I Raised the Northern Grand Duke as a Farmer Behind My Father’s Back Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Slan practically fled the library.

His fists were clenched tight.

So were his lips.

“There are baby pigs too! They’re really, really cute!”

“Hmm?”

Why did she……

smile like that?

No one had ever smiled at him that way before.

A bright, pure smile without the slightest ulterior motive.

Seeing it made his heart twist strangely tight.

Slan decided to define the sensation as……

discomfort.

It’s because she looks like the girl from my dreams. That’s why I feel strange whenever she smiles.

After all, if you really thought about it, the girl from his dreams was basically his enemy.

Of course, if this was truly discomfort……

then it was strange that his gaze kept drifting toward those oddly round cheeks.

And that heat kept gathering around his ears.

……Is the Grand Duke’s daughter really that girl from my dreams?

At present, he had no way of knowing.

Because ever since arriving in the North—

he hadn’t had any of those dreams.

Maybe that was why.

Sometimes Slan forgot all about his original goal of finding proof that the world had regressed and simply got absorbed in life here.

His senses seemed to dull.

Even his goal of finding the cause of the regression, achieving something great, and gaining his father’s recognition……

sometimes grew hazy.

Especially when Haniel—

that girl—

was nearby.

When he first met Haniel,

he had thought she might be the girl from his dreams.

Her silver-thread-like hair was one reason……

and then there was this.

“If you wrap this mushroom in damp leaves and roast it gently, it tastes like meat, you know?”

She knew a cooking method for the Pig-Nose Mushroom that wasn’t publicly known yet.

“……How do you know that?”

“Huh? Because I tried roasting it in all sorts of ways myself! I just happened to figure it out!”

“Ah……”

But as time passed, that theory began losing strength.

……She could easily have experimented with different cooking methods herself.

And lately, he had become even less certain.

More importantly—

before the regression, they hadn’t even had any connection at all.

She was the Grand Duke’s daughter in the North.

He was a discarded imperial prince in the capital.

The chance that they could have met somewhere outside the capital, on some random road like they had in his previous life, was practically zero.

Still, she bothered him for some reason.

So for now, he decided to observe her.

Haniel was remarkable.

She knew a great deal about farming, and after putting her head together with the Grand Duke, she had even helped develop the eastern soil treatment almost effortlessly.

Even I, someone who remembers the previous life, didn’t know the mushroom’s true effect……

For about one second, he had considered taking the finished treatment to the Emperor himself.

But……

“Slan! Whatcha doing?”

The moment he saw those sparkling pink eyes, every thought vanished.

……She’s way too small.

She was practically a baby.

Her soft-looking pale cheeks were tiny.

Her plump little hands were tiny too.

He remembered his previous life.

He had practically been an adult.

His memories had cut off sometime in his teens……

so compared to her, he was definitely much older mentally.

Stealing credit from her would be wrong.

Slan thought this with an utterly expressionless face.

Anyway……

I need to keep watching her carefully.

To see whether she was the girl from his dreams or not.

But I absolutely won’t get close to her.

He would only observe her with a thoroughly objective, rational, cold mind.

Look at what he had done just now.

I properly rejected her invitation to eat bread together.

Even thinking back on it, he had been ruthless.

Pleased with himself, the boy clenched his fist and walked faster.

That was when—

“Fire!! Fire!!”

“……!”

A scream tore through the air.

Slan’s head snapped upward.

Black smoke rose into the clear blue sky.

That direction……

was the grain warehouse.

“Wow. Slan! Look at this! Our grain warehouse is completely full now! It used to be totally empty…… Hehe, I’m glad we worked so hard! Right?”

Her bright face, smiling as though she owned the entire world, flashed through his mind.

“No.”

His face went pale.

He started running toward the grain warehouse.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry. Connie, say you’re sorry too!”

A four-year-old child peeking from behind his mother slowly poked his head out.

“Sowwy……”

“It’s okay, Connie!”

