The Abandoned Duchess Seems to Want a Peaceful Life - Chapter 19

Chapter 19: A Beautiful Sight

Going farther north past Lake Moltre, at the northern edge of the country, one comes to the Forest of Moltre, and beyond that forest lies the neighboring Luxen Kingdom.

The great forest belongs to neither country, and also serves as the border line dividing the two. Monsters sometimes appear deep within it, and despite the efforts of both countries to build a road to the neighboring kingdom time and again, the plans to cut through the deep forest had stalled repeatedly, and for now relations between the Francesca Kingdom and the Luxen Kingdom had largely settled into depending on sea routes.

Enkar Village was the largest of the pioneer villages in the Enkar region, and around it, serf settlements of several dozen people each carried out land clearing day after day to cultivate new fields.

Pioneering is harsh work. Having to feed oneself day to day in untamed land while developing it enough to settle is no ordinary hardship, and that is precisely why pioneer settlers come to feel an attachment, close to dependence, to the land they have cleared.

Even if a great famine came, it would be difficult for them to abandon the land. That was why it had been easy to predict that the damage would be severe, and even after hearing the report of a bumper harvest from his confidant August, Alexis had found it hard to hold any bright expectation until he saw the vast, lush green fields spread before him with his own eyes.

"…Astounding."

"Right?"

August said it with an oddly proud air, and the other knight he had brought along as an attendant let out an admiring sigh as well.

Between the ducal capital and Enkar Village lay many towns and villages. Some of those they had passed through on the way were large towns, but a dark shadow of hunger had fallen over every one of them.

Everyone on the road had a pale face, and the more shabbily dressed a person was, the less they seemed able to eat properly, and not a few were gaunt, their limbs like dry twigs.

In the markets, demand for other crops had risen too, probably from the anxiety of the potatoes having vanished; the markets were sold out and goods themselves were scarce, and prices kept climbing.

Panic buying fueled by hunger from food shortages and constantly stoked anxiety. As supply dwindled, anxiety was stoked further, people spent their savings to buy at any price however high, and the poor became even less able to get food: a vicious cycle.

But from around the point where they passed the last village and entered the Enkar region, that dark shadow had been swept cleanly away. Once the road ran on and the forest opened up, what spread out all the way to Enkar Village was a field of tall corn.

*Beautiful.*

It was probably precisely because he had just come out of that dark, stifling air that he felt it so plainly. The pleasantness of the wind softly swaying the green leaves. Harvesting seemed to be under way even now in the vast fields, and people who looked like serfs were at work.

Serfs were the weakest class of laborers, and having seen the wretchedness along the way here, he was all the more astonished to see them working vigorously, sweating with energy.

"Heeey, does anyone know where Madam is?"

At August's call as he rode alongside, one sturdy man among those working in the field approached. His clothes were shabby, but his bare arms were knotted with muscle, and he was a man full of vitality.

"Oh, Sir August, you've come again?"

"That's no way to put it. Welcome me a little more warmly, Nid."

"Ha ha, forgive me."

The man called Nid talked easily with August and bowed to Alexis and the other knight. Since they were wearing knight uniforms, he had probably taken them for August's colleagues.

"I think Lady Melfina is at the lord's manor today. Miss Marie is researching a new dish, and she told me to look forward to it."

"Oh, then we've come at a good time. Sorry for pulling you away from your work."

"Not at all. Please give my regards to Lady Melfina."

Without any more conversation than necessary, the man went back to his farm work. Without asking, it was clear that he enjoyed working.

Alexis had never seen a serf, no, a commoner, with such a bright expression.

"So there you go. Lady Melfina often goes off on field inspections, so it's good that today we should be able to talk with her easily."

"…That serf seemed to call my wife by her name."

"Ah, Lady Melfina doesn't like being called Duchess or Madam, so apparently she tells everyone she meets to call her by name. She told me the same."

"She is quite an unconventional person, my wife."

"She's someone who pulled off all this in just four months after leaving the ducal house. Hard to measure by common sense. Well then, shall we go?"

He could only have stayed once, and for a few days at that, yet August himself already seemed to hold Melfina in high regard and feel affection for her.

*Truly, what kind of woman did I take as my wife?*

Alexis had originally thought that he had no need of a partner in his private life. That feeling had not changed even now.

It was the moment he felt a little curiosity about Melfina as a person, rather than about a girl sent up from the south for the sake of a contract between south and north.

　　　　＊　＊　＊

Melfina thought it with deep feeling: guests nobody had invited always seemed to turn up just when she was busiest.

"August, didn't you just leave five days ago?"

"Nid said that to me too. How cruel. I haven't forgotten the food I ate in Enkar Village for a single day."

"So you remembered it every day for five days. And so you came right at lunchtime?"

"Well, I've been riding hard since morning, and I'm absolutely starving."

Melfina could feel something between anger and murderous intent from Cedric behind her over August's attitude, but this was the kind of thing where engaging meant losing, and she gave up on that early.

"…We were just about to have lunch, so would you like to eat with us?"

"Really? Thank you! Oh, could I ask for three portions? There's no dining hall in Enkar Village, and everyone is hungry!"

"…Should I charge you money?"

"Now, now! Think of this as a kind of presentation and let it slide!"

She pressed a hand to her forehead at the as-ever happy-go-lucky knight of the ducal house. Cedric's stubbornness sometimes gave her headaches, too, but perhaps if she took these two and divided by two, they would come out just right.

"All right. Marie, would you ask Eli to increase the amount for lunch?"

"Certainly. Um, Lady Melfina."

"What is it?"

"Those gentlemen over there are…"

Not wanting to trouble Marie, she turned her eyes to the two men standing behind August.

August was fairly well built himself, but those two were also tall and had the sturdy frames of knights. One was a middle-aged man with a deep scar on his cheek, a face she had never seen. The other had features as finely sculpted as an ice statue, and silver hair.

"Three knights of the ducal house have come. Honestly, aren't you busy?"

"Huh? Lady Melfina, um, could it be that you've forgotten my face or something?"

"Anyway, the morning's work isn't finished yet. Until the lunch break, look around on an inspection or whatever you like."

"Melfina."

As she was about to head back to the manor with Marie, she was called. She glanced back over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. Then she put a hand to her cheek and tilted her head slightly.

"My, since when do the ducal house's knights address me without any title?"

"As your husband, I believe I have the right."

"Husband? …Whose might that be?"

Playing dumb was, of course, a jab.

There was no way "I," who had cleared every route on Hard Mode in my previous life, would mistake Alexis von Oldrand.

"Oh, now that you mention it, I think I did get married about four months ago. I'd completely forgotten."

"…You are quite the sharp-tongued person."

"Yes, I'm spiteful, you see. Funny, isn't it, getting married without even knowing that?"

Even when she hurled sarcasm at him, Alexis did not so much as raise an eyebrow.

Melfina had plenty of thoughts about Alexis, but "I" knew that he was that kind of character.

His appearance here was unexpected, but thinking about it, once August had seen the bumper-crop fields, this was bound to happen sooner or later.

*If anything, this might work out well.*

What August's "presentation" meant was obvious.

If they were going to negotiate anyway, it would be quicker to deal with the person of the highest rank than with administrators or bailiffs.

At any rate, this was the reunion, after about four months, with Alexis, her husband on paper.