I Didn't Really Want to Do Farming! (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 14
Somewhere, a voice cried out urgently. Stella, who had been about to grab a stone, hastily turned her head toward the sound.
There stood an earth sprite, unlike the ones she’d seen yesterday, pale with fright. Judging by his grizzled hair and wrinkled face, he seemed much older than those she’d encountered the day before.
Contrary to his appearance, the elderly sprite swiftly approached Stella.
“So you’re Stella.”
“Yes.”
Stella found herself replying politely without even realizing it. The old sprite let out a deep sigh and gestured for her to come closer.
Understanding it as an invitation to sit, Stella lowered herself, trying her best to match the elderly sprite’s eye level.
“My name is Woo Hoo. I heard those youngsters yesterday made an unreasonable request of you. Let me apologize on their behalf.”
It felt strange to Stella to hear such solemn words from a being barely taller than a handspan. He looked so endearing she wanted to pat his head—but doing so would probably earn her a scolding.
“Was that really an unreasonable request?”
“Do you even know what you were trying to dig up?”
“They just said it was the same thing.”
“I suspected as much. Those rascals didn’t explain properly at all. That’s why you charged in so recklessly.”
Only then did Stella realize this wasn’t something she could easily handle, and she quietly stepped back from the stone cairn.
She could’ve sworn she felt a sinister aura seeping up from the cairn. Glancing at it warily, Stella took another step backward.
“What’s inside there?”
“It’s an object inscribed with a curse that seals the land’s energy. Because of it, the earth around here is slowly dying. If this continues, we’ll all vanish before long.”
“Couldn’t you just move somewhere else?”
At Stella’s question, Woo Hoo gave a weak smile and shook his head. Somehow, Stella felt as if she’d become a naive child.
“We were born from this land. We cannot leave it.”
“Then…”
“We’ll probably fade away soon. But that’s our problem. You two! Get over here and apologize properly!”
At Woo Hoo’s sharp reprimand, two earth sprites who’d been hiding nearby shuffled forward toward Stella, their heads bowed deeply.
They looked utterly dejected, constantly wiping away tears with their forearms. Each bore a bump on their forehead, clearly having been thoroughly scolded by the elder sprite before coming here.
“I’m really sorry. We only thought about ourselves. We never should’ve asked you for that.”
The little sprite with sparkling eyes apologized first. Was her name Esta? Stella tried to recall their conversation from yesterday.
“I’m truly sorry. Please accept this as our apology.”
The plump sprite held out a large basket brimming with orange carrots. Though sizable for the earth sprites, it fit neatly into Stella’s two hands.
Stella accepted the basket from Ark, touched despite herself.
“You didn’t have to do this. Now I feel bad.”
Inwardly, Stella was relieved she hadn’t touched that frightening thing, but outwardly she wore a regretful expression for not being able to help.
Honestly, it was sad to think these adorable creatures might vanish, but she couldn’t risk her own life to save them.
Just as she turned away, pretending to be disappointed—
“Princess Stella, what are you doing here?”
Startled by Mila’s sudden voice, Stella slipped and plopped down right where she stood. At the same moment, something behind her collapsed with a loud crash.
With a sinking feeling, Stella slowly turned her head. The stone cairn she’d leaned against had tumbled down.
The ancient cairn crumbled away all too easily.
“Princess!”
Mila, who’d been watching from a short distance, rushed over in alarm. Stella, still dazed and sitting awkwardly on the ground, slowly stood up.
“Are you all right? D-do you have a headache? Do you feel nauseous? D-did you… s-see anything… unspeakable?”
Woo Hoo, who’d turned ashen at the sight of the collapsed cairn as if he’d seen a ghost, even stuttered in his speech. Ark and Esta, who’d come sobbing to beg forgiveness, had already fled far away.
“…I’m fine.”
Stella finally replied after checking her palms, which had touched the cairn. Her palms were slightly scraped from instinctively bracing herself when she fell. But this wasn’t the time to worry about minor cuts.
The moment she realized her hand had touched the cursed cairn, it felt as if all the blood had drained from her body.
She feared some malevolent force might seep out from the rubble even now—but aside from her heart pounding wildly, nothing unusual happened.
“Princess, are you hurt?”
Mila, who had approached unnoticed, took Stella’s hand and examined it.
