“Hey, Mr. Jang. Have you done all your work today?”
“Haha. Eat a snack, a snack!”
“Heave-ho! Today as well there’s rewarding farm work!”
I don’t know when these conversations started, but from some point, the Black Hawk have been like this.
‘Is being a farming nerd contagious to your surroundings?’
I uninterestedly watched them who were giggling as they plowed the fields, then I squatted down and started doodling on the floor.
My hand automatically drew Axion.
Axion, who is very small compared to Vanilla.
‘He has to be taller than the female lead. Sob sob.’
After realizing that Axion’s growth had stopped, I spent every spare moment I had worrying about it.
It seems like it was only yesterday that I scoffed at the sound of mothers feeding their children deer antlers to help their development when they were young,
but I never thought I would be this worried about my child’s development.
‘Sigh.’
Are Ruben and Axion, who are said to have grown up feeding on misfortune connected? My shoulders slumped as I thought about the book that I read in the study.
If I search for more related data, would I find some clues?
“Celia!”
When I heard Cedric’s voice, I was at the peak of depression and my shoulders were drooped down to the earth’s inner core.
“Anyway, I was looking for you.”
“Huh? Why?”
Cedric stood before me with his pink hair fluttering.
He was in the middle of learning rice farming and was wearing boots and a straw hat.
Although, in this current situation, the only rice farming work to be done is making a paddy and plowing the soil.
“A ball will be held soon for His Majesty’s birthday, and you have been invited too.”
“Huh…..?”
That benevolent ruler Emperor Scarlet?
Why would that sis invite me….?
When I looked at him with a puzzled expression, Cedric smiled shyly.
“For some reason, you seem depressed these days, so I recommended you to change your mood.”
He said with a shy expression and ran towards the field like a rabbit. He appeared like a shy high school girl who just finished confessing.
Ah, so you recommended me, you said?
“……”
He would be the only one who would tell this body to go to a ball as a distraction.
Celia’s personal relationships were so infinitely narrow that she was rarely invited to balls.
Moreover, I wasn’t the type of person who enjoyed that marketplace-like place. So, of course, going to the ball wasn’t going to change my mood.
‘But I guess that’s not the mood change he’s talking about.’
Celia has a rather pretty face, and she was more popular than expected at balls, so men used to secretly gather around her….
She rose to stardom from the anecdote that one day when some young master approached her in a slightly rude manner, she took off the shoes she was wearing and set it flying at his cheek.
At that time she said:
‘Ah. I thought that was a pest on a potato.’
When I remembered that time, I made a serious face.
So, when that guy recommended that I go to the ball for a mood change, he meant that I should go and beat someone up.
* * *
“You said you weren’t going, what’s this?”
“What?”
Click-clack, outside, the sound of horseshoes was heard. There is also the sound of the carriage wheels rolling gently on the well-paved road.
I looked at the person sitting across from me with a sullen face.
The man sitting with his legs crossed in an arrogant posture was, of course, Dazar.
‘I heard there will be a ball for Her Majesty the Emperor’s birthday soon, are you going to it too?’
‘Why would I go there? It’s annoying.’
He definitely said that.
Why are you in front of me?
“Do you think I’m going because I want to go?”
Dazar muttered in an extremely annoyed voice and raised his eyebrows.
I was planning to sneak in and out by myself.
It is said that Dazar has never participated in the ball held on the Emperor’s birthday.
However, Emperor Scarlet, who had been silent about his absence until now, suddenly called him out.
‘Sigh.’
He and I both had something in common. Neither of us wants to go to the ball. But I still have two reasons I must go.
Those reasons were that I was added to the list through Cedric, so if I were to not attend as I pleased, it would damage Cedric’s reputation. Also, I had something to get on the island where the Imperial Palace was located.
‘They said there was a famous machine craftsman on the island.’
I was thinking of meeting the craftsman and requesting the machines needed for rice farming.
So, even if I go to the ball, I plan to just show my face and sneak out. It’s going to be held for a few days anyway.
* * *
The island we arrived at after driving for half a day was holding a festival to mark the Emperor’s birthday. We passed through the noisy and extravagantly decorated street and entered the Imperial Palace.
After relaxing from the journey in the arranged room, we headed to the ballroom the next day.
“Duke Dazar Shiaster is entering!”
The murmur of voices was cut off, for a moment, by the servant’s loud shout.
As I was watching the scene hidden behind Dazar, I saw the admiration and slight fear on the nobles’ faces and felt that his status was very high.
“Oh my, you’re the Duke of Shiaster, right?”
“I heard you changed your schedule in a hurry to attend. You really came.”
