I Didn't Really Want to Do Farming! (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 40
Daren sighed several times as he glanced sideways at Princess Stella, who was following along wearing Brin’s clothes. No matter how much he retraced the events, he simply couldn’t understand how things had come to this.
“Don’t worry. I’ll go quietly and come back quietly.”
Noticing Daren constantly watching her, Stella gave a faint smile and spoke calmly.
“But Your Highness, it’s far too dangerous.”
“Dangerous? From whom? From you lot?”
Daren flinched, feeling as if his inner thoughts had been exposed. Honestly, he was less worried about the princess coming to harm and more afraid that if things went wrong, he himself would suffer the consequences.
“Daren.”
Stella walked confidently ahead, her voice steady as she spoke.
“There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
At first, Stella had intended to stay quietly put.
But after living in Verdura for a while, she realized that no one in the capital paid her any attention—not even the soldiers guarding the gates of Verdura Castle.
Daren merely twitched his lips a few times and fell silent. He had suddenly realized how absurd it was for a servant like himself to walk side by side with the princess.
Having served as a servant since childhood, he’d seen countless nobles. Not one of them had ever treated a servant this way.
When he was with Princess Stella, he felt like Daren the human being—not some mere livestock or object. Perhaps that was precisely why he couldn’t bring himself to refuse her request.
“You absolutely must not go anywhere dangerous.”
Seeing that Daren seemed to have given up trying to persuade her, Stella beamed and nodded.
Her smile was dazzlingly beautiful, yet for some reason, Daren felt as though Princess Stella were on the verge of tears. His heart ached strangely.
Even dressed in worn clothes and wrapped in a hood, Stella remained breathtakingly beautiful.
People who had come to buy carrots—rumored to be delicious—forgot their original purpose upon seeing Stella standing by the stall and burst into exclamations of admiration.
“The carrot seller is so pretty!”
“Right? She’s as lovely as a princess!”
“Oh, you! You’ve never even seen a princess—how can you say she’s as pretty as one? This young lady is even prettier than a princess!”
Already overwhelmed by the bustling crowd, Stella became utterly flustered as people kept calling out to her from all directions.
Yet, strangely, she felt exhilarated and truly alive.
She had expected that a sheltered princess entering a market filled with rough, boisterous people would surely be frightened and hide away in terror.
But Stella mingled effortlessly with the crowd, as if to mock Daren’s assumptions.
“Wow! You’re really pretty, big sister! Will you come again next time?”
Even after finishing his task of guiding customers, Jack lingered beside Stella for quite a while without leaving.
His behavior was completely different from how he acted around Brin, leaving Daren staring at him in disbelief. But Jack didn’t seem to care about Daren at all.
“Thank you! I’ll come again!”
“I’m so excited! I’ll go spread the word that the delicious carrots have arrived! Everyone’s been waiting!”
Jack was so enthusiastic that anyone watching might mistake him for the carrot vendor himself. He’d been quite friendly when Brin and Daren had come together, but seeing Stella, he eagerly helped even without being asked.
Just as Jack was about to dash off somewhere, he ran back to the stall and asked shyly,
“Um… what’s your name, big sister? I’m Jack.”
He scratched his head and lowered his gaze as if asking someone’s name were something deeply embarrassing. His cheeks flushed pink, making him look so endearing that Stella couldn’t help but smile.
“Ludina. My name is Ludina.”
She felt Daren’s surprised gaze on her but simply smiled brightly at Jack.
“Ludina! That’s as pretty a name as you are! I’ll hurry and gather some customers for you!”
With an even redder face than before, Jack grinned widely and dashed off somewhere in a hurry.
Daren wanted to ask who Ludina was but held his tongue. Being with the princess kept making him forget his place as a servant.
Realizing he needed to be more careful, Daren tried hard to remind himself of his true station.
Suppressing his rising curiosity, Daren warmly greeted the approaching customers.
“Welcome! These are the most delicious carrots in the world! Once you taste them, you’ll never forget!”
Unlike his initial hesitant demeanor, Daren was proving surprisingly talented at selling.
He called out to passersby to draw them in and even managed to sell slightly above the usual price by pretending to throw in an extra carrot when customers tried to haggle. To Stella, Daren seemed like a natural-born merchant.
Thanks to several days at the market, quite a few people now recognized Daren. Most greeted him warmly, but the vegetable vendors who’d been selling here before eyed him with clear displeasure.
