Anje stared intently at the pink object that had suddenly appeared in front of her nose.
“…A flower?”
“Yes.”
It was a delicate, open flower with a yellow stamen in the center, white in the middle and gradually turning pink towards the edges.
“What is this?”
“It’s a wild rose. You said you’ve seen a lot of roses in the capital already, but I thought you might not have seen wild roses since you’ve only seen cultivated varieties.”
Anje almost burst out laughing, but she barely managed to hold it in.
“No, I’m not curious about the type of flower… What’s your intention?”
“Oh, it’s a gift of apology. Flowers… I thought you might like them.”
He was frustrated with himself for not being more articulate. When he tried to speak awkwardly, his tongue kept getting tied up.
He should have listened more carefully to what the noblemen in the palace were saying. The women they talked to always burst out laughing.
Anje tried her best to maintain her resentment for him.
“Hmph, I don’t need it. I already have a lot of flowers. In the flowerbed too… Wait, what’s wrong with your hand?”
“Ah.”
He belatedly became aware of his own hand at her comment. His hands were scratched and bruised from being pricked by the sharp thorns on the rose stem.
“I forgot to bring a knife, so I picked it with my bare hands…”
He was pricked again while removing the thorns one by one, worried that Anje’s delicate skin might be wounded by the thorns.
TL/N: AWW!
Above her green eyes like like emerald leaves, her red-tinged gold eyelashes fluttered.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“My hand skin is thick, so it’s fine. I also managed to pull out the thorns that were stuck.”
Overwhelmed by an indescribable feeling, she took the flower that had come closer.
“…Thank you.”
It was a simple gift compared to the huge bouquets or baskets she had received in the capital. There was no fancy ribbon or card either.
However, no one had ever prepared a gift for her by hurting themselves like this. They had simply given money to the gardener or the owner of the flower garden and ordered them to do it.
Anje felt a prickling pain in her heart and covered the part with her other hand that was not holding the flower.
“You went through all this trouble and even got hurt.”
“It’s nothing.”
Aiden’s face brightened. He was worried that such a modest gift would not be enough, but he was glad that she didn’t refuse it.
“Wait a minute, stay here.”
Anje walked over to the stream’s edge and rinsed the handkerchief she had just used to wipe her sweat in the running water. Then she returned to Aiden and began to gently clean his injured hands with the now cold handkerchief.
“Oh, it’s fine.”
“You said that if you didn’t clean the wound properly, it could get infected. Don’t you remember saying that yourself?”
“That’s… true.”
In fact, before meeting her, he had already given his dirt-stained hands a quick wipe because they looked too dirty.
However, while she gently wiped every corner of his hands with the cold damp handkerchief, he didn’t resist and quietly surrendered his hands.
Her gentle touch felt through the thin fabric. Could this be interpreted as a sign that she accepted his apology? After some deliberation, he repeated his apology from earlier.
“I’m sorry for everything.”
“It’s okay, I’ve said a lot of harsh things to you too.”
With her head bowed, focusing on his wounds, Aiden couldn’t tell what kind of expression she was making. The only thing that was clear was that she didn’t sound as angry as before.
After a moment of silence, he began to talk about the conclusion he had reached while tending to the rose that day.
“So… about the pigs.”
“Pa-Pi-Pu.”
“Yes, Pa-Pi-Pu. If you’re not really okay with it, I can just…”
He was about to say that it was okay to keep them. He thought it would be better to take a slight loss and raise the three pigs than to continue this awkward relationship with her.
However, unexpectedly, Anje cut him off.
“It’s okay, I was being stubborn.”
“What…?”
“You said that the meat I ate deliciously was all obtained that way. This is a farm, so we should follow the rules of the farm.”
She knew in her head that it was right. This was a rural farm, and if the farmers didn’t slaughter the livestock they raised because they were attached to them, they would starve.
However, she was so fond of Pa-Pi-Pu and was angry and resentful of Aiden’s attitude for not understanding her feelings.