“What’s going on? Until now, you have never shown your face at Her Majesty’s birthday.”
“Ahem. Haven’t you heard the news? That child. Maybe he thought that child needed a mother?”
“Oh my goodness!”
As soon as he arrived, voices were heard everywhere looking for his daughter.
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who heard those voices, but Dazar just stood there smiling softly.
But I heard the small voice he blurted out to me:
“You. Don’t go anywhere, stay next to me.”
“Why should I?”
“I need your level of notoriety to stop those mother troops.”
“……”
Thank you for acknowledging this body’s reputation.
But I’ll decline that type of troublesome work.
I conveyed my sincerity with languid eyes, but he hurried inside without even looking at me.
I, who was hiding behind him, followed his steps.
“Viscount Lady Celia Evanror is entering!”
The servant, who was standing with a straight posture, shouted loudly with a dull face. Then the ballroom once again filled with silence.
I felt a lot of eyes focused on my face.
“Gasp…..!”
A frightened voice was also heard.
They probably were reminded of me hitting a certain young master on the cheek with my shoe at the last dance I attended.
I smiled awkwardly, checked my name off the list of nobles, and went inside.
‘It feels like I’m doing magic.’
I saw the nobles in front of me retreating as if a tsunami was breaking them apart.
‘The notoriety of this body is definitely high.’
I already knew from Elston that this body was not well received, and through memories that flash into my mind, I recognize that this is an unusual body, but
Looking at the nobles desperately trying to avoid eye contact with me…..
‘It’s good?’
I usually hate crowded places, but I was able to walk comfortably once the surroundings cleared up.
Unlike me, there were a lot of people around Dazar.
I saw his eyes roll over and land on me. His golden eyes were saying:
Quickly come to my side!
But.
I had no intention of following his suggestion. I walked sideways like a crab, gradually moving away from him.
“Why should I be by your side?”
I shrugged my shoulders and secretly left the ballroom.
Cedric, the kind-hearted man, suggested I go to the ball and beat someone up to change my mood.
I had no intention of changing my mood like that.
I am a nonviolent person!
“Is this the right place?”
As soon as I entered the ballroom, I literally just stepped in and then left.
Since I had to leave the Imperial Palace to get to the island, I walked through the spacious Imperial Palace with great strides.
Instead of taking the straight road, I planned to take a byroad through the garden on the side. It was in case Dazar came to catch me.
However, just as I was wandering around the garden, I heard a strange sound from somewhere.
Rustle!
Rustle rustle!
It was a sound that seemed to convey that I must look at this place, otherwise, I am not a person.
“……”
I decided to ignore it.
For some reason, I felt like I would get caught up in something bothersome.
As I was walking with a disinterested expression, I heard a small voice shouting behind me.
“L-look here!”
Even though she only uttered one sentence. It was a woman with a very suspicious tone of voice.
I reluctantly turned my head.
And what caught my eye was a woman tangled in the bushes in a strange position.
The woman who was wearing a yellow wrapper and large-rimmed glasses, probably to cover her face, looked suspicious even at first glance.
“….Ple-please help me.”
“……..”
My radar signaled that if I helped this woman, I would get caught up in something bothersome. But if I didn’t help, I felt I would get caught up in something more bothersome.
I decided to help.
“Thanks. Ahem.”
“No worries. People should help each other.”
I smiled kindly as I watched her remove the leaves from her clothes.
“Did thee abscond from the ballroom as well?”
I tried to help her and quickly leave, but the woman seemed to be heading in the same direction as me.
What’s this, this archaic way of speaking?
I nodded my head.
“Yes. You too?”
“You….?”
“Ah, are you a young lady? Young master? A noble lord? What should I call you?”
Celia had no friends other than Cedric and of course, she had no female friends.
Additionally, as Carl said before, she did not receive proper etiquette training.
Since I was a transmigrator, of course, I didn’t know the etiquette here.
Therefore, I didn’t know how to talk to the noble ladies.
“Ahem. I’m just Scarl… N-no. You can call me Carl.”
“Can’t do that.”
“What? Why?”
“Because the name overlaps with my butler.”
I’m sorry but, as someone who was once a fan of romantic fantasies, I couldn’t tolerate different people with the same name.
“……”
The woman looked a little bewildered. Then she muttered: ‘Hmm, that makes sense,’ and opened her mouth again.
“Then address me as Letsy.”
“All right, Letsy. My name is Celia.”
“Celia? Celia Evanror?”
It felt like she knew me.
They finally clarified that Emperor Scarlet is female. I was suspicious because of the name, but I think I used male pronouns in the earlier chapters I’ll go back and change it!
thanks for the update!