was the shadow of his original master he sometimes glimpsed on their faces.
But that patience ended with the previous generation. That man was utterly hopeless—and couldn’t even hear Louis’s voice.
When the emperor divorced Lady Aurelian, Louis quietly rode out of the Empire in Lady Aurelian’s carriage. It was his way of declaring that he would never again foolishly feel attachment to or protect an emperor of the Empire.
And yet—to think he would meet that lineage again here, in distant Fostin.
