Kree Village.
The village, once as silent as a graveyard, was now being awakened by the heavy sound of crushing carriage wheels.
When Valery's face—that of a Prime Minister whom commoners usually viewed as unattainable—appeared at the village entrance, the Village Chief and a dozen men, along with the remaining few dozen women, practically crawled out of their houses using both their hands and feet.
They knelt in the mud on both sides of the road, their bodies trembling like chaff being sifted. Their minds were filled with images of the tragic states of the children and elderly who had been taken to the Royal City.
According to the most widely circulated version of the rumors, they should have already been thrown into alchemy boilers by that Girl Tyrant, turned into ingredients for some evil potion.
"It's over. After harvesting the grain, the elderly, and the children, is she now coming to harvest the remaining lives?"
The Village Chief closed his eyes in despair, waiting for the sound of horses' hooves that would announce their deaths.
However, the anticipated butcher's knife did not fall.
"By the decree of Your Majesty, we are distributing autumn relief grain and bestowing 'Sacred Seeds'."
Valery dismounted. His fox-like eyes, usually filled with shrewdness and calculation, actually held a trace of indescribable pity as he swept his gaze over these villagers.
With his command, the canvas on the carriages behind him was lifted.
Sacks of heavy Black Bread, emitting the scent of wheat, were rudely yet precisely distributed into the hands of every villager.
The villagers were stunned.
They tremblingly held up the hard bread. Someone subconsciously took a bite; there was no expected sand or stone, only the rough but solid taste of wheat bran.
"It's not an experiment, and they haven't abandoned us?"
A peasant woman hugged the bread, tears falling plip-plop onto the muddy ground.
"The Tyrant... the Tyrant is actually giving us food?"
Valery watched all this coldly, but in his heart, he recalled the ripple-less gaze Sophia had before his departure.
"Let them eat their fill so they have the strength to work."
That was what the young Queen had said.
Only now did Valery realize the true flavor of it. How was this simple charity? This was clearly the highest form of domination art.
Using an extremely low cost to buy out these people's lives, and then making them offer every drop of their sweat for the Kingdom's foundation amidst an interweaving of fear and gratitude.
But in comparison, the Tyrant's actions had still mercifully saved these people.
If the Tyrant hadn't brought Kree Village under unified management, most of the people here probably wouldn't have survived this winter.
"Put away your useless tears."
Valery cleared his throat, his voice cold and hard.
"Now, take your farm tools and go to the fields. If the seeds bestowed by Your Majesty suffer any mishaps in your hands, you know the consequences."
That small squad of elite soldiers did not stay idle. They hadn't come as overseers, but had gone directly into the fields as 'technical instructors'.
On the fields, a cultivation effort never before seen in the history of the Kingdom of Mason began.
Because these were the 'Sacred Seeds' provided by Your Majesty, the villagers didn't distinguish between your land or my land; everyone came together.
Step One: Deep Plowing.
Under Valery's command, the soldiers led the villagers in using heavy iron plows to forcibly break open the soil layers that had hardened due to long-term lack of care.
Unlike the casual shallow furrows of the past, this time the depth was required to reach half an arm's length.
Only in this way could the trace minerals accumulated below for years be turned up, leaving enough space for the 'aerial roots' mentioned by Miss Irene.
According to the great Inventor, Miss Irene, the fact that crops died too easily every year might be related to this.
Step Two: Applying Base Fertilizer.
Buckets of 'primary fertilizer' emitting a strange smell were transported to the ridges of the fields.
The villagers instinctively wanted to cover their noses, but under the icy stares of the soldiers, they had to grab that dark brown substance mixed with bone meal, ash, and fermented matter, and scatter it evenly into the deeply plowed furrows.
Valery held his breath multiple times to keep from vomiting in front of the citizens.
The fertilizer Miss Irene kept in the Palace had undergone some processing, so the smell was minimal.
But what was transported here was different.
Without special processing, even after fermentation, a strange smell remained.
"This is the 'vitality' Your Majesty has bestowed upon the land. Whoever dares to miss a single inch will fill it with their own flesh."
Valery's intimidation was very effective; the villagers worked even more carefully than when serving their own elders.
Step Three: Ridging.
This was the most critical link.
According to Irene's design, the soil was piled into long ridges raised above the ground.
This not only ensured smooth drainage so the seeds wouldn't rot during the rainy season, but also allowed sunlight to shine more fully on the sides of the soil ridges in the coming cold days, maintaining soil temperature.
Step Four: Sowing and Covering.
Grain by grain, the round, plump Sacred Seeds, which had been 'soaked via Secret Arts' in wood vinegar by Irene, were carefully buried in small pits on the ridges.
Every interval, every depth, strictly followed a near-perverted sense of precision.
As the sun set in the west, and the last experimental field in Kree Village was covered by neat soil ridges, the villagers were so tired they were on the verge of collapse.
Even the soldiers, who trained frequently, sat leaning on the field ridges, letting out long breaths.