Though Stella had fallen because Mila startled her, she couldn’t blame her. Mila frowned upon seeing the scrape on Stella’s palm.
“It’s fine. I just slipped for a moment.”
“What were you doing here?”
As Mila wrapped Stella’s injured palm with her handkerchief, she asked. There was absolutely nothing worth seeing here—no lovely flowers blooming, not even the fresh sprouts of spring. The garden, untended and overgrown with wild grasses, held nothing that would catch Stella’s interest.
“I just saw this here and got curious.”
Stella pointed to the collapsed stone cairn. She wondered whether Mila could see it too—and if so, how it appeared to her.
“Just a pile of stones? Why is this here?”
Mila scanned the area once more and said with a puzzled expression.
So Mila could see it too.
“I thought I’d clear it away if I’m going to tend the garden.”
“If you handle stones carelessly, you’ll get hurt like this again. I’ll call the gardener. If I summon them today, they’ll come and clear it within a week.”
“A week?”
That was far too long. Besides, since touching it caused no ill effects, maybe she could just clear it herself.
“I’ll just tidy it up slowly myself.”
“You, Princess?”
“Yeah. I don’t have anything else to do.”
Stella smiled brightly, but Mila firmly shook her head.
“Princess, your history lessons begin today. There are required books you must read beforehand. Since class starts late in the afternoon, you should read them this morning.”
As a hostage, Stella had no power to refuse the schedule imposed upon her.
“How long is the class?”
“It runs from 3 to 5 in the afternoon. You’ll attend with the other princesses, so you’ll need to prepare accordingly.”
Honestly, she had no desire to study the history of the Credion Empire. Being told she had to learn it because she was an empress candidate sounded utterly absurd.
She’d only glimpsed the Emperor of Credion from afar yesterday, but even a toddler could tell he had no interest whatsoever in the princesses held as hostages.
“I’ll take just one more hour of walking, then go inside. Please lay out the books I need to read. I’ll finish them before class starts.”
Whenever she found a book she wanted to read, she’d stay up all night to finish it. Besides, studying was actually one of her favorite pastimes.
“Just leave that pile of stones. I’ll have the servants handle it.”
“Okay. Got it.”
Though Mila heard Stella’s words, she couldn’t hide her unease. Only after Stella agreed to shorten her walk to thirty minutes did Mila finally relax and head back inside.
Even as she left, she repeated several times that there were two books Stella needed to read.
The moment Mila disappeared from sight, Stella began digging through the collapsed cairn. Even Woo Hoo’s frantic warnings couldn’t stop her.
“What if something terrible really happens because you’re handling it so recklessly?”
“It doesn’t seem to affect me at all.”
It was true. The more Stella dug through the rubble, the more certain she became that it couldn’t harm her in any way.
She couldn’t explain why—but with every passing moment, an inexplicable conviction only grew stronger.
After tossing aside stone after stone until the soil beneath was exposed, she quickly grabbed a flat rock to use as a makeshift shovel.
She didn’t know where this blind determination came from, but she was just as obsessed with digging now as she’d been the first time she’d encountered carrots.
About ten minutes later, when Stella had dug down roughly a handspan, a solid *clang* echoed as her stone struck something hard.
“Aaah!”
“Run away!”
The two sprites who’d cautiously crept back nearby and Woo Hoo himself scattered in panic.
Stella watched them flee blankly, then fixed her gaze on the solid object now revealed. Buried in the earth was a brown jar with a lid.
Stella tapped the jar’s lid lightly with the stone she held. She’d expected thick black smoke to burst out—but nothing happened.
After tapping it several more times with the stone and still seeing no reaction, she gently touched it with her fingertip.
Silence.
The earth sprites stood far away, their faces pale as they stared in terror. Woo Hoo knelt on the ground, praying fervently to someone.
Stella carefully placed her palm on the lid. She felt the damp chill characteristic of objects long buried underground.
She silently resumed digging, and soon the object was fully uncovered.
“Huh? It’s just a jar?”
What Stella pulled from the earth was a rather heavy brown jar. It was so ordinary it made her wonder if the earth sprites had been mistaken.
The only odd thing was that, despite being pulled from the soil, it gleamed as if brand new.
Stella set the jar on the ground, wrapped both hands around it, and shook it gently.
Thud… thud…
Something heavy was inside the jar.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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