I Didn't Really Want to Do Farming! (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 23
Kai first heard that voice ten years ago, when he was fourteen.
It had been an unremarkable day. He’d sat through half a day of boring lessons and, as usual, been utterly crushed by Melissa in sword practice.
Until he turned fifteen, Melissa had been taller and stronger than Kai. Naturally, it was Melissa who stood out in sword training, and Kai who kept getting beaten.
“Ben, when will I finally be able to beat Melissa?”
Dejected, Kai sniffled as he stroked Ben’s soft mane. He’d promised himself many times not to cry, but his tears refused to listen.
Perhaps because he’d seen his father sighing at him, he felt especially miserable today, and Melissa seemed more unbearable than ever.
His master had assured him his height would surpass Melissa’s within a few years, but no matter how hard he looked, it didn’t seem likely.
Kai had never beaten Melissa—not in swordsmanship, not in academics, not even in his parents’ affection.
Some days he wished Melissa would just disappear; other days he felt reassured by her presence.
Melissa was different from other noble young ladies. She always kept her hair cropped short like a boy, wore trousers, and spoke roughly.
Because of that, Kai had believed Melissa was a boy until she turned ten.
He’d even poked her budding chest, teasing her about why only that spot had gotten plump—until his father scolded him severely, and only then did he realize Melissa was a girl.
Annoyed, Kai kicked a pebble lying on the ground with all his might.
“Ow.”
Though it was just a small stone hitting his foot, his bruised thigh throbbed dully—it was where Melissa had struck him with her wooden sword.
“Damn you, Melissa.”
Today was one of those days when he hated her. After riding Ben for a long while at a slow, plodding pace, the sun had already begun to set, and he’d wandered far from the palace grounds.
Suddenly frightened, Kai tried to turn back, but Ben wouldn’t obey. Ben stood rigidly frozen, staring fearfully at something.
“Ben, what’s wrong?”
That was when—
“Ben, what’s wrong?”
Someone repeated Kai’s words exactly. A chill ran down his spine. It was an ominous voice. Kai quickly drew his wooden sword, ready to fight, and scanned his surroundings as he shouted,
“Who’s there!”
He tried his best to sound brave and steady,
“Who’s there.”
—but that strange voice mocked him by echoing his words again.
The voice came from within the gloomy castle. Clearly, some coward was hiding there, playing tricks on him.
Furious, Kai finally mustered courage, gripped his wooden sword, and strode toward Verdura Castle—
“Your Highness. You must not go that way.”
A guard who’d been secretly following him suddenly appeared, blocking Kai’s path.
“But someone’s over there—”
“There’s no one there.”
The guard was firm. Standing resolutely in front of Kai, he showed no intention of stepping aside. Kai, secretly scared, pretended to give in and turned around.
Yet even as he left with the guard, he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone who hated him was watching him from that place.
After that day, those unseen beings occasionally appeared in Kai’s room, suddenly mimicking his words. Sometimes their breath felt close enough to touch.
One day it was on the back of his hand, another day by his ear, and yet another on his neck.
They still remained invisible. If only they’d shown themselves, they might have been less frightening. The creatures his childhood imagination conjured were grotesque and horrifying, tormenting him every night.
Whenever he heard their voices, Kai would leap up in terror and flee his room, refusing to return that night. Eventually, rumors spread throughout the imperial capital that the prince was possessed by ghosts.
Kai decided he’d pretend not to hear those voices anymore after seeing his mother quietly weeping because of them.
Ever since his younger sibling had died in a sudden accident, his mother had become jumpy at the slightest thing.
She’d grown overly protective of Kai, and when rumors surfaced that her only remaining son was haunted by spirits, she finally broke down completely.
“Mother, I don’t hear anything anymore.”
“Really? Oh, thank you, gods!”
His mother hugged Kai tightly, sobbing as she offered prayers of gratitude to the gods—while the unseen beings clinging close to Kai mimicked both him and his mother, giggling gleefully.
“I don’t hear anything.”
“Oh, thank you, gods!”
Though goosebumps covered his body from the beings still circling him, Kai endured it. He couldn’t let those invisible things make his mother suffer any longer.
“Of all places, it had to be here.”
Kai was displeased that following Ben had led him precisely to Verdura Castle. By now, voices whispering in his ear barely bothered him.
If he simply ignored them as if he couldn’t hear, they’d eventually fall silent—and at worst, their repetition was just an echo.
Besides, lately he hadn’t heard them at all.
But—
“That kid’s back again. But he’s changed a lot, hasn’t he?”
“He really has. He’s grown so much.”
“Can he see us now?”
