MTDL 13

Chapter 13

It was a peaceful afternoon in Galnem.

I sat on a tree stump that served as a chair, watching Zimmer chop firewood.

With every swing of his axe, a log split cleanly in two.

His shoulders are so broad, and those muscles are incredible… This is easy on the eyes.

But if he’s this athletic, why does he get hurt so often?

“Uncle.”

Swinging my legs as I watched him, I hopped down from the stump.

Zimmer looked at me and smiled warmly.

“You said your family lives in the city, right?”

His hand paused on the axe.

“…Yeah.”

“Don’t you miss them?”

I actually knew quite a bit about Zimmer.

One day, he’d told me about his past.

His wife had died giving birth.

He had one son, but the boy was being raised by other relatives.

“…My son?”

“Yes. You said you haven’t gone back to the city even once since you started living here.”

Zimmer leaned his axe against a log and came to sit beside me.

Strangely enough, even though he was covered in sweat, he didn’t smell sweaty at all.

“I miss him.”

He wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“But there’s nothing I can do right now. I trust him, and I believe he trusts me too.”

“Well… I mean…”

It might have been presumptuous, but I shared my thoughts.

“I think it would be nice if you visited him at least once. If I were your child… I’d really miss my dad.”

His brown eyes wavered.

“Arinel… do you miss your father too?”

“Hmm… no.”

“My mom died while she was pregnant with me, so I’ve never even seen his face. But you’re a good person, Uncle Zimmer, and it makes me sad that you’re living apart from your family.”

“…Arinel.”

I spoke as if encouraging him.

“I don’t have any family, so I’m alone. But you have a family and you’re still living by yourself. That’s not good. It must be lonely.”

Zimmer stared at me for a long time.

He had his rough edges, but he was a good person.

If he’d raised his son himself, he probably would have been a wonderful father.

“So… I hope you get to see your son.”

His brown eyes stayed on me for a long while.

I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but his gaze was warm.

“You know… we’ll meet soon.”

I blinked.

“Oh? Did you already set a date?”

“…Not exactly.”

“Come on. My mom always said that if you don’t make a plan, it’s the same as doing nothing.”

He smiled faintly at my scolding.

“I’m serious, Arinel. It won’t be long now.”

“And…”

Zimmer leaned toward me.

His face came much closer, about two hand spans away.

At that moment, a cloud covered the sun, casting a shadow over us.

“Arinel… you’ll meet him too.”

I tilted my head.

“Me? Your son?”

He nodded.

“Yes. We promised.”

Seeing my confused expression, he continued.

“When you were eight, you treated my injuries for the first time.”

“Ah…”

“And then you kept asking me all kinds of questions about my life.”

The memory suddenly came back, and my face grew hot.

“But what does that have to do with anything?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the promise you made with me?”

Zimmer looked deeply disappointed before pulling something out of his clothes.

It was an old, crumpled piece of paper covered in a childish doodle.

The moment I saw it, I remembered everything and my face turned bright red.

Zimmer repeated exactly what I’d said back then.

“‘Uncle, is your son as handsome as you? Then I’ll marry your son!'”

“Uncle!!”

Flustered, I jumped up, trying to snatch the paper away.

But no matter how much I bounced, I couldn’t even reach higher than his chest.

Laughing heartily, Zimmer tucked the paper back inside his clothes.

Honestly, this wasn’t fair.

He was the one who proposed it first.

He’d looked at me while I was applying crushed herbs to his wounds and suddenly asked,

“Arinel, would you marry my son?”

Of course I’d assumed he was joking, so I casually answered him.

Then he suddenly pulled out a sheet of paper and told me to sign it.

That was when my impression of him changed.

I’d thought he was a grumpy man because he barely spoke.

But he turned out to be surprisingly funny and simple-hearted.

Instead of signing, I’d just scribbled on the paper and handed it back.

And he’s still carrying it around?

“Please give it back.”

“I can’t return something as important as this contract.”

It didn’t look like he had any intention of handing it over.

Watching him chop firewood, I’d briefly thought he was an ordinary, capable person.

But seeing him treasure that doodle and call it a “contract”…

He really was… a little—

No, a lot lacking.

