You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.
p(a)treon.com/Daoist02
Francisca Frutois.
First daughter of the deceased, former King, William.
Originally, the kingdom's succession structure was impeccable because there was only one prince. Consequently, Francisca was allowed to go to the Imperial Academy to study in peace.
Those who enter the academy were divided into two categories: those who really want to learn and those who come to build a network.
In Francisca's case, it was the latter.
Born to the rich royal family that provided her with all lavishness available, she had no dreams or ambitions of her own.
So, she was in the midst of her search for a candidate for marriage while building her personal network.
When a letter came from Lupus, and the letter contained the full story of the terrible incident that had occurred in the city.
She wasn't a psychopath.
When she read that her family had died, she was shocked and cried for a while.
As moments passed, and she got out of her sorrow, her feelings boiled down to uneasiness.
The letter was urging her to return to Lupus as soon as possible. It took her, her identity as a royalty, to put an end to the chaos in Lupus, the letter said.
It was clear what it meant.
They were calling her to inherit the throne.
Unbelievable and appalling.
She had spent her life in lavishness — an affair of easy and unbounded lifestyle.
Unlike her brother, she had never received any training for kingship.
But she would have to go and take over the Kingdom?
She neither had the ability nor the responsibility to do so.
So Francisca vowed that she would return to Lupus, but would not inherit the throne.
No matter what anyone would say, she wouldn't change her mind!
That was two days ago…
'Why am I here?'
A shabby hovel made of bricks and straw.
""
Moos of cattle could be heard from everywhere.
Compared to Lupus's huge castle walls, even the wooden fence was flimsy.
Francisca looked around and her head hurt.
She had been living at the Imperial Academy until just a month ago. In the splendid academy that even she, who had lived in a royal palace, was astonished by. But now? Standing in the middle of a shabby village.
She was wearing a ragged dress, not the cambric she always wore.
"We have something to do today. Let's go."
After speaking with the village chief, Cloud approached and said.
Francisca glared at Cloud.
'It's all because of this man.'
The day she arrived in the capital and declared that she would not succeed the throne.
Cloud came to visit her and asked if she was willing to change her mind. He tried to persuade her by giving her various reasons, but of course, she didn't budge.
Then he dragged her to this downtrodden village.
He even created a strange backstory.
– Are they the brother and sister pair who came a while ago? Those from Lupus?
– He said so.
– What a pitiful pair.
The village women chattered while watching Francisca and Cloud walking down the street.
Yes.
The strange backstory that Cloud had created was that he and Francisca were brother and sister who lost their family and property in the accident in Lupus.
The compassion of the villagers granted them a stay in the village, playing on the backstory.
Of course, they couldn't stay for free.
In exchange for receiving a place to stay and food, they had to help the village.
"I guess you are the brother and sister village chief spoke of?"
A middle-aged man spoke to the two on a field outside the village.
He was a slightly robust man, just short of being stout.
"Yes, that's right. I'm Carl and this is Frena. We look forward to working for you."
Cloud naturally gave out a pseudonym and bowed his head.
Then he turned his head and stared at Francisca.
'Huh? What?'
He didn't want her to bow her head, did he?
No, can't be.
That's absolutely impossible.
With that thought in mind, Francisca frowned at him. However, her thoughts didn't matter. Cloud squeezed the back of Francisca's head, forcing her to bow her head.
Consequently, she became the first royalty in the history of the Kingdom of Prona to bow her head to a peasant.
Francisca strained her neck, trying to free herself from Cloud's grasp, but her head, hunched by him in place, remained immobile.
"Ah..!"
Just when she was about to burst out in indignation and anger.
Cloud glared at her with a half-lidded glare.
"…"
Her mouth, which was about to open, closed on its own.
She quietly turned her gaze to her floor.
"As I heard, you are polite. Come with me. I will tell you what to do."
As the middle-aged said, the chore itself was not difficult to understand. All they had to do was water the potato sprouts.
The only problem was…
"We have to water all these fields… really..?"
The potato fields were filthy big.
They didn't stretch beyond the horizon, no; the ends were so far that the borders were too blurry to distinguish between.
While Francisca was shocked at the seemingly unattainable amount of work, the middle-aged man nodded.
"If you two start now and work diligently, you should be able to finish it before the sun goes down."
"Ah, no matter, this is too much…"
"Then work hard."
