I Didn't Really Want to Do Farming! (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 25
When he came to his senses, Kai was already devouring his third carrot.
He even subtly nudged Ben away with his elbow every time the horse stuck his head in, worried the horse might steal his carrots—a feeling of anxiety over food he’d never experienced before.
After hastily wolfing down three carrots, Kai slumped, utterly drained by an overwhelming sense of self-loathing. He’d just thrown away the dignity of an emperor over mere carrots.
It wasn’t even a proper meal, nor served on a clean table. He’d chewed them noisily like a horse starved for three days, munching on carrots freshly pulled from the dirt and only roughly washed.
“Haa….”
Kai, belatedly regaining his composure, cooled his burning cheeks with the back of his hand. He felt relieved that, in the darkness of night, the other person couldn’t clearly see his face.
But what truly shamed him was how his eyes kept drifting involuntarily toward the carrot patch.
He never imagined he’d one day despise himself over something as trivial as carrots.
“Are you feeling a bit less hungry now?”
Stella asked with a satisfied smile, watching Kai sigh deeply.
“…Thank you.”
Too embarrassed to lift his face, Kai hastily bowed and sprang to his feet as if leaping away. He felt he needed to escape this place as quickly as possible.
“I pulled up a few more carrots—would you like to take some with you?”
Her voice was as sweet as a carrot itself.
No. Don’t turn around. Those are just carrots—you can always order the imperial chef to prepare far superior ones anytime you wish.
Kai steeled his resolve, determined to turn around and firmly decline.
“Thank you.”
Yet the moment he met the luminous orange glow of the carrot Stella held, his lips moved of their own accord, contrary to his intentions.
Thus, on his way back to his true self alongside Stella’s carrots, Kai sat atop Ben, his face no longer sparkling with its usual sharpness but filled instead with regret and self-disgust.
You idiot. Why did you thank her just now? Why did you accept even more carrots?
Kai shook his head, baffled by his own inexplicable, ravenous hunger. Lately, he’d even lost his appetite, often leaving untouched the dishes the chef had painstakingly prepared.
He wished he could erase these humiliating actions from his memory. It was just a carrot—nothing more than a dirty carrot freshly pulled from the soil.
Crunch, crunch.
Even as he shook his head, his hand kept moving the carrot toward his mouth. When the last piece vanished, Kai stared blankly at his empty palm and muttered,
“I should’ve saved some.”
That night, as soon as Kai returned to his room and lay down on the bed, he fell into a deep sleep.
The slightly scratchy yet cozy blanket wrapped around his weary body like a warm bath, and the cool night air drifting through the open window perfectly cooled the room. It was his first truly restful sleep in a long while.
[This is the timeline separator]The moment a long, thin ray of sunlight slipped through the curtains, slowly lengthening until it peeled away the shadow from her face, Stella’s eyes snapped open.
“My carrots!”
She’d dreamed all night of a shameless knight and an old horse trampling her carrot patch. Staring blankly into space for a moment, Stella slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes to wipe away the lingering drowsiness.
For a brief while, the boundary between last night’s events and her dream blurred confusingly in her mind, but Stella quickly managed to separate the two.
“It was just a dream. Thank goodness.”
Relieved, she recalled the exhausted knight hastily devouring the carrot she’d given him after his grueling training.
“He must’ve been so worn out. Since he seems to be a low-ranking knight, I should look out for him again next time.”
Unbeknownst to her, Stella had already come to see Kai as just another junior knight, too preoccupied with other knights’ opinions to eat properly.
Naturally, she never imagined that the lavishly dressed emperor she’d met at the banquet and the casually dressed Kai who arrived last night on an old horse could possibly be the same person.
On that day, overwhelmed by the bloodline scroll, she hadn’t even gotten a proper look at the emperor’s face. Besides, who could possibly imagine that the man who’d devoured a few carrots with such ravenous desperation was actually the emperor?
“Still, I feel proud.”
Stella was deeply happy knowing her own crops had helped feed someone who was hungry. It was a sense of accomplishment she hadn’t felt in a long time.
Stretching widely, Stella yawned deeply. If this was what life as a hostage was like, she’d gladly endure it ten times over.
After announcing she’d go for a morning walk, Stella stepped into the garden and let out a heavy sigh at the sight of the bare earth.
She’d disliked the garden when it was overgrown with weeds, but now, stripped completely bare and turned entirely into muddy soil, it didn’t look much better—it felt like staring at her own destitute state.
“I need to plant something soon.”
Stella’s carrot patch covered less than a tenth of the entire garden.
“I should ask the earth sprites if I can get other seeds too.”
She’d never imagined she’d think this way when she first received the carrot seeds. But watching her carrots grow day by day was proving far more enjoyable than she’d expected.
She’d dashed out to the balcony countless times while reading, suddenly remembering her garden and rushing to peek down at it. Each time, she regretted not planting the carrots closer to the balcony.
The carrot patch near the castle entrance stood alone in the otherwise entirely brown garden, its leaves lush and green.
“Stella!”
Esta hurried to catch up as Stella’s steps quickened.
“Good morning.”