“I’m sorry, Haniel. I had no idea Connie had taken your scarf……”

Haniel waved both hands frantically.

“Gasp. Connie didn’t take it! I gave it to him!”

“Oh, I’m sure Connie begged you for it. Our sweet Haniel. Thank you for sharing.”

“Hehe…… Connie’s cute. And I got it back now, so it’s okay!”

Basil stared unhappily at the little silver head.

The four-year-old child called Connie buried himself in his mother’s arms.

They were part of the family of four who had settled here during the summer alongside Slan.

There was a four-year-old boy and a one-year-old baby.

Haniel turned awkwardly and scurried back toward Basil.

“Connie says he didn’t throw the scarf away on purpose! He was playing with it, and somehow it just ended up in the trash……”

“……”

“……Are you sulking?”

“Massively.”

“Whoa……”

Basil picked Haniel up with one arm.

Truthfully, he wasn’t sulking.

He was just……

a little displeased.

With Haniel’s attitude.

Why does this kid give away everything that belongs to her?

She had done the same thing during the harvest festival.

That day, Brad had given Haniel a bread-shaped hairpin.

It was exactly the kind of gift a child would love.

But the moment little Connie wanted it……

“This is Connie’s!”

“Mhm! Connie can have it!”

She handed it over in one second.

The same thing happened with all sorts of other little objects.

“This one is Connie’s too!”

“Mhm! That too!”

“All of it is Connie’s!”

“Mhm! Connie can have all of it!”

Even Slan, the famously quiet kid, had finally spoken up.

“……Do you enjoy being taken advantage of?”

Watching from a distance, Basil had felt an inexplicable surge of irritation.

It wasn’t that he disliked Connie.

He remembered the slight hesitation in Haniel’s fingertips when she handed over the bread-shaped pin.

If you don’t like it, at least make a face.

Kind Haniel.

Smiling Haniel.

Haniel who never complained.

Haniel who never showed when she disliked something.

Haniel who never crossed a line.

Haniel who never bothered adults……

Part of Basil wondered,

Isn’t being a good kid supposed to be a good thing?

Everyone in the village praised Haniel for being sweet and well-behaved.

Maybe he was overthinking it.

But still.

He didn’t like it.

Because he was afraid there might be something hidden behind that smiling face—

something he would fail to notice.

And if he failed to notice it,

he might fail to protect her.

“Whoo—whoo—sulking, go awayyy. Whoo—whoooo—”

Haniel grabbed his collar with a slightly anxious expression.

“I’m sorry. It was a present you gave me……”

“……”

“I’ll really treasure it properly from now on! I was actually going to get it back as soon as Connie got tired of playing with it. Really……!”

“That’s not why I’m upset……”

Basil ruffled his own hair.

“Brat.”

“Yes……?”

“Stop giving away your things so easily. If you keep doing that, it’ll become a habit.”

“……?”

“If something makes you angry or you hate it, just start crying first. Kick someone if you have to.”

“But…… Connie is younger than Hani……”

“That way I can come running over and raise hell for you. Huh? Do you understand or not?”

“Hmm, yes.”

Basil sighed at Haniel’s answer.

It was clearly one of those yeses that meant absolutely nothing.

Normally, children wanted to possess not only their own things but sometimes other people’s things too.

It wasn’t that Haniel lacked possessiveness.

The problem was that the instant someone else wanted something she owned—

she gave it up without the slightest resistance.

What kind of life did she live before this?

How had a six-year-old learned to give things up before anything else?

More than frustration—

it made his heart ache.

But……

he could teach her slowly.

That nobody had the right to treat her carelessly.

That nobody had the right to take what belonged to her.

That constantly giving things away didn’t automatically make someone a good person.

Basil had just made that resolution when—

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!

A huge bell rang out.

“……!”

“Fire!!! The grain warehouse is on fire!!!!”

What?

DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!

Basil and Haniel’s eyes met.

“Your Grace!!”

“Damn it!”

Basil shot forward like a gale.

To Be Continued…