The business progressed smoothly. Even when the empire was in turmoil with the atmosphere that war might break out, transactions proceeded without problems.

Bill Edit and Ojenil’s side expressed concern, but it was possible because Ludmila personally stepped in and sent a letter to reassure them, saying this matter would end soon, so please wait a little.

Of course, there was a threat in the contract stating that if the contract was breached due to war or civil war, etc., which was not included in the contract, they would have to pay damages several times the contract fee when breaching the contract.

Whatever the process, Ludmila’s thoroughness once again ensured that there were no problems until the transactions resumed and business proceeded.

The organizational restructuring that had begun with Ludmila’s draft was also nearing its final stages.

As the weeds that had been gnawing away at Habertz’s resources were pulled out, the money that had been leaking was now accumulating.

That wasn’t all.

The paintings Ludmila had instructed to purchase arrived belatedly and were hung throughout the castle.

They were decorations that could refresh the bleak and dark atmosphere of the castle.

Gardeners hired to welcome spring trimmed the desolate garden based on the bird’s-eye view Ludmila had brought for reference.

As time passed and spring fully arrived.

The bleak and messy black ramparts could transform for the first time into a duke’s castle with a beautiful garden and scenery.

“My lord. There is something I would like to discuss regarding that villa.”

It was when Aden was heading to the training grounds that Salom came to find him. Rolling his eyes, Aden jerked his chin as if to say go ahead.

“Heavy rains are expected this summer, and there’s talk of building a dam on the river. Of course, it’s not certain, but usually around this time heavy rains fell, and every time there were floods in the area.”

“So?”

“Well… To build a dam for the heavy rains, the riverbank would be suitable. As you know, there’s a white plum tree standing there, right? They say that where the white plum tree stands is suitable for building the dam. So…”

The white plum tree needs to be uprooted. In the end, though beating around the bush, what Salom wanted to say was one thing.

Aden, who had been staring intently at Salom watching his reaction, briefly turned his head.

“Build it in front of that.”

“Pardon? But…”

“Bring the bird’s-eye view. I’ll look at it myself and check.”

Salom opened his mouth hastily in surprise, but Aden had already passed him by.

A small sigh finally escaped from Salom’s mouth as he blankly stared at Aden’s retreating back.

It had been a month since Ludmila left. More time passed, and it was approaching two months.

Spring’s mood was in full swing, and the blowing wind was warm and mild.

The scenery had changed so much that it didn’t remind one of the person sent off at the tail end of winter. Beressa silently turned her head away from that scenery.

Salom, who had been walking over, stopped at a distance and shook his head.

Beressa let out a small sigh at that head shake conveying that it didn’t go well.

Quite some time had passed, so she thought it would be okay now. But Aden still seemed trapped in the past, unable to move forward.

Everything was changing. The family, the castle, the scenery. Even public opinion surrounding the Khan clan was changing in this situation, but Aden remained stagnant.

When the man who should be moving forward faster than anyone else came to a stop, things that were out of alignment began to reveal themselves one by one.

As money poured in, the clan leaders licked their lips, which soon led to movements aiming for Aden’s vacant position.

“I still haven’t been able to bring up news of the banquet.”

“I suppose not.”

In three months, starting with the Founding Festival hosted by the imperial family, opinions were emerging that they should hold a banquet within Habertz as well.

For decades, Habertz had never held a proper banquet.

So voices arose that they should hold a banquet on this occasion to reunite the clan.

She wasn’t unaware of the low intention to push their daughters next to Aden, but she welcomed such voices.

If only Aden would turn his eyes even once to that disgust, that alone would be enough.

“Fortunately, he said he will attend the Founding Festival hosted by the imperial family. Sir Benjamin personally persuaded him.”

“That’s fortunate.”

Beressa let out a small sigh and ran her hand through her hair. She silently gazed towards the training grounds, biting her lip hard.

Beressa often dreamed. In that dream, she held back Ludmila who was leaving on the frozen road.

She urged her not to go, saying she needed to stay here, and when she brought her back to the castle, she would wake up from that dream.

Are you regretting it? Beressa had clearly thought sending Ludmila away was the answer.

But at some point, she began to think her choice might not have been right.

Was it the answer to keep her by Aden’s side? Should she have chosen to help Aden step down from that position and let the two of them escape?

Beressa couldn’t fill the emptiness deeply embedded in Aden’s heart. She knew how to fill it, but could never do so.

After pondering, Beressa quietly bit her lip.

Ludmila thought it was about time she should do something. It wasn’t that she lacked money.

Angar had sold the jewels she brought at an appropriate price, so her financial situation was comfortable.

She had enough to live for several years like this without any problems, and as Angar occasionally sent daily necessities, there was even less need to spend money.

All she did was meet with people around her, have conversations, eat meals, and drink tea.

In a way, it was an ordinary, everyday, peaceful day, but continuing that was by no means easy.

It took constant effort to achieve ordinariness.

Someone had to earn money, someone had to raise children and pull weeds, and someone had to clean the house.

Ludmila cleaned the house, pulled weeds in the yard, grew appropriate flowers, and grew vegetables in the flower bed, but she didn’t earn money.

Naturally, many people became curious about where that money came from.

No matter how good the people gathered in this peaceful place were, they were still people.

She knew that whenever Angar came and went, he recited stories related to her.

Perhaps they thought of her as a woman who had won Angar’s heart, or someone equivalent to that.

Recently, a young man from a neighboring village who claimed to be a businessman came and handed her his business card.

Surprised by the sudden visit, Ludmila had firmly responded to the man’s subtle request to persuade Angar, saying she had no relationship with that man.

The businessman left, but there were a few more meetings with purpose after that. As such incidents repeated, she thought she should slowly start working.

The problem was that she had never earned money in her life.

As an illegitimate child, but first as an imperial princess, then as a marchioness. Ludmila had never been bound by money.

“Are you really alright?”

Ironically, what Ludmila started was something she had never done in her life – tenant farming.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Through someone Angar introduced, Ludmila purchased suitable land and planted crops there.

Because she knew nothing, she looked at books and sought advice from Angar.

Thanks to that, unlike her initial clumsiness, she was able to successfully plant barley.

“Do you think it will grow well at this rate?”

Angar silently looked at the field Ludmila had planted and nodded.

Although he had provided various help, in the end, it was Ludmila who planted the barley. She persistently stuck to it and finally finished sowing.

It was then that a gentle breeze and rosy sunset fell across Ludmila’s face.

Angar glanced sideways and looked up at the sky. Measuring the height of the red-filled sky, he quietly pulled in his chin.

“It seems winter is coming to an end.”

“Is that so?”

The fierce wind had already become warm, and the sky that had only been low was now higher. At the boundary between spring and winter.

It was then that Ludmila’s gaze suddenly fell on a tree. Pink buds were forming.

Plum blossoms.

The scenery she hadn’t seen while bending over to work came with the spring breeze. The reverie of that pink scenery flowed with the wind until the pure white petals and Aden’s face appeared.

Ludmila’s smiling lips drew back into a straight line.

If I had chosen to stay with you instead of leaving that place.

“…”

Ludmila brushed away the meaningless reverie the scenery stirred up.

She smiled slightly at Angar who was staring at her intently, then turned her body. “If” was ultimately synonymous with regret.

I don’t regret it. Leaving Aden was the right thing to do.

Ludmila, who had been brainwashing herself, exhaled all the regret for a past that hadn’t happened in a long sigh.

The wind that blew just then carried all those emotions away.

The winter wind is subsiding.

At last, the season was heading towards spring.