Though Daren felt a twinge of guilt for seemingly cutting into their earnings, there was nothing he could do—the carrots grown by Princess Stella were simply too delicious to be blamed.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
While they were busy selling carrots, a man pushed through the crowd gathered at their stall. He wore extremely expensive-looking clothes—clearly no commoner.
Stella and Daren’s smiles vanished instantly.
In the brief moment before the man spoke, a flurry of thoughts raced through their minds: Could he be from the capital? Should they run away right now?
“What can we do for you, sir?”
Daren forced a broad smile as he asked. There were many people around, and the man seemed to be alone—if trouble arose, they might still have a chance to escape.
“I am Ian Blake, head of the Crimson Bat Trading Company.”
The man smiled politely and extended his hand toward Daren. Daren glanced quickly at Stella, who gave a brief shake of her head.
Ian, who had initially offered his hand to Daren, observed the two of them carefully. When his eyes met Daren’s, he beamed just as warmly as before, his even white teeth gleaming between his parted lips.
“What business could the head of the Crimson Bat Trading Company possibly have with me…?”
Though relieved he wasn’t from the capital, the mention of the Crimson Bat Trading Company was even more alarming—it might be far more dangerous. Daren struggled to hide his tension, but his voice kept catching in his throat.
“Might you be the one who grew these carrots?”
Daren glanced again at Stella, who gave an almost imperceptible nod. Ian didn’t miss this exchange either.
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“I’ve come to make you a proposal.”
“Oh, I’ve legally purchased a street vendor permit from the Moonlight Guild and am selling quite legitimately. You’re welcome to verify it yourself.”
“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding—it’s not about that.”
“…Then what is it?”
“I’d like to purchase your entire harvest. Of course, I’ll pay triple the price you’re currently asking.”
“Huh? But why…?”
They were just carrots. Offering triple the price seemed deeply suspicious—no matter how delicious they were, nobody in the market would pay such an exorbitant amount for carrots.
Even Daren, who’d only been selling for a few days, found it highly suspicious.
“Hey! How long are you going to block the way? Can’t you see other people are waiting?”
Now that the well-dressed gentleman had clarified he was a merchant, not a noble, the previously tense crowd grew bolder and started shouting loudly.
Ian slightly removed his hat and smiled at the crowd. His noble-like grace made them suddenly act flustered and look away.
“If you’re done talking, please step aside. We need to buy carrots for our shop.”
“My apologies. Could you kindly wait just a little longer, madam?”
“M-Madam? Goodness me.”
The woman, who had been scowling fiercely just moments ago, pursed her lips and let out a soft chuckle. She fiddled with her hair, tucking it behind her ear, and when her eyes met those of the person beside her, she briskly shook her hands as if brushing off something stuck to them.
“Thank you.”
Ian winked playfully at the grumbling woman before continuing his conversation with Daren and Stella.
“Once you’ve finished selling for the day, would you please come to the café at the end of this street? I assure you, you won’t regret it.”
Ian had been speaking to Daren but finished his sentence while looking at Stella beside him. The man’s calm, knowing gaze—clearly having already deduced the relationship between her and Daren—startled Stella momentarily, but she quickly replied in a composed tone.
“We’ll consider it once we’ve finished selling. For now, could you please step aside, Head of the Crimson Bat Trading Company, Mr. Ian Blake?”
This time, it was Ian who was surprised. He’d already sensed this woman wasn’t ordinary, but now he felt she might be something even more. His curiosity toward the two—no, toward this woman—was growing steadily.
He wanted to tell her to trust him, that he wasn’t a suspicious person at all, but feared that saying so would only make her more wary.
“I’ll be waiting.”
Now Ian bowed only to Stella. Watching their brief exchange, Daren realized this was a conversation he had no place in.
The man soon left, and Daren and Stella quickly sold all the remaining carrots. They’d brought no less than four bundles, yet sold them just as rapidly as the day before.
“We sold far more than yesterday.”
Daren stared blankly at his now-heavy coin pouch, muttering in disbelief.
“Indeed. It ended much faster than expected.”
Stella looked more disappointed than pleased.
“Your Highness, just a little further down this street, there’s a shop that sells seeds and seedlings. Would you like to visit? The market might be open today.”
Noticing the princess wished to linger longer, Daren impulsively asked.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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