But as they looked at the fields emanating the fragrance of soil under the evening glow, an absurd sense of something never felt before—named 'hope'—welled up in their hearts.
Valery stood on the field ridge, looking at the uniform furrows, and his fear of Sophia deepened another layer.
"This power named 'Order' is more terrifying than swords."
Valery pondered to himself.
"Through these seeds, she has completely bound these loose sand-like lowly commoners to the war chariot of the throne. As long as these wheat seedlings grow, the Kingdom of Mason will no longer be that barren land that neighboring countries can trample at will."
However, will they really be able to grow?
Sophia's face floated into Valery's mind—that Girl Tyrant whose expression wouldn't change no matter what she encountered.
Fortunately, it was her.
Valery thought, if it were the Old King, or any King from another country, upon meeting a young girl like Miss Irene—who was unwilling to be mediocre in the slums and actually delusional enough to want to achieve something with her inventions...
It wouldn't be like this at all.
Execution would have been considered a light ending.
In other words, the person to meet Miss Irene had to be Her Majesty the Queen; it could only be Her Majesty the Queen.
Meanwhile, on the terrace of the Palace roof, Sophia was yawning toward the setting sun, rubbing her sore waist.
"Willow, the seeds should have been planted, right? I really hope they grow a bit faster."
Sophia gazed into the distance expressionlessly.
As long as this batch succeeded, she could proceed to research 'greenhouses' to grow more food.
Although the crops grown from the seeds sent to Kree Village wouldn't be enough for the citizens of the entire country to pass a very good winter, it would make it less difficult.
Behind her, Delilah was leaning in the shadows hugging her long sword, staring with a complex gaze at the back of the teenage Queen's head.
----------
Late at night.
The Laboratory in the West Tower.
The newly improved oil lamp emitted a soft and stable light. Compared to the flickering, smoky simple lamps of the past, this one was undoubtedly epoch-making.
Irene was excitedly holding Sophia's hand, talking non-stop about how she improved fuel efficiency by adjusting the wick material and adding a small amount of alchemy by-products.
"Your Majesty, look! This brightness has increased by at least three times, and because of the full combustion, there's almost no pungent smell. This means we can conduct higher-precision night experiments, and later we can even equip every soldier's tent with one."
Sophia stared expressionlessly at the flame, the faint light reflected in her pale golden pupils.
This lamp did look good. Although not as good as an electric lamp, it appeared much brighter than ordinary oil lamps. No pungent smell, brighter, and saves more material.
In terms of invention, Irene was undoubtedly a genius.
A few hours ago, the scout rider from Kree Village had just returned to report the good news, saying that under the nourishment of the fertilizer, those 'Sacred Seeds' had sprouted little green shoots in just a few days.
That soldier, covered in mud, had even knelt on the ground crying in excitement while reporting, calling it a Divine Miracle.
At the time, Sophia had only replied faintly: "Understood."
But in the soldier's eyes, this single sentence was another form of calm steadiness, firm as Mount Tai.
"Mere sprouting; everything is within Your Majesty's control."
"Irene, well done," Sophia spoke coolly.
"Hehe, as long as Your Majesty is satisfied!"
Irene scratched her messy hair, feeling somewhat shy.
From her perspective, although this Tyrant kept a cold face all day, tonight she had actually stayed personally in the West Tower to work overtime with her; Irene actually felt a rare bit of happiness in her heart.
However, this warmth did not last long.
Bang—!
The unlatched wooden door of the laboratory was kicked open violently, the heavy door panel crashing against the stone wall with a loud noise.
"Who?!"
Irene screamed in fright, subconsciously hiding behind Sophia.
Several burly men with fierce faces, holding bloodstained machetes, charged in. They wore tattered cloth armor, and their eyes revealed the madness of those at a dead end.
"Ha! Caught you! Little Queen!"
The leading one-eyed man let out a ferocious laugh, the tip of his blade pointing straight at Sophia.
"Big Brother Godot is dead, and the brothers are scattered, all thanks to your sorcery! Even if I die today, I'm dragging you, this Tyrant, down with me!"
Sophia remained sitting on the high stool, not a single ripple on her exquisite small face, not even her pupils dilating.
But in reality, Sophia's heart was already in chaos like a pot of porridge.
Assassins?!
Where are the guards of the West Tower?
Where is Victor?
Shouldn't there be guards patrolling at this time?
Over, it's over. I was just in a good mood today and came out for a walk by myself. The only day I didn't bring bodyguards, and I'm going to die here?
Sophia absolutely didn't feel that she and Irene could gain any advantage against this group of fiendish thugs.
Calm down, analyze. Their leader is called Godot... no, he mentioned Godot. He has a Black Pine Forest tattoo on his clothes. Are they the remnants of the rogue bandits who escaped that day?
"Your Majesty, run!"
Although Irene's legs were trembling with fear, she still tried to spread her arms to shield Sophia, and even wanted to turn back to salvage the precious oil lamp blueprints on the table.
"The things! My lamp... No, wait, Your Majesty, you run quickly!"
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 100 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 10 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