The middle-aged sauntered away, leaving Francisca no time to argue.
Cloud placed a hand on her slouching shoulder.
"I'll do it from here to there. You do the rest."
"…You cut it in exact half."
"That's fair."
Fair?
Was it fair for a freaking Hero and a frail Princess to do the same amount of labor?
"Did you eat your conscience with your dinner last night?
"It was delicious."
He clapped Francisca on the shoulder and fetched water from the well, before pouring water from the bucket onto the potato sprouts little by little.
Francisca blankly stared at him.
"How did I end up here…"
She sighed heavily, picked the bucket and walked to the well. She worked the pulley system to pull the water, but that was not as easy as she'd thought.
'I saw it work earlier, other women were making it work, why can't I?!'
Could it be that there was some kind of magic that made it difficult for outsiders to use the well?
As she mused about it, it seemed supposedly plausible.
Water was also the property of the village, so maybe they didn't like outsiders hauling it easily like themselves.
'They didn't seem like that kind of people. Tut.'
She grumbled inwardly, pulling against the unhinged enchantments that seemingly attuned the well.
She used her body weight to pull on the rope until she got a bucket full of water. She lifted the bucket of water she had with difficulty scooped out.
"What?!"
It was ridiculously heavy and she almost staggered.
"Ha, I almost fell over."
She broke into a cold sweat. She had almost spilled the water she had worked so hard for. She carefully lifted the bucket and tottered to the potato field, leery not to stumble.
She whimpered, exhausted.
Pak.
Her foot got caught in a rock.
"Kyaaak!?"
She doubled over. The bucket flipped.
As if her face plunging into the clump of soil wasn't bad enough, even the water she had fetched spilled onto the floor and pooled around her, getting her muddy.
"Ahhh…"
How hard had she worked to haul the bucket of water…
Almost ready to cry, she held back her tears.
"Julis… help me…"
She had come with her escort knight.
During the battle of nerves with Cloud, she was frightened and fled apace.
What was Julis doing now?
Was she living comfortably in Lupus?
Damn it.
'I'll see you when I get back.'
* * *
"It's over, it's over…!"
After watering the last potato sprout, Francisca threw the bucket toward the corner of the field.
Finally, this crap was over.
As soon as she thought of it, a heavy feeling of exhaustion overtook her. All day long she had worked with a heavy bucket, so that was normal.
Francesca walked toward the village, her torso limp.
Cloud had already finished his work and returned.
'He could have helped if his' was over.'
Went off to have a good time alone.
Where did you see, a Hero, in that?
The place she was walking to, grumbling, was a shabby house located in the corner of the village. The house where an old woman who had lost all of her children lived. People said she had also passed away due to some illness not long ago.
""
'Why must they give us a house like that…'
There must be many other nice houses!
As she grumbled, stomping into the house, Cloud greeted her.
"You came at just the right time. Dinner's done. Eat."
Cloud said, scooping the stew from a large pot into a bowl.
Francisca looked at the contents of the bowl Cloud had handed her. Vegetables, grains, and flecks of meat were added to the vermilion-colored broth.
To put it nicely, it was meat stew and putting it badly, it was plain gruel.
Her gaze trembled.
"This is dinner..? This? Are you kidding me or making fun of me?"
"If you complain about the food, you will get punished. Stop talking nonsense and sit down and eat."
"How do you eat something like this!"
Francisca, stunned, shouted.
She did labor for the first time in her life. Not ordinary labor, but very hard labor! After all the hard work, shouldn't she at least be given something decent to eat?
However, despite Francisca's angry voice, Cloud responded calmly.
"Well, eat like how everyone does."
"Eat something like this?!"
"Yes. If you don't believe me, go visit another house."
"…"
This was a shocking fact for Francisca, who had spent her entire life eating only well-cooked food in the palace. She looked at her… stew, bit her lip, and threw herself on the bed.
"What are you doing? Not going to eat?"
"I'm not eating!"
"Stubborn you're. You will regret it later."
"Stubborn? I'm stubborn?!"
She lifted herself up from the bed and glared at Cloud.
"You're the one who brought me here in the first place! If you hadn't brought me, I wouldn't have been so stubborn!"
"That's because you were stubborn and refused to inherit the throne. Will that still be so? Do you want to inherit the throne now?"
Cloud said with a smile.
Furious and seething, Francisca turned her back and closed her eyes.
