When Kai regained his senses, he realized he had already devoured three carrots. He even subtly pushed Ben away with his elbow whenever the horse tried to snatch them. It was the first time he felt anxious about a horse eating his food.

After quickly consuming three carrots, Kai felt a deep sense of self-loathing drain him of all energy. He had compromised the dignity of an emperor, all for mere carrots. They weren’t even part of a well-prepared meal or served on a clean table. Instead, he had just wolfed down carrots freshly plucked from the dirt, like a horse starved for days.

“Heaving a deep sigh, Kai cooled his burning cheeks with the back of his hand, relieved that it was dark enough for Stella not to see his face properly. However, the real embarrassment was his eyes continually drifting towards the carrot patch.

“Feeling hungry now?” Stella asked, looking at Kai with a content expression.

“…Thank you.”

Feeling too embarrassed to lift his face, Kai quickly got up, eager to leave as soon as possible.

“I picked a few more carrots. Do you want to take them with you?”

Her voice was as sweet as the carrots.

No, don’t look back. Just ordinary carrots, Kai thought. He could easily order the royal chefs to prepare any exquisite dish with carrots.

Kai firmly decided to turn around, decline firmly, and leave.

“Thank you.”

However, upon seeing the glistening orange of the carrots Stella was holding, his lips moved involuntarily.

On the way back to the palace, riding Ben, Kai’s face, usually bright with vitality, was filled with regret and self-loathing.

Fool. Why thank her? Why accept more carrots?

He shook his head, unable to comprehend his own manic appetite. Recently, he had been disinterested in food, often leaving elaborate dishes prepared by the chef untouched.

Kai wanted to erase from his memory the demeaning acts he had committed over mere carrots. They were just dirty carrots freshly plucked from the soil.

Crunch, crunch.

Despite his thoughts, his hand kept moving the carrots to his mouth. When he realized he had eaten them all, he looked at his empty hand with hollow eyes and muttered,

“I should have saved some.”

That night, upon returning to his room, Kai fell into a deep sleep as soon as he lay in bed. The comfortably rough yet warm blanket enveloped his tired body like a hot bath, and the cool air from the open window tempered the room’s temperature. It was a long-overdue restful sleep.

The moment the thin sunlight sneaking through the curtains stretched longer and peeled off the shadow from her face, Stella abruptly woke up.

“My carrots!”

She had dreamt of the shameless knight and the old horse wreaking havoc in her carrot patch all night. Squinting her eyes and staring blankly at the air, Stella slowly got up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

Wait, was last night a dream or reality? Although her mind was muddled, she soon distinguished between the two.

“It was just a dream. Thankfully.”

Relief flooded her, but then she remembered the exhausted knight gobbling down the carrots she had given him.

“He must have been so tired. He seemed like a lower-ranking knight, so I should take care of him next time I see him.”

To Stella, Kai had become a low-ranking knight who couldn’t eat properly because he was wary of others’ eyes.

It was only natural she couldn’t connect the elegantly dressed emperor she met at the banquet with the relaxedly dressed Kai who rode an old horse the previous night.
On that day, when she was out of her mind over the pedigree documents, Stella hadn’t really looked at the Emperor’s face properly. Besides, who could imagine that the person frantically gobbling up a few carrots would be the Emperor?

“Still, it feels rewarding.”

Stella felt truly happy about having helped someone hungry with the crops she had grown. It was a sense of accomplishment she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Stretching and yawning, she thought that if being a hostage meant living like this, she could do it ten times over.

As Stella stepped into the garden for her morning walk, she sighed deeply at the sight of the barren land. The garden, once overgrown with weeds, wasn’t particularly appealing even now in its bare, dirt-covered state. It reminded her too much of her own empty circumstances.

“I need to plant something quickly.”

Stella’s carrot patch was less than a tenth of the entire garden.

“I should ask the earth fairies if they have any other seeds.”

She never imagined she would become so involved when she first received the carrot seeds. Watching the carrots grow rapidly every day turned out to be quite enjoyable.

She found herself running to the balcony to check on her garden, even when in the middle of reading a book. She regretted not planting the carrots closer to the balcony. The carrot patch near the entrance of the castle was the only spot of green in the otherwise brown garden.

“Stella!”

Esther hurried up to Stella, who was quickening her pace with an occupied mind.

“Good morning.”