“No, I don’t think so. He doesn’t even notice us standing right in front of him.”
This time, the voice was different. It wasn’t meaningless echoing—it was clearly a conversation.
Kai whipped his head toward the sound.
“Ah! You scared me! Can he see us?”
“No, look closely. He’s staring somewhere else.”
“Maybe he’s cross-eyed.”
“Really? Hey! Can you see us?”
Esta leaped right in front of Kai, waving her arms. But Kai kept glancing around without seeing either Esta or Ark.
“Ugh, he can’t see us.”
“Tch. Got my hopes up for nothing. Hey, but that dumb horse is eating Stella’s carrots!”
“What? Oh no! What do we do?”
Their conversation quickly shifted to the carrots Ben was eating. Kai was completely bewildered—he hadn’t even realized Ben was munching on carrots buried in the ground.
“Hey! Ugly horse! Get away! Those belong to Stella! She’ll scold you if she finds out!”
“I’ll go get Stella!”
“Hurry back. That dumb creature just stands there while his own horse steals food.”
“We have to tell Stella everything.”
The grumbling voices split in two directions—one toward Ben, the other toward Verdura Castle.
Kai hesitated for a moment, then hurried to Ben’s side. He couldn’t let that sinister presence cling to his horse.
A moment later—
“Horse, get away!”
Something began tugging at the carrot Ben was holding. Ben, who until just moments ago had been happily pulling carrots from the ground, now whined while stubbornly gripping the vegetable.
“Hee-hee-hee!”
“Ben!”
Kai quickly yanked Ben back. If he left things as they were, those invisible beings might drag Ben underground.
But Ben refused to let go of the carrot, and the unseen entity seemed equally determined not to surrender it. In the end, the carrot snapped, and Ben noisily chewed and swallowed the leafy part.
“What’s going on here!”
Amidst the chaos, a woman’s voice suddenly rang out from behind, jolting Kai to his senses.
The woman stomped over, huffing just as indignantly as her voice, and glared fiercely at Kai.
Her bright golden hair shimmered faintly under the moonlight. She wore slippers and a robe, as if she’d rushed out in a hurry. Despite facing a stranger in her nightclothes, the woman showed no embarrassment.
Normally, a princess wouldn’t confront an intruder herself. Yet this woman even carried something that looked like a weapon.
Kai carefully examined the object she held pointedly toward him with both hands.
It wasn’t a sword.
“Who are you!”
Who was she again? Ah—Princess Stella. Kai recalled her bitter smile at the royal banquet. Back then, she’d seemed monochrome; now she shone in vivid colors.
Her voice was quite bold too. But what on earth was she holding? Kai found himself more curious about her weapon than the woman herself.
A pickaxe?
The princess was holding a pickaxe—the kind farmers used.
“Good heavens! My carrots!”
Stella, who had been glaring at Kai, gasped in horror upon seeing his horse had trampled her carrot patch into ruins.
Stunned by the unexpected appearance of a pickaxe, Kai stood dumbfounded as Stella dashed past him toward Ben.
“What were you two doing? You said you’d protect them!”
The princess scolded something beneath the ground. Kai’s eyes sharpened at the sight.
Can she see them?
“The horse suddenly came in and started eating! What could I do when it wouldn’t listen to me?”
“Esta’s right. That ugly horse came in and ate however it pleased.”
Stella sighed deeply, then frowned miserably at the mess the horse had made of her garden.
“I was about to harvest them soon…”
Her grumbling abruptly stopped as she turned sharply toward Kai, who stood awkwardly nearby. Her eyes blazed furiously as she glared at him.
“This is all your fault! How can you be so careless with your horse?”
“That’s right. It’s his fault.”
“Exactly. The owner’s to blame. The horse isn’t at fault.”
As soon as Stella spoke, two other voices chimed in agreement. Stella shot a warning glare toward where Ark and Esta stood, signaling them to be quiet.
Kai realized the owners of those voices were exactly where she was looking. Slowly, he drew the dagger he’d kept hidden in his clothes.
At last, he had a chance to deal with the creatures that had tormented him for so long.
Though he couldn’t see them, by calculating the direction of their voices and the angle at which the princess was staring, he could easily deduce their position.
Ark, who’d been talking with Stella, suddenly clapped his hands as if remembering something.
“Stella, wait—this guy can hear us.”
At the same instant, Kai hurled his dagger forcefully toward the source of the voices.
But instead of piercing the creatures, his dagger struck something solid and ricocheted off at an angle.
Clang!
What blocked Kai’s blade was the princess’s pickaxe.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
She glared at him as if ready to kill him.
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
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