Tired, she immediately fell asleep.
And the next evening.
In the end, she could not overcome hunger and ate… the stew.
Unlike last time, there were not many ingredients. Cloud explained that the last time they had plenty of ingredients thanks to the gifts the village girls brought for him..?
Meals would continue to be like this for a while, he said after she finished.
Francisca got depression.
* * *
Meanwhile, when two weeks had passed since Cloud left Lupus, Eri was continuing her research in her room.
– Knock. Knock.
"Eri, are you available?"
Ophelia's voice came along with the knock.
"Is it time already?"
She stretched and stood up from her seat.
It was time for her to cast the soundproofing spell on Ophelia's room.
As she opened the door and walked out, Ophelia saw her and smiled.
"Sorry to bother you."
"No, it's not that difficult."
The door closed, and the chatter of the two became quieter. When it turned completely inaudible, Shedia emerged from the shadow of the table.
She immediately took out a paper and pen and began copying Eri's work. As it was the research that Eri had been immersed in all day, she had a lot to copy, but it was not a problem.
Shedia had been trained for situations like this.
She quickly leafed through the research, copying along with. Even so, her handwriting was undisturbed. Shedia, who even drew the diagrams perfectly, quickly left the room before Eri returned.
Holding the wad of paper, she headed to the temporary administration center of Lupus.
Shedia, flitting and hopping across the shadows throughout the city, went straight to the room where Leslie was.
"Leslie noona."
Before she made her appearance, she spoke, revealing her presence. When she had suddenly shown up the other day, she had been scolded by a startled Leslie.
"Yes? Oh, you're here?"
Only when she heard Leslie's voice did Shedia emerge from the shadows.
"Here's today's part."
"Thanks."
Leslie took the wad of paper Shedia handed her and placed the haul at the corner of her desk.
"But is it really alright to do this? Wouldn't the wizard girl get angry if she found out?"
"If you get caught, of course she would be angry, no? Why do you ask? Are you afraid of the wizard girl getting angry?"
Shedia shook her head.
"I'm afraid of Cloud getting angry. If he gets angry with me, he might not give me the moonstone anymore."
Or he could break it down even further.
Shedia's expression turned rather sullen.
"Maybe. Don't worry, though. If you get caught, it'll all be my fault. Do you really think I'm going to push the blame on our dear Shedia?"
"No."
Shedia shook her head.
"And if it makes you worry less — isn't it a matter of not getting caught in the first place? I believe in you, Shedia."
"Right. I won't be caught and I'll do well. So…"
Shedia stretched out her hand with a look of anticipation.
"I know. When Cloud comes back, I'll talk him into giving you a moonstone piece. So don't worry, go back and rest."
"Yes!"
Shedia ducked into her shadow after exhilaratedly throwing her head back in celebration.
Leslie stared.
'…It's a great feat, no matter how you look at it.'
To be able to enter and exit the shadows at will. Doesn't that mean that the whole swath of darkness is her domain?
'It doesn't seem she has revealed anything.'
Eri, Neria, and Ophelia; she was also unaware of the power they possessed. However, unlike the three, who can be guessed at, Shedia couldn't be.
If, by chance, Shedia ever want to assassinate her, will she be capable of disarming her?
No, leave disarming or winning. Would she be even able to hold her ground?
'How does Cloud dear manages to curb her…'
She knew that Shedia wanted the moonstone and Cloud was using the same to deal with her.
But for such an act to be possible, one thing must be premised.
The premise that — Shedia couldn't triumph over Cloud.
Had it not been for that, Shedia would have left with the stolen moonstone long ago.
Nothing new to Leslie, but… her Hero dear was surely astounding.
Leslie smiled and looked over at her desk. Spread out, there were all kinds of administrative papers, as well as the copies of the research work brought to her by Shedia.
She held a copy of the research work in her hand.
Suddenly, the words Shedia had said played in her ears.
– But is it really alright to do this? Wouldn't the wizard girl get angry if she found out?
A whimsical giggle echoed.
"The reaction of a mage when they get to know their research is stolen… I'm curious."
Leslie remembered a scene from the past.
Inside a dark lab.
The dark-haired girl who was copying the professor's research journal while relying on the light of a candle.
Leslie's statement that she never attended the Mage's Tower was, of course, a lie.
You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.
p(a)treon.com/Daoist02