Seeing his sincerity and genuine apology, she let go of the resentment in her heart and started to think more rationally.
Maybe it was also because of the sweat she had shed from chasing him around.
“Let’s do it your way,
“Alr…”
“But I’d rather you not do it in front of me, if possible.”
Seeing her pink lips trembling uncontrollably, Aiden felt a tightness in his throat as if a thorn was stuck there.
However, unable to find either the cause or the solution to this tightness, he hesitated and barely managed to come up with a decent answer.
Thank you for understanding. Then I’ll sell them to a suitable… dealer instead of slaughtering them myself.”
“That would be good.”
Just like her current self.
Aiden scuffed the dirt with his toes, creating a small hole before he finally found the words to say.
“Shall we… go back?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
With a heavy heart, Aiden followed her a few steps behind her.
He had succeeded in catching up with her, but he still felt like her heart was in a place he couldn’t reach.
* * *
After Anje and Aiden had a major argument and then reconciled, their routine resumed for a few weeks.
They cooked together, shared lively conversations, and enjoyed the fruits of their work, laughter, and occasional quarrels.
“What should we make with all these?”
Anje groaned, looking at the pile of raspberries. She had gone overboard on raspberry picking, and even after making jam and wine, there was still a lot left in storage.
“There are a lot of things we can make. raspberry juice, raspberry tart… we can also dry them and make cookies later.”
Anje wanted to try making everything, and Aiden happily shared the recipes he knew.
Drinking raspberry juice with thin lemon slices or enjoying crispy raspberry tarts with strong-brewed tea made their “high tea” time delightful.
Their farm work also regained its previous vigor. Together, they sowed perilla seeds and harvested spinach, green onions, cabbages, and cucumbers when they were ready.
The table full of vegetables grown with their own sweat was so rich that its legs would buckle.
“The food looks especially delicious today.”
“I tried my best.”
Two “cucumber boats” were placed on the edge of the table, one for each of Anje and Aiden.
It was a simple dish made by mixing canned tuna, chopped carrots, and spices into macaroni, and placing it on top of a cucumber that had been halved and had its seeds scooped out.
“How is it?”
“It’s fresh and crispy, yet salty… It’s delicious!”
Despite her limited vocabulary, Anje enthusiastically devoured the cucumber boats.
After sweating through their work, the water-laden cucumbers felt refreshing to her soul.
He ladled out the stew that was boiling in the pot and placed it in front of Anje.
“This is…”
“Chou en garbure. Cabbage soup.”
“I didn’t know I’d see this dish again here, the one I had at the Duke’s mansion.”
It was a foreign dish that Aiden’s mother often made, and it was a delicious soup that was even better when made with summer cabbage, even though it took a long time to cook.
‘Take only the thin leaves from the blanched cabbage, and layer the cabbage leaves, Gruyère cheese, and bread in the pot. Stack them up like a tower. Pour the broth over it and simmer for an hour over low heat.’
Originally, he had planned to make “Chou au lard,” a bacon and cabbage dish. It’s rich in meat and tastes great.
However, he was worried that making a bacon-based dish would upset Anje, who didn’t have much time left before her farewell with Pa-Pi-Pu.
Both of them avoided talking about anything related to “pigs.” Only once did Anje make a specific request to Aiden:
‘When you sell Pa-Pi-Pu, please take them away quietly without me knowing. I think I’ll be too sad to see him go, so it would be better if it was a surprise.’
The fact that she was saying this probably meant she wasn’t fully prepared. He tried again, beginning to say to Anje, ‘We could keep them…’ but she tightly pressed her lips together and shook her head.
The price of the pigs that Meg had mentioned was far beyond her expectations. Even if she gave him all the money she had, it would be difficult to match that amount.
She had no intention of staying here for long and didn’t want to cause him any financial loss.
She hadn’t realized it before, but he had provided her with every convenience to stay here without even taking a dowry.
Anje didn’t want to leave any debt to someone who had done so much for her.
* * * *
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