Greeting the earth sprites no longer felt strange at all. Occasionally, she worried someone might catch her talking to them, but with practice, she’d grown quite skilled at handling it.
Whenever someone approached while she was chatting with the sprites, Stella would start humming a tune. As a result, the servants of Verdura Castle simply believed Princess Stella enjoyed singing.
As Stella walked toward the carrot patch with Esta, several earth sprites trailed along behind them.
Upon reaching the field shortly after, Stella marveled at how the carrots had grown nearly a finger’s width taller since last night.
“Do they normally grow this fast?”
Though she knew little about farming, she’d never seen or heard of any crop that grew so quickly.
Stella gently stroked the carrot leaves, swaying softly in the breeze, as tenderly as if petting a puppy. The young leaves felt as soft as a baby’s cheek.
“They’ll be fully grown and ready to harvest in just three more days.”
A pleased smile spread across Esta’s lips as she watched Stella. Watching a diligent student always brought joy.
“So I just need to wait now?”
“That’s a good question. See that carrot over there?”
The carrot Esta pointed to had grown quite large, its orange root bulging visibly above the soil. Stella nodded in agreement.
“You need to carefully mound soil around it so the root doesn’t stick out like that.”
“Mound soil?”
“Yes—it means covering the root well with soil.”
“Ahh!”
“Watch closely!”
Sitting before the carrot, Esta covered the exposed root with soil. Her small hands moved with surprising confidence.
After piling soil high enough to reach even the green leaves, Esta pressed down firmly with her palms. Crouched low as she was, the carrot leaves looked relatively large beside her.
Stella suddenly realized her own carrots were much bigger than the ones she’d once received from Ark.
“Esta.”
“Hmm? I’m all done now.”
Esta looked up proudly, having just finished her task.
“Why are these carrots bigger than the ones Ark gave me?”
“Well, that’s because you grew them yourself. Sprite carrots change size depending on who cultivates them.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Carrots grown by giants are bigger than you are.”
It was astonishing.
“If I were taller, would the carrots have grown even bigger?”
Esta giggled as if hearing something utterly bizarre at Stella’s question.
“Humans are just small, that’s all.”
She never expected to be looked down upon for her height—not by another race, but by an earth sprite. Stella deliberately and very pointedly looked down at Esta, who was gazing up at her.
Noticing Stella’s vertically piercing glare, Esta quickly averted her eyes and mumbled evasively,
“It varies by species. So even if that carrot thief from yesterday planted them, they’d still grow to this size.”
While Esta continued her carrot-growing lesson, the earth sprites who’d followed them began covering the exposed carrots with soil.
Stella quickly joined in, worried the sprites might finish all the work before she got a chance.
Milla, standing by the window, watched Stella seated in the carrot patch. Her expression as she looked at Stella was complex and unreadable.
She couldn’t understand why the princess was working in the field like a tenant farmer since morning—especially since she clearly wasn’t skilled at it.
Milla had seen Stella jump in alarm several times after accidentally stepping on and crushing sprouts while moving to a new spot. Even someone unfamiliar with farming like herself could tell Stella was clumsy and inexperienced.
“And yet they’re growing so well.”
Milla’s gaze shifted to the vividly green carrot leaves. The carrots she’d glimpsed in passing had grown unusually fast, their leaves becoming lusher by the day.
Though Stella was far away and facing away, making her expression unreadable, Milla felt she could still sense just how happy Princess Stella was right now.
Princess Stella’s shuffling movements as she shifted sideways, fiddling with the soil, were as light and bouncy as a small, lively ball.
“I should go see for myself.”
Milla, who had been standing still and watching, finally moved. She was dying to understand why the princess was acting this way.
Cold Male Lead Became My Clingy Husband (Female-Dominant)
Feng Bai Su transmigrated into a matriarchal novel, becoming the sister of the female protagonist and the Seventh Princess of the Feng Ling Kingdom.
After working herself to death in her previous life, finally reincarnating as a princess, she only wanted to be a lazy fish who could eat, sleep, and play.
Until she met the male protagonist from the book, Wei Jing Mo, and he took a liking to her!
Wei Jing Mo is the top young man in Feng Ling City, talented in both appearance and ability, from a prestigious family, with a cold and otherworldly appearance, a figure like the bright moon in the hearts of noble ladies. It was thought that only the most powerful and talented noble lady in Feng Ling City would be worthy of such a brilliant young man. Who knew that this young gentleman would secretly admire the infamous Seventh Princess?
Short scene 1:
Feng Bai Su looked at the young man crying like a pear blossom in the rain before her, and couldn’t help but doubt her life.
Wasn’t the male lead described as a cold and otherworldly figure in the book?
Then who was this poor little thing crying with swollen red eyes and tear-stained face?
Short scene 2:
Wei Jing Mo stared intently at Feng Bai Su who was about to go out, wanting to say, “Be careful on the road.”
Before he could speak, Feng Bai Su suddenly bent down and bit his cheek.
Her peach blossom eyes were full of disdain: “Tsk! You’re so clingy!”
Wei Jing Mo: “…”
A talented fox spirit female lead with a flirtatious appearance but actually abstinent VS A cold-looking but actually naive and clingy little jealous male lead
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