“Sigh. You’re not actually going to show that to your son and tell him to marry a girl named Arinel, are you?”

Zimmer looked at me as though I’d asked the most obvious question in the world.

“Uncle, please. Your son will be disappointed.”

I wanted to say he’d probably think his father was ridiculous, but I softened my words in case I hurt his feelings.

“No.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy.”

“The girl you’re telling him to marry is just some country girl from the middle of nowhere. He won’t even look twice at me.”

My hands were rough, and my arms and legs were always stained with dirt.

There was no way I could compare to the refined girls raised in the city.

Of course, Uncle Zimmer’s family probably wasn’t wealthy either.

But if his son looked like him, he’d definitely be popular.

“What? What’s wrong with Arinel?”

Zimmer looked at me with complete seriousness, as though teaching me something important.

“There isn’t a child in the world who’s as cute and lovable as Arinel.”

* * *

I woke from the dream about Galnem and sat blankly for a long time.

Why didn’t I realize Uncle Zimmer was suspicious back then?

A man that handsome living in the countryside chopping firewood? As someone who’d read countless romance fantasy novels in my previous life, I should’ve suspected something.

And who would’ve thought the son living in the city was Crown Prince Briton?

I pictured Briton’s face, looking like a prince raised in a greenhouse, then shook my head.

Well, as he’d said, we still had many years before we were old enough to marry.

No one knew what the future would bring.

“Miss. It’s Adam.”

Adam’s voice came from outside.

After quickly smoothing my messy hair from my nap, I answered,

“Come in.”

Adam entered my room and began his report.

“I have several pieces of news. First, Hugobrint Bank has changed the trustee managing your inheritance. He may be cut from the same cloth as the last one, but he won’t try any tricks again. I gave him a very firm warning.”

Good. That’s how it should be.

“Well done, Adam!”

“Also, the Ministry of Military Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Justice, the Alchemy Department… in any case, quite a number of government offices have begun taking an interest in you. I caught a few suspicious men loitering around the Marquis estate and threat—”

He coughed.

“…Questioned them. They confessed where they came from.”

I tilted my head in confusion.

“Me? Why?”

“They claimed they were simply ordered by their superiors to observe you closely. Does anything come to mind? Perhaps you have some grudge against those organizations…?”

I puffed out my cheeks.

“A grudge? Did you forget? I’m only eleven.”

How could a little kid like me possibly have bad blood with organizations that important?

The only people I knew were Uncle Zimmer and the villagers of Galnem.

“My apologies. You seem so mature for your age that I briefly forgot. Hmm.”

I glared at him.

“Anyway, even for the Crown Prince’s fiancée, attracting this much attention from so many institutions is highly unusual. I’ll have to find out why.”

Adam laughed awkwardly and changed the subject.

* * *

After Adam left, I went over the Marquis family’s finances.

The estate only earned five thousand Bring from leasing its land.

That was roughly equivalent to five million won in my previous life.

There was a fortune sitting in Hugobrint Bank, but it was locked away, so it was useless for now.

And I still don’t know what’s inside that safe.

The real problem was expenses.

Just one week of repairs had already cost five thousand Bring in building materials alone.

Including food and miscellaneous expenses, Adam estimated monthly costs would reach thirty thousand Bring.

The Imperial Palace was currently paying the servants’ salaries, but there was no telling when that responsibility would fall on me.

Ugh… Just like cars and houses, the maintenance costs are the real problem…

I let out a deep sigh.

At this rate, the estate won’t even last a year before falling into debt.

“The most important thing… is money.”

Uncle Armus’s words suddenly came to mind.

I wonder if he read the letter I sent.

“Miss.”

I was absentmindedly tapping the desk with the tip of my pen when Adam spoke.

For some reason, he looked delighted.

“We’ve received news from the Imperial Palace.”

“…Huh?”

Remembering Parmes’s face, I nervously scratched the back of my hand.

His threat to move in next door came back to me.

“As compensation for the deaths of the late Marquis and Marchioness, the Imperial Palace has decided to provide you with a pension.”

“What?!”

My eyes widened in shock.